Alien Worlds by Roxanne Smolen Read Free Book Online

least, he remained near the glacier.
    Impani sealed her mask. She lay face down on the basin floor then rolled onto her side. Her foot loosened with the new angle. Slowly turning onto her back, she extracted her leg from the salt. The rim caved in beneath her hips. She sucked in her breath, trying to make herself lighter. With both arms overhead, she rolled toward the glacier. The surface crackled with her shifting weight.
    “I’ve got you.” Trace scooped her up.
    She shrugged him away and looked back. The crater where she had fallen continued to grow. It ate at the crust of packed salt, reaching inexorably toward them. Soon the entire basin would be impassable.
    “We can’t stay here.” She got to her feet. “Let’s keep moving.”
    She led along the glacier’s base until she reached a jagged passage. A steady current of air coursed through—as if the basin were having its breath sucked away. A gale roared on the other side. She exchanged a glance with her partner. Lurching over drifted salt, she entered the pass.
    Wind howled and tested her balance. Dust tapped her mask. She groped the glacier wall and forced her way toward the jagged strip of sunlight ahead.
    The passage opened onto a ridge that dropped five hundred meters. The gale screamed and threatened to flail the flesh from her bones. Impani leaned against the wall and looked out.
    Salt rose in steeples and spires, polished by the high winds and sparkling with the sun. Powdery clouds swirled like snow devils. In the distance, the blue sky deepened to indigo.
    “Which way?” Trace shouted.
    She looked at him. His mask had darkened with the sunlight. It hid his face. She wondered if he was still unafraid. Without a word, she turned her back to the wind and followed the narrow ridge.
     
    <<>>
     
    N ewton Ambri-Cutt’s knees quaked. He entered Director Hammond’s office. Her assistant motioned him to a chair then closed the door with a click that sounded like a gunshot. Ambri-Cutt took his seat. His shoulders hunched. From beneath his knotted brow, he glanced about the room.
    The Director sat behind a huge granite desk. The sides of the desk looked rough and broken, but the polished top glowed with reflected sunlight. Ambri-Cutt swallowed thickly, hands clenched to the point of pain. When the Director looked at him, he cringed.
    Her eyes were the color of her desk, her glare cold. She said, “I understand you were responsible for the ring that went awry. Two cadets are lost.”
    Ambri-Cutt squeaked, “Yes, Madam Director.”
    “How long have you been with us, Mr. Ambri-Cutt? How many jumps have you handled only to lose this particular ring?” She stood and walked to a sky-lit window. “Do you know who was in that ring?”
    Impani . Ambri-Cutt closed his eyes.
    “The son of a man so powerful he has lunch with the President,” the Director said. “The son of a man who could lobby against us and end the expansion program forever. One wonders if that was your plan all along. To throw weight behind the Mankind First activists who protest daily at our doors.”
    “No!” Ambri-Cutt nearly leaped from his seat. The thought turned his stomach. Mankind First claimed the exploration and colonization of other worlds was perilous. They charged that public funding would be better spent furthering conditions at home. Their shortsighted whining would lead humankind back to the dark ages. “I am not a sympathizer.”
    “Nonetheless, that is what I will tell the media when they learn of this fiasco.”
    “But it was an accident. I didn’t mean—”
    “What does it matter what you meant?” she snapped. “I am trying to protect the Project. The Colonial Expansion Board is under control of the government, and the government must answer to its people. The public ignores our successes and sees only our failures.”
    “The CEB will never bow to such pressure.”
    “They will if the President dictates it. And he’s seriously considering spinning us off. A