Read Online Chains of Redemption by Selina Rosen - Free Book Online
Authors: Selina Rosen
Tags: Science-Fiction
Ads: Link
suffered and will continue to suffer. If I bury this now it will have all been for nothing. I knew of the possible consequences when I stole it and deduced that in fact the end did justify the means, as with this I can start to put things right. So shut the fuck up, stay out of my way, and out of my business."
Right watched as Jessica carefully unwrapped the items in question. Even clean the sack smelled awful, and so for that matter did the shower. Right threw the sack into the trash and then scrubbed the shower out. Even expelling this small amount of energy made him weak. Less money for ore meant less money for protein, and less protein meant the worms would move on up his body. She didn't care. She didn't care about all the others who had suffered for her theft, and she sure as hell didn't care about him.
He walked across the small room and sat down, exhausted. He watched as Jessica went to work tinkering with the electronic equipment like a child with a new toy.
"What are you going to do with it?" he asked.
"Find out what I need to know," she answered vaguely, and shut up and leave me alone was implied.
That was it; whatever her plan was he wasn't to be part of it. She had hidden the fact that she had the equipment in the first place, and now she wasn't going to tell him why she had it. She was leaving him out of the loop, because she didn't trust him to be able to mask his feelings under questioning. Though part of him knew he was safer if he didn't know, it still hurt that she didn't trust him after all this time.
Right had become accustomed to constant pain these last few horrible years as the worms made a meal of his leg. He could feel every move they made as they squirmed their way around his body. It was an indescribable pain, and one he had to deal with alone.
He wasn't allowed to converse with, or even have light contact with, the Argy they shared the planet with, because Jessica felt his Argy wasn't good enough to pass for a local, and his emotions were too easily read. So he had no external outlet. Jessica's answer to his pain was to offer to put him out of his misery on a regular basis. She said she'd changed, and she had. He'd watched, in fact he'd had a front row seat as Jessica Kirk had slowly gone completely and totally insane. There were moments of clarity, but there were no truly sane moments with her any more.
She believed that she had developed a conscience that she didn't formerly have. Truly believed that she had gained enlightenment. Life on Pete had been her personal hell. A way of clearing away the demons of the evil she had committed in the name of the Reliance.
Right certainly felt as if he'd paid, and paid, and paid.
Jessica hadn't been through the crap he'd been through. Her perfect body hadn't been invaded by parasites. But she was still sure she'd done enough time in hell. She'd been punished, and now she wanted . . . what, exactly?
Where could they go? Where besides this hateful planet could they hide? They had come here in the first place because they'd been completely out of options.
He knew then why Jessica had stolen the equipment. Jessica was going to start looking for options.
Jessica had all but given up on the pile of electronic crap. At one point she was sure that she would never to be able to boost it enough to get the range she needed, much less hack into Reliance communications. About the time she was ready to throw it back into the shit from whence it had come, she found that one missing piece that had eluded her. Within hours she had managed to hack into just the right Reliance data port.
She smiled triumphantly. The idiots hadn't even bothered to change the codes since she'd defected. Of course, they didn't actually expect people to be able to store streams of code in their heads.
RJ was still missing and the Reliance was still claiming to have killed her and her entire crew. No mention was
Right watched as Jessica carefully unwrapped the items in question. Even clean the sack smelled awful, and so for that matter did the shower. Right threw the sack into the trash and then scrubbed the shower out. Even expelling this small amount of energy made him weak. Less money for ore meant less money for protein, and less protein meant the worms would move on up his body. She didn't care. She didn't care about all the others who had suffered for her theft, and she sure as hell didn't care about him.
He walked across the small room and sat down, exhausted. He watched as Jessica went to work tinkering with the electronic equipment like a child with a new toy.
"What are you going to do with it?" he asked.
"Find out what I need to know," she answered vaguely, and shut up and leave me alone was implied.
That was it; whatever her plan was he wasn't to be part of it. She had hidden the fact that she had the equipment in the first place, and now she wasn't going to tell him why she had it. She was leaving him out of the loop, because she didn't trust him to be able to mask his feelings under questioning. Though part of him knew he was safer if he didn't know, it still hurt that she didn't trust him after all this time.
Right had become accustomed to constant pain these last few horrible years as the worms made a meal of his leg. He could feel every move they made as they squirmed their way around his body. It was an indescribable pain, and one he had to deal with alone.
He wasn't allowed to converse with, or even have light contact with, the Argy they shared the planet with, because Jessica felt his Argy wasn't good enough to pass for a local, and his emotions were too easily read. So he had no external outlet. Jessica's answer to his pain was to offer to put him out of his misery on a regular basis. She said she'd changed, and she had. He'd watched, in fact he'd had a front row seat as Jessica Kirk had slowly gone completely and totally insane. There were moments of clarity, but there were no truly sane moments with her any more.
She believed that she had developed a conscience that she didn't formerly have. Truly believed that she had gained enlightenment. Life on Pete had been her personal hell. A way of clearing away the demons of the evil she had committed in the name of the Reliance.
Right certainly felt as if he'd paid, and paid, and paid.
Jessica hadn't been through the crap he'd been through. Her perfect body hadn't been invaded by parasites. But she was still sure she'd done enough time in hell. She'd been punished, and now she wanted . . . what, exactly?
Where could they go? Where besides this hateful planet could they hide? They had come here in the first place because they'd been completely out of options.
He knew then why Jessica had stolen the equipment. Jessica was going to start looking for options.
Jessica had all but given up on the pile of electronic crap. At one point she was sure that she would never to be able to boost it enough to get the range she needed, much less hack into Reliance communications. About the time she was ready to throw it back into the shit from whence it had come, she found that one missing piece that had eluded her. Within hours she had managed to hack into just the right Reliance data port.
She smiled triumphantly. The idiots hadn't even bothered to change the codes since she'd defected. Of course, they didn't actually expect people to be able to store streams of code in their heads.
RJ was still missing and the Reliance was still claiming to have killed her and her entire crew. No mention was
Similar Books
