Log 1 Matter | Antimatter Read Online Free Page A

declared, “All good.”
She went to the EEVA scanner unit and began to check the
components. He knelt down and completed assembling the maintenance
and repair robot with nanites kept in special vials. Jennifer moved
over and inspected the robot. “Good. I’ll send my report to Major
Karr, she’s expecting you.”
    He nodded, and began to undress, mindful of
the fact she hadn’t left. Most people wouldn’t even be bothered by
it. He peeled off the base suit, aware the top smelled, and climbed
into his own standard, black ranger overalls. But he manfully
continued, packed up and reattached the suit to the wall, and
almost opened the hatch in a rush to get out without thinking. He
paused and checked the instructions. He had to ask Jennifer to
stand behind the yellow line. After she moved, with a grin, he
cycled out. Jennifer was as much a predator as a teddy bear was.
But he was mindful that, through his skewed filters, he was seeing
monsters everywhere and it was affecting his cognitive abilities.
He wiped the sweat off his top lip and found a toilet to splash
some water over his face, using a ration of his supply.
    He reported to Major Karr, verbally going
through the tour, his impressions and the test results.
    “Did you check the equipment bay had
oxygen?”
    For a microsecond he paused. Did he? Doubt
filled him but he quickly replayed his actions. He distinctly
remembered checking O2 levels. “Yes, ma’am.”
    With a final nod, she gave him an ident but
told him to keep hold of his visitor one as well, and he was shown
to his room by a short male. “This is yours while you are
here.”
    “On my own?” How much did people know about
his rape? The male showing him his quarters was definitely, by
design, non-threatening.
    “No sharing on the Repco. Each is an escape
pod so keep your things locked down if you aren’t using them. You
have the D.E.P., which stands for Deluxe Escape Pod, or just call
it DEP. We call it the Ritz.” Crewman Levan took him through the
quirks of the pods. “You can leave the hatch open on blue, but any
other color you have to seal yourself in, or out, depending on
whether you have duties and how claustrophobic you are.”
    Jamie nodded. He didn’t have a problem with
small spaces and the pod was a decent size, easy to live in.
    “You think, sir?”
    Jamie frowned. Thoughts accessed without
permission was rude. He realized he had felt the captain’s gentle
mind-brush but had not registered Levan’s mental extraction.
Another overreaction.
    Levan blushed. “Sorry, Lieutenant. You
haven’t read the personals yet. We can reply or respond to public
thoughts since we’re all mostly Avatara. For verbal communique
first names are okay to use but only while we are in the blue,
equal rank or below, and only after you’ve used rank designation
once at the start of address.”
    “I didn’t know. And not to worry, Levan.”
Jamie gave him a friendly smile. He saw his leather bag on the bed,
walked over and unrolled it.
    “Security needed to go through your kit. All
in place?”
    “Nothing’s missing.” He fingered the tools,
they needed sharpening.
    “You do a lot of wood carving?”
    “And I build furniture. My uncle taught
me.”
    “My uncle taught me how to net fish. Not
really useful in space unless I can go fish in the Klados.”
    Jamie chuckled and found he could now easily
access data again. The Klados was the first dimension and filled
with a lot of matter. Drawing out matter was illegal—because once
removed it couldn’t be replaced easily—and required a special
license. Aryan Space carefully monitored matter levels in normal
space. He breathed out in relief.
    “Spend the rest of this shift, which is third
shift, settling in. Read all the pod protocols. Your schedule’s
been shunted to your system.” Levan touched a monitor that lit up
and Jamie saw what looked like a roster. “Eat and sleep fourth
shift, report for duty on first shift. Just go to