[03] Elite: Docking is Difficult Read Online Free Page A

over the network interrupted her wallow, and she guiltily hit answer before she had a chance to register that it wasn’t anything to do with work – it was her mother.
    ‘How are you doing, flower?’ Her mother’s big floating head popped into a space a few inches from her face, automatically and nightmarishly keeping pace with any eyeball movement, because Phoebe had forgotten to turn that setting off. ‘Is everything all right? I’m not interrupting?’
    ‘Hi, kind of, things are pretty busy here.’
    ‘I can imagine! I saw the news. Are you working the Cliff Ganymede case?’
    ‘No mother, I’ve explained this before, that’s not the sort of policing I do.’
    ‘You used to love mysteries and murders and things. I remember how you drew that darling picture of a bleeding skull when you were only a toddler. With the maggots! We all thought you’d become an artist.’
    ‘Mother, I’ve—’
    But Mrs Clag was already up and running into an account of the goings-on back on Gurney Slade Six. Phoebe drifted off during a detailed anecdote about the new model of food printer her father had installed and the type of warranty that came with it. In the distance a couple of Phoebe’s colleagues patrolled the nothingness. Gippsworld went on not looking anything like a blue jewel. Phoebe only zoned back in when she realised she was being asked a question.
    ‘Don’t you think, petal?’
    ‘Sorry, what?’
    ‘That you should try to get out and socialise more. You know you have a tendency to bury yourself away.’
    There was a meaningful pause.
    ‘Have you met anybody?’
    At this inevitable point in the call, Phoebe squirmed and rolled her eyes, causing her mother’s head to do a juddering loop-the-loop.
    ‘No, mother. Like I said, I’ve been busy. Work things.’
    ‘Do you ever hear from Glen? We really liked Glen.’
    ‘Glen,’ said Phoebe, as firmly as she could manage, ‘was a twat.’
    ‘But such lovely cheekbones. And those teeth! Anyhow, that’s not relevant, because your father and I wanted you to know that you absolutely shouldn’t feel any pressure on the relationship front. Neither of us are the
slightest
bit worried about that. The Kewleys next door, did you know their Janey didn’t have a kid until she was
seventy
? It’s amazing what they can do these days. Besides, you can grow babies in jars. Sometimes the face comes out a bit wonky, like Megan at number fifteen, but mostly you can’t even tell. Not that there’s any reason you should feel you ought to procreate anyhow. We just want you to be
happy
.’
    There were only so many relentlessly upbeat assurances that her life wasn’t a crushing disappointment that Phoebe could take in a day, so after another couple of minutes she pretended a klaxon was going off.
    ‘Sorry mum,’ she said, waving. ‘The thin blue line never sleeps!’
    ‘Okay dear, we miss you—’ The words died on Mrs Clag’s holographic lips as she vanished into the sub-ether. Phoebe breathed deeply, thought about sitting up, but decided she wasn’t in a rush. She checked her inbox.
    Your CosmicSexMingle profile has been viewed one hundred and eighteen ( 118 ) times this week by User FinePigs 21 . You have zero ( 0 ) messages from User FinePigs 21 .
    She scrolled on.
    Alicia Breen wants to reconnect on CopLink! The professional network for the police force of the Foster System. Message from Alicia:
    ‘Ciao bella! Would love to catch up. Seems a thousand years since the academy! Guess what? I’ve been assigned to the Cliff Ganymede case—’
    Phoebe quickly flicked it over to the trash. She tried to think calming thoughts about dogs with sad eyes.
    She wondered why anyone would batter the system’s biggest, most popular star to death with a hardback copy of his best-selling sex-and-spreadsheets manual
Be A Gas Giant In The Boardroom & The Bedroom, Not A Nebula
.
    She wondered why, as his final act, Ganymede had scrawled the words ‘knuckle down’ across the