toys and the foam shell of the illusion helmet. If the trip turned boring she could always take that out. Saba came up behind her.
“Why did you lie to me?”
“I didn’t lie to you.”
“You told me you couldn’t speak Styth.” He was getting angry. She moved away from him, one hand on the wall.
“I didn’t tell you that, you decided that.”
He fastened up the front of his overalls. On the forearms of his sleeves were five diagonal stripes. He turned away from her; there was a black three-pointed star on his back. It was a uniform. Her hackles rose.
He said, “Did you hear what he just said? About the Lunar Army?”
“Yes.”
“What do you know about that?”
“Nothing.”
“If you’re lying to me again—”
“I’m not. I don’t know what’s—” She sucked in her breath, thinking of Dick Bunker’s scan. “Or maybe I do.”
“What?” He lunged at her, his arms spread. She floundered in the air. The cold half-light confused her. He shouted at her, “What are you trying to do to me?”
“Not me, Dick Bunker. He tried to get me to bring a sensor in with me.” She put her hand out to him. “Why else would the Lunar ships show up now? We must have brought something in with us.”
His face clenched tight. “What? Where is it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You lie.”
“I don’t know.” She fought to keep her voice steady. He wheeled away to the wall speaker; now it was over their heads.
“Bridge.”
“Yes, Akellar.”
“Send Tanuojin to my trap. Where are the hammerheads?”
“One on either wing and one behind us, Akellar. They’re matching our course and speed.”
She rubbed her hands together. Bunker could have hidden something in her bag during that uncharacteristic apology. If she had brought it on, the Styths would probably kill her. She went back to the compartment and took the satchel out again.
“If you’re lying to me, so help me, I’ll break everything in your body.”
Behind the satchel was the illusion helmet in its protective coat of foam. She pushed the bag out of the way and took out the helmet. She looked around for a knife or clipper to cut the foam. He took the white ball from her. His claws sank into the foam and he tore it in half. Something sealed into the casing broke with a ping.
Saba growled in his chest. He ripped at the shard of foam, pulling out yards of thin plastic wire. The crumbs of foam sailed off thick as snow. The hatch burst open. Tanuojin came in, sinuous as rope in the free fall. On the sleeves of his overalls he wore one less stripe than Saba.
“Look at this,” Saba said. He thrust a handful of looped wire at her. “What is it?” Tanuojin snatched it away from him.
“It’s a sensor.” His yellow eyes aimed at her. “I told you she’s a spy.”
She scrambled back away from them. The slick soft walls glinted in the low light. Her heart banged in the pit of her throat. She looked at Saba.
“Where did you have that wrapped up?”
“At the Committee office.”
Tanuojin’s head snapped around. “You said she didn’t speak Styth.”
“I don’t think she had anything to do with this.”
Paula slid along the wall. Tanuojin’s lips pulled back from his teeth. “I do.” He struck at her, backhanded. When she tried awkwardly to avoid him she ran herself into his stroke.
She gasped. Saba thrust in between them. Her jacket was in ribbons from sleeve to sleeve. She saw a cloud of fine red bubbles floating out before her. Her chest began to burn. She clenched her teeth at the swelling hot pain. Saba pulled her into the curve of his arm.
“Look what you did to her.”
“I didn’t hit her that hard.”
“She’s not Styth. She’ll die. Heal her.”
“Saba, she’s just a nigger.”
“Heal her!”
She panted. The long gashes down her breast hurt when she breathed. Tanuojin came toward her. She backed away from him. Numb, she fought to stay conscious.
“Hold her hands, or she’ll scratch my eyes out.”
Saba caught her wrists. He said, “Be good, Paula.” The pain made her sob.
“This won’t hurt,” Tanuojin said. He put his hands flat to her torn skin.
At his touch she felt nothing, not even the cold. She gulped a deep breath. Saba held her tight against him. Tanuojin moved away from them. His hands left her. Her breast began to throb. Saba let go of her. She curled forward. Four long scabbed wounds ran like seams across her left breast and her stomach. They looked days old. She touched the scabs and they peeled off, the wounds healed in pale new flesh.
“Let me see.” Saba’s fingers slid through the shredded jacket. Tanuojin went out. She flinched from the touch on her skin. “He did it,” he said to himself.
She pulled his hand out of her clothes. “What did he do?”
“Don’t tell anybody.” He took her by the arms and looked her in the face. “Don’t talk about it to anybody, do you hear me?”
She nodded. Her numbed mind refused to work. What had he done? She was cold; her teeth began to chatter.
“I have to go to the bridge.” He took her by the chin. “Don’t ever lie to me again.” Taking the sensor wire with him, he went out the hatch.
She hung suspended in the air. The blood and scraps of foam drifted around her in clouds. Slowly they were sucked into the filters in the wall and the air cleared. As the evidence disappeared her belief in what had happened disappeared. The Creep. She had paid no attention to that. The cold drove her to the effort of moving. She wrestled her suitcase out of the compartment and pulled out a shirt and a heavy sweater.
In the back of the compartment was the square box of toys for Saba’s children. She took it out and used a nail file from her bag to hack open the foam wrapper. There were two more wires strung through the white plastic. One had a cube on the end the size of her thumb. She floundered around the room to the little wire mesh speaker and pushed the lever beside it and ran herself head-first into the wall.
She recoiled. Tears of frustration filled her eyes. She felt as if she were stuck in a pocket, in a prison. Her mind was jammed. She forced herself to relax. This place was strange because she did not know it; when she knew it she would understand. She put one hand on the wall and the other hand on the speaker lever and pushed it up.
“Bridge,” she said.
A startled Styth voice said, “Who’s this?”
“Tell Saba I found another one and a transmitter.” She pulled the lever down again.
She did not know how to change her clothes without gravity. Her arms were too short. While she stuffed her legs into trousers she floated around the room. Every motion pushed her in a new direction. She put the shirt on over her head and fought with the sleeves. The hatch wheel clicked over.
She turned her head, and her whole body turned. Saba came feet-first into the hatch, coiled around in mid- air, and came down beside her. She pointed to the compartment door. She had tied the wires to the handle. He untangled them. She put another pair of trousers on, struggling with the legs.
Tanuojin came through the hatch. She stopped what she was doing. He pretended not to see her and went to his lyo. Floating over their heads, she straightened the legs of her trousers.
