She went back to her apartment. Except for the night court lawyer who was asleep, the apartment was empty.
She went to her room and gathered her belongings. She would head to Helena. And there, she would figure out what to do.
At the moment, she saw only two options: she could contact independent Disappearance Services. They needed lawyers too. Of course, she would be crossing all kinds of lines, legal and ethical.
Although she would be doing it for a good cause.
Or she could ally herself with some of the legal groups that took big cases, cases that got appealed to the Multicultural Tribunals, cases that might lead to overturning treaties, and modifying laws.
All she knew was that she couldn’t stay here. And she knew she couldn’t work for an organization like the Black Fleet. An organization willing to sacrifice its own people as a test.
The Earth Alliance sacrificed its people to satisfy treaties, to facilitate trade.
She had been a blind participant to it all.
But she was blind no longer.
And she knew how she felt.
She hated all of it.
And she would never be part of it again.
“The Impossibles: A Retrieval Artist Short Story” by Kristine Kathryn Rusch was first published Analog SF Magazine, December, 2011.
About the Author
International bestselling writer Kristine Kathryn Rusch has won or been nominated for every major award in the science fiction field. She has won Hugos for editing The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction and for her short fiction. She has also won the Asimov’s SF Magazine Readers Choice Award six times, as well as the Anlab Award from Analog Magazine, Science Fiction Age Readers Choice Award, the Locus Award, and the John W. Campbell Award. Her stand-alone sf novel, Alien Influences, was a finalist for the prestigious Arthur C. Clarke Award. Io9 said her Retrieval Artist series featured one of the top ten science fiction detectives ever written. She writes a second sf series, the Diving Universe series, and she writes a fantasy series called The Fey. She also writes mystery, romance, and fantasy novels, occasionally using the pen names Kris DeLake, Kristine Grayson and Kris Nelscott.
If you liked “The Impossibles,” you might try these works by Kristine Kathryn Rusch:
Alien Influences
The Disappeared (Book One in the Retrieval Artist Series)
Diving into the Wreck
The Possession of Paavo Deshin
The Recovery Man’s Bargain
The Impossibles Page 5