Page 52 (1/2)

Vaz found hi in questions, like why people hadn’t noticed al these kids disappearing for a feeeks and thenway fro way from one another

There were only seventy-odd kids involved Kids wental the time They were spread across so many planets that no cop would ever have spotted a pattern in al that

So like Devereaux said--why bother with the clones? Why the hell go to all that trouble? Halsey didn’t need to

The reports ritten in disturbingly neutral clinical ter Naomi, like al the other Spartan kids, was terrified and wanted to go hoists and medical officers at the bottom of those reports careful y He wanted to remember who the monsters real y were The one currently imprisoned on the deck below him couldn’t have done it without them

You rotten bastards You took an oath to do no harrasped half of the h to realize that he didn’t want to go on reading about the drugs and surgery, the brutal training, or the assessments of the kids’ pain and stress levels It would surface in nightmares one day He was sure of it He didn’t want to kno Halsey changed theh If the people he served with had gone through this, the least he could do was read it He stuck at it for half an hour, getting every bit as angry as BB had warned him he would, until he had to take a breather or explode He flicked forward to the end of the file, knowing there would be no happy ending, and found he was looking at a subfile of social workers’ reports about Naomi’s parents

Even in a situation like that, with outrage piled on outrage without a thought for how far the ripples of misery would spread, it was stil a shock to see what had happened to the Sentzkes

Their daughter had been returned to theht, and for a while they’d been relieved to have her back Then she fel il and spent eighteen enetic il ness The social reports tossed in the consequences of that lie as if it was just a footnote:

Mrs Sentzke is concerned that the genetic abnorht bear She has asked to be sterilized and the decision is putting considerable strain on the e was a coroner’s report, an inquest, dated six months later Naomi’s mother had final y slashed her wrists There was a comment from the coroner about her inability to deal with her bereaveet past that paragraph Had Osman actual y told Naomi al that? He’d have no idea until he asked, but if she hadn’t, the worst news of al would fal to hi Naohty How do I tell Naomi that?

Her father, Staffan, seeh The social worker had included a nuirl who’d coovernenetic abnormality like that in his family, he said

Vaz was now riveted This factory worker, this ordinary guy, hadn’t realized just how right he was Vaz scrol ed through the pages as fast as he could, but then he found hi Naomi’s service record The trail went cold There was no more mention of Staffan Sentzke

"BB," he said "Quick question Sitrep on Sansar, Outer Colonies"

"Glassed," BB said, not even ht of that Staffan, screwed by his own kind and then glassed by the Covenant, and wondered if there was any justice left in the world

He lay on his bunk for a long tier More than seventy fa like that, and the only thing that had put an end to their ic as Nao to tel her any of this?

He swung his legs off the bunk, deter every last dah

Halsey was stil down there, one deck below She’d led a charets, while al the time she was no better than any of the other war cried, or who’d never faced justice at al

Vaz knew a little about World War II because it was stil compulsory history in the school he’d attended Russia didn’t forget her wars If he’d run into Dr Josef Mengele five hundred years ago and knohat the man had done, or would do, and if he’d shot him, then he’d have been hailed as a patriot Everyone would have said he’d done huele right here

Vaz was halfway down the passage before the thought started crystal izing By the tiot to the ladder that would take hiood-bye to his service career and his freedom He found himself outside Halsey’s te on his sidearht of al the scientists responsible for wartime atrocities and how , and died fat and rich and respected at a ripe old age That hen he decided that the world could probably get by just fine without another Spartan prograer on the lock override

"Vasily," said the voice behind him No, it wasn’t behind him; it was somewhere overhead, in one of the ship’s broadcast speakers, like the voice of God "Vaz, I told you it would ry, didn’t I? Come on Walk away from it"

"Nobody ever stops monsters until it’s too late," he said "We can’t claim we didn’t know about this one"

"But there’s always another one to take their place, Vaz," BB said "And I think Nao Halsey’s brains out"

Vaz paused for a good ten seconds, hating hi when he knew this wo to face real justice What did he have to lose? No kids, no family Not half as much as the colonists whose lives she’d wrecked

"Vaz-- leave her to Parangosky " BB’s tone was fir people suffer Go find Naomi Go on "

Vaz felt as if he’d suddenly sobered up It didn’t stop the anger or the seething hatred, but he felt both stupid and justified, which was hard to handle

BB was looking out for hih That hat friends were for

"Thanks, BB" He rubbed his face with both hands and started walking away Coward, a voice said inside hiret this"

"You know you already do," BB said "Now go press your best pants We hand over Halsey, and then we go home for the memorial ceremony"

Vaz had plenty of people to commemorate It stil seemed pretty lavish to slip back to Earth in the middle of a mission "They real y need us there?"

"Yes The Arbiter’s attending"