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"The Doc said get your suits on," Wendell said, "and instead you're in here
listening to music. Get moving."
"Oh, yes, sir," Matt replied, putting on a high-pitched wheedling voice,
"anything you say, sir."
Matt made a big show of disconnecting from the floor, then, while floating up,
he slid his feet into the suit and after slowly bouncing off the ceiling he
slid his arms in and zipped it shut. Turning end over end he came back to his
feet and extended his hands like a circus acrobat.
"Cut the child's play, Everett, this is serious," Wendell snapped.
"Oh but it is serious, though nothing to be afraid of."
"Are you implying I'm afraid?"
"Why, no such thing, old man, not at all."
Wendell stepped closer to Matt.
"If you're calling me a coward, wise-ass, then have die guts to do it straight
out. Typical off-worlder, a coward just like your buddies who took that ship."
Matt stopped grinning.
"First of all, stupid, they're not cowards."
Justin groaned, half-tempted to simply clobber his friend.
"Sneaking up and stealing a Fleet ship. MacKenzie was right, they're no better
than pirates and deserve execution."
"We don't know the whole story," Matt shot back. "There might have been a
justifiable reason for taking that ship."
"Remember what Thorsson said," Justin tried to interject, "no accusing or
arguing about"
Matt put a hand out and pushed Justin aside.
"And another thing. If you wanna talk about executing you better be ready to
do something about it.
There might be friends of mine in that group and no one talks about killing a
friend of mine and gets away with it. Death comes too easy out in space as
is," Matt hesitated for an instant and then forged ahead, "especially when
folks are given cheap equipment and then sent out to die. That's damn close to
murder as far as I'm concerned."
"Hey, what the hell is going on in here?"
The group looked up to see Senior Cadet Petronovich in the doorway, hands
resting on hips.
"Turn that damn music down!"
Leonov, who was closest to the computer, leaned back and hit the switch to
shut it down.
"Now I want a straight answer what gives in here? You could hear shouting
half-way down the corridor."
"Oh, nothing, sir," Madison quickly interjected. "Everett here was just
telling one of his jokes."
Petronovich eyed her suspiciously. His gaze fell on Colson.
"Mr. Colson, is that true?"
Wendell hesitated for a moment. There was the code, of course, but the mere
fact that he hesitated almost seemed to Justin to be a violation in and of
itself. "Just a joke, sir," he finally replied coldly.
"All of you are on report, double watch tonight for skylarking around when you
should be checking out your safety gear. I want everyone in here suited up in
five minutes flat and ready for inspection."
He turned and walked away.
"Thanks a lot," Wendell hissed, "my first punishment detail ever thanks to
you."
"No problem at all," Matt replied with a smile.
"Enter."
Page 54
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Justin slipped the door open, moving a bit clumsily due to his anti-radiation
suit. MacKenzie was at his computer, the screen displaying a mass of static.
Without waiting for orders Justin snapped the dinner on the table and stepped
back.
MacKenzie finally stirred and looked up.
"We are cut off, Mr. Bell."
"Sir?"
MacKenzie pointed at the computer. "Totally cut off. Ever read Coleridge,
cadet?"
"My grandfather read some to me."
'Alone, alone, all alone, alone on a windswept sea,' " MacKenzie intoned
somberly. "Like the ancient days at sea. From the moment you weighed anchor
till the chain rattled back down a captain was alone, the deck of his ship the
entire span of the universe he controlled. Not like today, with some
fat-butted bureaucrat of an admiral barking orders at you from seventy-five
million kilometers away. He, safe in his office on Earth, most likely never
stood a watch alone a hundred million kilometers from home. Never stood alone"
His voice trailed off.
Justin waited, knowing better than to stir or offer a comment in return.
"This is as it was, as it should be," MacKenzie said softly. "Forty years I've
served, only as captain of a light cruiser, but still I served loyally while
others far more glib and far better connected maneuvered behind me, gaining
the rights and power that should be mine. But here here I am the power as it
was and as it should be."
Sighing, he stood up and slowly moved to the table, walking as if his
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