Read Farthest Reef for Free Online Page B

plans of yours?” Alex was way past the intimidation point. He felt like a bomb about to explode. He thought of Mary then, and the thought defused his anger.
    “A year,” said Johnny. “Maybe longer.”
    “Have you sent … others … to the reef?” Alex fixed his eyes on the hologram of the star. It was easier than looking at Johnny.
    Professor Baltadonis hesitated and looked at Stubbs, who nodded and picked up the conversation. “I understand your feelings about the sovereignty of the reef, Alex. No. We haven’t sent people in, but we’ve sent probes.” He looked sympathetically at Alex. “There’s no colonies down there yet. You can relax. We tried to locate some of those key places you visited. Those cities. Places the clicker men haunt.”
    “Did you find them?”
    “Who? The clicker men?”
    Alex smiled, but not pleasantly. “Them.”
    Wysor and Sciarra both stood up. “If you won’t be needing us, I think we both have work to do. We jump soon.”
    Stubbs raised the black bubble and illusion vanished. The windows that had been darkened for the presentation now cleared again, filling the room with blinding light. “That was dramatic,” said Alex, shielding his eyes with his hand. Both professors were already wearing sunglasses. Stubbs handed an extra pair to Alex. They seemed bulky and fitted poorly at first, but in a minute they warmed and conformed to his face.
    “It’s noon,” said Johnny. “Good for the plants, hard on the eyes.”
    Alex forced a smile as Captain Wysor came to him and offered his hand. “I donno wa’ t’ say, chiefy,” the Captain said sympathetically. “I vol’nteered, meself. Seems ya bin’ drafted. I might say no to ’em for th’ Se’enteen … but not f’ me t’ say.”
    “They could have asked,” said Alex, still shielding his eyes from the light. “But what difference does it make?”
    The professors had put their heads together after the meeting broke up. Now they faced Alex. The Captain tipped a finger to Alex, then to the professors, and walked quickly away.
    “That was it?” said Alex. “That’s the briefing?”
    Johnny and Stubbs looked at each other, and Stubbs smiled. “Do you want to join the mission, Alex?”
    “Sure.” Alex tried to sound as casual as possible. “Chance of a lifetime, right?”
    Stubbs grinned. “Good. We hoped you’d say that. You’ll need to know more … and there is much, much more to know. But right now a crew is waiting to train you with your new shuttle.”
    “Are you talking about modifications to Diver ?”
    “We’ve installed a clever extraction system,” added Stubbs. “Our reef probes gave us enough information to be able to simulate the reef environment. The pod we installed in the belly of your shuttle will hold at least three clicker men.”
    “Is Diver aboard?”
    “Yes it is.” Johnny seemed surprised that Alex didn’t know his shuttle was aboard Goddard .
    Alex had moved past anger to seeing it all as a strange joke. He slapped the Professor on the back and laughed bitterly. “Blackmailed me and stole my ship. And I thought piracy was a thing of the past.”
    “I trust history will argue with you, Alex,” Baltadonis replied soberly, wincing a bit. “If you’re worried about the peril of the Goddard’s mission, there’s plenty to worry about. It could be a one way trip, to a star or to the reef. Both are dangerous. The star part … well, that’s up to the crew of Goddard . The reef mission is up to you.”
    “I’m thinking about danger to Mary,” Alex muttered disdainfully. “Not danger to myself.”
    “Of course.” Stubbs pointed to the control room door. “Your ship is in the hold not far from where your transport docked. We have an hour before the jump to Jupiter. You are already authorized to see her. The tubeway is working, you should take that.”
    Alex lifted the sunglasses and saw two women in blue uniforms standing at the main entrance, looking at him. They nodded and