Read Online Adapt and Overcome (The Maxwell Saga) by Peter Grant - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Peter Grant
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throttle.
“After about half a kilometer, the plascrete ends and the road becomes hard-packed dirt. It’s pretty rough and rutted – it’s just a farm road. We go about five clicks until we reach a grove of trees at the foot of a ridge. We’ll leave the truck there, in the shade.”
“OK.”
“Go on about the orphanage.”
“I was lucky to end up at St. Anselm’s. It had a really rigorous academic program with very high standards, and only kids who tested as particularly bright were sent there. The brothers encouraged all of us to do more than the required minimum, and as soon as we reached our teens they offered us access to college-level courses through another Church institution. By the time I graduated high school I also had half a Bachelor of Science degree under my belt.”
“You were very lucky. My school education was nowhere near as complete, or as challenging.”
“Yeah. That helped me a lot when I joined the Fleet – but I’m getting ahead of myself.” Steve stopped talking for a moment as he negotiated the turn at the foot of the off-ramp, then headed towards the foothills of the mountains in the distance. “I was stuck on Old Home Earth, in a society riddled with competing bureaucracies, where individuals had to conform or be frozen out of anything worthwhile. I wanted to get the hell away from there, and the only way I could see to do so was to become a merchant spacer and earn my way to someplace better.”
He explained how, after several months, he’d landed a merchant spacer apprentice berth aboard the Lancastrian freighter Sebastian Cabot, with the help of her Bosun, Vince Cardle, who went on to become a father figure to him. His face and voice turned somber as he described Vince’s death at the hands of pirates, eighteen months later. He left out details of his encounters with the Dragon Tong, before and since. He’d never shared them with anyone in the Fleet – not even Brooks. There was too much risk of being tarred with the Tong’s fearsome reputation.
“So that’s how it was,” he concluded as the truck bounced slowly down the uneven farm road. “I enlisted eight and a half years ago, served a four-year term under the Foreign Service Program to earn Commonwealth citizenship, then applied for a commission. I ’ll be promoted to Senior Lieutenant when the mid-year promotion signal takes effect on the first of July, at the same time you’re advanced to First Lieutenant.”
She nodded slowly. “I know you’ve skipped over a lot during your Fleet career. Brooks has talked about you a couple of times. He says you’re the best Spacer officer he’s ever encountered, and it’s thanks to you he earned his first prize money at Midrash. Apparently it was quite a substantial award.”
Steve grinned. “It was – we found smuggled rhodium aboard a big freighter, and the total Prize Court proceeds were very nice indeed.” He didn’t add that Brooks had received over four hundred thousand credits, while Steve had earned twice that sum as a member of the team that had made the actual discovery. “I was shot during the fight that led to the confiscation, so the prospect of all that money helped to speed my healing! Brooks is the best Marine officer with whom I’ve ever served. We’re very close friends, and have been ever since we were roommates at Officer Candidate School. I guess he’s become the brother I never had.”
She smiled, teeth flashing white against her darker skin. “I’m glad for both of you. I haven’t had any luck with prize money so far, but I live in hope. It would help a lot with some plans I have for the future.” She gestured ahead. “There are the trees I mentioned. You’ll see a faint track leading off the road into them. There’s a little glade out of sight of the road where we can park. Your truck should be quite safe while we’re gone.”
“I’m sure it will. There hasn’t been any other traffic since we turned off the highway.”
He
“After about half a kilometer, the plascrete ends and the road becomes hard-packed dirt. It’s pretty rough and rutted – it’s just a farm road. We go about five clicks until we reach a grove of trees at the foot of a ridge. We’ll leave the truck there, in the shade.”
“OK.”
“Go on about the orphanage.”
“I was lucky to end up at St. Anselm’s. It had a really rigorous academic program with very high standards, and only kids who tested as particularly bright were sent there. The brothers encouraged all of us to do more than the required minimum, and as soon as we reached our teens they offered us access to college-level courses through another Church institution. By the time I graduated high school I also had half a Bachelor of Science degree under my belt.”
“You were very lucky. My school education was nowhere near as complete, or as challenging.”
“Yeah. That helped me a lot when I joined the Fleet – but I’m getting ahead of myself.” Steve stopped talking for a moment as he negotiated the turn at the foot of the off-ramp, then headed towards the foothills of the mountains in the distance. “I was stuck on Old Home Earth, in a society riddled with competing bureaucracies, where individuals had to conform or be frozen out of anything worthwhile. I wanted to get the hell away from there, and the only way I could see to do so was to become a merchant spacer and earn my way to someplace better.”
He explained how, after several months, he’d landed a merchant spacer apprentice berth aboard the Lancastrian freighter Sebastian Cabot, with the help of her Bosun, Vince Cardle, who went on to become a father figure to him. His face and voice turned somber as he described Vince’s death at the hands of pirates, eighteen months later. He left out details of his encounters with the Dragon Tong, before and since. He’d never shared them with anyone in the Fleet – not even Brooks. There was too much risk of being tarred with the Tong’s fearsome reputation.
“So that’s how it was,” he concluded as the truck bounced slowly down the uneven farm road. “I enlisted eight and a half years ago, served a four-year term under the Foreign Service Program to earn Commonwealth citizenship, then applied for a commission. I ’ll be promoted to Senior Lieutenant when the mid-year promotion signal takes effect on the first of July, at the same time you’re advanced to First Lieutenant.”
She nodded slowly. “I know you’ve skipped over a lot during your Fleet career. Brooks has talked about you a couple of times. He says you’re the best Spacer officer he’s ever encountered, and it’s thanks to you he earned his first prize money at Midrash. Apparently it was quite a substantial award.”
Steve grinned. “It was – we found smuggled rhodium aboard a big freighter, and the total Prize Court proceeds were very nice indeed.” He didn’t add that Brooks had received over four hundred thousand credits, while Steve had earned twice that sum as a member of the team that had made the actual discovery. “I was shot during the fight that led to the confiscation, so the prospect of all that money helped to speed my healing! Brooks is the best Marine officer with whom I’ve ever served. We’re very close friends, and have been ever since we were roommates at Officer Candidate School. I guess he’s become the brother I never had.”
She smiled, teeth flashing white against her darker skin. “I’m glad for both of you. I haven’t had any luck with prize money so far, but I live in hope. It would help a lot with some plans I have for the future.” She gestured ahead. “There are the trees I mentioned. You’ll see a faint track leading off the road into them. There’s a little glade out of sight of the road where we can park. Your truck should be quite safe while we’re gone.”
“I’m sure it will. There hasn’t been any other traffic since we turned off the highway.”
He
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