bag into the storage bin. "Ah, a net! Darn good to be sleeping the way normal people do. Chow smells good, better than Uncle Dan's hash, that's for certain."
"This three aft?"
Justin saw Tanya floating in the doorway.
"You got it," Matt confirmed. "Now don't tell me you're our roomie ?"
Tanya rolled her eyes. "Yeah, co-ed arrangements on this flight." Sighing, she came into the room and stowed her gear. Matt looked over at Justin and smirked.
Tanya turned her head and caught his expression.
"Now listen, you two. Just because we're rooming, no funny business. First of all, it's against the regs and second well, second I'm not interested in either of you."
"Oh, I am crushed," Matt wailed. "You have shattered my heart, Leonov dear. I think I'll go space myself."
Matt doubled over with laughter as Tanya shoved him; he tumbled off his feet and bounced off the wall. Rebounding and still laughing he grabbed hold of a sleeping net, braked his flight and settled back down onto the floor.
"Hey, guess I'm with you guys."
Justin forgot the hurt he didn't want to show, and grinned as Madison Smith came into the room, her bright cheery smile lighting her dark features.
"Good, now it's two to two," Leonov announced, and the girls slapped each other's hands.
" Madison, how are things in Company B?" Matt asked. "Kind of missed your not being with the old crew from summer."
"Our senior, Arika Yagamaru what a terror! Just twitch on evening parade and it's down on the deck and give her fifty. In low gravity she'll sit on your back while you do them. Jeez, wish I was back withSeay ."
"No, you don't," Matt interjected. "Justin and I here thought we had it made, doing the jump with him. All buddy-buddy on the way down, even on the ride home. Back aboard the Academy though, look out! Justin here called him Brian just once, no one around but the three of us, and look out Aunt Thelma Seay had him pull double watch."
The four fell into an argument about whose senior was worse until the shrill cry of the bosun's pipe sounded in the room's loudspeaker. An old-style flat computer screen winked to life on the far wall, showing Petronovich .
"All hands forward for reading of orders and departure."
Justin followed the crush out into the corridor. Some officers would mete out an onerous task to the last one to report and no one wanted to be last on the first day of a cruise.
Swept along by the jostling crowd, he floated forward past the galley, supplies storage rooms, and finally into the rec room just aft of the forward control center. The room quickly filled up, cadets jockeying for position. Justin looked around and was intrigued by the ship's design. All the floor arrangements were laid out on the long axis of the ship. He suddenly realized that when the main engines fired the artificial gravity would make the aft bulkhead walls the "floor" while the floor, when the ship was in zero gravity, would be a "wall." A moment's thought told him that it was done this way to maximize space inside a long narrow swept-back ship, permitting larger rooms rather than a number of small circular decks stacked one on top of another for the two hundred foot length of the ship.
"Ship's company attenshun "
Justin snapped to attention, making sure to keep both feet on the floor. The room was silent, expectant. The door forward, which led up to the flight controls, combat information center, and the distant stratosphere of officers quarters opened. First out was an elderly officer, face florid, hair nearly white, wearing the green tabs of a flight surgeon. Two more officers followed, one of them male, short, rotund, and dark-faced, the other a tall young woman who appeared to be barely out of the Academy. Both of them wore the coveted gold wings above their left breast pockets that designated them as fully qualified pilots. They cleared the door, stepped to the right of the entry and came to attention.
Last through was a stone-faced man, black hair going
"This three aft?"
Justin saw Tanya floating in the doorway.
"You got it," Matt confirmed. "Now don't tell me you're our roomie ?"
Tanya rolled her eyes. "Yeah, co-ed arrangements on this flight." Sighing, she came into the room and stowed her gear. Matt looked over at Justin and smirked.
Tanya turned her head and caught his expression.
"Now listen, you two. Just because we're rooming, no funny business. First of all, it's against the regs and second well, second I'm not interested in either of you."
"Oh, I am crushed," Matt wailed. "You have shattered my heart, Leonov dear. I think I'll go space myself."
Matt doubled over with laughter as Tanya shoved him; he tumbled off his feet and bounced off the wall. Rebounding and still laughing he grabbed hold of a sleeping net, braked his flight and settled back down onto the floor.
"Hey, guess I'm with you guys."
Justin forgot the hurt he didn't want to show, and grinned as Madison Smith came into the room, her bright cheery smile lighting her dark features.
"Good, now it's two to two," Leonov announced, and the girls slapped each other's hands.
" Madison, how are things in Company B?" Matt asked. "Kind of missed your not being with the old crew from summer."
"Our senior, Arika Yagamaru what a terror! Just twitch on evening parade and it's down on the deck and give her fifty. In low gravity she'll sit on your back while you do them. Jeez, wish I was back withSeay ."
"No, you don't," Matt interjected. "Justin and I here thought we had it made, doing the jump with him. All buddy-buddy on the way down, even on the ride home. Back aboard the Academy though, look out! Justin here called him Brian just once, no one around but the three of us, and look out Aunt Thelma Seay had him pull double watch."
The four fell into an argument about whose senior was worse until the shrill cry of the bosun's pipe sounded in the room's loudspeaker. An old-style flat computer screen winked to life on the far wall, showing Petronovich .
"All hands forward for reading of orders and departure."
Justin followed the crush out into the corridor. Some officers would mete out an onerous task to the last one to report and no one wanted to be last on the first day of a cruise.
Swept along by the jostling crowd, he floated forward past the galley, supplies storage rooms, and finally into the rec room just aft of the forward control center. The room quickly filled up, cadets jockeying for position. Justin looked around and was intrigued by the ship's design. All the floor arrangements were laid out on the long axis of the ship. He suddenly realized that when the main engines fired the artificial gravity would make the aft bulkhead walls the "floor" while the floor, when the ship was in zero gravity, would be a "wall." A moment's thought told him that it was done this way to maximize space inside a long narrow swept-back ship, permitting larger rooms rather than a number of small circular decks stacked one on top of another for the two hundred foot length of the ship.
"Ship's company attenshun "
Justin snapped to attention, making sure to keep both feet on the floor. The room was silent, expectant. The door forward, which led up to the flight controls, combat information center, and the distant stratosphere of officers quarters opened. First out was an elderly officer, face florid, hair nearly white, wearing the green tabs of a flight surgeon. Two more officers followed, one of them male, short, rotund, and dark-faced, the other a tall young woman who appeared to be barely out of the Academy. Both of them wore the coveted gold wings above their left breast pockets that designated them as fully qualified pilots. They cleared the door, stepped to the right of the entry and came to attention.
Last through was a stone-faced man, black hair going
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