Ship's Boy Read Online Free PDF

his eyes again. “When you’re absolutely certain, you’re to vent the atmosphere and spare us the burning. You hear me? That’s an order!”
    I nodded just as James bounced back, smiling and happy despite the corpses hovering just above the floor. He was carrying a cup half-full of liquid, and was using the palm of his other hand to hold it inside. “Be careful, Dad!”
    Milord smiled, though his eyes were so full of tears that he had to wipe them before he could see. “Thank you, son!” He sipped with obvious pleasure, then turned back to me. “Have you seen my datacorder? I have important business.”
    I nodded—it was tucked under the covers right beside him. He smiled and stuck his signet ring in the little receptacle, activating the device. A Lord’s datacorder was a very important thing, and enormous efforts were made to safeguard them from tampering and damage. What was recorded on them carried the force of law, sometimes on many planets. “God save the King!” he enunciated formally. “God save King Albert the Eleventh! May the Lord grant him health and wisdom!”
    He paused and smiled at me before continuing. “Let it be known that due to extraordinary services and sacrifices rendered upon this dark day the following of my servants are to be elevated and rewarded. First, a special pension in the amount of five thousand credits per annum is hereby awarded to the surviving families of all crew members of my late vessel Broad Arrow . They did everything that could be done to save her, and fought her to the very end. It was no fault of theirs that the battle was lost.”
    I gulped—five thousand credits a year was a small fortune!
    “Second, I hereby elevate Captain Tasker Saunders posthumously to the Most Honorable Order of the Knights of the Bath. His elevation is symbolic in that his honor reflects the heroic nature of his entire crew.
    “Thirdly, I hereby posthumously manumit two old friends, slaves Jenkins Sowell and Tobias Birkenhead. I’ve wished to free them for years, but the pressures of my position have prevented me from doing so.” He scowled. “I’m deeply ashamed that I bowed to these pressures and waited too long.”
    Then he turned to me. “Fourth, I hereby manumit slave David Birkenhead, son of Tobias. This is done not merely in deference to his father’s memory, but because despite his youth David’s resourcefulness and courage are truly remarkable. He preserved the lives of both James and myself where many more experienced spacers would in my judgment have failed. I also allot him a special pension of five thousand credits per annum in addition to the similar amount to which he’s entitled as a Broad Arrow crewman.” He smiled at me and bowed slightly. “David is further named a Friend of the House of Marcus, and is thereby entitled to seek refuge and protection at the doors of my House forevermore. All of this is insufficient to express my true gratitude. So it has been spoken, so mote it be.” Then he closed his eyes, switched off the recorder, and let his head hang, exhausted.
    “I wish it were more, David, he muttered. “Truly I do. God knows I’d love to free you all. But I fear that this is all I can manage just now.”
     

8
    My head spun for a good little while after that—I’d never heard of anyone being manumitted until they were old and gray and unable to work, so that it didn’t matter anymore in any real sense of the word. Then I realized with a jolt in my stomach that it didn’t particularly matter in my case, either. I had mere minutes to savor my freedom, and no one else would ever know. Unless of course the datacorder was sufficiently armored to withstand a meteoric re-entry, which was entirely possible. In which case my classmate Frieda might someday soon attend a little funeral service in my honor, weeping over my fire-lily bedecked photograph and telling everyone about how close she’d been to a Rabbit who’d been set free so young…
    Then I