Fear and Aggression by Dane Bagley Read Free Book Online Page A

now more gray than brown. He wore
a full beard, about half an inch long, that had the exact same
coloration as his hair. He had a large build, and a large head with
particularly large hands, but he was neither overweight nor very
tall, about 5'11".
    “ Pleased to meet you,
too,” Steve replied. Just then Mike walked up. “Hey, Mike, this is
James Smith, and you know Kenny Spearman.”
    Mike shook both of their hands. “I sure do.
How’re you doing? I know James, too, but I thought you were a
computer guy?”
    “ He sure is, the best in
the business,” interjected Kenny. “I jumped at the chance to have
James on board with me,” he said, obviously wanting Steve to be
pleased with his selection.
    “ Let’s sit down,” said
Steve, and the four men settled down to a bit of ice-breaking, and
some jockeying for position. John Carryman, one of the most
experienced and celebrated Captains on the Space Force, walked in
the room and headed over to Steve’s table.
    “ Captain Jenners, looks
like your first crew’s shaping up. Well, I wish you the best on
your maiden voyage.” He scanned the table for a moment, and then
with a look of concern stated, “Looks like you've surrounded
yourself with the best; but where is your navigator?”
    “ We’ll be assigned one
tomorrow,” Steve answered beginning to feel uncomfortable both in
Captain Carryman’s presence, and by this recurring theme and
concern.
    “ There aren’t many left to
choose from; most everyone has been assigned already. I’d hate to
think who’s left,” he said matter-of-factly, and yet
condescendingly.
    Steve, feeling a bit belittled, embarrassed,
and now defensive, wanted to explain himself. At first he wanted to
tell why Mike was so invaluable, then how he would have expected
Kenny to get a navigator—which he almost did—but realizing how
Kenny was so pleased to have James on board, and seeing that it
would be insulting to both Kenny and James, and further knowing how
making excuses would make him look weak in front of his
subordinates, he sat silent for a moment. He then replied, “We may
not get the most experienced navigator, but we have good
navigational experience between us; I think we’ll be fine. Thank
you for your concern.”
    “ You do have some great
expertise here. Captain Jenners, men: best of luck to
you.”
    “ Thank you’s”, and “best
of luck to you, also” rang from the table as Captain Carryman went
to the other end of the dining hall. The dining hall was like a
glorified school cafeteria. Attempts were made to give it an upper
echelon appearance, but eating there made one feel more like they
were in grade school, then having a fine dining
experience.
    For a few minutes the conversation that had
not really began, was already quenched. James, who had a good sense
about him, and a delightful social tact, punctured the silence.
“Captain Jenners, I'm real proud to be a part of your crew. I've
heard real good things about you, and I plan on makin’ you proud. I
think there is a good chance that one of these missions will be
successful.”
    “ Let me tell you a little
about James, Captain,” Kenny followed. “James is a large part of
the reason that these ZX-120’s were designed the way that they are.
They’re designed to analyze living cultures; aliens. James has been
very successful in analyzing the readouts, and he has found several
potential spots to investigate; systems that have planets, likely
with the characteristics to support life. He’s presented convincing
enough evidence that before sending a ship out there, they wanted
to be ready for the event that we find what we are looking for.
This planet and moon we’re orbiting, James found.”
    “ There are some systems
out there that I've caught some weak signals from that don’t seem
random. I’m hoping that we get assigned to one of those systems.”
The excitement was obviously boiling within him. Here was a man
that was doing what he was doing for the