Free The Blue Marble Gambit by Jupiter Boson Page B

out - that he was doing me no favor, for as an agent of the Fist I
would probably be killed. But, he
said, at least it would be more interesting than the pores of giant slugs, and
the unhealthy and unhygienic fascinations of the other inmates.
    A
series of trainings and jobs followed. Travel, combat, danger, lightened by occasional piracies in spare
moments. The Admiral's instincts
had been sound: I was good, or at least good enough to earn the notice of a few
alien races, who decided I had overstayed my welcome
on this plane of existence. And
then, while en route to a leave on the fabled fun-planet of Eros, I'd stopped
for a quick game of holopoker at the Round-N-Round. Which led me into deep space. And to Trina.
    I
turned back to her. She licked her
lips. Somehow she managed to do this at me. “A noble heart beats in the savage's
breast. How touching."
    "Isn't
it? But enough
about me. Let's talk about
you. How did such a nice lass end
up in Astrotemporal physics and the Brain?"
    She
smiled coyly. “Fair enough. You showed me yours. I'll show you mine."
    "Then I 'm all eyes . Like the Fluxl of Flaxl." That odd
creature, which had evolved on a very dim and flat planet, was a grape-like
cluster of eyes dangling over three large and disturbingly human-looking feet.
    "Not
much to tell," she said demurely, blinking her eyes into gold and green
strobes. “I grew up on Mars, in the
Tharsis colony. Went into Astrotemp
Physics when I found out I had the Light. Of course I didn't have much choice."
    "Of
course." The Light was a mysterious, unteachable, natural ability
occurring in only one in fifty million humans. A spark of theoretical
genius against the dark universe. If you had it, GovCorp drafted you as a planetary resource and plugged
you into a research program. This
was because, oddly enough, high-level astrotemp physics couldn't be
learned. Some people - those with
the Light - were born already knowing it, and for them a minor amount of
academic effort could uncover that knowledge, which was inherently
indescribable but was said to be almost like taking an edge-on
trans-dimensional view of the universe. Anyone could have the gift, from street bums to Presidents, and perhaps
not surprisingly it had been more of the former than the latter. But if you didn't already have it, there
was no way to acquire it. Several
of the best and supposedly brightest at major research institutions had been
driven mad after being unable to master equations and paradoxes that were
child's play for - children. Children with the Light, that is.
    Trina
described what might have been a sheeplike life, except for the unusual muscle
in her brain, and the rough and tumble life of Mars.
    Then
she did something most un-sheeplike. She shifted in her seat, and the small tattoo of a snake
which usually graced her stern suddenly peeked over her collar. It coiled and hissed at me, then smirked
and vanished downward.
    I
suspected Ned, before I realized it was nano ink. Expensive and
fashionable.
    "Like
it?" Trina asked.
    The
snakehead appeared again, vanished again. There was something beckoning about it. I had the impression that Trina found my
criminal past a bit more than intriguing.
    Two
ideas met in my head and collided with a bright spark.
    Ned
appeared. “Do you think that's good
for the mission? After all- " I visualized, quite vividly, my
head smacking a steel bulkhead. He
vanished.
    I
scanned the gravity interferometer, charting the heavens along our path. I found my quarry only a little bit off
our flight path; the disturbance was, I saw with delight, the perfect
size. I reprogrammed the nav
computer - we'd transect the storm in exactly seventeen minutes.
    "What
are you doing?" Trina asked.
    "Pilot
stuff," I replied. Then I made
an indecent suggestion.
    She
acted shocked but her golden eye sparkled.
    "I
thought you'd never ask."
    I'd
noticed that the galley had tables which folded away
and padding on all surfaces. It
wasn't a galley at all, but a