The Crucible: Leap of Faith by Odette C. Bell Page B

to
thought with blessed ease.
    Then reality slammed into
me.
    I brought up a hand and dug my
fingers into my brow, pressing it down until the skin crunched over
my eyes and I saw stars.
    And I remembered. I remembered how
we’d talked. We’d talked about how we’d go, me and Weatherby. Over
a few beers after a long night at the Academy, we’d turned to the
topic of how we’d die.
    Me, I wanted to go out in a
blazing battle for the Alliance. I wanted to be a hero. I wanted to
prove my father was wrong about me.
    Weatherby, he’d wanted to go in
his sleep. Though he’d joined the Star Forces, it was only a means
to an ends. He wanted to gather enough savings so he could afford a
farm on one of the colony planets.
    He was less concerned with glory,
and more concerned with just living a good life.
    Or at least, he had
been.
    I winced as I shifted back, the
sheet falling from my chest as I sat upright and stretched my
shoulders.
    I was still in the back-brace,
though it would probably come off sometime today. I’d only been
injured three days ago, but I’d be perfectly healed by
now.
    I was still stiff, though. Not
from the accident, but from the tension I just couldn’t shake off.
My muscles seemed locked no matter what I did.
    Finally I pushed myself out of
bed. I glanced around my room, and my gaze drifted over my
workstation.
    Instantly I remembered Hargrove’s
disembodied face floating over it, his bloodshot eyes widening with
fear.
    “Christ,” I said as I suddenly
remembered something. I’d forgotten to send in my corroborating
report to Star Forces Command.
    I leaped over to the
bench.
    It shouldn’t be too late. Still, I
should call Hargrove himself and let him know of my
delay.
    I punched up the coordinates of
the original message, and commanded the computer to send a
communication.
    I waited.
    No response.
    “There is no ship at those
coordinates,” the computer soon informed me.
    “Then contact
the,” I searched my memory, “the Pluto instead.” That was the name of
the scout ship.
    “There is
no Pluto on
available comms.”
    I frowned and
shook my head. “What do you mean there’s no Pluto on available comms? You mean
they’re in a communications blackout, right?”
    “No, I mean
the Pluto has been
destroyed.”
    “What?” My voice rocked from my
throat.
    “There has been
an accident. The Pluto was destroyed.”
    “What, when?”
    “The exact time is unknown.
Somewhere in the past 24 hours.”
    “And what about the dig in the
Mari Sector?”
    “There is no record of a dig in
the Mari Sector.”
    “Yes there is,” I
countered.
    “There is no recorded dig in the
Mari Sector,” the computer repeated.
    I shook my head
over and over again. “Fine. Do we have any information on what
happened to the Pluto ?”
    “There was an accident. Details
have been suppressed. Investigation is ongoing.”
    I locked a hand over my mouth and
pushed hard into my lips until they folded against my teeth. “Do I
have security clearance to find out what’s going on?”
    “No.”
    “Who has security clearance to
find out what’s going on?”
    “Security clearance has been
restricted to the Joint Committee.”
    “What?” My voice rattled out,
echoing around the room.
    “Security clearance has been
restricted to the Joint Committee,” the computer repeated, as if I
was simply hard of hearing.
    I took a shuddering step
backwards.
    This didn’t make any
sense.
    There’d been a
so-called accident that had destroyed the Pluto ?
    And there was no recorded
information of the dig in the Mari Sector?
    What the hell was going
on?
    “You are receiving a transmission
from the Enforcement Unit,” the computer suddenly
announced.
    I paled.
    The Enforcement Unit was a section
of the Central Command that dealt with the protection of secrets.
You didn’t get a call from them unless they suspected you of
treason.
    I took a shuddering
breath.
    The computer did not ask whether I
wished to receive the transmission