Page 15 of Mongrels United
These were facts that Captain Carpenter was more than aware of. “The Leroux Raid was nearly a generation ago,” he said, now. “I’ve done—” He paused. “Wehave done a lot of good things since then, but no one seems to care about any of it.”
“Peopledidcare, back then,” Grady said. It wasn’t quite a statement, and not quite a question. She was probing, getting Siran to reminisce. Luus had suggested that the statement would jolt the Captain into remembering details of the Raid.
“You weren’t much more than knee-high, so you wouldn’t remember what it was like, then,” Siran said. He sat back. “Before the Raid, you couldn’t go out of your house unless you were with someone else—preferably someone bigger. Although, there was a joke circling that said you should always go out with someone who looked weaker, smaller or slower than you, who the muggers could pick on while you ran away.”
Grady grimaced. “Ugh.”
“Yep,” Siran said. “Gallows humor, some psychologist called it. It was a sign of the times. The week before the raid, there were two murders. And they barely reached the Forum as news items.”
But Siran remembered them. This was why Grady thought he was such a good captain. He gave a damn about people.
She stirred. “There has only been one murder since the Raid. Getting rid of Bellish made that much difference. That’s why Luus is prodding around it, looking at socio-psychiatric markers before and after, to determine patterns.”
“You don’t think others have studied the period inside out already?” Siran said, his tone gentle.
“This is Luus we’re talking about. If there are relationships or trends, anything at all that might give us an idea on how to bring theEnduranceback to life, he’ll find it there.”
Siran gave another soft huff of breath. It was his way of agreeing with her. “So, what do you need to know?”
“You already answered one question. People were far more engaged in public affairs back then. When you did a broadcast, everyone watched.”
“Not quite everyone,” Siran replied. “But a higher-than-normal percentage than ever before. You and Luus can get this from the records, can’t you?”
“Not the personal take on it,” Grady replied. “We can only look at statistics and recorded facts. You hold all that in your memories in a gestalt that summarizes the period. There are facts you know that might not be in the records.”
“Are you going to interview everyone who remembers that time?”
“We’re starting with you, as you were captain then, and had a unique perspective.”
Siran scrubbed at his hair. “What can I say? It was a tough time for everyone. I think they voted me in as captain because no one older than me was foolish enough to stick up their hand.”
“You thought you could help.”
“I was just young enough to think I could make a difference.”
“And you did, with the raid.”
“Which could be completely coincidental.”
“Luus doesn’t think so.”
Siran didn’t respond to that. He was a modest man, and she constantly had to prod him into reminding the ship of his achievements.
Grady looked down at the points Luus had given her. “When there was a crime…say, a beating in a public area…did people respond to it? Did they try to stop it?”
Siran looked thoughtful. “Sometimes it happened too fast for anyone to do anything, but mostly, yes. They’d scream for the Civvies.”
“Mostly?”
He scratched at his hair again. “My impression is thateveryonereacted when a law was broken. They’d tackle the law-breaker themselves if the Civvies didn’t arrive quickly enough. I presume Luus will check if my impression is accurate.” He grimaced. “Far cry from the turning and walking away most people do these days, hey?”
“They were more violent, deadly crimes, then. You changed that.”
“So now everyone only has to put up with robbery and mild beatings.” Siran’s tone was harsh with control. This was the raw spot they both fought to fix and in ten-plus years working on it, they’d watched the numbers deteriorate, instead of improving. Siran’s frustration grew in inverse relationship to those declining numbers, making Grady even more determined to find a solution for him.
“You’ve made a difference even with the minor crimes,” Grady said firmly. “The numbers would likely be far worse than they are now, if you’d just sat back on your laurels, after the Raid.” She paused. “What made you decide to go after the Bellish in the first place, Siran? That’s something the records don’t say. Just that you spent most of your first year hunting down the dealers and manufacturers.”
Siran put his cup down. His gaze was steady. She knew that look. He was about to be particularly forthright with her—in a way that never reached beyond the two of them.
