\u201cWhat the hell do you need her for?\u201d\u00a0 Ezra crossed his arms.\u00a0 \u201cShe\u2019s done enough for everyone already.\u00a0 No one\u2019s got any right to demand anything of her now.\u201d\u00a0 Even if it\u2019s you.\u00a0 Even if you gave up your freedom so she could escape\u2014she\u2019s more than paid you back for that with everything she\u2019s done here.<\/i><\/p>\n
Grant took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly.\u00a0 \u201cI know.\u00a0 I wouldn\u2019t ask if it wasn\u2019t necessary.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat the hell is so necessary that you\u2019d ask a hurt and sick woman to\u2026to\u2026\u201d\u00a0 Ezra\u2019s voice trailed away and his eyes narrowed.\u00a0 \u201cWhat the hell is this all about, Commander?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI need her to go and retrieve something for me.\u00a0 Something for all of us.\u201d\u00a0 Grant\u2019s lips thinned.\u00a0 \u201cIt has to do with the database from Mimir.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ezra swallowed bile.\u00a0 \u201cWhat about it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThere\u2019s something on Catullus III that relates to it,\u201d Grant said.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2014we\u2014need her to go and get it.\u201d\u00a0 He glanced sidelong at Ezra and probably didn\u2019t like the look he was getting, because he rushed on.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a simple, safe run.\u00a0 Take the bank deposit key, go to Catullus III, and take the contents of the deposit box and bring it back here.\u00a0 Easy.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cBut you\u2019re asking for Alana,\u201d Ezra said, his voice flat and his stomach unsettled.\u00a0 \u201cThere has to be more to it than just that if you want her.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAdam can\u2019t spare anyone,\u201d Grant said.\u00a0 \u201cSo I thought of Alana.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRight,\u201d Ezra said, staring out at the trees that lined the trail from his cottage down toward the beach.\u00a0 Of course he\u2019d think of Alana.\u00a0 Probably because he knew she wouldn\u2019t say no if he asked her, because she wouldn\u2019t.\u00a0 As much as she says she\u2019s free and unfettered and can live her own life now, if Lindsay or Grant asked her to do something, to be somewhere, she\u2019d do it and be there in a heartbeat.\u00a0 There isn\u2019t any question in that\u2014no doubt.<\/i>\u00a0 His lips thinned.\u00a0 \u201cShe can\u2019t handle that right now,\u201d he said quietly, half to himself.\u00a0 \u201cShe can\u2019t do it.\u00a0 It\u2019ll be weeks before she could even think about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIt could have a grave impact on our survival, Dr. Grace.\u201d<\/p>\n
He shot Grant a withering look.\u00a0 \u201cEverything these days seems to have a grave impact on our survival, Commander.\u00a0 Trust me, I know\u2014that\u2019s why I came up with the crazy scheme to rescue you and your wife.\u00a0 That<\/i> was a matter of our survival, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant sighed softly and shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cWe need her to do this, Doctor.\u00a0 I<\/i> need her to do this because I can\u2019t do it myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ezra shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t see anyone or anything stopping you, Commander.\u00a0 Who\u2019s going to tell you that you\u2019re not allowed to go to Catullus III?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m persona non grata<\/i> in Icarus Munitions territory,\u201d Grant said.\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t go.\u00a0 I\u2019ll end up arrested and they\u2019d be right to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n
How the hell does a commander in Mimir\u2019s armed forces end up <\/i>persona non grata to one of the few congloms willing to supply the Psychean Guard is the armaments they needed for their military forces?<\/i>\u00a0 \u201cWhat?\u201d<\/p>\n
The older man heaved a heavy sigh and shook his head slowly.\u00a0 \u201cIt\u2019s a long, sordid story.\u00a0 The short version is that I was a pacifist when I was a teenager\u2014something that my father didn\u2019t have the heart to quash until I started to get into trouble.\u00a0 However, I was the kind of pacifist that decided that blowing up munitions depots and making threats of violence against suppliers was a really smart idea.\u00a0 Dad managed to cover it up, but it wasn\u2019t easy and Icarus Munitions never forgot about it.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo I\u2019m guessing you\u2019re not the one who hid anything there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant choked on a laugh.\u00a0 \u201cNo.\u00a0 My gut says that was Adam\u2019s bright idea, since he\u2019s always maintained very positive relations with them.\u00a0 I could be wrong.\u00a0 It could have been Freder or Daci.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ezra took a deep breath and exhaled it slowly.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t understand all of you,\u201d he said, almost without meaning to.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t understand how you all knew to take apart that database and hide it all over the galaxy and hide keys to access it\u2014to find it\u2014all over the place, too.\u00a0 How did you see all of it coming?\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cRachel saw it coming,\u201d Grant said simply.\u00a0 \u201cShe saw the patterns before any of us did, though I guess maybe Freder and Adam saw, too.\u00a0 We made some decisions.\u00a0 We reacted when the bombs started to fall.\u201d\u00a0 His eyes drifted closed for a moment.\u00a0 \u201cUnderstand, Dr. Grace, that we were all in positions where we could take action but when the moment came, by the time we recognized it, it was almost too late.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIs that why you and America stayed and the others got away?\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant sighed, staring at the sky.\u00a0 \u201cFrederick tried to come back.\u00a0 I told him to get the hell off Mimir and stay away\u2014he was our best hope at justice.\u00a0 It\u2019s a shame we never got it.\u201d\u00a0 He exhaled through his teeth and shook his head.\u00a0 \u201cWe sent Rachel away with Lindsay and Adam.\u00a0 Aidan managed to get away first, paved the way for everyone else.\u00a0 By rights, maybe he should have stayed.\u00a0 Maybe he would have been able to slide under their radar and lead resistance for longer.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the end, all it did was buy us time, but it was enough time.\u00a0 We salvaged what we could.\u00a0 The Commonwealth and the congloms never knew.\u00a0 Everyone else who\u2019s ever known is dead.\u00a0 It\u2019s just us.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd now all of us you\u2019ve told here,\u201d Ezra said quietly.<\/p>\n
Grant nodded slowly.\u00a0 \u201cAnd the fewer here who know, the safer everyone is\u2014at least until it\u2019s too late to stop us from assembling the database again.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ezra exhaled.\u00a0 I must be out of my mind.<\/i>\u00a0 \u201cI can\u2019t let you ask Alana to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cYou said that already.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI know.\u00a0 I\u2019m just saying it again.\u201d\u00a0 He looked at the older man in the dim.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019ll go instead.\u201d<\/p>\n
She\u2019s going to kill me, but what other choice is there?\u00a0 None, that\u2019s it.<\/i><\/p>\n
\u201cJust tell me where to go,\u201d Ezra said, \u201cwho to see, what to do, and I\u2019ll do it.\u00a0 Just leave her alone.\u201d<\/p>\n
Grant stared at him for a moment.\u00a0 \u201cDone.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWhat the hell do you need her for?\u201d\u00a0 Ezra crossed his arms.\u00a0 \u201cShe\u2019s done enough for everyone already.\u00a0 No one\u2019s got any right to demand anything of her now.\u201d\u00a0 Even if it\u2019s you.\u00a0 Even if you gave up your freedom … Continue reading