Burndive by Karin Lowachee

Author:Karin Lowachee [Lowachee, Karin]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Speculative Fiction
ISBN: 9780446565592
Google: WhRENccN6AMC
Amazon: B002SSBDBM
Goodreads: 184801
Publisher: Aspect
Published: 2002-12-31T22:00:00+00:00

As soon as the beep sounded Ryan remembered he was supposed to comm Sid. The room was dark, the complete black of a place with no windows. He was lying in bed, not sleeping, and the noise made him jump. He leaned over to peer at the comm and reached to poke it, but the light was off.

His father had picked it up outside.

He slid off the bed and went to the screen, got it open a couple centimeters before the voices made him stop.

“… No, sir,” Sid was saying. “They argued.”

“About what?” his father said.

“Sir, if I may be candid?”

“Go ahead.”

“Sir, Ryan doesn’t get why you want Musey to train him and I confess I don’t either. We don’t know the—we don’t know him. Ryan’s been through a lot and—”

“I’m aware of that.”

“Sir, I’m not sure you are. Earth hit him hard, sir.”

“The admiral did brief me, Sidney.”

“Sir, please, with all due respect… the admiral didn’t see all of it. He certainly wasn’t at the embassy when it all— happened.”

Ryan stared through the sliver of space. His father was sitting on the couch, he saw the back of his head and his shoulders. He had a hand in his hair, leaning on it. The lights were up in a dim golden glow.

“Speak plainly, Corporal. Is there something more that I should know?”

Sid’s voice sounded hollow and hard on the comm. “Sir, his entire life.”

“Excuse me?”

“You said I could be candid, sir.”

“But not dramatic. Are you saying I don’t understand him? Do you think I ought to handle him with velvet gloves?”

“You’re not really asking for my advice, sir, so I’m reluctant to really give it.”

“Don’t be a smart-ass. I’m asking you a question and you damn well better answer it. You think putting him with Musey will stress him out?”

“He’s already stressed. He hasn’t come down since we left Earth, except when he sailed. That’s why he sailed. Musey’s an unknown factor and I personally don’t get much stability from him either. Putting them together might be asking for it. Sir.”

“Or it might knock them out of their respective head-spaces.”

“I don’t know Musey. Maybe he’s honest. But he’s violent and I don’t want him near Ryan.”

“Did he do something?”

“No, sir, but I sense violence from him and I think you should leave Ryan out of it. He’s had enough of that.”

Ryan tried to stop breathing; it came in short intakes until he clamped down. And remembered to release the edge of the screen. His fingers throbbed.

“They both need to stop running,” the captain said.

“Explosions stop movement,” Sid said, “but I wouldn’t recommend planting bombs on speeding freeways.”

“Colorful analogy. But I’ve got instincts too, Corporal. And my instincts tell me that if we left Ryan on his present course, he’d find any and every excuse to remain inertial.”

“Sir, I think you know Musey better than you know Ryan.”

The captain’s tone was brittle and dark, each word a burnt ember. “So were there things that you should have put in your

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