Odyssey

It was a Friday afternoon. End of the week. And she watched two kids with a dog ru

THE FIRST INDICATION she got that Asquith was back came in the form of a memo. “See me.”

You bet.

She walked into his office and found him on the circuit with someone. Audio only. He looked up and pointed toward a seat. She stayed on her feet. “Have to go, Charlie,” he said. “I’ll get back to you.” Then she got his full attention. “You did the right thing. Getting that rescue fleet in place.”

“Thanks.”

“Congratulations. I’m sorry we lost Valya, but the Academy is going to come out of this looking pretty good.”

She waved it away. “A lot of people are dead. Maybe we should have taken Amy more seriously.”

“Listen. Hutch, we can’t blame ourselves for that. We tried to warn them.” He came around the desk, stood in front of it, leaned back against it.

“Was that Dryden you were talking to?”

“Yes. Why?”

She let the question hang. “You knew all along, didn’t you?”

“Knew what?”

“About Valya. About the setup. You knew what was going on, and you let it happen. You lied to me. And you let me lie to the media.”

“That’s not so.”

“Dryden denied you were part of it, but they couldn’t have managed it without you. You might not have known the details of what they were doing, but you knew something was happening. You insisted on my assigning Valya to pilot the original mission. You set it up.”

He hesitated. Saw it was no use. “Okay, I knew. And if you’d had any guts, Priscilla, I wouldn’t have had to lie to you. This was something we needed. You and me professionally. The Academy needed it. And by God, unless you were willing to stand by and watch us close up the interstellar program and shut down everything we’ve worked for, you should be glad somebody was willing to put his neck on the line.”

“We could have done it without the lies.”

“Really? How? If you knew a way, I wish you’d have clued me in. And please don’t stand there with that holier-than-thou expression. I didn’t do this for myself.

“And to set the record straight: Nobody was ever in danger. Orion had a ship near the Galactic ready to go in and take everybody off had the need arisen.”

She stared at him for a long moment. “You know, Michael, you’re pathetic.”

He was above such things. “I was thinking the same thing about you, Priscilla. You’re good at ru

“Right. And how do you think the Academy’s going to look when this story comes out?”

“Nobody can prove anything.”

“The woman who first spotted the Galactic asteroid has given MacAllister a statement.”

“I know that,” he said. “I mean, nobody can prove I was involved.” He stared at her, daring her to show he was wrong.

“Maybe not. Dryden might protect your back while he gets dragged through the courts. However that goes, I want you to resign.”

The look of smug superiority went away. “If you try to blow the whistle on me, Priscilla, I’ll implicate you. And you’ll also destroy Valentina’s reputation. Although I don’t suppose you care about that.”

It had been a long time since Hutch had wanted literally to throttle someone. “You’re a political appointee, Michael. Nobody has to prove anything. A whiff of scandal, and you’re gone. Hiram Taylor already doesn’t like you very much. Doesn’t like me either, but that’s of no consequence. If he were to find out you were involved, your career would be over. And there’d be no need to bring in the media.”

He had gone pale. “That’s blackmail.”

“Why don’t you resign while you can still do so with your record intact?”

“You’re a bitch, Hutchins.”

She turned and headed for the door. “Cite personal reasons. Family concerns. That’s always a good one.”

VALYA’S MOTHER LIVED in Athens, a brother in Russia’s St. Petersburg, and cousins in New York City and Albany. She took a deep breath and called the brother first.

He took the news about as well as she could expect, and stayed on the line while she informed the mother. When it was done, Hutch was emotionally drained.

Amy was next. She caught her on the way home from school. And couldn’t miss the chill. “What did you want, Hutch?” she asked.

“You’ll be seeing news reports soon, Amy. The moonriders hit the West Tower.”

“I saw they were headed that way.”

“We managed to save most of the people who were there. Seventy of them. And sixteen more from the East.”

“Good.” She sounded relieved. “I’m glad to hear it.”

“I’ll see that you get credit for it.”

“I don’t want credit.”

“I know that, Amy. Nevertheless, you’re responsible for so many surviving the attack.” She smiled. “The media will want to know how it happened. You should think about what you’re going to tell them.”

“People will think I’m crazy.”

“No, they won’t. Not after we back you up. After what’s happened.”

“Thanks, Hutch.” She was softening a bit.

“There’s something else.”

She tensed. “What?”

“We lost Valya.”

“What do you mean, lost?”

Hutch described what had happened. When she’d finished, Amy asked whether she was sure, whether there was any chance. “I’m sorry,” Amy said. “I knew she’d gone back out on the Salvator. It’s hard to believe.”

“I know.”

“She was a lot like you, wasn’t she?”

“I’d like to think so.”

MARKET RALLIES ON NEWS OF INCREASED EARNINGS REPORTS

Biolog Quarterly Up 36 %

THREE DEAD IN BOATING ACCIDENT ON LAKE SUPERIOR

Collision in Clear Weather a Mystery

MANHATTAN VAMPIRE OPENS TO RECORD CROWDS

Latest Cole Thriller Sucks Up Millions on First Weekend

CARMEN, QUIGLEY TO MARRY

Couple Reveals Betrothal at Press Conference

Caribbean Honeymoon Pla

LOTTERY WINNER WILL NOT QUIT JOB

Highway Artist Feels Need to Create

CORRUPTION CHARGES IN SAN DIEGO

Hackel, Coleman Indicted

Judges, Police Also Believed Under Investigation

TEEN KILLS GIRLFRIEND’S PARENTS WITH AX

“Quiet Boy,” Say Neighbors

“Hard to Believe It Could Happen Here”

TORNADOES WIN SEVENTH STRAIGHT

Kim Huang Homers in Tenth

chapter 45

It is not faith per se that creates the problem; it is conviction, the notion that one ca

— Gregory MacAllister, “Downhill All the Way”

The judge in the hellfire trial had not struck MacAllister as the kind of person who would have been prepared to take a stand against the popular will. He also had not looked particularly imaginative. Glock had reported that he was a Presbyterian, an occasional churchgoer, a family man with three kids. His actual religious beliefs were not on record.

Maximum George was a small, round man, balding, with black hair and enormous eyebrows. His expression had revealed nothing during the course of the trial.

MacAllister watched from his study while he entered the crowded courtroom, which immediately went dead quiet. He needlessly rapped the gavel a couple of times, did some preliminary business, then a

Beemer and Glock stood together.

“Mr. Beemer,” he continued, “you have, it seems to me, just cause to be resentful about your early schooling. Young minds are open during those years, imaginations are especially fertile, and we trust adults to tell us what is demonstrably true. What is put into our minds at that period is not easily removed or modified. I hope that the Reverend Pullman will, despite the obvious strength of his religious convictions, take these matters into account when he enters his classroom in the future.

“That said, I ca

GLOCK CALLED LATER.

“You didn’t appeal,” said MacAllister.

“It’s a minimum sentence, Mac. That’s as good as we’re going to get.”

MacAllister sighed. “It’s a pity. The attack was justified.”

“Maybe,” said Glock. “But you can’t write the laws that way.”

So long as men and women are free, no one is safe. People will be in danger because others can’t operate vehicles responsibly or shoot straight. Because physicians are sometimes incompetent and lawyers dishonest. But most of all they will be in danger from ideas. It is the price we willingly pay to be free. Nor would we have it any other way.

— Maria DiSalvo, Lost in Paradise, 2214