Free Alder's World Part One: Mass 17 by Joel Stottlemire Page B

bright. “ A lot of the crew were pretty
unhappy with Pilton before he went and got us into this
mess.” He gestured at a chair and Alder
sat. “ Now that
we ’ re stuck here,
there ’ s bound to be a
fuss.” He had sat back down and was
fishing in a small refrigerator under his desk. “ Need a drink?”
    Alder nodded and Mbaka produced two
brown bottles. While alcohol was not permitted onboard, Mbaka and
his crew produced an unfermented malt beverage made with hops that
had somehow been found growing in the bio-dome shortly after
launch. It had been so long since Alder had had a real beer that he
could no longer remember if M-Brew was a good knock off or not. It
was heavy, sweet and had a fruity aroma.
    “Myself, ” Mbaka said,
after a long draw on the bottle, “ I had us figured for dead from the
start. ”
    “How ’ s
that? ”
    “Well, it was clear from
the beginning that Pilton was glory mad. I never knew a glory hound
who had the sense to quit while he was ahead. I figured
he ’ d get us out here and do
some damn fool thing to get us all killed.” He took a drink. “ To be
honest, I didn ’ t think it
would take him near this long. ”
    “If you were so sure
Pilton was going to get us killed, why did you join
on? ”
    “Did I ever tell you about
my Rosie? ”
    “Your wife?” Alder scowled. “ Died of something. Some kind of palsy
wasn ’ t
it? ”
    “No. I mean, did I ever tell you about
Rosie?” Mbaka said with an emphatic gesture.
    “I guess
not. ”
    “Most evil woman who ever
lived. A stone around my neck day and night for thirty-four for
years. ”
    “You married the most evil
woman who ever lived? ”
    Mbaka waved dismissively
with his good hand. “ You know
how it is. I was a young post-doc, she had these huge breasts. We
started arguing the day after the honeymoon ended; weird stuff; why
didn’t I like her friends, how come I didn’t remember her favorite
brand of toothpaste. The first few years, I thought, ‘ we ’ ll learn. ’ She was
young, I was young, but no, year after year she went on like that.
One year she ’ d have an
affair. The next she ’ d run my
bank account straight into the ground. The whole time
she ’ d tell me it was all my
fault. It turned out she was half crazy and not very bright. I
mostly stayed at the university. If
she ’ d have been smarter, I
might have divorced her. As it was, I
didn ’ t know what would become
of her so I just took it. My father was from Africa, real Africa
back on Earth; didn ’ t hold
with divorce. I could have moved. I could have started over. I just
couldn ’ t see explaining to my
father that I was too selfish to take care of that awful woman.
Finally, after thirty-four years, she died, and it
wasn ’ t any palsy either. You
remember that fad a while back, clear
skin? ”
    “Yeah, supposed to make
your skin so translucent you could see the subcutaneous
fat. ”
    “That ’ s the one. What a
fifty-five year old black woman wanted with see through skin
I ’ ll never know but it got
her, blood clots. Anyway, at the funeral I said my goodbyes and
went looking for the first ship headed out. Here I
am. ”
    “So you
don ’ t care if we make
it? ”
    “You remember that binary
star system we passed in year six, the one that that was ripping
that gas giant apart? ”
    “Yeah, I remember. The
planet had been captured from somewhere. Tidal stresses were
shredding it and only the core was still holding
together. ”
    “That ’ s the
one.” Mbaka joined back in. “ The whole rest of the planet was
strung out like cotton candy around the two stars; violent as hell.
Twenty million kilometer long bolts of lightning ripping through
the corpse, some of them tying right up in the coronas of the
stars. Well, one night while we were there, I went and got one of
the rooms up out of sight of the ship. I stayed up all night just
watching that poor planet. Twenty million kilometer long bolts all
night. Sometimes the surface of the