Read Across The Universe With A Giant Housecat (The Blue) for Free Online Page A

you were snoring!”
    “Leo snores, and you don’t wake him up.”
    “Sorry! I didn’t know you’d be upset.”
    “I’m not! I’m messing with you. Go have some breakfast. They have those pancakes you like. Leo likes them, too.”
    With a little shriek of joy, she set off for the buffet table.
    I disposed of our dirty plates and set off for Northe’s office, Leo padding by my side.
    As we drew closer to his wing of the base, anxiety finally began to grip my stomach. At last I would finally know why I had been asked to come here. Did they know about me being a Space Reader? Surely they wouldn’t punish me for hiding it, would they?
    Before long, Leo and I stood in an anteroom before a door marked Standing Admiral Northe . There were chairs in the anteroom along with a screen, just like in the medical waiting room. Thankfully, there were no exotic plants. The chairs didn’t look nearly as cozy, either. Good. The last thing I needed was to fall asleep here.
    “I’ll let him know you are here; you can sit down and wait,” said Levi Cartus, who had appeared next to me somewhere during the walk here. He went over to a monitor screen on the wall and keyed something in.
    It didn’t take long, for which I was grateful. Hardly had Cartus finished before a woman opened the door. “Alan Wolf? Right this way.”
    The woman ushered us into the room, glanced down at Leo with a raised eyebrow, then shut the door behind us. We were alone with Standing Admiral Northe.
    The office was large, with a broad wooden desk made of a gleaming dark purple wood and windows that overlooked the rest of Iron Horn Base. Behind the desk sat Standing Admiral Northe.
    He ignored Leo, who promptly curled up on the floor and fell asleep. Northe’s eyes beneath bushy eyebrows regarded me appraisingly.
    “Alan Wolf,” he said in a gravelly voice, a stronger version of what I had heard during his communiqué.
    “Sir,” I responded.
    “I know you are a Space Reader.”
    In surprise, my mouth popped open of its own accord. I shut it quickly. How had he known? I had kept it a secret!
    “Don’t look so surprised. Your little episode with the assassins and the ship filled with Blue Star has always been on our radar. My people began to suspect you were a Space Reader as soon as your story came to light, and the way you’ve flitted about the known universe over the past year as if you were running from something has only served to convince us further. Relax, we don’t want to take you apart and figure out how it works. We’ve got a much better use for you. Though a couple of the medical scientists asked me if they could take a few samples from you while you’re here. I’ll leave that up to you to decide.”
    “I... I suppose they can,” I began, still reeling from the shock that he knew I was a Space Reader. Who else had figured it out? “But just samples. Nothing else.”
    “Good; it’s settled. I’ll let them know to do it at your medical appointment tomorrow. Yes, I know about that too, and I had to make sure you had a clean bill of health before I spoke to you. Because you’ll have to be in good condition for what I’m about to say.”  
    “Are they letting me back into the academy, sir?” I asked.
    He waved a hand. “Don’t ask that yet until I’ve finished what I have to say.”
    “Sorry, sir.”
    “Alan, because of your injury, you can’t be a captain. We both know that. You have a serious injury on your record. I’m not going to suggest you go back to the academy if you have no hope of that promotion. I wouldn’t want that for you, and you shouldn’t, either.
    “I have something else for you. It won’t require you to be in perfect physical condition the way the academy would. You’ll be ready for it now, provided your back is healed. Several of my associates have taken an interest in you in light of the events of last year. They want to have you join the Stellar Intrepid in a different capacity.”
    My breath