Viking Love Beyond Time (Time Travel Romance) Read Free Page A

computer science.  As the pilot’s ticket was the one essential qualification for a star ship captain, a rank very rarely obtained by a woman even in the twenty fifth century, she decided to take his advice.
                  She took leave of absence from E & MTC and, by pulling strings and getting her father to call in practically every favour he could, managed to get a place in the Pilots ’ College on Mars.  This faculty was unique in the known galaxy.  It was not owned by E & MTC, although they had endowed it generously, but by the Council of Planets.  It was an independent school for the cream of star ship crews.  To be a pilot a person had to be single minded, stable and cool and  Alodie again passed out top of her class.  After graduation she served as first officer on the galactic exploration ship John F. Kennedy and had been personally recommended by its captain, who was retiring, to take over command of that vessel.
                  She drained her cup and crushed it savagely in her hand “so why am I here, commanding this bucket of bolts, its the worst command in the whole damned fleet?” she said aloud.
                  “Talking to yourself Alodie?” said a deep voice behind her.  Suppressing an oath she turned, Luke Owen stood framed in the doorway “Sorry ma’am” he drawled “I came down for a cup of coffee and heard you talking to yourself, something about the worst command in the whole damned fleet”
                  Austen permitted herself  a smile and, pushing the chair back, stood up and stretched.  “Yes, well, the Colossus isn’t exactly prestigious, is she?”
                  Owen laughed and walking over to the machine helped himself to a cup of coffee.  “and your pissed because where most captains only have an engineering, a navigation or computer degree in addition to their pilot’s qualification, you have all three?”
                  Austen shrugged, “I suppose so”
                  He took a drink of coffee.  “Well, how do you think the rest of the crew feel?  Take me for example, I got a fair navigation degree, ten years experience, I tried for pilot school just before we set off on this trip”
                  Austen took a bite of cheese, chewed and swallowed “So, what happened?”
                  He shrugged and grinned, “That place is harder to get into than Fort Knox , the morons didn’t want to know me - their loss I’d say”
                  “You mean you failed the entrance exam” she replied “what was your score?”
                  “You had to ask didn’t you?  Fifteen per cent, how about you?”
                  She smiled sweetly “ninety six percent, I dropped marks by answering wrongly on propulsion technique, I read up on it later”
                  Luke laughed loudly and walking over to the replicator got himself a ham sandwich.  “That doesn’t surprise me in the least - the fact you read up on it later I mean, I’m stunned that you got a question wrong in the first place”
                  Austen massaged her temples again “You’d do a lot better in life Owen if you took things more seriously.   Did you even cram for the exam?”
                  He pulled out a chair and straddled it, resting his chin on the back.  “Nope”
                  She shook her head, “exactly - nope, you didn’t care whether you passed or not, so don’t expect me to feel sorry for you.  Where you are now is where you’ll stay because you’ve no drive.  I should imagine though, Owen, that it was a damned sight easier for you to get as far as the entrance exam than it was for me, all you had to do was apply.  For your information, it took me almost a year to get as far as the exam”
                  Owen tossed his head back and drained his