Up Against It - M. J. Locke [187]
“I heard.”
“You should have heard old Moriarty—I mean Deputy Commissioner Moriarty—complaining about all the crap in that ice. Because it’s a stroid, not a Kuiper object. He says it’s more junk than ice. Thing was, it seemed like he was happy anyway.”
“Yes, Sean and his team enjoy a good technical challenge. So, today, eh? Very good. I plan to be up top to watch it, if they let me.”
He frowned. If they let her? “Why wouldn’t they?”
She paused, and seemed to search for words. “The warehouse disaster happened on my watch. Parliament needs to satisfy themselves that I did everything I could to prevent it, and to recover with minimal loss.”
“But … but it wasn’t your fault! Everyone knew it.”
“They’re just doing their job.”
“It was those bad-sammies last week, wasn’t it? That was just bullshit. People were taking things out on you because they were scared. And now they’re saying the whole thing was sabotage. That the Martian mob did it.”
Everyone was talking about the fleet of ships the Ogilvie mob had launched to attack Earth. It was all over the news. They were now approaching Mars orbit at several gees’ acceleration. Earth had threatened to blast them out of the sky and they were now insisting that their ships’ controls had been hijacked. It seemed like just the sort of thing a bunch of mobsters would do: launch an attack and lie about it when caught.
“They must be batshit crazy,” he said. “They are bad, bad people.”
“Batshit crazy. I like that theory.” She gave Geoff an amused, abstracted look, as if she knew something that she was not telling him. “They are bad people. And yes, it was sabotage. The district attorney has ample proof. I’m sure all will come out just fine.”
They sat silent for a few moments, and watched the politicians gesturing and mumbling away.
After a moment, Geoff blurted, “I’ve moved out. So has my mom.” She did not seem surprised. He went on, “Mom always told me you were as hard to read as a rock. But you don’t seem like that today.”
“That’s funny. Xuan always said that, too.”
Said? Geoff thought belatedly. Not ‘says’? He had just seen the professor yesterday, out on the commuter pad getting ready to depart on another rock-hunting trip. A long one, from the looks of his supplies. But it would be rude to ask.
“I was furious when I lost my job,” she said, “but it was time for me to move on. I just didn’t know it till they pried my butt out of my seat for me.”
“Is it true you’re leaving Phocaea?”
“Perhaps someday. Not just yet. If I leave Phocaea, it’ll be on my own terms. But I don’t think they’re quite as anxious to be rid of me as they were.”
“Mom says everyone will be at a loss without you as resource chief.”
“Nah. Aaron is good. I hope they give the job to him, and give him a chance to prove how capable he is. But it could be anybody, really, as long as it’s not me!” She said this with a fierce joy.
He hesitated. “You hated your job?”
She looked surprised. “Oh, no, not at all. I loved a lot of things about it. I liked having the power to help people. I made a difference in people’s lives.” She leaned forward, despite the dusting of “Stroiders” mites. “Look at us, Geoff. We kept some really bad people from gaining control of Phocaea, you and I. We saved a lot of lives. I’ll treasure that knowledge for the rest of my life.
“It’s just…” she crossed her legs again, pondering. “When you harness yourself to a cause, all those hard choices you make, they take their toll. All the fighting. Working the system. You make compromises to get things done, you piss people off, you have to swallow a lot of anger. It wears you down. I’d been at it, doing resource management, for more than forty years. That’s a long time to carry such a burden. Now I have no formal power, but I finally have the freedom to speak my mind. Even if they lock me up for it.” She smiled a little smile. Then she gestured.
“And you. Look at you! Who would have believed you could do what you’ve done?” She gave him a smile. “BitManSinger wasn’t the only feral sapient around these