Shadows of the Gods: Crimson Worlds Refugees II Read Online Free PDF Page B

them. He already had his own people in as many key positions as he dared. The last thing he needed was to fuel a wave of conspiracy theories about the Alliance personnel plotting to take over the fleet.
    And sacking half the Europan contingent would do just that…
    “Alright, Fleet Admiral Compton, I’ll take pity on you and rub your shoulders, while we talk.” Sophie’s voice pulled him from his thoughts. “But we are going to talk about this now. Any solution is going to require a lot of lead time. If we wait any longer it’s going to be too late.” She paused as she climbed behind him on the sofa and put her hands on his shoulders. “It’s almost too late now.”
    He winced, half from the pressure against the biggest knot in his neck…and half from her comment about it being too late. “Very well, Commander Barcomme…” He let out a soft groan…she had hit just the right spot. “…what do you propose?”
    He could feel her hands tense. “We have to stop somewhere, Terrance. There’s just no choice. We need a chance to grow some crops.”
    He took a deep breath and exhaled loudly. “I think you and Hieronymus Cutter are ganging up on me.”
    He felt her hands slip off his shoulders. “Is that what you think?” He could hear her voice, and he knew immediately she had taken his words too seriously.
    “I’m sorry, that’s not what I meant.” He paused, sighing softly as he did. “It’s just been a really shitty day.”
    She leaned forward, bringing her head around so she could look at his face. “You have to know I would never side with anyone against you. In anything.” She hesitated for a second then she brought one of her hands around and put it on his cheek. “I don’t think I could have endured the last year without your friendship, Terrance. You saved the whole fleet, but you rescued me a second time as well, with your companionship and your compassion.”
    “I really am sorry, Soph,” he said, his voice soft, contrite. “I’ve just got so much to decide right now. You don’t deserve that fallout, but sometimes it’s just…”
    She put her fingers over his mouth. “I know,” she said. “Don’t worry about it. I can’t even imagine the pressure on you.”
    He rolled his head on his shoulders as she slid back and started massaging his neck again. He closed his eyes for a few seconds, enjoying the touch of relaxation her fingers produced. Then he said, “So tell me, Soph…what do you have in mind?”
    “Well,” she said, her tone showing a bit of her own stress, “there are very dense crops, mostly genetically-engineered versions of Earth beans and certain legumes. We can get a lot of caloric and nutritional punch from even a single crop. And they grow very quickly, given the right environment.”
    “How quickly?”
    “Eight weeks…ten tops. For enough to fully replenish our supplies. Perhaps another year’s worth of food.”
    “So we’d have to stop somewhere for two months?” He hated every aspect of this plan. But it was better than watching people starve to death. “And there’s no alternative?”
    “Not unless you want to let half the people in the fleet die so there’s enough food for the rest. Because half is about what we can feed from the freighters-farms alone.”
    He shook his head. “No, I don’t think so…”
    “That wouldn’t work anyway,” she said grimly. “These fungi and algae foodstuffs are okay for the short term, but without some supplementation, we’re going to start seeing some real problems. Vitamin deficiencies, digestive issues. Go much more than a year without getting something else into the diet, and people will start dying.”
    “But I thought those alternative foods had been used on much longer missions…to mining worlds and the like?”
    “Yes, but with heavy supplementation. We’re almost out of everything right now, and what little we have is reserved for the sickbays. We couldn’t provide basic vitamin pills for most of