Read Crossing the Line for Free Online Page A

with the gethes .”
    â€œAnd you might want to utilize c’naatat again one day—for the benefit of all other species, of course.”
    Sarcasm was lost on a wess’har. Aras had learned it from humans. There was a part of him, the part gleaned from alien genes, that found it very satisfying. Chayyas took the comment at its literal face value and turned to the ussissi who was shuffling from foot to foot at the entrance to the chamber.
    â€œFetch Mestin,” she said. “Tell her I want to talk to her. I’ll go to her if she prefers.”
    The ussissi shot off without a word. Chayyas appeared pained, and the scent of anxiety had not diminished. If anything, it was more pungent. She turned to go. “Whatever happens, we haven’t forgotten what you did for us all, and how much we owe you.”
    It was the first time in his very long life that anyone had ever thanked Aras for his military service.
    â€œBetter late than never,” he said, and was more than satisfied with Chayyas’s parting expression of incomprehension.

3
    I once had difficulty accepting that Satan was as real as God, but now I see what c’naatat brings with it, I’m as sure as I can be that evil is an entity. If this parasite is not the temptation of the Devil, then I don’t know what is. It is sin in its every facet. If we knew how, we should destroy it. For the time being we should simply be thankful that the wess’har have the wisdom to control its spread, and that we have our faith to prevent our temptation by this false eternity.
    B ENJAMIN G ARROD ,
addressing Constantine Council 2232
    It was nicknamed the Burma Road, for reasons nobody could now recall. The passage ran in a complete ellipse through the midsection of Actaeon , and at the end of a watch, you had two choices: to join the flow of joggers pounding round it or stay out of the way. Lindsay chose to run.
    She hadn’t needed to run on Bezer’ej. Heavy mundane work and high gravity had been exercise enough to keep her bones and muscles healthy. But there was little to do on board Actaeon that put any physical stress on her. Besides, she needed the boost of endorphins to lift her mood. She concentrated on her breathing and settled into a steady pace in the knot of runners already on their fifth or sixth circuit.
    Nobody acknowledged anyone else. They were all in their own separate worlds, rankless in shorts or pants of defiantly nonuniform colors. It didn’t feel like running. Lindsay felt as if she was fleeing the ship with a calm and orderly crowd. She wondered if the treadmill in one of the gyms might have been a better idea.
    â€œYour—samples—are still—clear,” said a breathless voice right behind her.
    Oh, how she hated people who tried to make conversation while they were running. And it was one of the ship’s medics, too, Sandhu or something. “What d’you mean?”
    â€œNothing weird,” said Sandhu, and that was it. Lindsay fumed. Then she dropped a stride and drew alongside him. She caught his arm insistently and they dropped out of the pack, leaving the other joggers to disappear around the curve of the Burma Road.
    They stared at each other, catching their breath.
    â€œWant to explain that?” Lindsay asked.
    â€œI thought you’d like to know we haven’t found anything unusual in your samples.”
    Everyone had routine tests once a month. It was normal procedure on missions. “Why should there be?”
    â€œWell, you never knew when Frankland acquired her biological extras, did you? And you said she was iffy about physical contact, so let’s assume it’s transmissible somehow.”
    â€œYou think I might have picked up a dose, then? Couldn’t someone have told me this? Don’t I have to consent?”
    â€œBiohaz procedure. Standard.”
    â€œBiohaz my arse. Serious money, more like.”
    â€œYou have no idea how