have some lunch with me and you can show me the various points of interest.
Right now, if I were you, I'd get some more rest. You don't look good, you know."
I didn't even tell him to please turn off that awful churning wake that still surrounded us at every hand.
I cursed feebly to myself.
I was walking out that (bleeped) door just like that (bleeped) time-sight had shown—shoulders slumped and all caved in!
Chapter 5
As noon approached, I felt infinitely improved. We had come down out of time drive smoothly. We were now on auxiliaries, barely running. I had had a marvelous long sleep and as seventy-six hours had now passed since I had taken that (bleeping) speed, it was out of my bloodstream.
I had watched some Homeview comedies in the crew's salon and had even had a dice game with one of the engineers—he had lost half a credit to me.
But what made it really good was Stabb. He had seated himself in the captain's chair and when the dice game was over, he put his huge mouth near my ear. He whispered, "I been watching you, Officer Gris, and if I read the signs right, we're going to get a crack at that (bleeping) (bleepard) Royal officer, ain't we?"
I felt good enough to be witty. I whispered back, "I heard you very extinctly."
He laughed. It's a bit awesome to see an Antimanco laugh: their mouths and teeth are so big in proportion to their triangular faces. It was an uproarious laugh. In
fact, it was the first time any of them had laughed and it so startled the off-duty pilot that he burst in to see if something was wrong.
The captain whispered to him and he whispered to the off-duty engineer and they both went off to whisper to their mates and very shortly there was a lot of pleased laughing in the forward end of the ship.
Captain Stabb took me by the hand as I was leaving. "Officer Gris, you're all right! My Gods, Officer Gris, you're all right!"
So when I went back to have lunch with Heller, I was feeling great.
Heller was in the upper lounge. He had laid out a tray of sparklewater and sweetbuns and he waved me to a seat.
He had the starboard viewscreens on to see the exterior view. We were hanging in the sun, five hundred miles above our base, just a hundred miles inside the Van Allen belts. And there, way below, was Turkey!
The ship was really on its side. Spacers are crazy. They don't really care whether they are right side up or down. It was a bit disconcerting to me to have a vertical tray and sit on a vertical seat. It always makes me feel like I'll fall for sure. The gravity synthesizers of course take care of it all but nevertheless I was very careful with my canister. It is such moments that make me glad I am not a spacer!
Regardless, I felt good and I actually enjoyed the sparklewater. When I had finished my lunch, life looked pretty good. We had all but arrived, had not blown up and the gravity compensators had held.
I noticed Heller had out all the computer papers I had given him on Voltar and several books and charts. I also saw the "delete" notice which said Lombar had
removed all cultural and such material from the Earth data banks.
"I've been identifying these seas by local names," he said. "But you better verify them for me."
The day below was bright and almost cloudless. It was just past the middle of August in local seasons so it was somewhat dry and the only slight haze in some places was dust.
I was glad to know that he didn't know everything. "That sea at the bottom," I said, "below western Turkey, the bright blue one, is the Mediterranean. Just above Turkey there is the Black Sea—although as you can see for yourself, it isn't black. Over to your left, there, the one with all the little islands in it, is the Aegean Sea. And that little landlocked one in northwest Turkey, is the Sea of Marmara: that city you see at the top of it is Istanbul, once known as Byzantium and before that, Constantinople."
"Hey, you really know this place."
I was pleased. Yes, I really knew this
Right now, if I were you, I'd get some more rest. You don't look good, you know."
I didn't even tell him to please turn off that awful churning wake that still surrounded us at every hand.
I cursed feebly to myself.
I was walking out that (bleeped) door just like that (bleeped) time-sight had shown—shoulders slumped and all caved in!
Chapter 5
As noon approached, I felt infinitely improved. We had come down out of time drive smoothly. We were now on auxiliaries, barely running. I had had a marvelous long sleep and as seventy-six hours had now passed since I had taken that (bleeping) speed, it was out of my bloodstream.
I had watched some Homeview comedies in the crew's salon and had even had a dice game with one of the engineers—he had lost half a credit to me.
But what made it really good was Stabb. He had seated himself in the captain's chair and when the dice game was over, he put his huge mouth near my ear. He whispered, "I been watching you, Officer Gris, and if I read the signs right, we're going to get a crack at that (bleeping) (bleepard) Royal officer, ain't we?"
I felt good enough to be witty. I whispered back, "I heard you very extinctly."
He laughed. It's a bit awesome to see an Antimanco laugh: their mouths and teeth are so big in proportion to their triangular faces. It was an uproarious laugh. In
fact, it was the first time any of them had laughed and it so startled the off-duty pilot that he burst in to see if something was wrong.
The captain whispered to him and he whispered to the off-duty engineer and they both went off to whisper to their mates and very shortly there was a lot of pleased laughing in the forward end of the ship.
Captain Stabb took me by the hand as I was leaving. "Officer Gris, you're all right! My Gods, Officer Gris, you're all right!"
So when I went back to have lunch with Heller, I was feeling great.
Heller was in the upper lounge. He had laid out a tray of sparklewater and sweetbuns and he waved me to a seat.
He had the starboard viewscreens on to see the exterior view. We were hanging in the sun, five hundred miles above our base, just a hundred miles inside the Van Allen belts. And there, way below, was Turkey!
The ship was really on its side. Spacers are crazy. They don't really care whether they are right side up or down. It was a bit disconcerting to me to have a vertical tray and sit on a vertical seat. It always makes me feel like I'll fall for sure. The gravity synthesizers of course take care of it all but nevertheless I was very careful with my canister. It is such moments that make me glad I am not a spacer!
Regardless, I felt good and I actually enjoyed the sparklewater. When I had finished my lunch, life looked pretty good. We had all but arrived, had not blown up and the gravity compensators had held.
I noticed Heller had out all the computer papers I had given him on Voltar and several books and charts. I also saw the "delete" notice which said Lombar had
removed all cultural and such material from the Earth data banks.
"I've been identifying these seas by local names," he said. "But you better verify them for me."
The day below was bright and almost cloudless. It was just past the middle of August in local seasons so it was somewhat dry and the only slight haze in some places was dust.
I was glad to know that he didn't know everything. "That sea at the bottom," I said, "below western Turkey, the bright blue one, is the Mediterranean. Just above Turkey there is the Black Sea—although as you can see for yourself, it isn't black. Over to your left, there, the one with all the little islands in it, is the Aegean Sea. And that little landlocked one in northwest Turkey, is the Sea of Marmara: that city you see at the top of it is Istanbul, once known as Byzantium and before that, Constantinople."
"Hey, you really know this place."
I was pleased. Yes, I really knew this
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