The Mind Field by Blaze Ward Read Free Book Online Page B

caught up.
    “Something the Neu Berne military programs probably didn’t cover,” Javier said quietly, forcing her to lean down to listen.
    She hated that, according to Javier. Suvi got the impression Sykora might be grinding her teeth right now. Certainly, she took a breath before she answered.
    “Oh?”
    “I only know it because I spent a weekend at a religious retreat a while back with the modern incarnation of those people,” Javier said evasively. “Weird folks. Generally harmless, but weird.”
    “Pot, kettle,” the short, brunette pathfinder injected into the conversation as she arrived. Sascha was an extremely smart woman, from what Suvi had been able to surreptitiously observe.
    Javier made a face at her.
    “I got over it,” he snapped sarcastically. “Anyway, that is the emblem of a group of pacifists from a very long time ago.”
    “Pacifists?” Sykora asked, dripping sarcastic honey on her words.
    Suvi loved to listen to the tone and inflections the woman used. It was so different from Javier’s, or anyone she had known in the Concord . One of these days, she needed to convince Javier to take her to Neu Berne .
    Sykora did something with her hands. Suvi watched Sascha and Hajna, the other pathfinder Javier played cards with, take up station looking fore and aft, guns drawn. The others stayed back in the side hallway, prepared to run or fight.
    As far as Suvi could tell, Sykora was the most dangerous thing on the ship right now.
    Javier watched, bemused.
    “Pacifists,” he repeated. “Shepherds of the Word.”
    “Which word, Javier?” Hajna asked, kneeling beside Javier and covering the aft hallway to engineering.
    “Aritza,” Captain Sokolov’s voice came suddenly over the radio. “What are you talking about?”
    Suvi got a headstart and transmitted the image of the logo back to the ship. They would think he had done it. He would back her up, later.
    A moment of silence passed, breaths baited.
    Suvi imagined the Captain asking his ship’s computer for more information. She envisioned an ancient butler, shambling along looking through a musty library for an ancient book. She giggled.
    “Javier,” the Captain continued, “are you sure?”
    “Sure enough,” Javier responded. “Plus, it’s been a very long time, so it’s not like there’s anybody here to bother us.”
    “Agreed,” the Captain replied. “Sykora, stand down for now. Those people really were pacifists. Pay attention for surprises, but you should be safe from booby–traps.”

Part Five
    Javier refrained from smugness. Outside. Inside? Different story. After all, Dad loved him best. See?
    That thing on the wall had brought back a lot of memories. Most of them things he’d rather not remember, these days. He’d kinda forgotten how ugly things had gotten in his life after his first ex–wife left and his career with the Concord Navy started to ramp down with the budget cuts.
    Out of work. Out of married. Down on his luck and himself. Amazing he had survived. Even gave religion a try at one point. For a long weekend. Those people had just been too weird to be believed.
    He was much better now. Even Sykora really only occasionally got him mad enough to go back there. Okay, weekly. But that was down from daily. Hourly. Whatever.
    The Shepherds of the Word. The Prophet of the People. The Union of Man . Things from the history books.
    That painting there meant that this ship had, at one time, belonged to one of the actual Shepherds, one of the close followers of Rama Treadwell himself. The Prophet who had preached a universal brotherhood of man that should be reflected in a union of worlds. The Union of Worlds.
    The battle that had destroyed A’Nacia had been, in its own bizarre way, the culmination of Treadwell’s life and teachings, twisted though the outcome had been. Even after he simply disappeared from history while traveling in deep space, his words had resonated. Some people had thought that that disappearance was