Torchship by Karl K. Gallagher Read Free Book Online Page A

do me a favor?”
    “Yes, sir?”
    “Break the news to Bing about
her bunk.”
    There wasn’t any way to get
out of it. “Yes, sir.”
     
    ***
     
    Someone had taken the lunch
fixings out of the galley already. Lacking another excuse to procrastinate she
went down to the hold. The coolers were right by the upper deck ladder. She
snagged a sandwich and ate as she dawdled her way to the other side of the
deck.
    Bing had Guo sitting up by
the lower deck hatch. One of his hands held an iced drink. The other arm had an
IV in it. He still looked flushed. “You look done medium rare,” said Mitchie.
    The mechanic chuckled. “About.
It’s still pretty warm down there if you wanted to get some baking done.” He
pointed at a bulge in the overhead. “What do I need to fix from that?”
    “Um. The captain put some
pressure patches in. The rest is up to Bing.”
    Bing looked up from the
rehydration drink she was mixing. “Oh?”
    There had to be some gentle
way to say it, but Mitchie couldn’t think of one. “The cannon shot hit your
cabin.”
    “How bad?” Bing looked up at
the dent. “Must be pretty bad.”
    “We couldn’t see much through
the hole. Looked like it hit your bunk.”
    “But it probably threw junk
all over.” Bing looked like she’d be doing some serious cussing if she’d ever
learned the habit. “Hell. My goods are all trash now.”
    “Sentimental stuff?” asked
Mitchie.
    “No, trade goods. I’ve been
doing some personal trading to build up my savings. Had a bunch of porcelain
crated so it could survive sixty gravs. But it’s probably all trash now.”
    “It’s insured.” Bobbie had
wandered over during this discussion.
    Bing gave her a disbelieving
look.
    “The tourism corporation had
standard insurance,” continued Bobbie. John tried to shush her but she waved
him off. “We checked it when we signed up. None of you have to worry about
financial loss from this . . . crime.”
    The spacers quietly absorbed
this. “Thank you, that’s good to know,” said Mitchie.
    With a muttered “Fine, you’ve
said your piece,” John sheparded Bobbie back to her friends.
    When they’d gotten halfway
across the hold Bing whispered, “If there’s insurance that covers damage to
personal possessions from third party criminal behavior it has to cost more
than we were paid for this job.”
    “She sounded pretty certain,”
said Guo.
    “Certain that we’d be paid,”
said Mitchie. “She’s not caring much about the insurance policy. I’d bet we’re
covered some other way.”
    “At least rich girl is
noticing that she’s not the only one suffering here,” said Bing.
     
    ***
     
    A dense cluster of icebergs
looked like the best hiding spot. Fives Full drifted through the middle
of it. One chunk had a half-klick deep chasm in it, as if it was starting to
split in half. “Can you fit us in there?” asked Captain Schwartzenberger.
    “Yes, sir,” replied Mitchie.
He nodded. She fired the maneuvering thrusters to back them into the gap. The torch
was shut down. Guo trickled water out the nozzles to cool the system down. The builders
rated the base plate to handle a water landing at max temperature. Putting a
hot base into space-cold ice might crack it.
    As the ship entered the chasm
snow began flying past the bridge windows, blasted loose by the thruster
exhaust. As the snow cloud cast a shadow on them Mitchie hastily turned on the
running lights. The reflections were startlingly bright on the ice. Mitchie cautiously
guided them down. The captain breathed calmly, not reacting even when she
needed multiple jets to fix an overcorrection. His hands were folded out of her
sight.
    350 meters in she started
looking for a safe parking place. She’d maneuvered around some outcrops that
would have held the whole ship. This stretch had smaller lumps on the chasm
walls. Trying to edge past one the base caught on it, tipping the ship toward
the other side. Her counter burn was too weak to overcome the