He’d asked the question, but I didn’t bother answering it directly. After all, we both knew that Turov and I had a “special” relationship of a “questionable” nature. That’s how things had been for decade or more.
“Uh… did you know she sent me on a special mission to the Harbor District?”
He blinked at me. “What? You mean that bullshit about the missing persons? That was just to punish you for… something. She was laughing about it last time she mentioned it.”
My face darkened, but I didn’t fly into a rage. I had a reputation and a natural tendency to react aggressively when I was disrespected like this—but I held back. I was proud of that.
Taking in a deep breath, I forced a new smile. “Gary… did you notice how the Harbor District pretty much exploded just a few days ago?”
“I sure did. My tapper is crawling with news and notifications about it.”
“Right. Did you also notice that the ship that blew up… was the one I was investigating? At the very moment of glorious ignition, no less?”
Gary’s face fell, and his mouth sagged low like he was one of my unfortunate relatives. “You were aboard the Sea Empress?”
“That’s right.”
“When it exploded? Taking all hands and fifty billion credits worth—”
“Gary, I need to make my report to Turov. It’s kind of urgent, see?”
He blinked a few times, then he nodded and shook himself. “Good God, man. Why can’t you perform this kind of destruction out on some other planet?”
“Usually, I do. The explosion was… unfortunate.”
Gary announced me then, and after a full minute of quiet, the door clicked open. Galina didn’t poke her nose out, or even crook a finger at me. She just opened the door and left it ajar.
“Wish me luck,” I told Gary.
“Luck, McGill.”
-18-
When I got inside, I saw Galina had a pistol in one hand, and a glass of wine in the other. Her eyes were two angry slits.
“Uh… hiya, Tribune. Centurion McGill, reporting back on an assignment well done!”
Nothing about her demeanor changed. She was still glaring, still sipping her wine, and still propping up her finely-shaped rear on her desk.
I put on a dumb-ass expression and waited patiently.
“A job well done?” she asked at last, in a deceptively quiet and calm voice. “Is that what you call the devastation you’ve created, McGill?”
“Uh… well, I don’t rightly know about all that. See, I teleported out before there was any kind of explosion. What I was talking about was the case I was on. The now solved case involving the disappearances of both equipment and personnel. You’re gonna laugh when you hear—”
Galina threw her wine glass at me. That was kind of a surprise. A rude one. The glass shattered on my tunic and purple liquid ran down all the way to my shoes.
“I’m going to laugh, am I? Do you know how much cargo you destroyed, McGill?”
“Gary said something about fifty billion credits, but I didn’t believe him.”
“And well you shouldn’t. It was a full hold, they were just beginning to unload it. Total estimated losses came in at just over a trillion.”
“Wow! That is some fancy number-crunching. But you know, they probably padded things to rip off the insurance people.”
“This is a government, McGill. We’re self-insured.”
“Oh yeah… What’s self-insured mean?”
“It means that we’re screwed.”
“Oh… well, I guess the newsfeeds were kept in the dark about these big numbers, huh? At least that’s a good thing.”
“The truth was covered-up, yes, as always. But here at Central people know the real price tag. Do you know who they’re pinning the blame on? Can you guess?”
“Hmmm… That’s a poser. I can’t even think of anyone.”
“That’s right. It’s going to be me, and you, and Legion Varus—in that order. You’ve ruined us all, McGill. You finally managed to achieve total destruction of our reputations and livelihoods. That ship and its contents were worth more to Earth that two or three legions our size.”
“Huh… that does seem to classify as a crying shame, sir. You want to hear the details of my report now? Or do you just want to shoot me in the face and get it out of your system?”
She toyed with her gun for a while, but at last she shook her head. Her shoulders slumped in defeat. Sighing, she walked around to the far side of her desk.
I started talking, telling her my story, but I could tell she was only half-listening. I prattled about heading down to the docks and meeting up with Dross. She didn’t even perk up when I described meeting the crewmen and finding out they were in on the thefts.
While I talked, she brought up a news report with full video of the explosion, shot from multiple angles. She flicked it from her desk to the wall behind her, where it played in high def. The explosion, when it came—well damn, it was impressive.
The big ship I’d been aboard simply blew apart, starting deep amidships. The thick puff-crete hull split open on both sides. The explosion flowered outward with a gush of wild flame and smoke. Soon, the whole dock was consumed in fire, as was the warehouse. People ran every which way, but it didn’t look like many of them made it.
“Wow!” I exclaimed. “How the hell did that even happen?”
“You want to know the only reason you’re not a stain on my ruined carpet right now? It’s because I’m holding onto the faint hope you might tell me the answer to that exact question.”
“Ah… oh. I don’t rightly know, sir. Here’s what I do know: the crew was using a casting device to suck things out of the
