Last Licks (Starship for Sale Book 10) by M.R. Forbes

Author:M.R. Forbes [Forbes, M.R.]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Published: 2023-03-31T16:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 27

The mug fell from the suddenly languid hand of David’s mother and shattered on the floor. Coffee splashed all over the high, rubber-like boots she wore over thick leggings that likely offered some level of ballistic protection.

Her jaw dropped. “What the hell are you doing here, Murdock?”

“Mom, it’s all right,” David said, rushing to get between the two of us. “Close the door.”

She stared saucer-eyed at him for a moment before reluctantly doing as he asked, stepping forward enough for the door to slide shut behind her. “David, did you already forget what you told me about him?” his mother continued. “Did you already forget what happened on Earth?”

“What happened on Earth was your fault,” I said. “Maybe if you had been honest with your son, all of that could have been avoided.”

“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“I know more than you think. I know all about Sucaath.” I held up my guitar, showing off the paint job. “I’ve met him. We had a good talk. Where’s your collator?”

“I don’t know what you mean,” she insisted.

“Protostem, then.”

She made a face before digging into the pocket of her short, dark coat, producing a small chunk of the material. “Satisfied?”

“Not yet.” She wore three sigiltech rings on the fingers of her right hand. “Push me.”

“What?”

“Push me. You can use sigiltech if you’re still human.”

She glared at me, almost smiling as she activated one of the rings, the action shoving me back hard enough to land me on my butt.

Emerald rushed forward, shoving her rifle in the woman’s face. “That’s enough,” she snarled.

The glow of the ring faded as David’s mom shifted her attention from Emerald back to me. “Are you satisfied now?”

“That you’re still you, yes," I said as George helped me back to my feet. I smirked at her. “That you’re not an evil witch, no.”

“Ben,” David said, taking offense to the indictment.

“Hold on, David,” I replied, my eyes locked on her. “Tell me you don’t know what’s happening in the Spiral. Tell me you don’t know how David’s sigils are being used.”

She didn’t answer right away, her eyes darting from me to David and back to me.

“Mom?” David pleaded when she stood there tight-lipped.

The defiance in her expression faded slowly, and she turned her attention back to her son. “I’m sorry, David. I knew how your work would be used from the moment you rediscovered the technology.” She looked up at me again. “Anyone with half a brain could figure it out, unless they’re as naive as my son. Anything with the power to hurt or heal will inevitably be used to hurt more than heal. It’s not the fault of the power. It’s the fault of the user. The human condition.”

“It’s not just a human condition,” Emerald said.

“You lied to me?” David said, crestfallen. “After everything we talked about? After you promised you wouldn’t?”

“I had no choice.”

“Bullshit!” David spewed the word before I could.

“If you’ve met Sucaath, then you know the truth,” she said to me. “You know what he wants and why he wants it.

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