Imperial Justice by Jason Fry

Author:Jason Fry
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
Publisher: Disney Publishing Worldwide

Zare woke up with a start and looked at the clock. It read 0545—but of course there was no Currahee shouting for worthless cadets to get out of their bunks, threatening demerits and extra kitchen duty. He blew his breath out and rolled over, stuffing his head under the pillow. But sleep wouldn’t come. The bed felt too soft, like he was in danger of being swallowed by it, and he kept thinking that he’d missed reveille and would get written up.

He gave up and padded into the kitchen, where Auntie Nags was puttering about. The old nanny droid never slept, unless her rare maintenance cycles counted as sleep. She heard him and turned, photoreceptors turning green.

“Zare Leonis! You’re up early! How about a mug of hot chocolate?”

That sounded wonderful, and Zare sat savoring the warm drink at the kitchen table while Nags fussed over him, chattering about how empty the apartment had seemed. Without him and without…and then she stopped, photoreceptors flaring yellow.

“Oh my,” she said. “My apologies, Zare. How thoughtless of me.”

“It’s okay, Nags,” Zare said. “I miss her, too. Every day.”

“She’d be so proud of you. When she was home a year ago, she talked about how she couldn’t wait for you to learn everything she was learning. She was sitting right where you are now.”

Zare accepted another mug of hot chocolate, but his parents heard Nags talking to him and got out of bed. Within a few minutes, Alton Kastle was delivering the news while Leo insisted that the Empire needed to crack down on the current plague of lawlessness.

“The attack at the Academy, and now Empire Day. No one will say it, but these are not just isolated incidents,” Leo said. “There’s a pattern behind it—something dangerous. Dangerous to commerce, and authority, and the social order.”

Zare looked miserably at his mother, who knew what his father didn’t—that Alton Kastle was an Imperial stooge and much of the news he delivered was either carefully manicured truth or entirely fictitious.

“Oh, Leo, let’s not ruin a nice morning,” she said. “I hope Merei does well on her exams.”

Leo either hadn’t heard his wife or was ignoring her.

“At least Governor Pryce is still on top of things,” he said. “Her assistant assures me that her office is doing everything it can to find your sister, Zare. I’m certain it’s one of her highest priorities.”

“I hope so, Dad,” Zare said, his anger with his father now mixed with pity. “What are we doing today, anyway?”

“Why, nothing, dear,” Tepha said. “We thought you’d want a day without being told what to do every single minute.”

Zare nodded. “That sounds great.”

But it wasn’t great—not at all. He felt adrift all of a sudden. There was no schedule to tell him how to fill up all the hours ahead of him. He went into his bedroom and started to flop down on the bed, but he’d made it and couldn’t stand the idea of messing up the precise line of the sheet and the neat, wrinkle-free cover.

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