Read Online The Man-Kzin Wars 01 by Larry Niven - Free Book Online Page A

ait a minute," she said. ” I 've been halfway on the alert for a chance to talk with you. Who does any more, except 'Pass the salt' at mess, that sort of thing? How lonesome you must be. ”
    He refrained from ineffectual resistance, continued to stare before him, and clipped, “ T hank you for your concern, but I manage. Kindly let go. ”
    “ L ook," she said, "we're supposed to be shipmates. It's a hell of an exciting adventure-C h rist, we're the first, the very first, in all this weird wonder but it's cold out, too, and doesn't care an atom's worth about human beings. I keep thinking how awful it must be, cut off from any friendship the way you are. Not that you've exactly encouraged us, but we could try harder. ”
    Now he did regard her. “ A re you inviting me to your bed?" he asked in the same tone as before .
    Slightly taken aback, she recovered, smiled, and replied, “ N o, I wasn't, but if it'll make you feel better we can have a go at it. ”
    “ O r make you feel better? I am not too isolated to have noticed that lately Pilot Yoshii has ceased visiting your cabin. Is Quartermaster Ryan insufficient? ”
    Carita's face went sulfur black. She dragged her fingers from him. “ M y mistake," she said. “ T he rest were right about you. Okay, you can take off. ”
    "with pleasure." He stalked out .
    She mumbled an oath, drew forth a cigar, lit and blew fumes that ran the ventilators and air renewers up to capacity. Calm returned after a while .
    She laughed ruefully. Ryan had told her more than once that she was too soft-hearted; and he was a man prone to fits of improvident generosity .
    She was about to go when Saxtorph's voice boomed from the intercom: “ A ttention, please. Got an announcement here that I'm sure will interest everybody .
    “ W e'll hold a conference in a few days, when more information is in. Then you can ask whatever questions you want. Meanwhile, I repeat my order, do not pester the science team. They're working around the clock and don't need distractions .
    “ H owever, Arthur Tregennis has given me a quick rundown on what's been learned so far, to pass on to you. Here it is, in my layman's language .
    Don't blame him for any garbling .
    “ T hey have a full analysis of the sun's composition, along with other characteristics. That wasn't too easy. For one thing, it's so cool that its peak emission frequency is in the radio band. Because the absorption and re-emission of the interstellar medium in between isn't properly known, we had to come here to get decent readings .
    “ T hey bear out what the prof and Laurinda thought. This sun isn't just metal-poor, it's metal-impoverished. No trace of any element heavier than iron, and little of that. Yes, you've all heard as how it must be very old, and has only stayed on the main sequence this long because it's such a feeble dwarf. But now they have a better idea of just how long 'this' has been .
    “ E stimated age, fifteen billion years. Our star is damn near as old as the universe .
    “ I t probably got slung out of its parent galaxy early on. In that many years you can cover a lot of kilometers. We're lucky that we meaning the human species-are alive while it's in our neighborhood .
    “ A nd ... in the teeth of expectations, it's got planets. Already the instruments are finding signs of oddities in them, no two alike, nothing we could have foreseen. Well, we'll be taking a close look. Stand by .
    Over. ”
    Carita sprang to her feet and cheered.
    Once when they were young bucks, chance-met, beachcombing together in the Islands, Kam Ryan and Bob Saxtorph acquired a beat-up rowboat, catrigged it after a fashion, stowed some food and plenty of beer aboard, and set forth on a shakedown cruise across Kaulakahi Channel. Short runs off Waimea had gone reasonably well, but they wanted to be sure of the seaworthiness before making it a lure for girls. They figured they could reach Niihau in 12 or 15 hours, land if possible, rest up in any