Across The Universe With A Giant Housecat (The Blue) Read Free Page B

vagabond I was now. I had been Alan Michael Wolf, star cadet at Horatio Nelson Military Academy and martial arts expert from the colony world of Nirdin. I had been on the fast track to graduating from military school and starting a bright future as a pilot for the Stellar Intrepid branch of the military.
    But that had changed the afternoon of the accident. A malfunction of the artificial gravity in the training room I was in had left me with a broken spine and a broken future.
    I could move normally now, thanks to the medical vest I had worn since then. A fusion of plastic, metal, and technology, it held me together and helped my spine grow back. I had gotten used to it, and barely even felt it there anymore. Truth be told, no one could even notice it under loose clothing.
    But while I was healing, I couldn’t keep training at the military academy. I was told to take a few years off to let my spine heal. In fact, none of the doctors had even been sure if I would ever be able to resume my military training.
    “Oh! Maybe they want you back!” she said happily. “They finally realized how great you are!”
    “No, not yet. It’s too early. All the physical training at the school is rough on the body. They wouldn’t take that risk.”
    A low whine came from the other side of the cockpit door. Katelyn jumped to her feet.
    “I forgot about him!” She opened the door, allowing Leo to enter. The kvyat had an injured air about him, which quickly vanished as soon as Katelyn began giving him a vigorous belly rub.
    What did Northe want me for?   He wanted me to go to the very place where I had attended military school. They couldn’t want me back, could they? They had all but discarded me after my accident. I hadn’t even heard from them since then, except for when I had grudgingly taken myself there ten months ago so Dr. Kassa, the doctor who had taken care of me after the accident and installed the medical vest, could check on my healing. Of course, I hadn’t exactly made myself easily reachable…
    But they wanted to see me now.
    Why couldn’t he have just told me what he wanted? Then I wouldn’t have to spend the whole trip wondering.
    With a snort of annoyance, I turned to the controls and plotted a course to Iron Horn Base, setting the controls on automatic.  
    As soon as the ship started moving on its course towards Standing Admiral Northe, I stood up and headed for the sleeping area. The trip would take several hours, and I refused to spend the whole trip to my old stomping grounds worrying. After all, I had just nearly died in the desert. The thought of it made me thirsty again.
    “Where are you going?” Katelyn asked, elbow deep in kvyat snuggles on the floor. Leo peered up at me in a happy daze, his mouth half open and his tongue out.
    “Water, then sleep. If they are going to drive me mad with curiosity about this, at least I can be well rested.”

Chapter 5

    Useia, the love of my life, was there. Her short brown hair brushed against her apple-round cheeks as she laughed, holding out her hand to me.
      How had she found me?
    “I love you, Alan. I will never leave you again.”
    “Where were you? I waited so long,” I asked.
    “Does that matter? I’m here now, and I won’t go away ever again.”
    I pulled her in for a long kiss, which felt amazing down to the tips of my toes.
    I had met her when she had still been an assassin, having sold herself into a sort of slavery to Trilloque’s assassins to keep her family from starving to death. She had been sent to assassinate Lawrence Lockmere, the former owner of the Dragontooth , but had found me on board instead. Later, she had abandoned her assassin clan to help me find Katelyn and we had started to fall in love.  
    Together, we had defeated Trilloque and exposed his plot. Afterwards, she had found her family, whom she had not seen for years. She had left with them, saying she had to catch up on lost time. She said she had to rediscover how to be a