Read Microsoft Word - Blind_Space-Marie_Sexton.doc for Free Online

theft, so you're sending me home without any dinner?" I asked. I couldn't help but gloat that I'd finally pissed him off on some level.
    "You've managed to take the fun out of trying to seduce you."
    I tried to tell myself I wasn't disappointed. I wanted him to leave me alone.
    Didn't I?
    "We have to make a living, Captain Kelley," he said.
    "Stealing is the best you can do?"
    "We don't make the rules. Your Empire gobbles up every commodity of value and doles it out in little chunks to the highest bidders. It doesn't take a genius to figure it out: ongoing demand plus limited supply equals an increase in price."
    "And somebody may as well cash in on it?" I said, just as Pierce pounded on the door.
    He sighed heavily. "Who do you hear complaining?
    The planets in the void who we sell to? No! The ship captains who take a cut of the profit? No! The only people complaining are your damn Regents, but only because we're taking back what they think they've stolen with

    43
    Blind
    Space
    Marie
    Sexton

    absolute impunity from everybody else."
    "Spin pretty stories all you want," I said. "You're still nothing more than petty thieves."
    The door swished open and he shoved me roughly
    through it. I only stayed on my feet because I ran into Pierce.
    "Goodbye, Captain Kelley," Valero said. "Enjoy your stay in the medical bay."

    44
    Blind
    Space
    Marie
    Sexton

CHAPTER 6
    Valero didn't summon me the next day, and I ate
    dried meat and drank cheap ale with my men. I told myself I was relieved. After all, wasn't that what I wanted? To be left alone? He was a criminal. The less attention I received from him, the better.
    That's what I wanted to believe, at any rate.
    But as the moments with my crew lumbered by, my
    self-delusion began to wear thin. My men were a burden.
    Isolation and boredom made them restless and cranky.
    They bickered over the cots, the showers, and the ale.
    Because I was their captain, they turned to me to resolve every petty argument. I hated them for it.
    I found myself thinking a great deal about what
    Valero had told me. I couldn't help but wonder how much of it was true. The second day after my argument with him, I found Captain Jerald sitting alone on one of the cots.
    "Can I ask you a question?" I asked him as I sat down next to him.
    "Got nothing better to do," he said.
    "Have you ever done business with pirates?"
    He didn't answer for a long time. "Are you accusing me of something?" he asked at last, his voice cold and sharp with anger.

    45
    Blind
    Space
    Marie
    Sexton

    "No!" The question surprised me so much, he had to be able to tell that my answer was genuine. I'd been so busy thinking about what Valero had said, I hadn't stopped to think about how my question might sound to Jerald. "I'm just wondering if that's how it works. That's all."
    Again, he didn't answer right away. "Sometimes it is," he said. I was relieved that the anger was gone was from his voice. "Sometimes that's the only way."
    "Breaking the law is the only way?"
    He sighed. "First of all, I'm telling you here and now that I ain't the one who gave our lock code to the pirates. I want that understood. But there's a reason I don't often take jobs shipping between the quadrants. Life out here in the blind space ain't civilized. This is no-man's land."
    "And you think that justifies thievery?"
    "Think about it, Captain. Most of the men out here are trying to make a living by shipping goods between quadrants. They move the stuff through the blind space, but they get no share of it."
    "So they steal it?"
    "Who's stealing from who, Captain Kelley?"
    "The pirates—"
    "I ain't even talking about the pirates yet."
    "You mean the shippers?"

    46
    Blind
    Space
    Marie
    Sexton

    "I mean the damn Empire and her Regencies. They tie up all the resources. They set the market value. They control the supply. And if anybody dares protest, they send in their militia to make sure everybody comes around to their way of thinking. The thing is, a government can tie