The Forgotten Colony (A Zach Croft Novel) by J.B. Ryder

Author:J.B. Ryder [Ryder, J.B.]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2023-05-08T16:00:00+00:00

CORA KEATON: 2053

"This is a day of mourning," Carver said, adjusting the lapel of his fine black suit as his eyes dragged across a sheet of paper on the podium. He held back tears. "We have lost not one but two of our dearest friends."

Friends, Cora thought. Zach was so much more than that. He was a brother, someone to rely on when things got tough, a good person with a good heart. The list of Zach's merits was so long that Cora couldn't finish it in one go. Instead, she stared straight ahead with a stony glare.

She knew she should be crying. People expected it of her. But how would that help Zach now? Breaking down in a sobbing fit would only make things harder. Instead, Cora ran her fingers over the coarse fabric of her dress, tracing them in circles to take her mind off the ceremony.

Carver's voice boomed from the stage. "I knew Zach better than anyone. He was my apprentice and the closest I'll ever get to a son. I'll never forget all he did for me. For this agency."

Cora didn't know why Carver was leading the proceedings. It felt like the memorial should have been led by a priest or someone like that. Then again, Zach hadn't been particularly religious, and Carver was closer to him than almost anyone.

Almost.

Cora and Zach had spent decades together. She didn't have a single memory that he wasn't a part of, from her fifth birthday, to graduating college, to the countless hours they spent jogging through the park. This park.

The wreckage had been cleared, and the city had filled the large craters it left behind with fresh soil. But it didn't matter. Nothing grew in the new patches of land, as if the plants could sense it was hallowed ground.

I really failed this time, Cora thought. She had been unable to protect Zach. The promise she made to him twenty-three years ago—that nothing bad would ever happen to him again—had been broken. How could she have let him do this? How had she not tried harder to talk him out of it? It was her one job! And she couldn't even do that.

She watched Carver lean against the podium. "In many ways, I saw myself in him," he continued, making Cora wince.

Zach was nothing like him, not in a single way. Carver was selfish, controlling, and, most recently, a liar. Suggesting they were at all alike was an insult to everything Zach stood for.

If her job wasn't on the line, Cora would have punched Carver across the jaw right then and there, smiling as he hit the ground in a crumpled heap. The nerve he had, standing up there while he pretended to give a shit. If he cared about Zach, he would have trusted him when Zach said the solar flares were getting worse. He would have funded Exodus. He would have authorized Zach's request to return to Mars to harvest the newly-discovered irogen. And Zach would still be alive.

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