Hospital Ship (The Rim Confederacy #5) by Jim Rudnick Read Free Book Online

and then she turned to the people behind him in the lineup to ask, "For how many?"
    He made his way past the deuces and four-tops and the few larger tables that were all full of patrons in scrubs and lab coats and even a military uniform or two as well. He had to pause to let a server go by who had a huge tray of Pad Thai—six steaming plates with those big peanuts and sprouts laid out on top. He smiled. Pad Thai here was excellent; he hoped the cooks had made a lot of the daily special.
    At last, he was at the big table, which seated almost twenty diners, and he looked for a row of three seats so he could take the middle one and have an empty seat as a buffer between him and anyone else at the table. No luck, but down at the far end, there was a single seat left empty. “And oh—it was that Navy girl,” he said to himself and smiled. He moved down the long row of diners facing the banquette seats, and at the last one, he stopped. He squeezed his touchstone casino chip. Hey, good luck charm don't fail me now.
    Looking down at the woman, he smiled and gently tapped her on her left shoulder.
    "Would this seat be free, I wonder?" he said as he smiled down at her, turning on his charm.
    She looked up, putting a hand over her mouth as she continued to chew, and nodded to him. The Pad Thai on her plate was too good, he knew, for her to stop eating and speak to him.
    He nodded to her, slid in beside her, and picked up the menu. She slid her chair over an inch or two to give him some space. She finished chewing, leaned back a bit, and said, "Try the Pad Thai ... it is so good here!" Her voice was delightful.
    As he acknowledged her suggestion with a "thanks," he noted she had blonde hair, was about thirty years old or so, and judging by her uniform, a lieutenant in the Barony Navy. Don't know enough about the various badges and ribbons that appear on display on her chest either, but the chest itself is nice enough to glance at. Her smile was bright and her no-makeup look was refreshing too. He waited for his chance to interrupt her, and when she put down the fork to pick up her large glass of some kind of a blue juice, he cleared his throat and smiled at her.
    "I wonder, Lieutenant, if I could ask something a bit unusual?" he asked, and his voice was low so she'd get the impression he was trying to ask something unusual.
    She tilted her head to one side and slowly put down the plas-glas. She nodded and waited.
    He looked across the table at the other diners, who were close but paying no attention, leaned toward her a bit, and said very quietly, "Does the Pad Thai always come with peanuts?" He smiled even more, and his eyes sparkled as they crinkled up. He burst right out into a full laugh.
    She stared at him frozen for a full second. She clapped him on the arm and burst right out into a full-on laugh!
    His attempt at humor had somehow worked. Who said research scientists were boring? he wondered, as he laughed right along with her.
    When they settled down, he smiled once more and held out his hand to introduce himself.
    "Research Associate Nathan Ward—nice to meet you," he said and as she shook his hand, she nodded back.
    "Lieutenant Nancy Irving, Barony Navy officer, on the Atlas . Currently here with ear issues," she said.
    "I said, I'm Nathan Ward," he said much louder, and they both smiled again, as she picked up her fork.
    "Listen, Lieutenant, don't delay, dig right in and—" He stopped as a server had appeared behind her and held up her pad with a look on her face that said, "What do you want?”
    He touched the lieutenant on the arm with a single finger to show he was pausing and looked behind her.
    "If the special is the Pad Thai, I'll take it. If it's not, I still want Pad Thai. If there is no more, then I'll wait 'til there is some, and some of that blue juice stuff too."
    The server nodded and said, "There's lots left, always a big lunchtime seller, eh?" She moved away to put his order in.
    The lieutenant looked down