Ancient Birthright Read Free Page A

to spin as the reaction mass engines began their task. Unfortunately, the direction of spin forced his entire room full of loose items to settle on top of him, as he lay strapped to his bed. The clothes didn’t bother him, but when his full waste receptacle of food containers, moldy food and partial disposacups of sweet drink floated over and deposited its contents on his head, he voiced his opinion of the unfairness of the universe, “I never did anything to you. Why do you feel the need to dump everything on ME ?” As if in answer, he felt a vibration in his ear. It took a moment to realize one of the skinks was clinging to his ear and thrumming its mating call.
    An hour later, his mother’s voice came over the ship’s comm. “All souls, all souls. Spin up complete. Rotation stable. You are clear to resume normal activities.”
    Saigg shoved the mound of clothes off his body. The sticky fruity smelling mess from the waste receptacle was another matter altogether. He turned the receptacle upright and peeled food containers and goo from his face. It would take him hours to get everything organized and back into the piles where he normally stored his stuff.
    “Where did all the skinks come from? This place is crawling with them. Why are they in my room?”
    Then Saigg remembered the color on his mother’s face and kicked a pair of shorts into the corner he used for dirty clothes. His room held the standard bed, desk, chair and wall of flush mounted storage drawers and lockers found in every sleeping chamber on the ship.
    A third cycle later, Saigg heard, “Passenger Saigg Garuu, report to Command Prime on the bridge, immediately.”
    “Oh, butt nuggets. Now what do they want? I’m cleaning my cabin like she told me.”
    He peeled off his trashed clothes and jumped into the refresh unit. Truebeats later, he was hunting for something presentable to wear, something not covered in sweet drink, or that didn’t smell like an overfull waste-recy bin.
    Most of the crew did not wear clothing, but he and his friends had adopted the garish garments as a statement of their individuality.
    A bright yellow shirt-vest with torn sleeve and baggy gray shorts were the only clean items he could find on short notice. Shoving the rest of the mess out of his way, he slipped on his favorite thrustboard soft boots tying the lace on the right boot and emitting a groan of frustration when he discovered the lace on the left boot was a casualty of his mother’s wrath.
    Entering the main room, Saigg found his sister Karonna lounging on the long couch, while his younger brother Davvie sat on the grass colored organic floor covering. He was using the couch for a backrest as the two watched a replay of a recording of their mother rescuing him.
    “Where did you get that?” he yelled.
    “Davvie mounted a vidcorder in your room before the transjump. We wanted to see what was going to happen when you ignored mom’s order to stow your stuff,” Karonna answered.
    “Give me that databud. You two are going to pay for this when I get back.” I can’t believe the miseries of my life did this today, he thought.
    “You better go. I think Dad and Mom are planning to have you clean waste units for the rest of your unnatural life. If you keep them waiting, they may just decide to process you through one of them,” Karonna said, as she tried to contain her laughter.
    “Dibs on his room if they do,” Davvie yelled.
    “Why don’t you suck space,” was the only comeback he could think of as he ran out the hatch and headed toward the bridge.
    Two truebeats later, as he approached the bridge hatch, the humiliating vid came to life on the ship-wide network screens.
    Retribution swirled through his mind. They are dead. They are so dead. I will find them. There’s no place on this ship they can hide from me. When my friends see this video, they’re going to rag me for the rest of my life. And the females. What chance will I have of ever getting a mate?