Boneyards, page 30
“Even if we get a dozen ships out of that Boneyard,” he says, “we won't have enough crew to run them.”
“Of your people, that's right,” I say. “But if you're right, we just brought all of the Nine Planets in on this. That's a lot of people. That's a lot of recruits.”
He lets out a small breath. “You're crazy, you know that, right?”
I nod. “I've always done things my own way,” I say.
“If you can't help me find the Fleet, you'll help me build a new one,” he says.
I shrug a single shoulder. “That's the idea.” And then I look at Squishy, immobile. Lost forever. “Besides, you might get answers in that Boneyard.”
“Yeah,” he says softly. He's looking at Squishy too. “But I'm beginning to think there's merit in letting go of your past.”
I almost touch her arm. But I can't quite bring myself to feel the cooling flesh.
“The past makes you who you are,” I say.
“No,” he says. “The past gives you a start toward your future. You choose where you go from that starting point.”
I look at him. He doesn't need to say the rest. Squishy chose to go backward.
We're heading forward. To Lost Souls, and then to the Boneyard. And maybe on from there.
Into the unknown.
Which is always where I've felt most at home.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch is an award-winning mystery, romance, science fiction, and fantasy writer. She has written many novels under various names, including Kristine Grayson for romance and Kris Nelscott for mystery. Her novels have made the bestseller lists and have been published in fourteen countries and thirteen different languages. Her awards range from the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Choice Award to the John W. Campbell Award. She is the only person in the history of the science fiction field to have won a Hugo Award for editing and a Hugo Award for fiction. Her short work has been reprinted in sixteen Year's Best collections. She is the former editor of the prestigious Magazine of Fantasy and Science Fiction. Before that, she and Dean Wesley Smith started and ran Pulphouse Publishing, a science fiction and mystery press in Eugene. She lives and works on the Oregon Coast. Visit her online at kriswrites.com.
Kristine Kathryn Rusch, Boneyards
