The Jupiter Pirates Read Online Free PDF Page A

the smile off his face as he returned to his own station. But he couldn’t help it. Yes, he’d made mistakes, but the ship and its cargo were theirs. Yana wrinkled her nose at him, and he felt his happy, relieved grin grow even wider.
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    Tycho lay in his berth, listening to the thrum of the Comet ’s engines and staring at the gray metal of the upper hull above his head. When he’d joined the bridge crew, he’d scratched his initials in the paint above his head, adding his own to those left by Hashoones who had called this cabin home before him.
    Four bells—it was 0600. Tycho gave up on trying to sleep. He couldn’t stop replaying the intercept in his head, fuming at what he’d done wrong and trying to think of any possible explanation for why there’d been a diplomat aboard.
    He got up and activated the control for the cabin door, which retracted into the wall. The Shadow Comet ’s top deck was divided into seven cabins. His parents shared the captain’s stateroom in the bow. Aft of that were two unused cabins. One hadn’t been touched since his aunt Carina had abandoned it eleven years ago, while the other was used as an office. Then came the cabins belonging to Tycho and to Carlo, with the forward ladderwell leading down to the quarterdeck interrupting the passageway between their doors.
    Aft of that, the passageway was split in two by an enclosed ladderwell connecting the top gun turret to belowdecks, with doors to the cuddy and galley on either side. If Tycho kept going aft, he’d find the head, an equipment bay, cabins belonging to Huff and Yana, the aft ladderwell, and a small auxiliary hold reserved for particularly valuable goods.
    As Tycho had hoped, his father was in the cuddy, where the bridge crew ate, reviewing documents and drinking coffee from a thermos. Mavry looked up from his mediapad and gave his son a smile, inviting him to sit.
    â€œYou should get some sleep,” Mavry said. “It’s a couple of days to Ceres.”
    â€œI tried, Dad,” Tycho said. “But I can’t.”
    â€œI understand,” his father said. “After you lead an intercept, it takes a while for your mind to stop going a hundred thousand klicks an hour.”
    â€œYeah, exactly,” Tycho said with a grateful nod. He was thankful it was Mavry there in the cuddy and not Diocletia. He loved his mother, but she was the captain and the keeper of the Log—in which, for all he knew, his doubts and fears might be recorded.
    â€œHow long was it before your mind stopped doing that afterward?” Tycho asked.
    â€œStopped doing what?” Mavry asked.
    â€œRunning like crazy after intercepts.”
    Mavry smiled. “Oh, it still does,” he said. “Every time.”
    Tycho looked surprised, then nodded.
    â€œSo what’s on your mind?” Mavry asked. “Or should I guess? Microphones, engine rooms and communications masts, and what in the name of the Galilean moons a diplomat was doing on that bridge?”
    â€œThat’s pretty much it,” Tycho said.
    â€œAnd how all this will look in the Log,” Mavry added.
    Tycho didn’t say anything but looked down at his lap, embarrassed.
    â€œLet me put your mind at ease there, at least,” Mavry said. “None of us knows what to make of this Mr. Soughton. It’s as much a mystery to your mother and me as it is to you. There’s no penalty for having to deal with a mystery, Tycho—and you handled it as well as any of us could have. Certainly better than your grandfather would have.”
    â€œI guess,” Tycho said. “But I can’t stop thinking about it anyway. And I know I shouldn’t always think of it . . . but how am I doing? You know, overall?”
    Mavry took a long swallow of coffee.
    â€œI’m not the captain, Tycho,” he said.
    â€œI know, Dad,” Tycho said. “But you must have some