Read "Arcturus Times Three" by Jack Sharkey online for free on Textopian. Full text with search, annotations, highlights, and AI-powered reading aids.
Captain Daniel Peters paced agitatedly back and forth before the couch holding that still figure in its bulky helmet. The last glow of the sunset had vanished behind the trees around the clearing minutes before. Peters took three puffs from a just-ignited cigarette, then crushed the white cylinder under his heel.
"Sir? " said a man at the airlock of the ship.