Brain Ships - Anne McCaffrey [272]
"I can guess," Forister said.
"Well, then. It doesn't excuse what she did, I know that. And it would kill her to have all that brought out in court. But—she hasn't had many breaks," Nancia said. "She never knew what it was to have a loving family behind her." I've been so much luckier—even if I didn't know it for a little while. "I thought she deserved that much of a second chance."
Silence followed this statement.
"I—it was dishonest," Nancia admitted. "And I know that. And if you two don't want to be partnered with me any more . . ."
"Knew about the buildings already," Micaya pointed out. "We were there too, if you recall. I didn't see any need to stand up in court and contradict Sev's rather touching evidence. Neither did your brawn here." She threw her head back and drained her glass of imported wine in one gulp. Forister winced.
"Then—" Nancia was confused.
Forister patted her titanium column. "It was . . . in the nature of a test, you might say," he told her. "Mic, here, thought you'd been with Caleb too long, absorbed too much of his black-and-white attitude to be as flexible as a good investigative team needs to be. We may be facing some delicate assignments. Need to make some judgment calls—can't rely on CS regulations to answer every question. Now I thought you had the maturity to make your own moral judgments—including knowing when to keep silent. After all, you didn't lie about any of Fassa's wrongdoing; all that evidence is clear in your deposition. You just—balanced—what you couldn't say about her tragic childhood, against what you didn't have to say about her work on Shemali."
"You don't despise me for it?"
"I did the same thing," Forister pointed out, "and without benefit of your inside information on Fassa's childhood."
"Then—it wasn't wrong?"
"You're an adult now, Nancia. You use your own judgment. What do you think?" Forister asked.
Nancia was still thinking when they reached the first Singularity point on the run to Theta Szentmari. With Forister and Micaya strapped down in their cabins, she arced through the collapsing spaces in an effortless flashing dive. Space and time twisted and reformed about her as she chose their path through continually changing matrices of transformations. For the few seconds of perfect, gliding, dangerous transition she danced and swam in her own element, making her own decisions.
As she continued to do for the rest of her career.
THE END
For more great books visit
http://www.webscription.net/
Brain Ships
Table of Contents
THE SHIP WHO SEARCHED
by Anne McCaffrey & Mercedes Lackey
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
PARTNERSHIP
by Anne McCaffrey & Margaret Ball
CHAPTER ONE
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
Table of Contents
THE SHIP WHO SEARCHEDby Anne McCaffrey & Mercedes Lackey
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
PARTNERSHIPby Anne McCaffrey & Margaret Ball
CHAPTER TWO
CHAPTER THREE
CHAPTER FOUR
CHAPTER FIVE
CHAPTER SIX
CHAPTER SEVEN
CHAPTER EIGHT
CHAPTER NINE
CHAPTER TEN
CHAPTER ELEVEN
CHAPTER TWELVE
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN