Read John Maddox Roberts - Spacer: Window of Mind for Free Online Page B

Bay, elevator, and hall were military spare. All was plain, functional, Spartan. The marine guard came to a stomping halt before a huge double door. The officer presented himself to a small sensor plate set in one of the doors. There was a musical beep and the portals swung wide. They entered, leaving the honor guard outside.
    Within the doors, it seemed like another ship. Here, all was luxury. They were in a suite furnished with exotic woods, leathers, furs, marbles, and metals, the finest materials of many far-flung worlds. Each fitting, furnishing, and decoration was a priceless work of art. Kiril gaped about her. To her, the frugal environs of the Space Angel had seemed the height of luxury. This was staggering. Nancy elbowed her in the ribs and she resumed her air of disdain.
    "Nice place you got here," said the skipper, knocking an ash into a priceless tray carved from Spica ruby. "1 don't think this suite was in this tub when I served in her. Let's see, that would've been about the time you were being toilet-trained, Major." Her pronunciation of his rank left no doubt as to her opinion of its validity.
    "If you will wait here, Captain, you shall be met presently by persons authorized to discuss the situation." The officer whirled and stalked off in a furious huff, his back ramrod stiff.
    "No action these days to knock the starch out of 'em," the skipper mused.
    They flopped on the couches and hassocks and made themselves comfortable while awaiting the attentions of the powers-that-be. Homer began humming a Bach string quartet, which his multitudinous vocal chords could reproduce with astonishing fidelity.
    Kiril sat in a chaise longue, feeling its softness yield perfectly to every angle of her still-bony body. The effect was unsettling, but she was sure that she could get to like it, given continued proximity.
    A door opened and a man in civilian clothes bearing the badge of the Diplomatic Corps entered. He was short, fat, and gray-haired, and he smiled benignly as he offered his hand to the skipper.
    "Ah, Captain HaLevy, welcome. I do apologize for the abrupt summons and the peremptory manner in which it was phrased. It was, however, a matter of state security. Ah, here is the admiral." Through another door came a taller man, broad and blocky, but carrying no surplus flesh. He wore a navy dress uniform, much plainer than the marine variety, with three silver comets blazing from each epaulet.
    "I'm Nagamitsu," he said without preamble. "You people will be the officers and crew of Space Angel?" He glanced quickly over them. "Of course you are. Your pictures were everywhere a while back. And I've seen this remarkable being ii i number of scientific functions." He smiled down at Homer.
    "Honored to make your acquaintance. Admiral," said the kipper, sounding as if she meant it.
    "Let's get down to business," said the admiral. "This gentleman is the honorable Winston Pierce of the Diplomatic Corps. Mr. Pierce, perhaps you had better begin."
    "Well, ah, it seems that we are in for exciting times. First, a short while back the Space Angel returned from her unprecedented voyage to the center of the galaxy, in the process of which was proven once and for all that other intelligent life exists within our galaxy. Now, it seems, other Earth spacers have arrived at a similar discovery independently."
    Everyone sat up straighter. Their own voyage had been involuntary; accomplished under the control of an unimaginably powerful being that took them far beyond the areas explored by humans. Intelligent aliens had never before been encountered in human-occupied space.
    "Last year a merchant vessel, scouting new areas for exploitation, encountered an alien settlement. It was inhabited by a large colony of intelligent creatures. In accordance with Rule One, passed more than a century ago, he did not attempt communication, but restricted himself to taking images and readings, and refrained from any action which might be misinterpreted as