Freedom, Humanity, and Other Delusions (Death's Handmaiden Book 3) by Niall Teasdale (best summer reads txt) 📕

‘I don’t think he’d do that.’

‘Did you tell your parents you were coming on this mission?’

‘Strangely, I didn’t have time before we left.’

‘What a thing.’ Rhianna grinned and went on. ‘It’ll take us a short time to meet up with the Yosozume and then we’ll have a few things to do before we can get moving. The plan is to leave at seventeen hundred. We have clearance to break orbit in that slot. Then we’ll be making all speed for Beherbergen. That means sixteen hours at two gravities, a straight jump to the Beherbergen system, and another sixteen hours of acceleration at the other end. We should arrive at oh-five hundred Shinden time, which is ten twenty-five local. We’ll head straight down to the planet when we arrive.’

‘Sixteen hours at twice normal gravity?’ Melissa asked. ‘There’s no compensation?’

‘Afraid not. Not on the Yosozume. There’s no gravity either, until we start accelerating. You should be able to move around. If you take it slowly, anyway. Best thing to do is try to get a little sleep. We’ll all be able to use the better cabins and the beds are really very comfortable.’

‘You’re doing over a hundred and sixty light years in a single jump,’ Rochester commented. ‘You must have a very good navigator.’

Rhianna smiled. ‘Yes, well, we are the Greylings.’

Yosozume Armed Courier, Shinden Orbit.

Rochester was not a happy man. It had started as he floated down the docking tube from the shuttle. ‘Oh… Oh, that’s not good.’ He had muttered it but Melissa, who was just in front of him, heard.

‘You okay, Chess?’ Melissa asked, glancing back over her shoulder.

‘Space adaptation syndrome. I’m feeling…’

‘Green? You look green. I think your skin has actually changed colour.’

‘We’ll get you straight to your cabin,’ Rhianna said. ‘There’ll be medication there. It should help. Some.’

‘It can affect anyone,’ Nobuyuki said. It was not like the man to give comfort, so maybe he had been afflicted once. ‘Well, except possibly Nava.’

‘I get motion sickness,’ Nava said. ‘I just don’t get it very often. Once, in fact.’

‘What were you doing?’

‘They were putting me through multiple rapid acceleration changes to see what I could take. I vomited all over one of the instructors. He accused me of aiming at him.’

‘Did you?’ Rhianna asked.

‘Yes.’

‘Could we not discuss vomit right now?’ Rochester asked.

‘Sorry, Chess,’ Nava said, though the flat delivery did not necessarily suggest she was.

The vessel they had seen through the shuttle’s viewscreens was clearly quite capable of landing on a planet. It was a slick, streamlined dart with sweptback wings, maybe a hundred and fifty metres in length. It was visibly armed, but then it was classed as an armed courier. Point defence weaponry ran in rows across its back and underside. There were indications of missile launchers at the front and definitely a large gun barrel of some sort. And yet the accommodation was far from what one might expect on a military vessel.

It was not immediately obvious that the floors were essentially on their sides, but you figured it out fairly quickly because each floor occupied relatively little space. How this worked when the ship landed was an open question, but it was clearly arranged so that when the ship accelerated, passengers felt it as gravity pushing them into the decks. Everyone was getting a room to themselves. Well, Nava was sharing with Mitsuko, and Rhianna was apparently in with Nobuyuki, but the others had rooms to themselves. And the rooms were well appointed. Double beds, en-suite bathrooms, a full entertainment system, and a desk you could use for whatever you might need a desk for, plus two acceleration couches with straps to hold you down in microgravity.

Nava ignored the seats and floated over to the bed. ‘I think I’ll enjoy this more lying down.’

‘It’s a shame we don’t have much time,’ Mitsuko commented as she positioned herself beside Nava, hovering twenty or thirty centimetres above the sheets.

‘Never done it in microgravity?’

‘You’re aware of my entire sexual history.’

‘Good point. I don’t think it’s as exciting as it sounds. And I think sex in two gravities would probably require lifting gear.’

‘Hm. I hope Chess is going to be okay.’

‘He’s not that unfit and the nausea medication will help. Plus, he’ll probably be lying down too.’

‘Right.’

‘Attention.’ The voice came from hidden speakers and was male. ‘Acceleration in ten minutes. Will all crew and passengers secure their belongings and prepare for two gravities.’

Nava lifted her head a little to check the case with her armour in it was in a suitable position. It was. ‘I guess we just float here until someone loads sixty kilos onto our chests.’

‘I don’t weigh sixty kilos. I’ll have you know I’m only fifty-eight.’

‘That is because you’re a beanpole. You could do with putting on a bit of muscle.’

‘And ruin my smooth lines? No way.’

‘Smooth lines. Right. Your waist size is only a centimetre less than mine.’

Mitsuko gave a sniff. ‘My hips are four centimetres smaller than yours.’

‘So, you have boyish hips.’

That got a gasp. ‘I can’t believe you just said that! I am not going to speak to you for the rest of the trip.’

‘Mm.’

About ten minutes later, when their own body weight was pressing down on their chests and forcing their bodies into the quite firm mattress, Mitsuko said, ‘Sixteen hours of this is going to make me very tired.’

‘I thought you weren’t speaking to me,’ Nava replied.

‘I’m not. My thoughts are being forced out of my head.’

‘It’s not that bad. I’m going to get up and take a walk in a bit.’

‘You,’ Mitsuko said, ‘are nuts.’

‘It’s going to be a slow walk…’

~~~

Climbing down to the engineering section was a chore. Two gravities made everything harder. Climbing back up was probably going to be worse. On the other hand, going down to engineering felt right. It was really the rear subsection of the ship, sealed away behind a heavy bulkhead, but the acceleration made it feel like you were going down