Chapter 12: Done Being Careful

The marines did not hurt me.

They did not need to.

Two of them took my arms and walked me out of the bunk room, past forty crew members standing at their bunks in their shirts.

Nobody spoke.

Nobody stopped them.

The gunnery chief had taken half a step forward.

The inspector had said only, "Obstruction of a warrant is mutiny, Chief."

The chief had stepped back.

Dax followed us at a distance with his jaw set.

"Dax," I said. "Get the Commander."

"He's on his way."

He was already there.

He stood at the head of the aft stairs in his shirt, with the broken seam on his arm bare and dark, and the whole corridor went still around him.

The marines stopped.

"Commander," said the inspector. "This is an Anchor Office matter."

"Read me the warrant," Caspian said.

The inspector read it aloud.

Falsified resonance.

Deliberate suppression of her own signal.

Fraudulent acquisition of a lottery assignment.

"It's a lie," Caspian said. "The scan is hers. Nobody can suppress a signal that low."

"That's for the tribunal, Commander."

"Then I'll go with her."

"You'll stay with your wing." The inspector folded the paper. "The Admiral was clear."

Caspian looked at me.

He did not touch me, because he could not.

If he put a hand on a marine, it would be mutiny, and the Admiral would have the whole Ninth Wing in front of a court.

I understood that.

He understood that I understood it.

"Vesper," he said. "I'm going to say it here. There's no wall in this corridor that I haven't swept."

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