Dire Steps Read Free Page B

again, and the robots hustled off.
    â€œYou’ve done a fine job with her, Dom.” Olech gave a brief nod to the security man, Dominic Blocker. Deep lines crossed Blocker’s forehead, but he radiated physical vitality.
    â€œIf I couldn’t teach her how to shoot in six months, I ought to hang it up. She’s a natural, by the way.”
    â€œTakes after her old man. I was the best shot in my platoon in Basic.”
    â€œThat’s funny. The official history says there wasn’t time for Basic before you and the other kids shipped out.” Blocker’s voice was deep, the words unkind. Olech Mortas had joined the war against the Sims in its third year, when the conflict had been going so badly that a special waiver had dropped the volunteer age to twelve. Fifteen years old, he’d been thrown into battle with an army made up mostly of children. Badly wounded on a planet in a distant solar system, Olech had returned to Earth as one of the few survivors among the waivered recruits, a revered group still known collectively as the Unwavering.
    â€œSometimes the official story is different from the truth.”
    â€œIs that what Ayliss and I are going to find out on Quad Seven?” The colony Ayliss was slated to administer was on a planet code-­named FC–7777, the two-­letter prefix standing for Force Colonized. “That what you told her here is different from what she’ll find there?”
    â€œReena and I told her the truth, while failing to convince her to take a different colony. It’s going to be rough out there.”
    â€œYou’ve got that right. A recently conquered planet, already being mined by Zone Quest, colonized by some worn-­out combat vets who think they’re going to inherit the place. Deep in the war zone, in a part of space routinely worked by Sim raiders and human pirates. And your daughter is the Veterans Auxiliary minister who’s supposed to organize that circus.”
    â€œDon’t sell those troops short. You’re a combat vet, older than most of the ones you’ll meet out there, and you’re not worn out.”
    Blocker ignored the compliment. “It’s a guaranteed losing situation no matter how you cut it. The Zone Quest managers are going to ignore her, and when the vets see that happen, they’re going to reject her.”
    â€œZone Quest will play ball with her just fine. They know they’re only operating on that planet because I’m letting them.”
    â€œThat won’t hold up. The troops believe you gave the planet to the Auxiliary, and when they see that Ayliss is all chummy with the outfit that’s mining the place without their permission, they’ll turn against her.”
    â€œListen to that pessimism. Not the Dom Blocker I remember.”
    â€œThe Dom Blocker you remember was seventeen years younger. He couldn’t make you listen to him then, and apparently he can’t do it now.”
    â€œI didn’t listen to you because you didn’t want me to do the one thing that was going to keep Ayliss and Jan alive.”
    â€œYour kids would have been just as safe if you’d let Faldonado and me track down Lydia’s murderers. They poisoned your wife, robbed your kids of their mother, and what did you do? Pretended you didn’t care, about your wife or your own children.”
    â€œYou keep forgetting it worked.”
    â€œAnd you think that was a good thing? I don’t know who else bought your charade, but Jan doesn’t trust you at all, and Ayliss is worse. The woman I’ve been working with for the last six months is nothing like the little girl I left with you. She’s fueled by blind rage, and that’s your fault. You’re just lucky that she found somebody else to hate.”
    The prone figure glanced back at them, and an impatient voice came over the intercom. “You going to give me something new to shoot,