Read Online Forbidden Knowledge by Stephen R. Donaldson - Free Book Online

retorted, “you’ve got a connection in Com-Mine Security. There’s no other way you could have framed him.” Angus’ name wouldn’t pass her lips; she couldn’t force it out of her throat. “I helped you plant those supplies, but you couldn’t have stolen them in the first place without inside help—without somebody in Security who was willing to take risks to help you.
    “Maybe that’s what’s going on now. Maybe your connection is feeling the heat—maybe he needs to get me back to distract the rest of Security from the way those supplies were stolen.
    “But that’s beside the point. Whoever he is—whatever reasons he’s got for helping you—he would have told you everything Security knows about me. He would have told you who I am.”
    Nick didn’t contradict her. He may or may not have liked intelligence in women, but he accepted hers. He spread his hands expressively. “So you see our problem.”
    “No,” she began, “I don’t. I’ve got a problem of my own to worry about. I don’t understand why—”
    “I’ll spell it out for you,” Mikka interrupted, as harsh as mineral acid. “You’re a cop. Maybe that’s why you let us take you. Security got Thermopyle. Now you want to make sure the UMC Police get us.”
    Morn allowed her mouth to fall open. Anybody who believed her capable of making decisions like that knew nothing about the experience of being Angus Thermopyle’s victim.
    Which was of course true for everyone aboard Captain’s Fancy .
    Which in turn meant that they had no reason to guess the existence of her zone implant. Their preconceptions and anxieties ran in an entirely different direction. They were misled by the knowledge that she was a cop; by the assumption that she had a cop’s reasons for what she did.
    Keeping her back to Mikka, facing only Nick, she replied scornfully, “I’m not suicidal. If I wanted to betray you, I wouldn’t put myself in this position. As soon as Security arrested him”—despite her anger, she still couldn’t say Angus’ name aloud—“I would have flagged a guard and told him not to let you leave Station. Then I would have had all the time I needed to talk to Security. Safely. You and Security’s traitor would have been arrested.”
    Her answer silenced the command second, but it didn’t shift Nick’s study of her. Again he said, “So you see our problem.”
    “No.” Her fear and fury continued to grow; she could barely refrain from shouting. “I’m not a mind reader. I don’t know what problems you’ve got unless you tell me.
    “ My problem is figuring out what you want a cop for.”
    When Morn said that, Lind let out a satirical chuckle, and the woman at the targ board snorted “Crap.”
    Nick threw back his head and laughed.
    “Morn,” Vector remarked like a man discussing routine traffic trajectories, “if you think about it, you’ll understand why we need to know what made you stay with Captain Thermopyle.”
    “You’re a cop.” Mikka’s tone was soft and vicious. “He’s a pirate and a butcher—he’s slime.” She might have been quoting Nick. “But you crewed for him. You stayed with him when he got to Station. You backed him against Security. The only thing you did against him was unseal his hatches.
    “If you don’t tell us why, we’re going to put you in an ejection pod and jettison you back toward Com-Mine. Let them have you, and good riddance.”
    Morn could feel the hostility on the bridge building against her. In an unexpected way, it reassured her. Mikka and the others wanted to uncover her secrets: therefore her secrets were still hidden. She couldn’t imagine why that might be true, but she staked herself on it.
    “I told you,” she said, speaking to Nick, always speaking to Nick. “ Starmaster was wrecked. I was going to die out there. He found me—and he needed crew. So I made a deal with him. To save my life. I gave him immunity—as much immunity as I had. Starmaster ’s captain was