Tides of Light Read Free Page B

Returning to ordinary routine, asthough such events were within the normal course of a ship’s life, would help settle the crew.
    So he had told Cermo to carry on as planned. Only now did he realize what that implied.
    Killeen rounded a corner and walked toward the open bay where the crew of the morning’s watch waited. Halfway there Cermo
     greeted him with, “Punishment hour, sir?”
    Killeen stopped himself from clenching his jaws and nodded, recalling the offense from yesterday.
    Cermo had caught a crewwoman in the engine module. Without conferring with his Cap’n, Cermo had hauled her—a stringy, black-haired
     woman named Radanan—unceremoniously out into the lifezone, barking out his relish at the catch. The deed was publicly exposed
     before Killeen had a chance to find other means to deal with it. He had been forced to support his officer in the name of
     discipline; his Ling Aspect had drilled that principle into him.
    “Yeasay. Proceed.”
    “Could give her more, y’know.”
    “I said proceed.”
    He had firmly resolved to speak as little as possible to his officers during ordinary ship operations. He was like a drinker
     who could not trust himself to stick to moderate amounts. In Family meetings he gave himself a little leeway, though. There,
     eloquence and even outright oration served his ends. He knew he was not very good at talk, and the briefer he was the more
     effect it had. As
Argo
had approached this star system he had gotten more and more terse. There were days when most of the crew heard him say only
     a short “ah-mmm” as he pointedly cleared his throat at some demonstrated inadequacy.
    As they made their way to the central axis Killeen set his face like stone. He was ashamed of his aversion to watching punishment.
     He knew that to punish a crewmember was asign of his own failure. He should have caught the slide in behavior before it got this far. But once the event had occurred
     there was no turning back.
    In this case, Radanan had been trying to sneak into the thrumming dangers of the engine zone as they decelerated. This alone
     would have been a mild though flagrantly stupid transgression. But when Cermo caught her she had bristled, bitterly angry,
     and had called on some friends nearby, trying to provoke a minor mutiny.
    A wise Captain hands out rougher justice than this
.
    His Ling Aspect offered this without being summoned. “She just screamed and swore some, is all,” Killeen subvocalized. “And
     was stupid enough to take a poke at Cermo.”
    Mutiny is a capital offense
.
    “Not on the
Argo
.”
    She’ll incite others, harbor resentment—
    “She was looking for food, just a minor—”
    You’ll lose control if—
    Killeen damped the Aspect’s self-righteous bark into silence.
    Evidently Radanan had been looking for a way to scavenge something extra, though Killeen could not imagine what she thought
     she might find. Usually, crew were caught pilfering food, an outcome of the strict rationing Killeen had imposed for a year
     now.
    The watch crew stood a little straighter as Killeen cameinto the area. Radanan was at the center of a large circle, since this was both a shipboard matter and a Family reproach.
     She looked down dejectedly. Her eyes seemed to have accepted already the implications of the cuffs around her wrists that
     held her firmly to a mooring line.
    Cermo barked out the judgment. Two crewmen stood ready to hold Radanan at the elbows in case she should jerk away from the
     punishment. She bleakly watched as Cermo brought out the short, gleaming rod.
    Killeen made himself not grit his teeth. He had to enforce his own rules or else nothing he said would be believed. And he
     did blame himself. The woman was not overly bright. She had originally been a member of Family Rook.
    By tribal consent, all those who had chosen to set off in the
Argo
had realigned, so that they constituted a new Family composed of the Bishops, Rooks, and Kings. They had elected to