Junkyard Dogs 1: The Scrapyard Incident by Phillip Nolte Read Free Book Online

behind her as he checked what turned out to be
standard connections for the air pack and battery on the back of the prototype.
    "I love it!
It's so light and comfortable that you can barely feel it. You wouldn't believe
the freedom of motion."
    "You'll have
to demonstrate."
    "Be glad to.
Here, let me check you." She found herself approving of his fit, compact physical
proportions, as she quickly went over his suit connections and the rest of the
mandatory checks before declaring it all in order. Finally, they closed and
sealed their helmets. Preflight preparations complete, Harris activated the
airlock door.
    "Okay,
Ensign," he said, over the suit intercom, " let's have a demonstration of your weightless technique and that fancy suit. Show me
how to get across the cargo bay."
    The young woman
began her demonstration strictly according to regulations. She kept a grip on
the handrail inside the airlock while clipping a remote controlled tether to
one of the many hooks and loops that studded the inner walls of the cargo bay.
As Harris watched, she deftly swung out into the cargo bay and coiled her legs
against the wall. She spoke involuntarily to herself, softly as before,
seemingly oblivious to the fact that Harris could hear her.
    "Compulsory
exercise number four, Tamara..." Knees bent, she tested her balance and
her mass against the wall. She counted out loud, "Three, two one...,"
and launched her body across the bay towards the open outside door, a distance
of probably fifty meters.
    Her form was
perfect, an inverted swan dive pose, even her toes were pointed in the small,
flat-soled boots of the sleek prototype suit as she flew gracefully out into
the brightly-lit bay. What she did next was nothing short of astounding.
Halfway across, she used a tug on the tether, which Harris noticed she had
skillfully kept almost taut, to tuck neatly up into a ball and perform a flawless
series of three hundred sixty degree somersaults, interrupted with periodic
extensions of her body to execute several complex twisting maneuvers, before
another perfectly-timed tug on the tether reoriented her body for her landing
on the other side. She completed the transition of the cargo bay feet first,
once again using the tether, this time to slow her momentum, before making
light contact with the wall a meter to the right of the outside door. She
clipped a second tether to the main grab handle and used the remote control to
release the first tether, which she reeled in with the small electrically
powered winch that was a part of the cleverly-designed remote-controlled tether
system.
    Harris followed
her across, more conventionally, and a great deal more slowly. He caught
himself with his arms before grabbing a handle, switching tethers, and reeling
in his own primary tether.
    "That wasn't
exactly what I had in mind, Ensign!" said Harris, putting some edge into
his tone. "Warn me before you try anything like that again."
    "Sorry,
Sir," she replied, and looked like she meant it.
    Despite the fact
that he couldn't approve of her behavior, he was impressed.
    "Those
maneuvers...," he shook his head. "What you just did was amazing!
Where did you learn how to do that?"
    "Were you
briefed about me, Sir?"
    "Commander
Kresge let me in on a few things that he thought were important," replied
Harris.
    "So you know
that I'm a Spacer?"
    "On a special program. Yes, we talked about that."
    "Did he also
tell you I was on the weightless gymnastics team at the Academy?" she
asked.
    "Um...No, he
didn't."
    "I honestly
thought you knew, Sir. I'm truly sorry if I startled you; I don't get to show
off all that often..."
    "Apology
accepted-- this time. Just don't take any risks like that when we get out into
the Scrapyard!"
    "Duly noted, Sir."
    They
went through the cargo door out into the harsh, bright starlight of Naccobus.
The scrapyard completely surrounded them, above, below, and in every direction
with a glittering array of harsh, intense sunlight reflected off from