The Alembic Plot: A Terran Empire novelWilson, Ann
Science
The Alembic Plot: A Terran Empire novel
Wilson, Ann
Science fiction
With that decided, she and Mike went to the Academy area that had been
set up for such record study and interviews. She groaned when she saw
the masses of personnel folders she'd be expected to go
through--paperwork had never been her strong point--but she grabbed a
handful, sighing. "You, too, Mike," she said. "We may not be able to
tell who we do want from these, but we ought to be able to pick the
ones we don't."
"Right." Odeon didn't like paperwork any better than she did, but he
did know as well as she how inevitable it was. "Anything in
particular, or just someone we could both work with?"
"I think it'll be good enough if we get someone we can work with,"
Cortin said. "Manage that, and we can go from there. Just look for
good strong motivations, because where we're likely to be going after
Brothers, we'll sure be earning our bonuses."
By the end of the afternoon, the two of them had gone through about a
third of the records, finding a medic and a communications specialist
they definitely wanted, as well as several that looked promising if an
interview showed they had no objection to working for an Inquisitor.
Quite a number of people objected to even working near an Inquisitor,
for which Cortin supposed she couldn't blame them--she'd been
apprehensive about Inquisitors herself, not all that long ago--but
since all the teams would have Inquisitors, it semed reasonable to
assume that those who couldn't work with them at all would have been
removed from consideration.
Her first interview was the following day with the medic, a nun
transferred from St. Ignatius to St. Thomas by her Order, at her
request. Cortin rose as the young woman in sky-blue slacks and
shirt--the Blue Sisters' field habit--entered. Sister Mary Piety was
as attractive as her photo indicated, but there was an air of stress
that hadn't shown there. From her records, Cortin thought it was
probably the residue of her mistreatment by the Brothers--well, she'd
find out. She introduced herself and gestured the nun to a chair, then
took her own seat. "I know what's in your records, of course, Sister;
I just want to get to know you as a person, and let you know me well
enough to decide whether or not you can work for me. So relax; I only
hurt criminals."
"I understand, Captain." Chang studied the woman in Enforcement gray,
puzzled. There was something about Captain Cortin that reminded her of
the Raidmaster--but in Cortin, it wasn't frightening. It wasn't even
mildly disturbing, the way she usually felt around an Inquisitor; if
anything, it was reassuring, even comforting. "What do you wish to
know?"
"Well . . . it puzzles me that when you reported the attack on the
clinic, you always called Shannon 'the Raidmaster', never by name. I
admit he's frightening, but that much?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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