Kris Longknife: Tenacious (Kris Longknife novellas Book 12) Read Online Free PDF

whenever Abby finally condescended to a serious talk with Kris.
    “I’ve been working with Pipra Strongarm for the last month when you didn’t have nothin’ for me to do, you know.”
    “Idle hands are the devil’s workshop.”
    “I don’t need no idle hands to be working for him,” Abby said.
    “So, you want to stay here with Pipra and try your hand at business. Tell me, is it you or that brat of Nelly’s around your neck that she wants?”
    Abby had inherited one of Nelly’s kids. The maid’s relationship with Mata Hari had been off and on. Apparently it was on at the moment and didn’t involve any sneaky stuff.
    Then again, Kris would never bet against sneaky where Abby and her computer were concerned.
    “She likes us both,” Abby spat. “The degree I earned back on Earth was in business management, and Pipra is finding it hard to put together a staff that understands the mess we’re in.”
    “And you have survived around one of those damn Longknifes long enough to know just how bad the messes can be,” Kris agreed.
    Abby cast Kris a look. “You have to admit that this mess kind of outdoes your usual.”
    “It does,” Kris agreed. “Who else will be wanting to stay behind?”
    Kris would bet Wardhaven dollars to donuts she knew the answer to her question, but she wanted to hear it from Abby.
    “Sergeant Bruce has gotten his next stripe. He’s a Gunny now, working dirtside as much as up here. Whoever Jack leaves in charge here will need the help of at least one of Nelly’s kids. Cara will also stay with me. Her fourteenth birthday is coming up, and while she still thinks of herself as the first member of the Marine Corps Auxiliary to the
Wasp
’s Marine detachment, Pipra and the boffins are seeing that she gets a good education. And we are using Dada for stuff on the business side.”
    “Nelly, do you have any problem with this?” Kris asked.
    Nelly had had definite problems with the idea of one of her kids being handed off to a business tycoon, either the head of Mitsubishi Heavy Space Industry or Kris’s Grampa Al. Especially Grampa Al. Survival, however, made for different decisions.
    “I have no problems with Mata working with Ms. Strongarm. She shows a refreshingly creative and ethical approach to our situation. I’m glad to see Dada doing more than playing computer games with Cara and being an educational device. I’m also glad to see her being brought up to speed with more complex challenges. Kris, we’ve already discussed this, and I agree these three should stay behind and help where they can.”
    “I figured you had, Nelly,” Kris said. “Otherwise, Abby would not have known how and when to just happen to run into me and present me this proposal. Okay, Abby, you’re still my employee, and don’t forget that, but for now, you’re on loan to Pipra. Have fun and charge her all the market will bear in consulting fees.”
    “I wouldn’t charge a penny less,” Abby said, and stepped aside.
    Kris and Jack were finally able to enter their quarters.
    Some people might find it hard to think of a ship’s stateroom as home, but for Kris, her quarters on the
Wasp
was the closest she’d come to a home since joining the Navy and doing her level best to get ship duty. Her day quarters were quite spacious. Clearly, with her ashore, someone had shrunk her night cabin down to next to nothing. Wasn’t it nice having Smart Metal TM that you could push around with an app?
    An app that had caused a near revolution in what the crew could do with their quarters.
    Kris and Jack had been neither the first nor the last to merge their quarters and set up housekeeping together, official or otherwise.
    With no shore stations to ship anyone to for punishment, and no one to replace them with anyway, discipline among the Sailors and Marines on the far side of the galaxy from the nearest human space was . . . delicate. When contract personnel and the scientists aboard began using an app to open doors