Starhunt: A Star Wolf Novel by David Gerrold Read Free Book Online Page A

into couches and hastily fastening their belts. One man—Wolfe—grabs futilely at a floating stylus, shoots suddenly upwards, a look of annoyance on his face.
    Another man—a husky man—doesn’t pull himself back into his couch. Angrily, he seizes the railing on the inner edge of the horseshoe and pulls himself through the air, hand over hand, toward the gravity control board. “Rogers, you damned idiot! Where the hell did you ever learn—”
    “Reynolds! Get back to your post!” The captain’s deep voice thunders across the bridge. There is a sudden hushed stillness; silent white faces turn and look. Reynolds hesitates, caught in mid-air, hands still on the railing.
    “Dammit, sir! He’s—”
    “Did you hear me? I do the disciplining here!” No one moves. Even Wolfe, floating at the ceiling, is motionless. His elusive stylus drifts across the bridge, drifts directly across the captain’s field of vision.
    Brandt ignores it; looks only at Reynolds. Abruptly the man realizes where he is. “Yes, sir.”
    He turns in mid-air and moves back along the railing to his own console. He grabs at his seat and pulls his big frame down into it. Fumbling with his seat belt he makes a point of fastening it with a loud magnetic click.
    The captain glances around at the rest of the bridge; the men turn silently back to their boards. An expressionless ensign reaches up and pulls Wolfe back to deck.
    “Thanks.” He starts to add something else, but a cold look from Korie freezes it in his throat. He pulls himself into a couch instead.
    Brandt locks eyes with Korie—the first officer is hanging airily off a stanchion, one foot hooked casually through a metal hole—and inclines his head sharply toward the front of the bridge. Find out what happened.
    Korie nods, message received , unhooks his leg, launches himself across the bridge toward Rogers. Catching hold of another stanchion, he brings himself to an awkward stop. “All right, Rogers. Start talking.”
    Shaking nervously, Rogers stammers out, “I—I don’t know. Mr. Korie, sir—all I did was hit the power cut-off and—well, it was supposed to fade and it didn’t—”
    “Why didn’t you use the dimmer?”
    “The dimmer, sir?”
    “You do know what a dimmer is?”
    “No, sir, I—”
    Korie’s pale eyes narrow. “Haven’t you done this before?” he demands.
    “No, sir, I never—I was supposed to be a radec tech. That’s all they trained me for—”
    The first officer stares at him unbelievingly.
    “—I was the rush training course. They only taught us our specialties; I mean, we had the basics, but they said we’d learn the rest on ship—”
    “Then why didn’t you?”
    “I did—I mean, I was. That is, I didn’t finish.”
    “Then why were you on this board?”
    “They told me to.”
    “Who did?”
    “Uh—”
    Korie cuts him off. “Never mind. I’ll see who made up the duty roster. Who was supposed to check you out on this board?”
    “Wolfe, sir; I mean Crewman Wolfe—but he said it was all automatic. I didn’t think that—”
    Korie ignores him, swings around to face the still silent bridge. “Wolfe!”
    Wolfe glances over fearfully. “Yes, sir?”
    “Get up here!”
    “Yes, sir.” He starts to launch himself off the railing, thinks better of it, and pulls himself along it instead. With a quick hand-over motion, he circles the horseshoe to where Korie hangs in mid-air.
    “Were you supposed to check this man out on the gravity board?”
    “Well, I—”
    “Were you or were you not?”
    “Uh, sir, I—”
    “Yes or no?” Korie demands.
    “Uh . . . yes, sir,” Wolfe admits, “I was supposed to check him out.”
    “Why didn’t you?”
    “Sir?”
    “I said, why didn’t you?”
    “I did, sir.”
    “They when doesn’t he know what a dimmer is?”
    “It wasn’t necessary, sir.”
    “It wasn’t what !!”
    “Well, sir, it’s hardly ever needed. I didn’t think—”
    “You’re damn right you didn’t think!”