Read Online Star Watch by Mark Wayne McGinnis - Free Book Online

you, Captain … I will continue to work on this issue … I promise, it will be resolved—”
    Jason cut Granger off mid-sentence: “We will be leaving Jefferson Station as soon as an interchange wormhole can be called up. Ricket, you have the coordinates to Trom in the Alchieves system. I expect this mess to be cleaned up by the time I return.” Jason spun around to see Boomer sitting wide-eyed in the command chair. “Come on, Boomer … we need to get you situated.”

Chapter 9
     
    Sol System
    The Minian , Open Space – Near Jefferson Station
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    With Boomer doing her best to keep up with her dad, she and Jason found Jack lumbering along, using a long mop handle to steer a rolling bucket in between the fifteenth row of habitats, deep within the Minian ’s Zoo. Jason interrupted the old caretaker’s duties to let him know he’d be responsible, as he’d once been on The Lilly , for Boomer’s care—a minimum of several hours every day.
    Looking around her surroundings, Boomer couldn’t remember the last time she’d been this excited. She listened as Jack balked at the request, exclaiming how little time he had to babysit her, but Boomer, unoffended, knew Jack was only being Jack … grumpy. She knew that Jack was actually quite fond of her—liked her company. From what she’d already seen of the Minian ’s Zoo, he’d need her help. She figured it was easily ten times the size of The Lilly ’s Zoo. And though the same habitats once accessible from The Lilly were here as well, there were hundreds of others she’d yet to have an opportunity to explore.
    Her father hurried off to other duties on the ship’s bridge, leaving Boomer with Jack. Attending to something, she wasn’t sure what, Jack left with his mop and bucket. There are droids far better suited for these types of chores , she thought … but Jack wasn’t big on technology. She slopped the end of the mop onto the deck, half-heartedly dragging it back and forth, then dunked it back into the bucket. She was having trouble keeping her attention on the boring job at hand. Up ahead was a section cordoned off with what looked like strung yellow tape like she’d seen on TV—where a murder had taken place. She pushed the long mop handle forward, steering the bucket to an open habitat. The common transparent portal window was, surprisingly, deactivated—allowing her to take a step into another world. A warm breeze touched her cheeks and she heard the sounds of small insects, no more than a few feet away. But something wasn’t right. In all the hours spent working around the habitats she’d never found a portal left open. She was well aware of environmental contamination concerns—both for the Minian as well as the Zoo. The access panel to the left of the portal was blinking with a series of red lights. Boomer’s heart rate elevated and she debated if she should call out to Jack. But there was something familiar about the habitat’s otherworldliness—the humid air, dense tropical trees, and the thick foliage. She turned and looked back at the seemingly empty Zoo corridor behind her and, coming to a quick decision, stepped further into the habitat. It all looked familiar.
    Ten feet to her front was a dense wall of ferns, taller than she was. About to turn away and return to the Zoo, a distant noise caught her attention. There was a rustling off in the distance, deep in the overgrown foliage. Birds screeched and took flight all around. Suddenly, an animal burst into the open and Boomer only had time to see something big and black barreling down on her. Paralyzed, she stood immobilized as it leapt for her. Bowled over onto the ground, her face was slathered by a giant blue tongue.
    Boomer laughed with delight as the six-legged drog licked her face, making yippy, excited, whining sounds.
    Boomer yelled, “Alice! Stop … licking … me!”
    With that, the drog leapt off her, running around in circles—going right then darting