Children of Scarabaeus Read Online Free PDF Page B

she was sixteen. More specifically, Edie worked for the Special Branch responsible for terraforming new colony worlds and for other projects…such as Ardra.
    Project Ardra was Natesa’s baby, and she needed Edie on the team. Edie had refused to be involved, even talking her way into a three-month reassignment on Talas’s space station in a last-ditch effort to avoid the project. Now it looked like Ardra was her only bargaining chip in negotiating for Finn’s life.
    They set up a comm next to Edie’s bunk and mercifully released the cuffs so she could be more comfortable. Natesawas not at the Crai Institute on Talas as Edie had expected. The call trace said she was on a CCU ship, the Learo Dochais , and its location was hidden.
    Natesa looked as poised and coiffed as ever, and Edie knew from experience that the woman was just as controlled—not to mention controlling—on the inside. The gleam in her eyes no doubt resulted from her glee that her protégée was once again in Crib hands.
    “Edie, my dear. Our last encounter did not go as I’d hoped.”
    That encounter took place a year ago for Natesa. To Edie, it was a very recent memory. There were a dozen smart-mouthed things Edie would like to have said. She bit her lip and kept quiet.
    “But let’s put all that behind us.” Natesa tilted her head with a sad smile. “You disappeared for a year. You can’t imagine how that devastated me.”
    “Because you need me for Ardra.”
    “Because I care about you, Edie.”
    Were those actual tears welling up in Natesa’s eyes? Edie didn’t trust them for a second.
    “You know how I feel about Ardra,” she said.
    “You have contractual obligations…”
    That damn contract. Two years of service for every year of education the Crib had given Edie in training—the standard deal, and it had seemed like a good one when she first left the Talasi camps. Short of another disappearance, though, there was nothing Edie could do to get out of it.
    “I know that. And I’ll work for you until my contract expires in eleven years—on one condition.”
    Natesa had visibly relaxed, but now her eyes narrowed. “And that would be?”
    “The serf from Talas Prime Station who escaped when I was kidnapped—Finn—is still in cryo on the Lichfield . The rovers hijacked his boundary chip to make me his boundary, forcing him to serve as my bodyguard. The range of the leash is just under two thousand meters. Beyond that, thebomb in his head will explode. The fact that he’s frozen is keeping him alive—at least, I hope so. I want him picked up immediately.”
    “And what then? Keep him frozen?”
    “Find a way to cut the leash without killing him. You have an army of tecks at your disposal.”
    “What if that’s not possible?”
    “Then he comes with me. He stays at my side until you find a way. As long as you keep him alive and unharmed, I’ll work for you.”
    “Is that it?”
    “Yes.”
    Natesa shrugged, as if the request was a mere triviality. “Very well. I’ll arrange to have the Peregrine retrieve him. Meanwhile, you take care of yourself. We’re so looking forward to having you join our team.”
    Edie cut the connection and tried not to think about eleven more years of servitude.
     
    Less than an hour later, Sergeant West was back in the cubicle looking somewhat bewildered, which Edie decided was his way of being pissed off.
    “Well, ma’am, you have friends in high places. You have us all intrigued. A few days ago our orders were to board and search the Lichfield for an AWOL teck. Suddenly you’re important enough to call the shots over a runaway serf.”
    “He was a POW. He should have been freed four… five years ago.” She had to remember to account for that missing year.
    West made a dismissive gesture. “Maybe you can get him a parole hearing.” He pulled up a stool and sat, awkwardly, as if someone had told him to be affable. “The captain is curious about you, so I made it my business to check your