Page 299 of Commander’s Mate
Silence.
She looked around.
“What if I want work. Room. Food. No talking. No family. No questions.”
I waited.
Then nodded.
“Then that is recovery too.”
Her shoulders lowered.
I added:
RIGHT TO MINIMAL CONTACT.
Tivid made a face.
I ignored him.
Zared signed the protocol at the end.
Not as ownership.
Authorization.
The difference had become the entire book of our lives.
When the room emptied, I stared at the process map.
Zared came beside me.
“Ugly.”
“Yes.”
“Functional?”
“Maybe.”
“Then very Farseek.”
I laughed.
“Old Farseek would hate this.”
“Old Farseek is not here.”
The words hurt.
Still true.
“What is here?”
He looked through the glass at rescued people moving through the corridor.
Warriors.
