Stardoc Read Online Free PDF Page B

shuttle docks stretched a chain of structures, more oversized building blocks drifting on green waves.
    I spotted Transport Administration and made my path toward that first indicator of civilization. It was housed in a sprawling bunker that had been patched together from an assortment of emergency site shelters.
    This was not anything like the beautifully designed edifices of my homeworld. Terrans demanded perfection, and got it. K-2’s construction crews were obviously forced to make do with limited materials.
    Still, even to my Terran-acclimated view, it had a certain unaffected charm.
    Transport Admin’s designation was posted above the main entrance in several distinct pictographs and languages, and I was surprised to see my own native alphabet as well. Less than one percent of the population, and Terrans still merited a share of the signs? Someone must have complained. Terrans took pride in being the most obstinant race in our Quadrant. They sure didn’t leave their attitudes at home when they traveled.
    Through unseen audiocoms, I heard automated voices speaking in different tongues, for those species which had no written language. The building itself was the second largest next to Cargo DispatchIReceiving.
    “GfiRidhety juilTopp!” someone barked out behind me, and I turned as a huge, grey-furred creature jostled by.
    “Sorry,” I said, then had to avoid another colonist who slithered around me from the opposite side.
    “Excuse me.”
    Now I focused on the steady stream of colonists and visitors who poured in and out of the structure’s threshold around me. There was a bewildering variety of life-forms. Humanoids of every color and appendage count. Beings in self-contained envirosuits, some with fantastic garments, others pelted or scaled. A small group appeared to be walking jellyfish. Another had prismatic bodies that created iridescent rainbow haloes in the twin suns’ light. I forgot about trying not to gawk and simply drank them in with my eyes. So many differences. So much life. It astounded me. Then the unexpected outrage struck hard, and fast.
    My father’s prejudices had denied me all of this.
    “What were you so afraid of, Dad?” Saying that out loud earned me a few curious looks. Yeah, watch the Terran female talk to herself, I thought, ducking my head in embarrassment. I’d have time to be mad at my father later. I joined the queue entering the facility.
    The interior of the Administration Building was even more crowded. Over the heads of dozens of marvelous beings, I searched for the station I needed. It was simple to find; no one was crowding around that terminal. On either side, however, I saw an extended line of newly transferred workers waiting to check in for Habitat Subsistence and Colonial Security.
    I knew there was a shortage of med pros, but I couldn’t possibly be the only incoming transfer. The others must have arrived sometime before me.
    I put down my cases and addressed the blank display marked “FreeClinic Services.” Incredibly, I had to wait a few moments before it blinked into sluggish operation.
    “Welcome to Kevarzangia Two, FreeClinic Services terminal,” the antiquated panel blared. “Please identify aid required.”
    It thought I was hurt? “Cherijo Grey Veil, Physician, transfer arrival.” The screen blipped for an instant, and then I saw a real face staring out at me.
    It was dusky vermilion in hue, glistening, and had three olfactory orifices below a quartet of enormous, brilliantly faceted eyes. Exactly like a gigantic, four-eyed preying mantis.
    The face moved, and rapid-fire speech rattled over the audio. “T-tche-tcher juro-etterche-“ Belatedly I activated my wristcom, and the chattering became translated language. “- To K-2, Dr. Grey Veil. I’m T’Nliqinara, the charge nurse on duty. Dr. Mayer will be there to meet you directly.”
    “Thank you.” I gazed around, but I was still standing alone. “Where are the others?”
    The nurse assumed a