Metal Boxes - Rusty Hinges Read Free

feet under him and a few splashes later, he grabbed Spacer Dollish by the shoulders.
    “Wha—” Dollish shouted. He’d been so intent on finding something to cover himself with after losing his swim trunks he’d missed the activity around him.
    Stone uttered an incomprehensible shout. A thick tentacle breached the surf with seawater dripping back to the ocean from its tentacle. It hovered slightly, taking aim at Dollish. The bonelike spike, sharp as a needle, glinted in the sunlight. Other tentacles slithered around, bracketing them, cutting off their escape in every direction except straight up.
    He spun Dollish around. Wrapping his arms around the young spacer, he hunched over trying to protect Dollish while bending them face down in the waist high water, barely a bubble over the mild surf. He felt a sharp pressure in the middle of his back, pushing him under water. He jerked his face up, pulling Dollish back up for air.
    The spacer tried to pull away, recognizing the danger. Trying to get to the beach and away from the needler, he struggled to free himself from Stone’s grasp.
    Stone held him tight. Neither man moved.
    Two lifeguard stations opened fire. Streams of hard-shelled projectiles generating a crossfire, churned the clear water to an angry white froth. A second tentacle rose from the water toward them. Stone twisted, keeping his body between Dollish and the needler. Before the needler could strike, the lifeguard’s bullets cut through the tentacle, severing it.
    Dollish finally pulled away and raced toward the beach. Disregarding his nudity, he ran across the sand. Though the young spacer was a low ranking cook, he grabbed a weapon from a navy specialist at the shack doubling as a beachside snack bar and armory, running back to the water’s edge. He pointed the weapon in every direction, along with a dozen other people, but there wasn’t anything to shoot. The lifeguard stations had already turned the needler into chunks.
    Stone sighed and walked out of the surf onto the beach. “The beach is shut down and off-limits until we find out why the safety nets failed. Sorry to mess up your picnics, folks.” He turned to walk back to his office, pulling at his trousers. They were not designed to be worn wet and were crawling up his crotch, binding some rather important parts that he preferred not to have bound too tight.
    Dollish said, “Hold up, Ensign.” The young man put a hand on Stone’s shoulder. “Thanks, Boss.”
    “It’s what we do, Tim. Besides, I think this makes us even.”
    “Oh, hell no, Boss. We aren’t even close to what I owe you and I ain’t talking about your getting me promoted to Spacer First Class ahead of the zone and helping me with my night school. Hold still, sir.”
    Stone was surprised Dollish called him sir. He was authorized a personal chef on his staff as governor and selected S1C Tim Dollish. Rarely did the young cook call him anything other than boss or ensign. Sir must be an indication of something important. Dollish grabbed Stone by the shoulders and turned him around. He felt Dollish’s hands on his back, but with his thickened skin, he didn’t feel more than a light pressure.
    Dollish grunted and Stone felt a brief stinging sensation. He turned around and Dollish handed him a bonelike needle about twenty centimeters long. It had snapped off the needler and stuck in his back. He tried to look over his shoulder, but all he could see was a ragged tear in his wet shirt, flapping in the light breeze.
    “Must not have stuck in very deep, Boss. You ain’t bleeding.”
    Stone nodded, swearing silently that he wasn’t ever going swimming again and he would immediately stop wishing for something to happen.

 
     
     
    CHAPTER TWO
     
    Stone stood on the tarmac waiting for the representative from the emperor’s shuttle to land. Vice Admiral Temple, the system’s leading military commander, stood waiting with him to greet whoever the emperor had sent. Neither man knew