The Mile Long Spaceship by Kate Wilhelm Read Free Book Online Page A

destroy the Criterion. Couldn't risk losing control of her. If they joined together she could be theirs. Windlass was smart. He'd get them somewhere. Then what? They'd all run. And in their trail frozen corpses would stretch out forever in grotesque attitudes of death, horror, terror, incredible pain.
    Perez moaned and whimpered several times and Royle put out his hand and touched his forehead gently. It felt warmer, but he couldn't really tell. At the touch of his hand Perez subsided and he kept it there, occasionally stroking the face with fingers that were tender. It had been a lie about the goggles, one he hoped no one had caught. As far as he knew, nothing would permit sight in total darkness, but he had memorized their positions thoroughly, so that when someone grunted or whispered he could identify immediately the source. Windlass made no sound apart from his stertorous breathing. The ventilator fan at times seemed to fill the room with its normally inaudible motion and Royle wished he'd been able to think of a way to keep the air fresh without the ventilating system operating. How much heat would it generate? Enough? It was a gamble and the odds against his stumbling on the solution kept presenting themselves to his mind. After this they couldn't go back to the rooms where fear awaited their return. Now or never. Windlass wouldn't keep still for another futile attempt if this one failed. If this failed, it meant open mutiny—and death to them all. The ship was rigged to go if he didn't disconnect certain wires, and if mutiny succeeded...
    Under his hand the man strapped to the couch seemed to be straining against the bands of webbing. He felt hot, definitely now, and dry. Royle put out his other hand, by then cold to the touch, and Perez's forehead seemed to be burning. His light shone briefly on the temperature gauge. 102. Startled he realized how cold he had become. So cold he was shivering and the heat from Perez was like a welcome furnace. Had it been enough yet? He wished he had one of the cold lights available for the hotter worlds where additional heat was not to be tolerated. He risked a light another time. 103. He announced it to the others and fell silent again.
    "Royle! I think this farce has gone on long enough!" Royle envisaged the speaker—the government man traveling with his wife on an expense account. "Windlass," he said, "I've reconsidered your proposal. I'm behind you all the way."
    "You hear that, folks!" Windlass yelled. "Does this make any sense to you? Instead of trying to keep us alive and well, the captain is helping the sickness by freezing us himself! I say we grab him and those stooges of his right now and take over this ship! Among us we can bring her back to a safe place where doctors and researchers can take care of all of us."
    Royle smiled in the darkness and to his right he heard DeBarge murmur something to Rawlins. He sensed their amusement and hiding it in his own voice he suggested, "Mr. Windlass, I advise you to keep your belt fastened. Have you ever grabbed anyone in free fall? Have you ever experienced it?"
    Windlass screamed furiously at him, "Damn you, Royle! Think you can bully me like this!" There was the sound of a strap hitting one of the plastic tables as he flung off the belt of his chair and almost instantly there was the louder sound of Windlass thudding against the ceiling. Royle closed his eyes and visualized the image of the man tumbling endlessly, totally disoriented in the blackness, bouncing from wall to ceiling to floor. Windlass was yelling impotently now, his voice muffled by terror as he fell first up and then down.
    Royle said clearly, his words slow and deliberate, "Grab the first thing you can get your hands on, Windlass. And keep holding on to it."
    He waited for Windlass to find support before he announced, "It's time to take Perez for his tour. Please be patient. I know you are suffering, but it won't be long. Rawlins, you stay here, and keep an eye on