Read Third World for Free Online Page B

Faber.”
    The girl was in Faber’s lap, he was
seated on the toilet and she giggled and nuzzled up to his
neck.
    Faber said something Newton didn’t
catch and she squeaked and clambered off of him. Thankfully she at
least still had her pajamas on or it might have gone worse for
Faber—all of them, really, especially Newton himself.
    She scuttled out of the bathroom, head
down and face flaming with either indignation or embarrassment,
Newton didn’t much care which.
    “ Mister Faber?”
    “ Ah. Yes, sir.” Faber came
out into the room and stood at attention, a bottle of cheap whiskey
still hanging from his hand.
    His tunic was open at the neck, a minor
infraction by any standards.
    “ The party’s over, Mister
Faber.”
    “ Yes, sir.”
    “ Get this place cleaned up.
Lights out in five minutes. You are all confined to your personal
quarters until further notice unless you are on duty, in the dining
room, the pool, or transiting the hallways. Or until I say so. Is
that understood?”
    There was a chorus of muted responses.
He impaled Faber with a glance, noting the wilt and the inability
to look him in the eye. On the plus side, it was a good time to
establish his authority over them and he exploited it to the
hilt.
    “ Who’s missing?”
    “ Pardon?”
    “ You heard me.”
    “ Oh, ah…”
    “ Never mind.” Finally Faber
met his eyes, shame-faced. “I’m sorry, sir.”
    Newton was tempted to tell him that he
was a liar, but that was no way to go about it.
    “ Report to me in ten
minutes, Mister Faber.” Newton should have been angrier, as it was,
he just felt disappointment and a little sick to his
stomach.
    He made one more
announcement.
    “ I suppose I should have
made my wishes more clear. However, no harm done. Ladies and
gentlemen, you are here, on duty, and this is not a vacation. You
will behave in a manner calculated to reflect well on your uniform
and our Service.”
    You could have heard a pin
drop.
    “ That will be all, ladies
and gentlemen.”
    He turned and stalked out of the room.
He had the presence of mind not to slam the door or anything as the
hotel had other guests and it would have been superfluous as well
as rude.
    What the hell did he expect from them?
He wondered if he was taking it too seriously.
    Self-control was paramount in command
functions. There was still the trooper in the hall.
    She stood there at attention in her
pajamas. Without speaking, he pointed down the hall to her
quarters. She saluted and departed with one quick backward
look.
    He couldn’t even remember her first
name.
    For the moment, he couldn’t quite
recall where he had been going when all of this started.
    A stiff drink preyed on his mind.
Should he or shouldn’t he?
    The memory of blonde Jillian Marlowe,
one of the prettiest girls on the ship, and Wilfred Hatcher,
engaged in heavy petting on the biggest chair in the room lingered.
Deep inside he had to acknowledge some masculine jealousy.
Objectivity was the best trait of a commander and he took a deep
breath. It was none of his business, and yet something screamed
inside of him.
    He definitely needed that
drink.
    Technically, they were all off-duty for
the sleep-cycle, yet standards must be kept. He’d never really
understood what that meant before.
    Newton went looking for the Ensign with
some trepidation, praying like hell she had more sense. When he
knocked on her door, it was with some gratitude that he heard her
voice, muffled by the thick wooden door. When the door opened, she
stood there in a long flannel nightgown, not that it did much to
hide her good looks. Her disheveled hair detracted nothing from her
feminine attraction, another thing which sort of ate at his guts
from time to time.
    The Service was hell, and everybody
said that.
    “ I’m so sorry to disturb
you, but would you throw something on and report to my room
please?”
    The look of confusion on her face, and
the straightening up, and her sketchy salute did nothing to