Read McCollum - GIBRALTAR STARS for Free Online Page B

atmosphere sealant. Thick black cables suspended from the ceiling carried power to the widespread overhead lamps. They paralleled smaller cables that glowed with the soft violet color of shortwave lasers transporting data and communications. The corridor smelled of still-curing plastic.
    Ensign Foxworth led them to an emergency airlock door with the words “BASE COMMANDER” emblazoned on its otherwise dull surface. The door was of local manufacture, cast from iron ore mined and smelted a few kilometers from the base. The sign was redundant. The presence of two alert Marines with sidearms was sufficient to identify the inhabitant of this particular office.
    Foxworth pushed open the door. Inside was a small office dominated by a desk occupied by a decorative blonde in the uniform of a spacer-second. Besides the regulation work station in front of her and the intercom unit, the only other article in the spartan office was a large green plant with broad leaves sprouting from a yellow plastic bucket. A pair of sun lamps anchored to the overhead shone down on the plant, providing the office’s illumination.
     “Lieutenant Commander Rykand and Lieutenant Rykand to see the Admiral,” the ensign announced.
    “Yes, sir.” The assistant pressed a key on the intercom and repeated the information.
     “Send them in,” a familiar voice answered in response.
    “You can go in now.”
    “Thanks,” Mark answered. The closed door before him was a simple cast iron slab mounted on hinges and latched in the traditional manner. Mark pulled the door open, surprised at the inertia of it.
    Beyond was the inner sanctum. It was the typical hollowed-out gallery. The bare walls were decorated with paintings rendered on dull mirror sheets of cryo insulation stretched over metal frames. Most were of terrestrial scenes.
     “Mark, Lisa, welcome back!” Admiral Daniel Landon said, moving from behind his desk to greet them. He shook both of their hands and ushered them toward a side table where sat two large shiny pots. “Have some refreshments. Coffee or tea, as you like.”
    “Coffee, sir? Tea?” Lisa asked, slightly bewildered “Won’t you run short?”
    “That’s right, you two have been away for awhile,” Landon said with a chuckle. “Not to worry. A bulk freighter came in last month loaded with delicacies. Apparently, the Navy realized that we have been getting sick of carniculture and hydroponics. Not only coffee, but sugar! You’ll find the mess hall has all manner of delicacies now. Hell, we even have two kinds of muffins for breakfast.”
    Mark poured himself a black coffee and Lisa a cup of tea to which he added two white sugar cubes. The coffee smell caused his mouth to water, it had been so long. The cups were low gravity models, round bottoms with high, inward sloping sides — a compromise between true cups and the sealed bulbs they drank from aboard ship.
    Mark carried the drinks to the Admiral’s desk, set them down on the polished metal surface, then sat down in the second visitor’s chair. Lisa had already settled into the first. Cautiously, to avoid spillage, they each took a sip of steaming liquid. Somehow, the moment made all of the months of fear and boredom worth it.
    The admiral resumed his seat and watched them, smiling like a beneficent father.
     “Damn it’s good to see the two of you again. What has it been? Three months?”
    “Nearly four, sir,” Lisa replied.
    “Hard mission?”
    “No, Admiral. Just long. There’s a certain amount of excitement with each jump through the gates. You don’t know what you are going to run into in the next system and that gets the adrenaline flowing. It dissipates pretty quickly when the new system turns out to look just like the old, save for the color of the star. The first few hours after a jump are busy, while we locate the ecliptic and the system’s planets, get the eavesdropping equipment up and running, check the database to see if we can identify the