The World Turned Upside Down by David Drake, Eric Flint, Jim Baen Read Free Book Online Page B

are groundhogs and loonies are loonies and never the twain shall meet.
    Like all the best hotels the Zurich is in Pressure One on the west side so that it can have a view of Earth. I helped Miss Brentwood register with the roboclerk and found her room; it had its own port. She went straight to it, began staring at Earth and going ooh! and ahh!  
    I glanced past her and saw that it was a few minutes past thirteen; sunset sliced straight down the tip of India—early enough to snag another client. "Will that be all, Miss Brentwood?"
    Instead of answering she said in an awed voice, "Holly, isn't that the most beautiful sight you ever saw?"
    "It's nice," I agreed. The view on that side is monotonous except for Earth hanging in the sky—but Earth is what tourists always look at even though they've just left it. Still, Earth is pretty. The changing weather is interesting if you don't have to be in it. Did you ever endure a summer in Omaha?
    "It's gorgeous," she whispered.
    "Sure," I agreed. "Do you want to go somewhere? Or will you sign my card?"
    "What? Excuse me, I was daydreaming. No, not right now—yes, I do! Holly, I want to go out there! I must! Is there time? How much longer will it be light?"
    "Huh? It's two days to sunset."
    She looked startled. "How quaint. Holly, can you get us space suits? I've got to go outside."
    I didn't wince—I'm used to tourist talk. I suppose a pressure suit looked like a space suit to them. I simply said, "We girls aren't licensed outside. But I can phone a friend."
    Jeff Hardesty is my partner in spaceship designing, so I throw business his way. Jeff is eighteen and already in Goddard Institute, but I'm pushing hard to catch up so that we can set up offices for our firm: "Jones & Hardesty, Spaceship Engineers." I'm very bright in mathematics, which is everything in space engineering, so I'll get my degree pretty fast. Meanwhile we design ships anyhow.
    I didn't tell Miss Brentwood this, as tourists think a girl my age can't possibly be a spaceship designer.
    Jeff has arranged his classes to let him guide on Tuesdays and Thursdays; he waits at West City Lock and studies between clients. I reached him on the lockmaster's phone. Jeff grinned and said, "Hi, Scale Model."
    "Hi, Penalty Weight. Free to take a client?"
    "Well, I was supposed to guide a family party, but they're late."
    "Cancel them. Miss Brentwood . . . step into pickup, please. This is Mr. Hardesty."
    Jeff's eyes widened and I felt uneasy. But it did not occur to me that Jeff could be attracted by a groundhog  . . . even though it is conceded that men are robot slaves of their body chemistry in such matters. I knew she was exceptionally decorative, but it was unthinkable that Jeff could be captivated by any groundhog, no matter how well designed. They don't speak our language!
    I am not romantic about Jeff; we are simply partners. But anything that affects Jones & Hardesty affects me.
    When we joined him at West Lock he almost stepped on his tongue in a disgusting display of adolescent rut. I was ashamed of him and, for the first time, apprehensive. Why are males so childish?
    Miss Brentwood didn't seem to mind his behavior. Jeff is a big hulk; suited up for outside he looks like a Frost giant from Das Rheingold ; she smiled up at him and thanked him for changing his schedule. He looked even sillier and told her it was a pleasure.
    I keep my pressure suit at West Lock so that when I switch a client to Jeff he can invite me to come along for the walk. This time he hardly spoke to me after that platinum menace was in sight. But I helped her pick out a suit and took her into the dressing room and fitted it. Those rental suits take careful adjusting or they will pinch you in tender places once out in vacuum . . . besides those things about them that one girl ought to explain to another.
    When I came out with her, not wearing my own, Jeff didn't even ask why I hadn't suited up—he took her arm and started toward the lock. I