Страница 54 из 96
"Of course they have, Little One. What, after all, could go wrong in wormhole space?"
"Nothing, but it's the nature of the human beast to worry. At least I don't have to feel guilty about what we're carrying."
"Do not be foolish. There is neither cause nor room for "guilt" in whatever we may do in pursuit of your vengeance."
Alicia winced at Tisiphone's absolute assurance. She could forget just how alien the Fury was for days at a stretch, but then Tisiphone came out with something like that. It wasn't posturing. It was simply the literal truth as she saw it. "I'm afraid I can't agree with you on that one. I want justice, not blind vengeance, and I'd rather not hurt anyone I don't have to."
"Justice is a delusion, Little One." The Fury's mental voice dripped scorn. "Your people have learned much, but you have forgotten much, as well."
"You might profit by a little forgetting—or learning— of your own."
"Such as?"
"Such as the fact that simple vengeance is a self-sustaining reaction. When you 'avenge' yourself on someone, you usually give someone else an excuse to seek vengeance on you.
"And you think your precious justice does not? You are wiser than that, Alicia DeVries—or would be, if you but let yourself!"
"You're missing the point. If a society settles for naked vengeance, it all comes down to who has the bigger club. Justice provides the rules that make it possible for people to live together with some semblance of decency."
"Bah! "Justice" is no more than vengeance dressed up in fine clothes! There can be no justice without punishment—or would you say that Colonel Watts was treated "justly" for the wrong he did your company?"
Alicia's lip curled in an involuntary snarl, but she closed her eyes and fought it back as she felt the Fury's amusement.
"No, I wouldn't call that justice, or disagree that punishment is a part of justice. I won't even pretend vengeance isn't exactly what I wanted from that son-of-a-bitch. But there has to be guilt—and he was guilty as sin—before punishment. A society can't just go around smashing people without determining that the one punished is actually the guilty party. That's the worst kind of capriciousness— and a damned good recipe for anarchy."
"What care I for anarchy?" Tisiphone demanded. "Nor am I "society." Nor, for that matter, are you. You are an individual, seeking redress for yourself and for others who ca
"I didn't say it was. I only said I don't want to hurt i
"So you say, Little One, but you delude yourself. It is compassion, not reason, which truly shapes your thought— misplaced compassion for those who deserve none. This is the truth of what you feel."
Alicia's face twisted as the Fury relaxed i
The barriers snapped back, and she slumped in her chair, gasping and beaded with sweat.
"You bitch!" Megarea snarled. "If you ever try that again, I'll—!"
"Peace, Megarea," the Fury interrupted almost gently. "I will not harm her. But she must know herself if we are to succeed. There is no room for confusion or self-blindness in what we do."
Alicia trembled in the couch, nerve ends shuddering, and closed her thoughts off from the others. She needed the silence, needed a moment to breathe and recover from the side of herself she'd just seen. She believed what she'd told Tisiphone—more than believed, knew it was true— and yet ...
She opened her eyes and looked down at her hands. They were slick and wet, coated in dripping grape pulp, and she shuddered.