Titanium Texicans by Alan Black Read Free Book Online Page A

books, mostly from reading references concerning software installation in manuals giving him a ‘café’ options selection, so he’d had to look up the definition in a dictionary.
    He wasn’t sure how a café worked, but he was hungry. He saw men and women coming and going. He saw them sitting at tables eating. He couldn’t see anyone getting unprepared food. Someone brought them already prepared meals. He couldn’t see where anyone was going to cook the meals.
    He wanted to stand and watch until he could figure it out, but he was on a deadline if he was going to beat the GPS ETA. He spotted a sign by the door. He was shocked when he read the pricing for a hot dog or a hamburger. He didn’t know what a hot dog or hamburger was, but it must be high cuisine at that price. He saw a listing for stew, a very familiar item. Grandpa made stew once a week from all of the leftovers. Stew wouldn’t take very long for him to cook once they showed him the kitchen.
    The price next to the stew nearly made him gag. The menu said it would cost two credits for a small bowl and three credits for a large bowl. Even with biscuits and drink included, that must be what Grandpa meant when he said getting a meal was like robbery. The price for a bowl of leftovers would put a serious dent in his cash. He had to make the cash last another twelve months until he harvested his next chiamra crop. He was getting hungrier by the minute and the smells coming from the café weren’t helping.
    He shook his head. There was nothing to do but walk faster. He was sure Uncle Bruce would have something to eat or show him where he could get it for a decent price.
    The sun was shining in the mostly clear sky. The temperature was warm and pleasant this side of the McWithy Range. The air was still until suddenly he heard the roar of a mighty rushing wind. He looked around, but the tree leaves fluttered only a little bit. No one else seemed to think anything of the noise.
    He froze. There in the sky, rushing upward was a spaceship. Tasso couldn’t tell how big the spaceship was as the distance didn’t provide any frame of reference or perspective. It looked so big it wouldn’t fit in their canyon. White clouds were streaming down its sides. There was no sound except for the rush of the wind. Tasso stood and watched it until the spaceship was a small speck high in the sky and the stream of lower altitude clouds began to dissipate in the heat of the day. High in the sky, the clouds twisted and turned, not knowing which way to turn as they tried to follow the spaceship. He knew the winds in the upper atmosphere were pushing the clouds around, but he was going to have to get public access on the net to find out what made the clouds.
    He sighed and walked on. He’d wanted to go to space when he was younger. He’d also wanted to be a cowboy, a fisherman, and an elephant. Now all he wanted to do was get back to his valley, raise chiamra, and look for hope’s crystals, although he held no real hope for finding crystals. Being a spaceman was a fine thing to daydream about as a child. He knew the reality was that it was a job like any other, except it was a job where you can’t go outside for days, weeks, or months on end, living in small crowded rooms with metal walls and floors, and breathing stale recycled air.
    Still, he’d like to see a spaceship take off and land from up close. He checked the map on the GPS. He was heading towards the spaceport, so maybe he would get to see another launch or a landing without wasting too much time.
    The mixture of houses and stores yielded to solid blocks of businesses. He had everything he needed except food and drink, so he kept walking. He looked in store windows without breaking his stride and decided he really didn’t need what was for sale. He wondered what a pawn was. He knew about the chess piece. He knew a store couldn’t stay in business selling just one chess piece. Besides, the stuff in their windows looked