Part 41 (2/2)
Amazing how fragile humans were, even with the sophisticated medical techniques and life-expanding enhancements. No one ever thought to protect the body against outside violence. No one thought it necessary.
Even Scott-Olson, who had spent her last two weeks arm-deep in corpses who had died violently, wouldn't enhance her frame to take that kind of punishment. She would die how she would die, and she wasn't going to try to second-guess it.
The area around the ma.s.s grave was still empty. Most of Sahara Dome looked like a ghost town. The Disty wouldn't return until the Dome and its human occupants were decontaminated. And that process wouldn't end until these mummified corpses had their own funeral services, and Scott-Olson's team left the Dome for that weird decontamination ritual.
She was looking forward to it, in an odd way. She needed the closure as well.
She also needed time to mourn.
Not just for these unfortunate souls who had started the entire mess, but for the people she had known who had died, and for the poor Disty whom she still didn't entirely understand.
But most of all, she needed to find a way to grieve for Aisha Costard. Costard, who had died because she had come to help, had somehow managed to save them all.
Scott-Olson hadn't been able to reach the Retrieval Artist who had found the survivors. She hoped she would get a chance to thank him someday. He hadn't had to finish the case. When Aisha Costard died, he could have let the case lapse. But he had ethics, a thing she found was rarer than she expected.
Before she could go back to her own quiet life, she had to deal with her own choices. She had no idea if she could have done things differently, but she did know one thing: From now on, she would not live in ignorance of her Disty neighbors, and she would not make a.s.sumptions about the knowledge of the people around her. She would explain the consequences of any request she made, no matter who she was talking to.
It was a small change, but an important one.
For the only way she could move forward was to learn from her mistakes. And she had to move forward. The surviving children of these poor victims had-and those children had enough courage to sacrifice weeks of their lives for people who may have descended from the people who murdered their families.
Scott-Olson didn't know if she was capable of that same generosity of spirit.
She hoped she was, deep down.
And she also hoped that, as long as she lived, her belief would never, ever be tested.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch is an award-winning writer in several genres. Winner of the 2001 Hugo Award for the novelette ”Millennium Babies,” she has also won the is an award-winning writer in several genres. Winner of the 2001 Hugo Award for the novelette ”Millennium Babies,” she has also won the Ellery Queen Ellery Queen Readers' Choice Award for best mystery short story. She is also a winner of the Readers' Choice Award for best mystery short story. She is also a winner of the Asimov's Asimov's Readers Choice Award, the Readers Choice Award, the Locus Locus Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the John W. Campbell Award. Award, the World Fantasy Award, and the John W. Campbell Award.
She has published more than fifty novels in almost a dozen languages, and she has. .h.i.t bestseller lists in the Wall Street Journal, USA Today, Wall Street Journal, USA Today, and and Publishers Weekly. Publishers Weekly. Her science fiction and mystery short stories have been in many year's-best collections. Her science fiction and mystery short stories have been in many year's-best collections.
The Retrieval Artist Retrieval Artist novels are based on the Hugo-nominated novella ”The Retrieval Artist,” which was first published in novels are based on the Hugo-nominated novella ”The Retrieval Artist,” which was first published in a.n.a.log. a.n.a.log.
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