Xeelee: An Omnibus: Raft, Timelike Infinity, Flux, Ring by Stephen Baxter Read Free Book Online

from anything, pilot. The mine is a tough place, but it was my home. No. I left to find the answer.’
    ‘The answer? To what?’
    ‘To why the Nebula is dying.’
    Pallis studied the serious young miner and felt a chill settle on his spine.
    Rees woke from a comfortable sleep in his nest of foliage. Pallis hung over him, silhouetted by a bright sky. ‘Shift change,’ the pilot said briskly. ‘Hard work ahead for all of us: docking and unloading and—’
    ‘Docking?’ Rees shook his head clear of sleep. ‘Then we’ve arrived?’
    Pallis grinned. ‘Well, isn’t that obvious?’
    He moved aside. Behind him the Raft hung huge in the sky.

3
    H ollerbach lifted his head from the lab report, eyes smarting. He removed his spectacles, set them on the desk top before him, and began methodically to massage the ridge of bone between his eyes. ‘Oh, do sit down, Mith,’ he said wearily.
    Captain Mith continued to pace around the office. His face was a well of anger under its covering of black beard and his massive belly wobbled before him. Hollerbach noted that Mith’s coverall was frayed at the hem, and even the golden Officer’s threads at his collar looked dulled. ‘Sit down? How the hell can I sit down? I suppose you know I’ve got a Raft to run.’
    Hollerbach groaned inwardly. ‘Of course, but—’
    Mith took an orrery from a crowded shelf and shook it at Hollerbach. ‘And while you Scientists swan around in here my people are sick and dying—’
    ‘Oh, by the Bones, Mith, spare me the sanctimony!’ Hollerbach thrust out his jaw. ‘Your father was just the same. All lectures and no damn use.’
    Mith’s mouth was round. ‘Now, look, Hollerbach—’
    ‘Lab tests take time. The equipment we’re working with is hundreds of thousands of shifts old, remember. We’re doing our best, and all the bluster in the Nebula isn’t going to speed us up. And you can put down that orrery, if you don’t mind.’
    Mith looked at the dusty instrument. ‘Why the hell should I, you old fart?’
    ‘Because it’s the only one in the universe. And nobody knows how to fix it. Old fart yourself.’
    Mith growled - then barked laughter. ‘All right, all right.’ He set the orrery back on its shelf and pulled a hard-backed chair opposite the desk. He sat with legs splayed under his belly and raised troubled eyes to Hollerbach. ‘Look, Scientist, we shouldn’t be scrapping. You have to understand how worried I am, how frightened the crew are.’
    Hollerbach spread his hands on the desk top; liver-spots stared back at him. ‘Of course I do, Captain.’ He turned his ancient spectacles over in his fingers and sighed. ‘Look, we don’t need to wait for the lab results. I know damn well what we’re going to find.’
    Mith spread his hands palm up. ‘What?’
    ‘We’re suffering from protein and vitamin deficiencies. The children particularly are being hit by bone, skin and growth disorders so archaic that the Ship’s medical printouts don’t even refer to them.’ He thought of his own grandchild, not four thousand shifts old; when Hollerbach took those slim little legs in his hands he could feel the bones curve . . . ‘Now, we don’t think there’s anything wrong with the food dispensers.’
    Mith snorted. ‘How can you be so sure?’
    Hollerbach rubbed his eyes again. ‘Of course I’m not sure,’ he said, irritated. ‘Look, Mith, I’m speculating. You can either accept that or wait for the tests.’
    Mith sat back and held up his palms. ‘All right, all right. Go on.’
    ‘Very well, then. Of all the Raft’s equipment our understanding is, by necessity, greatest of the dispensers. We’re overhauling the brutes; but I don’t expect anything to be found wrong.’
    ‘What, then?’
    Hollerbach climbed out of his chair, feeling the familiar twinge in his right hip. He walked to the open door of his office and peered out. ‘Isn’t it obvious? Mith, when I was a kid that sky was blue as a baby’s eyes.