14
Chess Pieces
Chess is the struggle against error.
—Johannes Zukertort
Chen Ying, student on the Taixue, co-founder of Oceanic Mining, and now a Politburo member, was standing quietly in line to board the ferry to the Fuxing’s spaceport ship when he saw Fan Hui marching toward him, rage radiating from every line of her body.
He looked mournfully at the ferry, wondering whether, if he jumped the line and leapt across to the vessel, he could escape her.
He sighed. Not a chance.
“Chen! What on earth do you think you’re doing?” Fan grabbed him by the arm and dragged him far off to the side—far enough to be able to yell without being overheard.
On the one hand, Chen was by nature a geek, an engineer specializing in robotic software. Making demands of people was not in his nature. On t
