on Luna. Unlike the political tracts, all but one had been opened.
Miller took a pull from the beer and considered the most recent two messages. The most recent, still unread, was from JPM. Jules-Pierre Mao, at a guess. The one immediately before it showed three drafted replies, none of them sent. It was from Ariadne. The mother.
There was always an element of voyeurism in being a detective. It was legal for him to be here, poking through the private life of a woman he'd never met. It was part of his legitimate investigation to know that she was lonely, that the only toiletries in her bathroom were her own. That she was proud. No one would have any complaints to make, or at least any that carried repercussions for his job, if he read every private message on her partition. Drinking her beer was the most ethically suspect thing he'd done since he'd come in.
And still he hesitated for a few seconds before opening the second-to-last message.
The screen shifted. On better equipment, it would have been indistinguishable from ink on paper, but Julie's cheap system shuddered at the thinnest lines and leaked a soft glow at the left edge. The handwriting was delicate and legible, either done with a calligraphic software good enough to vary letter shape and line width, or else handwritten.
Sweetheart:
I hope everything's going well for you. I wish you would write to me on your own sometimes. I feel like I have to put in a request in triplicate just to hear how my own daughter is doing. I know this adventure of yours is all about freedom and self-reliance, but surely there's still room in there to be considerate.
I wanted to get in touch with you especially because your father is going through one of his consolidation phases again, and we're thinking of selling the Razorback. I know it was important to you once, but I suppose we've all given up on your racing again. It's just racking up storage fees now, and there's no call to be sentimental.
It was signed with the flowing initials AM.
Miller considered the words. Somehow he'd expected the parental extortions of the very rich to be more subtle. If you don't do as we say, we'll get rid of your toys. If you don't write. If you don't come home. If you don't love us.
Miller opened the first incomplete draft.
Mother, if that's what you call yourself:
Thank you so much for dropping yet another turd onto my day. I can't believe how selfish and petty and crude you are. I can't believe you sleep at night or that you ever thought I could
Miller skimmed the rest. The tone seemed consistent. The second draft reply was dated two days later. He skipped to it.
Mom:
I'm sorry we've been so estranged these last few years. I know it's been hard for you and for Daddy. I hope you can see that the decisions I've made were never meant to hurt either of you.
About the Razorback, I wish you'd reconsider. She's my first boat, and I
It stopped there. Miller leaned back.
"Steady on, kid," he said to the imaginary Julie, then opened the last draft.
Ariadne:
Do what you have to.
Julie
Miller laughed and raised his bottle to the screen in toast. They'd known how to hit her where it hurt, and Julie had taken the blow. If he ever caught her and shipped her back, it was going to be a bad day for both of them. All of them.
He finished the beer, dropped the bottle into the recycling chute, and opened the last message. He more than half dreaded learning the final fate of the Razorback, but it was his job to know as much as he could.
Julie:
This is not a joke. This is not one of your mother's drama fits. I have solid information that the Belt is about to be a very unsafe place. Whatever differences we have we can work out later.
FOR YOUR OWN SAFETY COME HOME NOW.
Miller frowned. The air recycler hummed. Outside, the local kids whistled high and loud. He tapped the screen, closing the last Bullshit Guilt Trip message, then opened it again.
It had been sent from Luna, two weeks before James Holden and the Canterbury raised the specter of war between Mars and the Belt.
This sideshow was getting interesting.
Chapter Nine: Holden
The ships are still not responding," Naomi said, punching a key sequence on the comm panel.
"I didn't think they would. But I want to show the Donnager that we're worried about