Breach of Containment. Elizabeth Bonesteel

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СКАЧАТЬ that was entirely unfair. “I don’t think you’re helpless,” Elena protested. “I just … I don’t understand the choices you make.”

      “Because you think, for us, it’s about money. Only about money.”

      “No. Not only. I just—” I think your materialism is going to get us all killed. “I think you’ve never dealt with a colony going to hell before. And yeah, I think risking your lives over money is fucking stupid. That’s my opinion, Nai. It’s not a put-down.”

      But it was, and she knew it.

      “I don’t think you mean it that way.” Nai’s voice had gone gentle, as if she were speaking to a child. “But you act like you’re the only one who’s ever been out here.”

      “Respectfully, Nai, you’re an accountant.”

      “I am. I’m an accountant who’s far from home, and who wants to get paid so I don’t have to do that so much anymore.” She smiled. “My sister’s having a baby next month, did I tell you? A girl. My mother is thrilled. And my sister could use an extra pair of hands.”

      “Nai, I understand why people want the money. I just don’t get the urgency.”

      “Don’t you?” Nai cocked her head to one side. “You know what happened on Mundargi all those years ago.”

      Elena nodded. She had read about it; it had been a case study at Central Military Academy. “That was before I was born.”

      “It was not before I was born,” Nai told her. “And it was not something I can forget, or leave behind. You have a good heart, I know. But it’s not for you to defend us all against the darkness. Even if you could—it’s not something we would choose for you to do. We choose, for ourselves, with our eyes open, with as much knowledge as you do.”

      “It’s one shipment, Nai.” Elena felt like the woman wasn’t listening. “And none of that is worth dying for.”

      “And yet you’re going down to the surface.”

      “Well of course I am. It’s my job.”

      “And you’re the only one allowed that conceit?”

      “No!” She closed her eyes. “Nai, this was my whole career, this kind of bullshit. Not historical horrors that none of us can go back and fix, but this: people wanting to kill each other, and perfectly willing to take bystanders with them. I’m going down because I’m the best qualified to make sure the fewest people get killed.”

      “And Chi is the best qualified to transfer the shipment, and Bear’s the best qualified to make sure we get our money. We’re not ignorant, and we’re not helpless. You’re not the only one who’s been in danger, and you’re not the only one who’s willing to take risks.” She reached out and laid a hand on Elena’s arm. “We’re not in need of rescue. And none of us are going to turn our backs on our families because things are tense on Yakutsk.”

      “It’s not tense, Nai. If they’re really talking about nuking each other—”

      “Do you think those rumors are true?” The question was a serious one.

      Elena opened her mouth to equivocate, then sighed and nodded. “I know what Bear said, and I know it doesn’t add up. But if it’s not nukes, it’s something. Jamyung—he’s an odd one, but he doesn’t panic for no reason. Something has genuinely spooked him. We need to be careful. We need to be afraid, or we’ll die.”

      And as Elena looked into her friend’s dark eyes, she realized Nai was afraid. Nai believed her, even if Bear didn’t. Nai understood the risks, and she knew they might all die in the pursuit of this delivery.

      And none of that deterred her at all.

      “I’m glad you’re doing the flying then,” Nai told her. She squeezed Elena’s arm briefly before she let go. “And I’m glad Bear is leaving Arin up here.”

      “I don’t know that he’ll be any safer,” Elena told her, and Nai’s comforting smile turned sad.

      “Nowhere is safe, Elena. Or didn’t you know?”

       CHAPTER 2

       Galileo

      I’m sorry to bother you, sir,” Lieutenant Samaras said. “I have Meridia for you. Captain Taras.”

      Captain Greg Foster of the CCSS Galileo dropped to a brisk walk, following the curve of the ship’s gymnasium track around the corner. “She say why she was comming?”

      “No, sir. But … she was very cheerful, sir.”

      Shit. Taras was an acutely intelligent, observant woman, with an oversized personality she knew exactly how to wield. If she had been expansive with Samaras, that meant she was discouraging him from asking questions. Which almost certainly meant something was up. “Thanks for the warning, Lieutenant,” he said. “Put her through.”

      Greg stopped by the door to the locker room, where he had left a towel and a flask of water. Two of his officers passed him running the other way, nodding a greeting; Greg, in self-defense, had long since suspended rules around saluting in both the gym and the ship’s pub. He nodded in return, and rubbed the towel over his face. He was sweatier than he had thought.

      Taras’s voice was in his ear. “Captain Foster. Have I commed at an inopportune time?”

      Not cheerful with him—but more interestingly, not, as Taras usually was, painfully loud. Something was wrong. “Not at all, Captain Taras. Is there something we can help with?”

      Another pause. “I don’t know, to be honest, Captain. I am … uneasy, and I am hoping that you can provide an alternate perspective.”

      All the tension he had just run off returned. “Is this about Yakutsk?”

      “Nothing so immediate, Captain. I have heard nothing from Yakutsk since our earlier meeting concluded.”

      From the first news of Yakutsk’s terraformer failure, Central Gov had coordinated support and diplomatic efforts with PSI, the informal confederation of generation ships to which Meridia belonged. Both Greg and Gov’s assigned diplomat had been in touch with Captain Taras daily, discussing issues and strategies, remaining in contact with the Yakutsk dome governments to reassure them that help was coming. Not that the reassurance had made a difference; Yakutsk, stuck with limited food stores and an abruptly space-limited population, was falling prey to old political squabbles and civic unrest. The previous week, the entire Baikul government—six administrators and the governor—had “mysteriously” ended up outside the dome without environmental suits, and a new government had been installed in their place. Worse, rumors had been surfacing for days about a developing black market for pocket nuclear devices—the endgame of more colonies than Greg liked to remember.

      Before he had embarked on his run, Greg had spent some time persuading СКАЧАТЬ