Exiles of Earth_Rebellion by Richard Tongue

Author:Richard Tongue [Tongue, Richard]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2018-08-15T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter 20

The cell door slowly slid open, Chief Khatri waiting outside, gesturing for DeSilva to walk out into the corridor. She rose to her feet, her muscles stiff, and followed him into the elevator, looking up with a start as the doors slammed shut. Khatri looked across at her, a frown on his face.

“None of this is anything to do with me,” he said. “They just sent me down to let you out.”

“And where I am going?” she asked.

“Back on duty, in a few hours,” he replied. “For now, back to your quarters. All charges have been dropped, on the orders of the Captain. You’re free to go. Officially. Unofficially, you can assume that Security is going to be watching you like a hawk.” He paused, then added, “I’ve taken you off the shuttle gang. You weren’t working there much anyway, and now that we’re two birds down…”

“What?”

“The Coalition destroyed one, and the other was written off during the rescue. As I was saying, with only two remaining shuttles, Chief Nguyen is somewhat overmanned, so he’s traded you to me. I want you working in the lower levels, checking the communication systems. The whole circuit needs to be checked, and I think…”

“Who will I be working with?”

“Nobody,” he replied.

With a sigh, she said, “I see. I’m going to guess I don’t have a roommate anymore, either.”

“I’m responsible for sixty-one people, Spaceman. All of whom want to go home when this is over, none of whom want any suspicion hanging over their heads for the rest of their lives. This is nothing personal, but you’ve attracted a lot of, shall we say, special attention of late, and I’m going to make sure that my people aren’t…”

“Contaminated,” she interrupted. “Why not simply throw me back in the cell or confine me to quarters for the rest of the trip.”

“I suspect that was seriously considered, but I wasn’t in the loop for that decision.” Shaking his head, he said, “If it helps, I think you saved the ship, and I know a lot of others feel the same way. There was a lot of agitation on the lower decks when you were imprisoned, and that’s just one more reason why I want you to stay away from the rest of the crew. The last thing we need is some of them wrecking the rest of their lives out of some sort of insane scheme for change.” He cracked a smile, then said, “I have a feeling that Lieutenant Fitzroy isn’t going to want to walk the decks by himself for a while. He’s not popular.”

“Was he ever?” she asked.

“Perhaps not,” he replied. Looking up at her, he said, “It’s a hell of a thing to do to you, but I’ve got a lot of maintenance jobs that need a skilled engineer, out where not many people go. Normally I’d spread the load among the whole crew, but under the circumstances…”

“What time is it?”

“About midnight. I was just going off-duty when they called me down to spring you from the cell.

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