So many people looked different as they aged that he hadn’t attributed the change to anything. But now that he was contemplating half a dozen showers just to get to work, take his outside breaks, and eat his lunch, he wondered if that greenish-olive color reflected the beating her skin had taken after decades inside this facility.
This facility sounded so impressive. Special DNA Collections sounded like something positive instead of something scary.
He’d gotten past the scariness of it all by reminding himself that this was where the most interesting work in the Forensic unit occurred. Where real science got done.
He’d initially signed onto the DNA testing unit right out of university, with a newly minted degree in biological sciences. Because he’d been granted admission under the Alliance Poverty Program, he had to spend at least five years working off the cost of his degrees within the Alliance government.
He’d almost decided to move into the private sector when this opportunity came along. The salary was double what he made in the regular DNA testing section of the Forensic Unit, and he got to do actual work, rather than monitor the machines which did the testing almost automatically.
He once told one of his colleagues that he hadn’t gotten a degree to babysit computer programs and make sure they ran right. Nor had he gotten one so that he could testify in court, verifying the computer’s results.
He had gotten the degree so that he could learn the secrets of DNA, secrets that—after thousands of years of study—human beings still didn’t entirely know.
Stott worried about working for corporations. He believed they often acted in amoral ways, particularly when it came to their employees. He knew too many people who had become actual sacrifices for the corporations: sent into newly aligned alien territories, forced to work in uncharted conditions, and then punished for violating alien laws that no human had known about.
Some corporations had Disappearance services which helped employees and their families escape the long arm of alien (and Alliance) justice. But Stott knew from personal experience that the Disappearance Services often came on the scene too late and did too little to save lives.
He shuddered and made himself focus on Muñoz. She was holding a tablet close to her chest. Apparently, the tablet was part of the security system.
Her dark eyes met his. “Are you changing your mind, Mr. Stott?”
He straightened. Double the salary. He didn’t have to work with aliens. And he got to do real science. Surely several daily showers and lots of security procedures was worth all of that.
“No,” he said, then decided his voice sounded wobbly. So he made himself speak more firmly. “No. I want to work here.”
“Good,” she said. “Because once you go through those doors, you’re not going to be able to change your mind about this assignment.”
He nodded. He had heard that warning before. It had been part of the application process at every single step. This was an irrevocable assignment, particularly because he would learn things that would be dangerous in the wrong hands.
“I’m ready,” he said. “Let’s go.”
The thrilling adventure continues with the sixth book in the Anniversary Day Saga, Vigilantes, available now from your favorite bookseller.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
USA Today bestselling author Kristine Kathryn Rusch writes in almost every genre. Generally, she uses her real name (Rusch) for most of her writing. Under that name, she publishes bestselling science fiction and fantasy, award-winning mysteries, acclaimed mainstream fiction, controversial nonfiction, and the occasional romance. Her novels have made bestseller lists around the world and her short fiction has appeared in eighteen best of the year collections. She has won more than twenty-five awards for her fiction, including the Hugo, Le Prix Imaginales, the Asimov’s Readers Choice award, and the Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine Readers Choice Award.
Publications from The Chicago Tribune to Booklist have included her Kris Nelscott mystery novels in their top-ten-best mystery novels of the year. The Nelscott books have received nominations for almost every award in the mystery field, including the best novel Edgar Award, and the Shamus Award.
She writes goofy romance novels as award-winner Kristine Grayson, romantic suspense as Kristine Dexter, and futuristic sf as Kris DeLake.
Her popular weekly blog on the changes in publishing has become an industry must-read.
She also edits. Beginning with work at the innovative publishing company, Pulphouse, followed by her award-winning tenure at The Magazine of Fantasy & Science Fiction, she took fifteen years off before returning to editing with the original anthology series Fiction River, published by WMG Publishing. She acts as series editor with her husband, writer Dean Wesley Smith, and edits at least two anthologies in the series per year on her own.
To keep up with everything she does, go to kriswrites.com and sign up for her newsletter. To track her many pen names and series, see their individual websites (krisnelscott.com, kristinegrayson.com, krisdelake.com, retrievalartist.com, divingintothewreck.com). She lives and occasionally sleeps in Oregon.
Look for These Other Titles from Kristine Kathryn Rusch
THE RETRIEVAL ARTIST SERIES:
The Disappeared
Extremes
Consequences
Buried Deep
Paloma
Recovery Man
The Recovery Man’s Bargain (Novella)
Duplicate Effort
The Possession of Paavo Deshin (Novella)
The Anniversary Day Saga:
Anniversary Day
Blowback
A Murder of Clones
Search & Recovery
The Peyti Crisis
Vigilantes
Starbase Human
Masterminds
Other Stories:
The Retrieval Artist (A Short Novel)
“The Impossibles” (A Retrieval Artist Universe Short Story)
Sign up for the WMG Publishing newsletter to receive updates about new releases, bonus content and more at wmgpublishing.com
Copyright Information
The Peyti Crisis
Book Five of the Anniversary Day Saga
Copyright © 2015 by Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Published by WMG Publishing, Inc.
Cover and Layout copyright © 2015 by WMG Publishing
Cover design by Allyson Longueira/WMG Publishing
Cover art copyright © Rolffimages/Dreamstime, Solarseven/Dreamstime, Bertos/Dreamstime
This book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. All characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental. This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.
Table of Contents
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Author’s Note
Fifty-Five Years Ago
One
Two
Three
Four
Five
Six
Seven
Now
Eight
Nine
Ten
Eleven
Twelve
Thirteen
Fourteen
Fifteen
Sixteen
Seventeen
Eighteen
Nineteen
Twenty
Twenty-one
Twenty-two
Twenty-three
Twenty-four
Twenty-five
Twenty-six
Twenty-Seven
Twenty-eight
Twenty-nine
Thirty
Thirty-one
Four Days Later
Thirty-two
Thirty-three
Thirty-four
Thirty-Five
Thirty-six
Thirty-seven
Thirty-eight
Thi
rty-nine
Forty
Forty-one
Forty-two
Forty-Three
Forty-four
Forty-five
Forty-six
Forty-seven
Forty-eight
Forty-nine
Fifty
Fifty-one
Preview of Vigilantes
About the Author
Look for These Other Titles from Kristine Kathryn Rusch
Copyright Information
The Peyti Crisis: A Retrieval Artist Novel: Book Five of the Anniversary Day Saga (Retrieval Artist series 12) Page 33
