Lacuna: The Spectre of Oblivion Read Online Free

not?”
    “Yep.”
    “Yet you are not a member of the People’s Republican Army Navy, are you?”
    “Nup.”
    “Nor a citizen of the People’s Republic?”
    “Nope.”
    “So, can you explain to me how you came to earn this prestigious position aboard the crew of the Beijing ?”
    Rowe stretched her arms upward, her back cracking as she did so. “Sure. Basically, you know the jump drive? I invented a fair chunk of it. Not all of it, but some of it. Nobody knew it better than I did, though, and I wanted to make sure my little baby was taken care of. Liao has her crotch-fruit; I have my devices. We’re pretty much the same like that.”
    Breathe, Liao urged herself, forcing herself to remember that Summer was just being Summer. This was how she was. She was on her side.
    Fang nodded. “And you were offered this post by Liao?”
    Rowe shook her head. “Nah, actually Sheng handpicked me, technically. Liao found out about it when she was on a rocket to the moon. We met just before the attacks, and boy, was Liao surprised to see me… when she wasn’t too busy puking her fucking guts out.”
    Liao felt herself flush at the memory. Despite commanding a spaceship, she became queasy when in zero gravity, such as when the ship had to use its jump drive or in more conventional means of space travel.
    “I see. But Liao had the right to remove you and she did not. Is that correct?”
    “Yep and yep.”
    Liao studied judge Qu. Although the man was clearly very patient with the task set before him, Rowe’s terse answers and flippant attitude were clearly testing his patience.
    Fang, seemingly pleased, continued. “Can you explain to the court why this would be so?”
    “Liao wants her ship to fly straight. I don’t walk around with a stick up my arse. And yeah, I got a bit of an unconventional approach to technology and, well, everything. That’s true.” She paused, glanced at Liao, then back to Fang. “But Melissa could see I knew my stuff. This is highly experimental tech with all kinds of crazy fucking side effects and weird behaviours. It sometimes goes spastic for no reason, or doesn’t work, or needs software patches on the fly. Same goes for the whole fucking ship, actually. It’s a damn miracle that piece of shit could ever even get into space, let alone take on the Toralii. Without me, it’d be a giant piece of flying scrap within two weeks.”
    “So Commander Liao did not care that you were not a member of the military and were not subject to the same oaths and training that the rest of the crew were bound to, and believed your expertise to be invaluable?”
    “Yep.”
    “Would you say that you were irreplaceable?”
    “Sure.”
    “And were there any apprenticeships put into place during your whole year aboard the Beijing ? Were any provisions made if you were to be killed?”
    Rowe snorted. “I’m immortal. I’m a vampire and I sparkle in the sun. Besides, I’m either in Engineering or in Operations, both of which are the most protected parts of the ship. The chances of me getting killed are about fucking zero, they’d have to blow up almost all the ship to get to me anyway.”
    “But you are not always in Engineering or Operations, are you? Liao’s report specifically states that you were actually performing an extravehicular activity in the midst of a pitched battle no less than three months ago. You were also part of the team that visited Velsharn, exposing you to risk there, and this excludes other risks such as illness, disease, or misadventure. Despite your insistence, none of us are immortal. If something did happen to you without a suitable replacement on hand, your absence could very well have significantly affected the combat readiness of the Beijing .”
    Rowe shrugged and didn’t seem to have an answer.
    “Would you say it’s irresponsible of Captain Liao to place the working operation of her ship in the hands of one individual, without whom as you so accurately put it, the entire