Heretics by S. Andrew Swann Read Free Book Online Page A

wasn’t it?
    â€œWhat’s it like out there?”
    Kugara turned to look at Flynn. He stood next to her, looking straight ahead at the black mass chewing through the rock ahead of them. Actually, he seemed to be looking through it.
    â€œIs it Flynn or Tetsami asking?”
    He turned to look at her with a slightly wistful expression. “Both of us.”
    â€œOut where?”
    â€œEverywhere. The last news we know of is nearly two hundred years old.”
    Kugara sighed. “I don’t know if things are better or worse.”
    Flynn shrugged and turned back toward the front. “Is Bakunin still there?”
    Kugara shook her head. “Yeah, there’s still a place called Bakunin. Me and Nickolai were part of the Bakunin Mercenaries’ Union.”
    â€œMercenaries’ Union?” From the way he cocked his head, she thought it was Tetsami talking. “When I left, things weren’t that organized.”
    â€œIt wasn’t?”
    â€œIn my time, everyone was their own contractor. Squad level was about as high as the hierarchy went.”
    Kugara tried to imagine life like that, completely at the whims of employers without any backup. “I guess too many mercs got shafted.”
    Tetsami gave her a humorless chuckle. “I suspect more that the army the Proudhon Spaceport Development Corporation put together never had any incentive to disband.”
    â€œArmy?”
    â€œLong story. The short version: the Confederacy tried to take the planet over by hiring everyone with a gun.” The words trailed off and Tetsami turned away from Kugara and the view outside.
    Kugara placed a hand on his shoulder. Or is it her shoulder? “Are you all right?”
    â€œIt’s getting kind of hard not to think about my past. It wasn’t particularly pleasant.” Tetsami wiped a hand across Flynn’s face. “Now I’m embarrassing Flynn.” After a moment, she whispered, “Myself too.”
    â€œYou were in that war?” Kugara asked, feeling a sudden odd kinship with the long-dead woman living in Flynn’s skull.
    â€œEveryone who came here was. The city, Ashley, is named for a commune that was slaughtered in that war. Ugly business for an ugly planet.”
    Kugara had often thought the same thing about her homeworld, Dakota. She gently squeezed Flynn’s shoulder.
    After a moment, Tetsami surprised her by asking, “Did you leave anyone behind on Bakunin?”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œHusband? Lover? Girlfriend?”
    Kugara lowered her hand. “No,” she said, “I’ve never had a knack for lasting relationships. Did you?”
    â€œNo,” Tetsami answered, “I didn’t leave anyone behind.”

    â€œWhy’d you lie to her, Gram?” Flynn’s voice asked inside their head.
    â€œI didn’t lie to her,” Tetsami silently answered. “ There was no one left to leave behind.”
    â€œSo? He left you.”
    â€œI don’t want to talk about him.”
    â€œIf you don’t want to talk about Dom, why did you ask her about who she left behind?”
    Jonah, Tetsami thought quietly to herself, his real name was Jonah Dacham.
    â€œ Gram? ”
    She sighed and shook Flynn’s head. “I’m tired. You drive for a while. ”
    â€œGram, wait a minute—” Flynn said out loud.
    â€œFlynn?” Kugara asked.
    Tetsami tuned out the conversation, withdrawing her consciousness into a dark corner of Flynn’s mind where no one could hear her curse or weep.

CHAPTER SIX
    Inquisition
    â€œDon’t assume you know what the enemy wants.”
    â€” The Cynic’s Book of Wisdom
    Â 
“We can be knowledgeable with other men’s knowledge, but we cannot be wise with other men’s wisdom.”
    â€”MICHEL DE MONTAIGNE (1533-1592)

Date: 2526.6.4 (Standard) Salmagundi-HD 101534
    Father Francis Xavier Mallory had been many things in his lifetime: a