Freedom, Humanity, and Other Delusions (Death's Handmaiden Book 3) by Niall Teasdale (best summer reads txt) 📕

‘I’ll join you,’ Kyle said. ‘I skipped breakfast so we could catch one of the early trains.’

‘I’m sure they serve breakfast quite early at Aurora’s Base,’ Mitsuko countered.

‘Okay, I wanted to have breakfast with Courtney. And the rest of you, really. You can catch me up on events here.’

‘Sounds like a better excuse.’

Melissa had come to a stop in the doorway to the hall between the bedrooms. She sniffed. ‘Why does this entire house smell of sex?’

Mitsuko glanced at Nava and then put on her best innocent expression. ‘I’m sure I don’t know what you mean.’

236/7/15.

The forensics lecture on Wednesday evenings was not just for SSF members. That was how it had turned out anyway. There were three recruits in the new team who were learning to provide technical support for the patrol personnel – including Lydia Bonfils Plank from Nava’s class – and it had seemed like a very small number to have someone come out from Alliance City to teach them. So, Nava had put a post on the info-net saying that seventeen additional students could attend the lectures by contacting her and arranging a place. She had not really expected much of a response. There were now twenty people in the class and she could have filled the lab it was being held in three times over.

‘More people want to do this kind of thing than you’d think, huh?’ Kyle asked. Nava was sitting in on tonight’s lecture and Kyle had asked if he could come along. Obviously, Courtney was there too.

‘And are willing to sacrifice an evening to learn,’ Nava said. ‘I believe some of them simply want another option. They’re adding to their portfolio of skills but may not end up using this in anger. However, some are certainly here because this is what they’d like to do after graduation.’

‘I should’ve thought of this,’ Courtney muttered. ‘I did think of something like this, but we had Don and it never seemed urgent…’

Nava nodded. ‘My lack of forensic cover does seem more like a matter I need to deal with as soon as possible. We haven’t needed these skills yet, but I’m sure it’s only a matter of time.’

‘What about computers?’ Kyle asked. ‘Don used to be a wizard with computer skills too.’

‘I’m fairly good. I also have Chess in reserve if needed. He’s actually not bad at computer intrusion, though we tend to keep that quiet around the faculty. I don’t think he’s at Don Ilbert’s standard, but he can crack a system if I need him to.’

‘I wonder where he learned that?’ Courtney asked. ‘I wonder why he learned that?’

Nava gave a shrug. ‘Chess has a dark side. Who knew?’

236/7/16.

‘Do you have any idea what you’ll be doing on Beherbergen?’ Mitsuko asked. Gathered in the lounge, they had finally got around to asking about the one thing Courtney was trying her best to ignore: Kyle would be leaving for his home planet the following evening.

‘Some,’ Kyle replied. ‘The ASF office in Hausman City mostly does liaison work with the House militia and antiterrorism intelligence gathering. My briefing says that the intelligence gathering has got a higher priority after the Alliance City thing. There’s also security for the Alliance administration offices and the ambassador.’

‘Of course,’ Courtney said, ‘if he spends the entire year on the ambassador’s security detail, I’ll be quite happy.’

‘You say that, but Befreit Beherbergen first came to attention when they bombed the Alliance administration building.’

‘I… hadn’t thought of that.’

‘Beherbergen doesn’t sound like an especially safe place to do your first tour,’ Melissa commented. ‘I’m sure you’ll be fine,’ she added quickly, ‘but still…’

‘It’s like anywhere,’ Kyle replied. ‘It’s pretty safe most of the time. Sometimes there are problems. That’s in the areas under clan jurisdiction, however. Outside clan lands, things are a bit more, uh, chaotic. Maybe not chaotic, but the rule of law is a bit more relaxed. Some of the people living out there are basically outlaws. The clan doesn’t get involved unless it’s affecting our internal trade relationships. Just about everyone out there carries some form of weapon, usually a rifle. There’s a sort of excuse given that there are indigenous animals and they can be dangerous.’

‘It’s an old Harbinger colony then?’ Nava asked.

‘It’s even got some archaeological sites.’ Kyle paused and frowned. ‘After what’s happened here, that worries me more than it did.’

Waving a hand, Nava brushed that aside. ‘We met one of the worst examples. We’ve also met Trudy, whose only interest in humans is observing them. If you were going to have trouble with Harbingers, you’d have seen something by now. The colony was established a couple of hundred years ago, right?’

‘Give or take. I guess you’re right. It’s probably not a problem.’

‘My advice would be to stick to worrying about the terrorists. Invisible voyeurs watching you in the shower should be the least of your worries.’

‘Nava,’ Courtney whined, ‘I’m planning to go out there soon. I do not need that thought in my head.’ Nava just looked at her. ‘You’re evil.’

‘So I’ve been told.’

236/7/17.

‘You’ll send me a message when you get there, right?’ Courtney asked. It was probably more of an order than a request. They were at the station. It was time for Kyle to leave.

‘I certainly will,’ Kyle replied.

‘How long is the flight?’ Melissa asked.

‘About three days.’

Melissa’s eyes widened. ‘It only took a bit over a day to fly from Avorna and I thought that was tiring.’

‘Beherbergen’s further out. Plus there are the flight-time regulations. The ASF sticks to commercial rules unless they’ve got a solid reason to break them. If you’re flying long distance, you have to take a four-hour break after every eight jumps. If memory serves, it’s fourteen jumps from here to Beherbergen. Plus, it takes about a day to get from the legal jump limits at each end.’

‘Huh, yeah. We spent more time flying in normal space than making jumps.’

Grinning, Kyle turned to Courtney. ‘There’s about a five-and-a-half-hour difference between the clocks here and there. Beherbergen is