Starquake.pdf

"But your eyes ..." Steel-Slicer protested.
"I am captain of this jumpcraft," Light-Streak responded, "and I will be the last one off her."
"Of course," said Steel-Slicer. "My apologies. You take the end of the safety line then." Having had
plenty of low gravity experience, he bunched one half of his tread around a fixture, used that purchase to
slap the other half on the deck, and somersaulted from one ship to the other. Using his four remaining
eyes, Light-Streak watched the performance with amazement.
With the admiral gone from the deck, Light-Streak was cut off from conversation. He looked up at the
admiral and Slippery-Wing on the curved deck above him. The admiral was pulling insistently on the
safety line, while Slippery-Wing was gesturing to him and curling up the edges of her tread. Then
Light-Streak finally let loose his tread from the deck and felt himself being drawn upward to safety on the
overcrowded deck.
Admiral Steel-Slicer flowed into the jammed control deck of the scout ship and slid in back of the busy
scout ship pilot.
"Am I late for the warpfeast?" he asked.
"Admiral Hohmann-Transfer commandeered all the food." One of Far-Ranger's eyes gave a slow wink.
"But I saved a few bags of West Pole Double-Distilled." She touched the screen under her tread, and the
scout ship shot up into the black of space.
"You sure look good in that new body," whispered Far-Ranger.
"I could say the same about you," he whispered back.
"Somebody is going to have to go out and take the bad news to the rest of the exploration fleet," she
said. "And since I have the only scout ship at Egg, it looks like it's my job. I can't take my regular crew.
The journey will take too long and they are too old. Know anything about navigation?"
"When I was a cadet I could outnavigate anyone," Steel-Slicer replied.
"We'll see," said Far-Ranger.
06:58:07.2 GMT TUESDAY 21 JUNE2050
"I don't see how things could be any more disastrous," said Admiral Hohmann-Transfer as she started
off the meeting in the main meeting room. It was just after turnfeast, and Cliff-Web was still sucking on a
Tiny Shell, trying to get the last morsel out from the spiral cavity. The commander had immediately
ordered half-rations when she heard they had been marooned in space.
"We first have a report from Captain Fixed-Star, Space Operations, East," Hohmann-Transfer
announced. An aging captain moved to the speaker's treadle and activated a display on everyone's taste
screen.