Page 86 of Stealing Mercury
“They don’t know,” she tried to explain.
“Of his death.”
“No. I mean... I did make sure they were all notified. All the ones I knew of. But the code-keys. If he left them credits or property...”
He cupped her face in his palms. “Don’t blame yourself,courra.”
He understood. Her self-pity had caused others to suffer. To think her father had forgotten them and maybe to go without support they’d relied on.
“They were his responsibility, not yours.”
“He counted on me and I let him down.”
“No. He let you down by not making sure you knew how he felt about you.”
Just as she was doing to Mercury. Stars, she was her father’s daughter and making all of his mistakes.
“You can’t change the past,” he said again. “You must change the future.”
“Is that what you’re trying to do?”
“Yes. I let my brothers down. I acted rashly when they counted on me to be clever.” He pulled her close again. “Because of me, my brothers were condemned to die. Because of you, I have a chance to make things right.”
“We all make mistakes.”
“Yes,” he said. “We do.”
But when, she wondered, would she stop making them.
***
Her father’s ship—no. Her ship... was parked somewhere in the port. A part of Samantha had wanted to hunt down Shred and kick him off theBucketthe moment she realized the truth. Ironic since she’d told the Chief she’d never do such a thing.
When her anger cooled, she realized there’d be no point anyway. “Even though theBucket’s mine,” she explained to Mercury, Lo, and Carn as they headed back to her mother’s home. “I’ll never be able to fly her legitimately again. I could take her, to get us back to Roma. Pillar would back up my claim. But theBucketisn’t a speedy ship. It would take us over a month to get there.”
Carn protested immediately. “We can’t leave Hera alone there for another month.”
“I agree,” she reassured. “Besides that, Owens would be suspicious if theBucketturned up in the Roma port.”
“Agreed,” said Lo.
“Explain about you not being able to fly theBucketagain,” said Mercury.
The man didn’t miss a thing.
“Right now, I’m wanted for theft on the other side of the border. And the minute Drake or Resler reports my Cerrillian heritage to the Earth Alliance authorities, they’ll pull my license. I can’t even own property of any kind on that side of the border.”
“What about here, in Gollerra territory?”
“I can own the ship, but there’s no work for her here. The Golley have a monopoly on all freight and transport in this sector. They only accept non-Golley ships at the border ports. Shipping anything from here to further inside Golley territory can only be done through one of their authorized carriers.”
When they stepped into her mother’s tent, Moira sat waiting at the table. She had a sealed packet in her hands. Shades of blue and indigo swirled across her skin—a mix of grief and other emotions, but Samantha had never seen this exact combination.
“Mom?”
The tense smile that appeared on Moira’s face aged her. “Come, sit with me.”
Samantha turned to see Lo and Carn backing out through the opening and Mercury waiting for her attention. “We’ll be outside.”
