But the horn had called, "Show an exhaust!" which
meant to get there in a hurry.
He jumped off the track at the main crossrun and hurried toward the
center of the platform. In a moment he was at the commander's door,
waiting to be identified.
The door swung open, and a junior officer in the blue tunic and trousers
of a spaceman motioned him to the inner room. "Go in, Lieutenant."
"Thank you." He hurried into the commander's room and stood at attention.
Commander Jennsen, the Norwegian spaceman who had commanded the platform
since before Rip's arrival as a raw cadet, was dictating into his command
relay circuit. As he spoke, printed copies were being received in the
platform personnel office, at Special Order Squadron headquarters on
Earth, aboard the cruiser _Bolide_ in high space, and aboard the newly
landed cruiser _Scorpius_.
Rip listened, spellbound.
"Foster, R.I.P., Lieutenant, SOS. Serial seven-nine-four-three. Assigned
SOS Four. Change orders, effective this date-time. Cancel Earth leave.
Subject officer will report to commander, SCN _Scorpius_, with detachment
of nine men. Senior noncommissioned officer and second in command, Koa,
A.P., Sergeant Major, SOS. Serial two-nine-four-one.
Pages:
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25