Read Transplant for Free Online Page B

around us can be seen. It is a wonderful sight, and changes slightly each time I visit. We do not have any star maps, so it is not possible to work out where we are, but the ship knows, or so we are informed.
    It will be many generations into the future before we reach our destination, something I shall never see, as the distance to the nearest sun with a possible habitable planet is so vast.
    I would very much like to visit the power plant which drives the ship, but every time I try to engage Teacher on the subject, it is evasive and says that I do not need to know about it, or that it is a dangerous area.
    The latest riposte to my more subtle enquiries on the subject elected a response which surprised me somewhat, being: ‘You have asked this question in one form or another several times, and the answer remains the same, you are not allowed in that area.’
    I began to wonder if Teacher was human after all!’
    Glyn read on, each page revealing a little more about the attitudes of the ship’s members at that time towards the project and their hopes and aspirations for the future.
    Realizing that he had spent a little more time in the book room than he had intended, he carefully noted the page number he had reached and replaced the diary on the end of the top shelf where he had found it, resolving to return at the next possible opportunity.
    Returning to his cabin, he found Mia in a state of great excitement.
    ‘Arki has worked it out that we are the most likely couple to be allowed to have a child, now that Bolin has gone, what do you think of that?’
    ‘I’m delighted of course, but it seems a pity that we had to lose Bolin in order for this to happen.’
    ‘But we would have to lose somebody before I could conceive, so what does it matter?’
    ‘Looked at like that, I don’t suppose it does matter, it was just the way we lost him that hurts.’
    Glyn decided to let the matter drop, as in his opinion, Mia’s view of things always seemed a little superficial to him, and it wasn’t worth the trouble to try and explain how he felt.
    He changed the subject by trying to interest Mia in his discovery in the book room, but she showed little more than polite interest, so the conversation died as it usually did on matters other than the more mundane happenings on board the ship.
    Mia wouldn’t have been his natural choice for a mate, but as they had been allotted to each other on the basis of the correct mixing of genes with regard to their offspring, he accepted the inevitable, but he would have preferred someone with a little more spark and curiosity. Apart from that one fault, as he saw it, she was the perfect companion, and always ready to support and comfort him when needed.
    It was time for their evening meal break, and Glyn and Mia joined the others as they gathered in the eating room, chatting lightly among themselves, although the topic of Bolin’s misfortune was noticeably absent.
    The food appeared as always, the usual comments accompanying each dish as it slid through the hatchway, but somehow the sting had gone out of the ribald remarks reserved for the culinary delights of the mechanical chef. Bolin’s demise was having a far greater effect than was apparent on the surface of things.
    By the time the fruit and berry stage of the meal had been reached, the conversation had dwindled to the occasional acknowledgement as the fruit bowl was passed around and the odd muttered curse as someone bit into the stone at the heart of the fruit they were eating, their attention not being fully on what they were doing. Bolin was going to be missed by many for some time to come.
    The usual soft ‘ping’ heralding an announcement from the Captain took everyone’s attention, and all turned towards the screen above the hatchway where the spoken words would also be displayed for all to read. There was little chance of a verbal being misinterpreted that way.
    ‘After the meal break, Glyn and Mia will go to the Medic’s