Truth and Beauty 4-7

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At gate five Panzer disappeared down a side passage to take her cart through the cargo hatch, while Barus led Stephen down the personnel corridor.  The red-coated Marine at the entery port snapped to attention as they approached and saluted; Barus gave a sketchy salute in return, touching his ID to the reader as he did so, and the airlock opened.

This was Stephen’s first experience with the peculiar physics of a military airlock and the shifting gravitational pull caught him unawares.  “Beg pardon, sir,” said Barus, for whom the change was as normal and unremarkable as crossing the street.  “The field changes between the wharf and the barky.”

Stephen nodded weakly - his stomach felt as if it had left the wharf’s gravitational pull rather reluctantly - and allowed himself to be pulled back to a standing position and led into the Roth.

Concentrating on his nausea, he lost track of everything else, until Jack's voice eventually broke through, “There you are, Russ."

Looking up Stephen saw that he was in a reasonably-sized cabin, rather larger than the steerage cabins he was used to.  Two men in the background, one wearing a strangely shaggy hat, were assembling a cot, but most of the cabin’s furnishings looked like a cross between a day room and an office.  But Jack was speaking again, “are you okay, sir?”

Stephen nodded his head bravely, but the movement was too much.  Spotting a trash can he knelt and vomited, wiping his mouth on the back of his hand as he looked up.  “Forgive me,” he said to his employer, “the airlock was a little unexpected.  I gather the gravitational pull turns there.”

“Yes,” said Jack, helping his guest to a chair and then ringing for his steward. “It allows us to park the craft closer together.”  And when Bollwerk appeared, “Bollwerk, a mug of peppermint tea for the doctor, if you please, and perhaps you could change that dustbin.  It does take some getting used to,” he continued once Bollwerk had left, “would you like to lie down?  Chips is almost finished with your cot, but you could use mine for the time being.”

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