Read Asimov's SF, October-November 2011 for Free Online Page B

rendezvous point nor could she go back to the Nine Planets Alliance, not with him on board.
    She wasn't quite sure where to go, so she programmed in a station at the edge of Enterran space.
    "You changing our course, Rose?"
    "Just making sure it's correct,” she said, feeling a bit breathless. It was hard to lie to him, just like it had always been. Her cheeks warmed. Somewhere inside her was that young girl who thought she had fallen in love.
    "Tell me what really happened on the research station,” he said.
    "I don't know,” she said, not facing him. “Some kind of chain reaction is my guess. There should have been better protections for working with stealth tech."
    "Scientists have worked on stealth tech for years,” he said. “No research station has ever blown up."
    "Scientists had never had a dedicated site to work on stealth tech before,” she said. “I suspect that was the mistake."
    "Why?” There was something in his voice, something new. He didn't trust her.
    Of course he didn't trust her. She had left him, then divorced him. She had never given him the courtesy of an explanation. She always figured he knew.
    Only when she got older, and her relationship with Turtle decayed, did she realize that each person experienced the relationship differently. He probably hadn't understood what happened, any more than Squishy could explain why her relationship with Turtle died on a disastrous dive with Boss ten years ago.
    "Why would that be a mistake, Rosealma?” His voice sounded strangled as if he was trying to pull the emotion from it.
    "I believe stealth tech builds on itself.” Or at least, the kind of stealth tech the Empire was developing. They were only working on one small part of what turned out to be a powerful drive used by the Dignity Vessels. The anacapa drive was dangerous in experienced hands. In inexperienced hands, it was deadly.
    As she had learned repeatedly over the years.
    "And your belief is based on what, exactly?” Quint asked.
    She swallowed hard. She didn't want to answer that honestly.
    "I came back to stealth tech research a few years ago,” she said.
    "When you left Vallevu?” he asked.
    She turned, surprised. He hadn't moved, arms still crossed, head still slightly tilted.
    "I still have friends there too, you know,” he said.
    She hadn't even thought of that. She could have checked up on him in the two years she lived there without him, but she hadn't even tried. He wasn't someone she thought about.
    She didn't want to think about him, even with him standing right there.
    "Yes,” she said tightly. “After I left Vallevu."
    "I couldn't find you anywhere after that,” he said.
    "I didn't realize you were looking,” she said, refusing to be relieved. She didn't want him to know she had gone to the Nine Planets Alliance. She didn't want to tell him anything.
    He shrugged. “The Empire had no record of your work after you got discharged."
    "You checked,” she said, feeling cold.
    "When you got here,” he said, “you better believe I checked. You'd taken up a medical practice on Vallevu. I had no idea why you were back in stealth tech. I'm still not sure I believe it, not after so long an absence."
    "Sometimes the Empire doesn't keep records about its researchers,” she said.
    "I can access most records,” he said. “Even the ones they don't keep."
    She felt cold. “You can't follow everything."
    "I can try,” he said.
    Her heart was racing. He wasn't threatening her, was he? Was he here because he knew what she'd been doing, because he understood that her purpose on the station hadn't been benign?
    For the first time, she wasn't exactly sure how to handle him.
    She had to give him something. She wasn't sure why; she just knew that she did.
    "I worked salvage for a while. I gave the Empire a mostly intact Dignity Vessel back then. If you check the payouts, you'll see one to me."
    He continued to watch her, as if he didn't entirely believe her. If he mentioned that the same