The Tranquillity Alternative by Allen Steele Read Free Book Online Page A

the law firm. It was one more yuppie fad that had emerged from California, popular among female attorneys in particular, but Cris wasn’t quite certain that her companion’s newfound androgyny had nothing to do with their relationship.
    “You’re such a guy,” she murmured.
    Laurell looked away from the window. “Aw, c’mon, Cris … you’re not still pissed, are you?”
    “Oh, no, no, I’m not pissed.” She gripped the leather steering wheel more firmly as she shook her head. “I mean, I was married to Carl for two years, wasn’t I? I should be used to a male chest by now….”
    “Jesus. You’re still pissed.” Laurell closed her eyes, putting her hand to her forehead as she sighed. “Look, I’ve explained to you … it’s just something I did, all right? I always hated having boobs. I didn’t like sleeping on them, I didn’t like it when they started to sag, and I really didn’t like guys checking me out all the time….”
    “I know, I know.” Cris had heard it all before. “But if you could have worked out a little more, maybe …”
    “It wouldn’t have done a thing. Those mammaries were there for keeps.” Laurell smiled a little. “Hey, at least I had enough money to get it done right. If I only had five grand in the bank …”
    “Then you would have been an Amazon. Right.” It was an old joke that Cris was tired of hearing.
    “You’re such a bitch sometimes …”
    “You got it. I’m a bitch. That’s me.” The line of traffic was creeping steadily toward the cloverleaf intersection of the east-west causeways and the Kennedy Parkway, where the highways split in four directions at the center of the island. Two hours before dawn and there was already a small gridlock within KSC. At least the rain had finally let up; with any luck, the clouds would move out to sea long before the launch window closed.
    Cris found herself staring in the direction of the Atlas-C launch complex, where the Constellation awaited her arrival. One more mission, and she would be another ex-Air Force astronaut with the abbreviation “ret” next to her name and former rank. It wasn’t supposed to end this way. Crash landings, catastrophic launch aborts, Criticality One accidents—those risks she had willingly taken over the past fifteen years, well aware that any one of them could snuff out her life in a second.
    It had never occurred to her that falling in love would be the finish of her career.
    She felt Laurell’s hand on her arm. “I’m sorry,” her companion said. “I didn’t mean to get on your case like that. It’s just that I hate to see you …”
    Her voice trailed off. Cris forced a smile as she grasped the back of Laurell’s hand. “It’s okay,” she said softly. “Don’t worry about it. We’ll get through this. Just one more mission, then I’ll be home and we can start all over again.”
    “If only you’d think about going public, getting those bastards to admit what they’ve done …”
    Cris shook her head as she returned her hand to the steering wheel. She was past the cloverleaf; the sprawling headquarters area was coming up on the left, with Operations and Checkout just past the main office building. “We’ve been through this before, babe. Maybe we’d embarrass them a little, but no one would lose their jobs and we’d be eaten alive by the press. You want to hear dyke jokes about us on Letterman? That’s all that would happen.”
    “But they’ll get away with it!”
    Cris turned the wheel, pulled into the wide parking lot of the O&C. “They’re not getting away with anything, sweet,” she said, choosing her words carefully. If things got fucked up somehow, at least Laurell could plead innocence. “Trust me … they’re not going to get away with it.”
    Laurell stared at her. For a moment, Cris was afraid she was going to ask her exactly what she meant. If she did, Cris knew that she might tell Laurell something that she shouldn’t know, if only because she