was it better to take a chance and go under now? Then he realized there might be a compromise.
"You said the ship can only continue to fly as long as we might need it to if we shut down the life support systems and the gravity field. But we don't have to do it today. Let's live for two more weeks." He looked at RJ. "Let's live the next two weeks like they're the last two weeks of our lives, and then let's put this plan into action. Two weeks won't make a real difference."
"You're right," RJ said. She walked over and embraced him, and then she was talking only to him. "If I only have two weeks left to live, I'm glad I'll be spending them with you. If we wake up on a brave new world and we find we have a lifetime together, I will gladly spend that with you as well."
"That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard," Topaz said, wiping a tear from his eye.
RJ shot him a dirty look and led Levits out the door.
Topaz immediately stood up and started for the door himself. "Where are you going?" Poley asked curiously.
"To see if one of the Reliance screws who used to run this freaking ship left a blow-up doll lying around. And you better hope I find one, because you're starting to look pretty good to me, Tin Pants." He winked at Poley as he walked out the door.
Poley turned back to the instrument panel and started wondering how he'd spend his time when he didn't have all of them to take care of.
Chapter Four
Jessica Kirk sat on the porch of her stilted bungalow in hell and wondered just what she was going to do with the news she'd heard today.
A ship had landed to be loaded, which happened at least twice a week, so there was nothing unusual about that. Nor was it an uncommon occurrence for Jessica to work close enough to the guards to hear what they were saying. There were no viewscreens, no radio or newspapers on Pete. There was nothing of interest or importance happening on Pete, and the only way you could find out what was going on elsewhere in the galaxy was by eavesdropping on the Argy military drones that came and went on those ships.
With Jessica's superior hearing she didn't even have to get close enough to look suspicious.
Most days the news was nothing more exciting than they—the Argy—were losing on one front or they were winning on some other. News of what was going on in the Reliance was rare to completely nonexistent.
Until today. RJ had gotten so huge that it seemed that her demise had became news on both sides. Strategically it made a certain amount of sense. The Argy were fighting a war with the Reliance. RJ was a problem for the Reliance, and therefore her death was going to mean they were going to have to work a little harder.
Also there were rumors that RJ had been on her way to the planet Deakard to try and strike a deal with the Argy government, which would benefit both the Argys and the New Alliance. The Argy had believed she could help them, because her forces had just recently taken complete control of a Reliance-held planet.
There was obviously some discrepancy between the Argy account of how RJ had died and the Reliance account. That was curious all by itself, but what she found most intriguing was just how hard the Argy seemed to be taking RJ's death. Perhaps it was because she gave them a much-needed edge against their enemy. Maybe it was as simple as the fact that she was one of them—or at least half one of them—and they felt a camaraderie because, though she had been raised by the Reliance, she had still attacked them. Perhaps they thought her actions had been controlled by some trace of race memory.
RJ was dead. RJ the indestructible, who had confounded her at every turn, was dead, and the Argy were mourning. The New Alliance, RJ's friends, no one would ever be quite the same.
Jessica was the same blood, for all intents and purposes she was the same person, and did even one soul care that she was stuck on
"You said the ship can only continue to fly as long as we might need it to if we shut down the life support systems and the gravity field. But we don't have to do it today. Let's live for two more weeks." He looked at RJ. "Let's live the next two weeks like they're the last two weeks of our lives, and then let's put this plan into action. Two weeks won't make a real difference."
"You're right," RJ said. She walked over and embraced him, and then she was talking only to him. "If I only have two weeks left to live, I'm glad I'll be spending them with you. If we wake up on a brave new world and we find we have a lifetime together, I will gladly spend that with you as well."
"That's the sweetest thing I've ever heard," Topaz said, wiping a tear from his eye.
RJ shot him a dirty look and led Levits out the door.
Topaz immediately stood up and started for the door himself. "Where are you going?" Poley asked curiously.
"To see if one of the Reliance screws who used to run this freaking ship left a blow-up doll lying around. And you better hope I find one, because you're starting to look pretty good to me, Tin Pants." He winked at Poley as he walked out the door.
Poley turned back to the instrument panel and started wondering how he'd spend his time when he didn't have all of them to take care of.
Chapter Four
Jessica Kirk sat on the porch of her stilted bungalow in hell and wondered just what she was going to do with the news she'd heard today.
A ship had landed to be loaded, which happened at least twice a week, so there was nothing unusual about that. Nor was it an uncommon occurrence for Jessica to work close enough to the guards to hear what they were saying. There were no viewscreens, no radio or newspapers on Pete. There was nothing of interest or importance happening on Pete, and the only way you could find out what was going on elsewhere in the galaxy was by eavesdropping on the Argy military drones that came and went on those ships.
With Jessica's superior hearing she didn't even have to get close enough to look suspicious.
Most days the news was nothing more exciting than they—the Argy—were losing on one front or they were winning on some other. News of what was going on in the Reliance was rare to completely nonexistent.
Until today. RJ had gotten so huge that it seemed that her demise had became news on both sides. Strategically it made a certain amount of sense. The Argy were fighting a war with the Reliance. RJ was a problem for the Reliance, and therefore her death was going to mean they were going to have to work a little harder.
Also there were rumors that RJ had been on her way to the planet Deakard to try and strike a deal with the Argy government, which would benefit both the Argys and the New Alliance. The Argy had believed she could help them, because her forces had just recently taken complete control of a Reliance-held planet.
There was obviously some discrepancy between the Argy account of how RJ had died and the Reliance account. That was curious all by itself, but what she found most intriguing was just how hard the Argy seemed to be taking RJ's death. Perhaps it was because she gave them a much-needed edge against their enemy. Maybe it was as simple as the fact that she was one of them—or at least half one of them—and they felt a camaraderie because, though she had been raised by the Reliance, she had still attacked them. Perhaps they thought her actions had been controlled by some trace of race memory.
RJ was dead. RJ the indestructible, who had confounded her at every turn, was dead, and the Argy were mourning. The New Alliance, RJ's friends, no one would ever be quite the same.
Jessica was the same blood, for all intents and purposes she was the same person, and did even one soul care that she was stuck on
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