The Fall by Scott Bartlett

Author:Scott Bartlett [Bartlett, Scott]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Mirth Publishing
Published: 2021-02-06T22:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty-Five

New Edinburgh, Skotia Colony

Pinnacle System, Xebec Region

Earth Year 2291

Thatcher wandered New Edinburgh’s quieter streets, aimless in his direction.

It felt highly unusual to remain planetside for longer than strictly necessary, but just now he needed the fresh air.

The admiral’s words resounded through his mind like a gong. Get yourself right, Tad.

Thatcher was open to the idea that he needed to do something drastic in order to “get himself right” and “go back to fighting the good fight,” though he had no idea what that thing might be.

Quit Frontier? Somehow force Rose to part ways with Simon Moll—to disavow CoG?

He had serious doubt about the likelihood of forcing Veronica Rose to do anything, and as for quitting Frontier…well, he could certainly do that. But it would mean losing the New Jersey, along with the crew he had come to love.

Wow. That struck him hard, but felt true nonetheless. His relationship with his crew had grown beyond that of manager and employee, hadn’t it? He felt not only a deep fondness for them, but a protectiveness, too.

Abandoning the Jersey is not an option.

So what did that leave? He couldn’t leave the Jersey, and he couldn’t defy Rose. Nor could he seem to persuade her of how destructive this alliance with Moll was likely to become, no matter how hard he tried, or what angle he took.

He came upon a park where children swung from brightly colored bars and bounded across multi-leveled platforms, screeching their delight while their parents chatted in twos and threes nearby. For some reason, that reminded him of his grandfather, if only because Edward Thatcher had never taken him to anything so frivolous as a playground when he was a child. Their time together had been more structured, goal-driven. Everything driving toward helping him realize his childhood dream of becoming a starship captain.

Thatcher still remembered when his grandfather had entered his childhood bedroom and found him lining up toy starships, reenacting Edward Thatcher’s battle with the Xanthic at Valencia. Edward had sat on the twin-sized bed and wept—the only time Thatcher ever remembered his grandfather crying.

Is what Ward said even true?

His mind turned over and over, trying to poke holes in the insane story the admiral had told him. But why would a man of such stature lie?

Going over his past didn’t help, either. Instead of finding things to contradict what Ward had told him, he found himself using the bizarre story to make sense of memories that had been a total mystery to him before. Like all the times he could have sworn he’d glimpsed his grandfather at the Naval Academy, across the yard or at the end of a passageway, even though he’d had no reason to be there.

Once, Thatcher had actually run into Edward Thatcher. At first, he’d seemed shocked to see Tad, and even a little anxious. But he’d quickly regained his composure and explained that he was there to visit the superintendent, Admiral Theodore Christie—an old friend.

Except, Thatcher had run into Edward near Rickover Hall, which was across the campus from the Admin building.

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