: Softie by Loomis Noel M Napoli Vincent Illustrator - Science fiction; Short stories; Space ships Fiction; Space travelers Fiction

@FreeBooksThu 08 Jun, 2023

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Illustrator: Vincent Napoli

SOFTIE

Lt. Stevens, his roommate, came stamping in from the sixth watch slapping his hands.

"Cold outside!" He wiped the fog from his glasses. "Must be nearly freezing. Hear they had a strike in the Heating Corps. The Old Man better step in and settle that before it gets serious."

Lt. Braniff sighed wearily. "Oh, he'll step in and tell them to go back to work or go without food. Sometimes I think the Old Man hasn't any feelings at all."

Stevens stared at him. Stevens was a handsome, dark-haired, glossy-eyebrowed young man who always seemed to be imbued with the recklessness of space.

"Homesickness eating on you again?" He snorted. "Why don't you go take a walk? There are some very nice girls over in the Kitchens."

"It's too far," Braniff said listlessly.

"You can catch a ride on the truck--if you want to." Stevens tossed his trim space jacket on the bed. "You might as well quit mooning over that wife and kid of yours. It'll be ten years yet before we get back to Earth."

"Do you really think it will be that long?" Lt. Braniff, to tell the truth, was horribly homesick. He was almost so homesick that he didn't care if Stevens knew it.

He got up and paced the floor while Stevens washed his face. Four years from home, and six years to go! They had spent three years and four months getting to the Pass, and they were to patrol it for three years. Suddenly he felt he couldn't stand it.

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