Page 90 of Mongrels United
Grady strained her hearing to detect sound beyond the crazy roar in the arena. Then she heard it. An echoing roar.
The whole ship was cheering.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Grady knew the Bridge personnel would spend weeks mopping up the last of the Bellish organization. She was braced for it. What she didn’t expect was to be pulled in Captain Carpenter’s office as soon as she arrived, the morning after the grand final.
Siran Carpenter shut the door, but barely waited until it was shut to round on her. “All this ‘just trust me’ business you’ve been spouting for weeks – it was about the Bellish?”
“I…how did you know about that? I was going to sit down with you this morning…”
“How could Inotknow?” Siran’s voice was strident—he was close to yelling. “I’ve had calls from dozens of people. Influential people. And they’re scared as hell. What the hell did you think you were doing, Grady? Do you have any idea the damage you’ve caused, with this ill-timed, stupid quest to get rid of it?”
He was genuinely angry, Grady realized.
Take it back to basics. The values that drove your decision. That was her father’s voice. But it was good advice. “I’m sorry, Captain,” Grady said stiffly. “I’m confused. Are you saying that destroying Bellish and the network of people making it and distributing it is a bad idea?”
Siran pushed both hands through his thick, silver hair. “You really don’t get it, do you? Wehad it under control!”
Grady stared at him, horror building. “You knew there was Bellish still on the ship?”
“OfcourseI knew! Damn it, Grady! Now it will go underground and spring up in some other way, and we won’t be able to monitor it.” He spun and looked away from her.
Grady sank onto the visitors chair in front of Siran’s big desk. “You didn’t tell me.”
“There are only two people on this ship who aren’t in their damn network who did know,” Siran said heavily. “Me and the Commander of the Bridge Guards. While they thought they were hidden and getting away with it, we could control the distribution.”
Grady licked her dry lips. Her heart was pounding, and not in a good way. “People die when they use it, Siran.”
“Not with the new generation stuff,” Siran said. “It’s not quite so destructive. As long as a user keeps taking it, they don’t burn their brains out quite so quickly as they used to.”
Grady thought of Nash’s father. “They last until they’re in their nineties, at least,” she said dryly.
“A useful length of life, even if it is a little short.”
Grady stared at Siran, her horror complete. “Itkillspeople, Siran! Ninety years is still thirty years less than most people expect to live!”
“And you, with your moral blinkers…do you know how many peopleyou’vekilled?”
Grady felt her jaw drop. “Excuse me?”
Siran looked at her. He was nodding. “One hundred people were on our list. One hundred people who are critical to the running of the ship, who had to be allowed their daily dose. You’ve taken that away from them. And when the ship grinds to a halt, and we all die because the air scrubbers stop working properly, or the leader of the accouchement institute can no longer organize the budding of new babies…that will be your fault, Grady.”
She rose to her feet. Heat sheeted up her body. Her joints creaked. It was difficult to think. But she knew that right now, she had to think more clearly than she ever had before.
She made herself breathe, while Siran studied her, measuring the effect of his words. He’d deliberately tried to throw her off, to unbalance her.
Realizing that brought a measure of calm to her. Grady swallowed and cleared her throat.
Remember your values!Her father whispered in her mind.
Grady nodded in agreement. She met Siran’s gaze. “It is not my fault those people will die hard, ugly deaths in the next few weeks, Siran. They took the first dose, knowing full well the perils that came with using Bellish. It’s right there in the history archives for anyone to educate themselves. I’m sorry for the pain they will suffer, but I did not cause it.”
“You took the Bellish away from them,” Siran said stiffly.
“I took it away from more than your precious one hundred people,” Grady said. Her anger, usually so slow to stir, rose up in her, driven by outrage and,finally, the clear thinking she had been groping for. She could see it all clearly now. “How dare you put the lives of some above everyone else on theEndurance?”
“I beg your pardon?” Carpenter said. He sounded surprised.
