Space Librarian
Oscar A McCarthy
- WHEN
- WE
- BURNED
- THE
- EARTH!!Nikolai
- Tesser
- began
- his
- days
- as
- he
- always
- did,
- with
- a
- routine
- check
- of
- his
- data-miners.
- He
- was
- the
- proud
- owner
- of
- five
- machines,
- each
- processing
- at
- an
- Exabyte-per-second.
- Sure,
- they
- were
- a
- little
- outdated,
- but
- his
- custom
- hardware
- and
- clocking
- software
- made
- him
- more
- than
- comfortable
- with
- the
- information
- he
- was
- able
- to
- excise
- from
- the
- Exonet.
- He
- then
- went
- on
- to
- the
- less
- important
- checks
- of
- his
- little
- Star
- Jumper—life-support,
- food
- processors,
- and
- material
- waste
- converters.
- After
- all
- was
- done
- and
- the
- ship
- was
- humming
- to
- life
- again,
- Nikolai
- sat
- down
- to
- test
- out
- his
- latest
- acquisition:
- a
- new
- bit
- of
- software
- that
- supposedly
- allowed
- him
- to
- brew
- an
- exact
- replica
- of
- a
- pre-Burning
- single-origin
- coffee
- from
- his
- food
- processor.According
- to
- his
- research,
- the
- foliage
- that
- originally
- produced
- this
- curious
- product
- had
- a
- long
- and
- dramatic
- history
- with
- ancient
- humanity,
- including
- sabotage,
- wars,
- and
- piracy—Nikolai
- especially
- liked
- that.
- Nikolai
- had
- never
- had
- any
- personally,
- but
- rumor
- was
- the
- Librarian
- himself
- enjoyed
- three
- cups
- a
- day
- from
- this
- very
- program.Just
- as
- the
- steaming
- liquid
- began
- to
- spew
- into
- his
- chipped
- ceramic
- mug,
- he
- received
- the
- familiar
- beeping
- that
- signaled
- an
- incoming
- call
- at
- the
- front
- deck."Damn."He
- grabbed
- a
- shirt
- on
- the
- way
- to
- the
- deck,
- slipping
- it
- on
- and
- managing
- to
- not
- spill
- a
- single
- drop
- of
- the
- scalding
- coffee.
- He
- had
- no
- idea
- it
- would
- process
- so
- hot;
- a
- person
- could
- get
- some
- serious
- burns
- from
- that stuff.
pro-mbooks3 : libris
