Faith by John Love Read Free Book Online Page A

the Commonwealth. The last two were on ex-Sakhran systems, Bast and Anubis, so it was thought that Isis and Horus might be next. The Department deployed an Outsider to each of them. I got Isis.”
    “Or we got you….Thank you, Commander.”
    There were glances and shufflings of paper among the figures at the table. The sun Isis streamed through the curved bay window. It was now almost directly overhead, and its white-gold light drew dust motes circling up to the ceiling. The window showed the city outside; it was breathtakingly beautiful. Only very occasional hints of its smell penetrated the large room’s climate control.
    “Commander Ansah.” This was Second Voice, from yesterday. “Department Of Administrative Affairs…Is that a euphemism?”
    “It’s a less than completely accurate description of the Department.” She spoke the words with exaggerated carefulness, in a gentle mimicry of the way a politician or lawyer would speak them. It drew some smiles, as faint as her own, from a couple of those at the table; though not from Second Voice.
    “Your orders from the Department. Did they give you absolute freedom of judgement and action in the event of an engagement?”
    “You know they didn’t, or none of this would have happened. In particular, the city outside wouldn’t be smelling like it does.” She took care to keep any inflexion out of her voice.
    “Just answer the question, please.”
    “No, my orders didn’t give me absolute freedom of judgement and action in the event of an engagement. Or any freedom of judgement and action.”
    “And we’ve heard that you’re absolutely...”
    “…absolutely bound to honour the letter and spirit of the Department’s orders, in every detail. Yes; you’ve heard that.”
    “Was your ship assigned to a task force of five Isis ships?”
    “Yes.”
    “What were the ships?”
    “There were four heavy cruisers, and…”
    “Yes, go on, Commander. Say it. And?”
    “And the battleship Thomas Cromwell .”
    “Yes, that’s the pile of radioactive rubble that’s still in orbit above us and fouling up our communications, isn’t it?”
    “Over two hundred people died on that ship. I think,” Ansah said carefully, “that you didn’t mean to sound so dismissive.”
    “I had friends and colleagues among those two hundred, Commander.”
    “I think,” the Chairman said, “this would be a good time to adjourn for lunch. It’s been a long morning. I suggest we reconvene in ninety minutes.”
    Chairs scraped, heels clacked on the parquet, and voices resumed then receded.
     
    The Chairman continued sitting for a moment after everyone left. He was thinking about the wording of Ansah’s orders, and her apparent indifference about where she stood trial. The wording of her orders was unusually explicit and constraining; someone would have to be primed to ask her why. As to her indifference about where she stood trial, he’d initially thought she was being theatrical; now, he wasn’t sure.
    Desertion and Cowardice. It seemed a simple case when he first read the pleadings, and that should have warned him. Most things, he had learned, were not simple when you saw them up close.
     
    They took her in an unmarked flier to the De Vere Highlands, a few miles north of the city. Highlands was something of an exaggeration: they were more like gently rolling hills, but they did give a good view of De Vere and its surrounding countryside. They landed in Marling Park, a small formal garden, far enough into the Highlands to make it unlikely that there would be many lunchtime visitors from the city. Ansah walked at leisure, taking in the view, and the Sakhran maintained a discreet distance.
    De Vere was an elegant, formal city of white marble and stucco, with palladian architecture, piazzas, colonnades and garden squares. It was the legislative and financial centre of Isis 2, and of the whole Isis system. It was not the biggest city, but was arguably the most beautiful and