Read John Maddox Roberts - Space Angel for Free Online Page A

for all he knew, the thing might be dangerous. Sensing his presence behind it, the creature turned and stood on its hind legs, forelegs dangling barely reaching its round belly. Its fiat face had a tiny mouth and an oversized, onion-shaped nose. The head was framed by two furry ears, giving the thing the look of someone wearing a poke bonnet. It had round button eyes, widely spaced. A more harmless-looking creature Kelly had never seen.
    "Hey, are you scaring Teddy?" Kelly looked up. 'the comm officer, Nancy Wu, was staring down over the edge of the catwalk.
    "Teddy?"
    "Of course, who did you think it was? Bring him up here. He's not supposed to be loose in the hold." Kelly walked up to the creature. Before he could stoop in pick him up, Teddy simply climbed Kelly's trouser leg to the front of his coverall, then installed himself on his shoulder, where he stared down into his face and hlinked solemnly. Kelly turned and climbed the ladder. When he was level with the catwalk, Teddy stepped from his shoulder and scampered to Nancy, who scooped him into her arms.
    "What were you doing, chasing him? You've scared him half to death." Kelly regarded the creature, which looked about as panicked as the average oyster.
    "I wasn't chasing him. I just saw him down there and I was curious. What is he anyway?"
    "A Narcissan Teddybear, of course."
    "Of course," said Kelly, nodding solemnly, still unenlightened. He wanted to ask more about the creature, but Nancy turned and stalked away. Kelly continued on his way to the supply room and arrived without encountering any more extraterrestrials—or even any terrestrials, for that matter.
    "What took you so long?" Torwald asked as the boy entered.
    "How come everybody says that?" said Kelly, growing irritated.
    "Because you're expected to step lively in space, and you haven't stepped lively enough. On the old seagoing ships, slow crewmen were helped along with a rope's end applied where it would do the most good. You're not back on the block, you know." Torwald turned to rummage through a pile of invoices, and Kelly looked around at the chaotic jumble of the supply room. His eye was caught by a rack of machines standing against a bulkhead. They were shiny-black
    devices of metal and plastic that looked something like forcebeam rifles, but heavier and larger, each with a complex folding tripod. Kelly reached out to pick one up.
    "Don't touch it!" snapped Torwald.
    "Huh?" Kelly was startled at the real anger in Torwald's voice.
    "Never touch a lightbeam device aboard ship! Remember when the skipper demanded our sidearms, and I gave her my Service laser? That wasn't just for form. You can cut a ship this size clean in two with one of those things—it's expressly forbidden for any crew member to handle a device that can destroy the integrity of the ship's hull. Only the engineer and med officer are exempted, and then only under specific conditions. The skipper even has to be present when Michelle uses her laser scalpel or tooth drill. For that matter, I can't even test these cutters until we make planetfall. That's why we generally make elaborate tests at the point of purchase. Once you've upped ship, it's too late."
    "They're shortbeams, aren't they? Why not set it for a half-meter beam and test it? That'd be safe."
    "What if it's the depth control that's malfunctioning, dummy?"
    "Oh, yeah," Kelly said sheepishly nodding as the light dawned.
    Torwald sat down behind a well-worn console and punched a button marked bridge.
    "Bridge here. This is Ham."
    "Ham, Torwald here. Could you flash me the inventory-control info?"
    "Sure, but I don't envy you this job."
    Torwald and Kelly soon understood precisely what he meant. As the rows of words and figures progressed across the screen, Torwald's expression turned to one of alarm. He punched for the bridge again.
    "Ham, even the computer can't make anything out of these figures, and the last entry is dated March 2187! I heard that my predecessor was a