Read The Void for Free Online

laughed. The second time, she cried. No one ever got a third chance. There was too much riding on it, too much chance of doing horrible, terrible things. To kill and to maim. Only the strongest minds could handle the dreams and even some of them cracked.
    She could have joined the Merchant Marine. The transport ships that went back and forth across the system and beyond had standards that were lower, and the cargo ferries that never left solar orbit were even less demanding. But that wasn't for her. It was to be the Navy or nothing.
    So when her dream died, she found others and into them she poured her spirit and her soul and everything she had. But always, the regret. Still, she was here now and even though it scared her a little, staring out through her own reflection over that great, blue sphere . . . it was a dream come true.
    And yet, something was off about this dream.
    She felt it creep over her, a feeling that she was not alone. That she was being watched. She had felt it before but now it was palpable. So when she turned and found a man standing behind her, she shouldn't have been surprised. It didn't stop her from issuing the smallest of startled yelps.
    He had been watching her for several minutes. She was the one who concerned him the most.
    “Oh, I'm sorry,” he said, raising his arms to show he meant no harm. “I felt I was going to startle you but I couldn't think of any way to let you know I was here without doing it.”
    “That's alright,” she said. It wasn't a lie, not like it normally would be. There was something soothing in the way he spoke.
    “I'm Dr. Ridley,” he said, taking her hand. “Ship's physician.”
    “That explained it,” she thought.
    “You mean shrink.”
    There was a moment of awkward silence but then she grinned and he laughed, albeit uncomfortably.
    “Yes,” he said, taking a seat at a nearby table, “I guess you could say that. Though people are rarely so direct. Sometimes I think they'd rather just accept the fiction and move on.”
    “I prefer to know what I'm getting myself into,” Rebecca said.
    “In that we can agree. What brings you to our ship?”
    “Passenger,” she said, as vaguely as possible. But the doctor was here to pry. Of that she was certain. Or perhaps he simply could not take a hint.
    “Ah, to Riley? Not exactly a popular destination.”
    “No,” she said, “but this is not a vacation.”
    “Seems like your business would’ve provided you better accommodations.”
    “Are you always this inquisitive, Dr. Ridley?”
    “Actually,” he said, standing, “yes. That's my job.”
    “Well, my business prefers to save money when it can and there aren't exactly a lot of passenger ships that service Riley. It was this or a charter. A charter to Riley would have been . . .”
    “Considerably more expensive,” Ridley said, sauntering to the window. “Beautiful, isn't she?”
    “Absolutely,” Kensington said as she walked over and stood beside him. Ridley looked at their reflections in the glass and was disconcerted to learn that she was taller than him.
    “So I've read your file.”
    He got the reaction he expected. Kensington jerked her head around and glared at him, open-mouthed. In an instant the look was gone and had he not been watching, it would have been easy to miss. Still, she cursed herself for the weakness, in spite of all her training, particularly as she knew he had noticed.
    “I'm glad to know you are on top of things.”
    “Yes, well, it’s one of the less pleasant aspects of my job.” Dr. Ridley looked down at his feet and rocked back and forth on his heels. Repose was a trait he lacked and he was always fidgeting, one way or another. It was a habit his mother had tried—and failed—to break.
    “Imagine that.”
    Kensington looked straight ahead. Dr. Ridley scared her, in the way that people of his ilk always had. She had drunk her fill of them, back when she was only a child. During the testing. When the decisions and