Probability Space Read Online Free Page A

without faith. Just tell me why you were selling goods—stolen or not—at Trevinno Brothers.”
    “I need the money.”
    “Now we’re getting somewhere. No, don’t look away from the painting, child, that’s our dear Lord who died for your sins. Why did you need money?”
    “Why should I tell you?” Amanda demanded.
    “Because I noticed you, a little girl painted like the Scarlet Whore of Babylon, and followed you to make sure you were all right. Because I smashed into Trevinno Brothers with the Wrath of God here to save you from a truly horrible and probably short life as a slave for the sex trade. Because I brought you here to safety in my mission and gave you some of my restorative drug, which I could ill-afford, when you seemed to be in shock. That’s why.”
    Amanda pulled the eight thousand credits from her pocket and threw two thousand onto the cot beside Father Emil. “That’s to pay for your drug!”
    “I gave you too much of it, obviously. Manic grandiosity is setting in. But thank you, I’ll take the money in a spirit of meekness, for the greater glory of God.” He pocketed the chips. “Now tell me why you needed money.”
    Amanda studied Father Emil. He had given her a drug, he said so, and maybe it was making her braver. Maybe it made her not think so well, too. But she felt like she was thinking well again, and he had saved her from … that, and he wasn’t trying to take her money. Maybe she could trust him. Besides, what was she going to do if she didn’t trust him? The spaceport was a lot scarier place than she’d imagined.
    “You are deciding to confide in me,” Father Emil said. “That’s good. The confessional is a sacred trust.”
    Amanda had no idea what he meant. He talked a little bit like her father, whose words sounded normal but sometimes had funny twists to them. “Ironic bitterness,” she had overheard Aunt Kristen say once, but Amanda didn’t know what her aunt meant and hadn’t asked. Her father was just who he was. Her father  …
    “Don’t start to cry now—”
    “I told you I never cry!”
    “—or the Wrath of God will return you to that hot shop. Now tell me why you need money.”
    She said sulkily, “I have to go to Luna.”
    “To Luna. Why?”
    “To find someone who can help me. My father’s been kidnapped.”
    His eyes widened. Amanda felt a mean satisfaction. For the first time, she’d had an effect on him. He said, “Dr. Capelo? Kidnapped? When?”
    “Just a few hours ago.”
    “By whom? Do you know?”
    “No. I just—”
    “Tell me the whole story, Amanda. From the beginning. Don’t leave anything out, even if you think it’s not important.”
    She related the events, feeling a relief she didn’t want to acknowledge. A grown-up was back in charge. Father Emil listened carefully. When she finished, he stood and walked to the picture on the wall. With his back to her, he said, “Who were you going to look for on Luna?”
    “Marbet Grant.”
    “The Sensitive? Why?”
    “She’s a friend. I thought she could help find Daddy because she’s rich and she knows a lot of people all over the Solar System.”
    He was quiet a long time. Then he turned away from the picture and touched his forehead, chest, left shoulder, right shoulder. Amanda wondered if he had a neurological disease, like Thekla’s mother, who had uncontrollable tics.
    “Amanda,” he said, sitting beside her again, “I’m going to help you. You already know you can’t show your passport for legitimate passage to Luna without entering the government deebees. If it was government people who took your father—”
    “Do you think it was?”
    A strange expression crossed Father Emil’s face. He did the tic thing again, and dosed his eyes. “I think God moves in mysterious ways, his wonders for to prove, and He tests our hearts in ways we cannot understand.”
    Amanda said impatiently, “What does that mean? Do you think the government took Daddy or not?”
    “A