difference does it make? I’m going to be executed soon, am I not?”
George’s expression turned even gloomier. “Well, we’re settin’ up a trial for you. You’re gonna need to have somebody to act as your defense counsel.”
“I don’t want a trial.” Fuchs was surprised to hear himself say it.
“Neither do I, mate, but we’ve gotta have it.”
“You don’t understand, George. I waive my right to a trial… as long as my crew is exonerated and allowed to go free. I take full responsibility for everything.”
“Let your crew go?” George scratched at his beard thoughtfully.
“I gave the orders. They didn’t know that my orders would kill the people on Vesta.”
“You take full responsibility?”
“Absolutely.”
“And you admit you killed the construction team on Vesta? Deliberately?”
“I’d do it again,” Fuchs said fervently, “if the same situation arose.”
George blew out a huge breath. “Guess we won’t need a trial, then.”
“You’ll let my crew go free?”
“I’ll hafta run it past the rest of the council, but, yeah, I don’t see any point in holdin’ them if you’re willing to take all the blame.”
“I take all the blame,” Fuchs said.
“Okay, then,” said George. “I guess the only question left is whether you want a blindfold or not.”
Martin Humphries didn’t wait for Dorik Harbin to arrive at Selene. He ordered an HSS spacecraft to fly him to a rendezvous with the vessel Harbin was on. He grimaced when he thought about the expense, but he wanted to see this mercenary soldier, this hired killer, without Verwoerd involved.
Even though he had studied Harbin’s personnel file to the last detail, Humphries was still surprised when he finally met the man. He’s like some prowling jungle cat, Humphries thought as soon as he entered Harbin’s compartment. Even in the stark cramped shipboard cubicle, Harbin reminded him of a panther, restless energy pent beneath a sleekly muscled hide.
He was definitely handsome, in a rugged, almost cruel way. Harbin had shaved off his beard and put on a long-sleeved shirt and khaki slacks for his meeting with Humphries. The clothes were creased so sharply they might as well have been a military uniform. Humphries felt decidedly civilian in his casual turtleneck pullover and whipcord trousers.
They shook hands and murmured polite greetings to one another. Harbin invited Humphries to sit on the cubicle’s sole chair, a plastic recliner, then sat on the edge of the bunk, rigid as if at attention. Even sitting down he looks as if he’s ready to leap at his prey, Humphries thought.
“I brought you a gift,” Humphries said genially, pointing to the compartment’s blank wallscreen. “Authorization for any, uh … medications you might need.”
“You mean drugs,” Harbin said.
“Yes. Recreational, stimulants—anything you want, my pharmacists at Selene will produce them for you.”
“Thank you.”
“Think nothing of it,” said Humphries.
Then there was silence. Harbin simply sat there, appraising Humphries with his spooky ice-blue eyes. I’ve got to be very careful with this man, Humphries realized. He’s like a vial of nitroglycerine: handle him the wrong way and he’ll explode.
At last Humphries cleared his throat and said, “I wanted to meet you personally, to congratulate you on a job well done.”
Harbin said nothing.
“You’ve earned a sizable bonus.”
“Thank you.”
“That business about sending copies of your logs to several friends on Earth,” Humphries went on, “was very clever. It shows a lot of intelligence on your part.”
Harbin’s expression changed minutely. A hint of curiosity flickered in his eyes.
“Very clever,” Humphries continued. “But really unnecessary. You have nothing to fear from me. I’m grateful to you, and I don’t turn on the people who do their jobs well. Ask Grigor. Ask anyone.”
Harbin seemed to think it over for a moment. Then, “I was being cautious.”
“I understand. In a way, I even agree with you. If I’d been in your position, I probably would have done the same thing, more or less.”
“You mentioned a bonus.”
“One million international dollars, paid to any bank you name.”
Harbin didn’t move a millimeter, but he seemed somehow to stiffen, like an animal that suddenly senses danger.
“I had expected more,” he said.
“Really? I think a million is very generous.”
“Diane said there would be more.”
There! Humphries cheered silently. He’s brought up her name.
“Diane? Diane Verwoerd?”
“Your personal assistant, yes.”
“She has no authority to make you an offer that I haven’t approved,” Humphries said sternly.
“But she told me…” Harbin’s voice trailed off in confusion.
Humphries made himself smile understandingly. “Diane sometimes exceeds her authority.” With a sly wink, he went on, “That’s the trouble with a woman. If they share your bed they start behaving as if they own you.”
“Share your bed?”
“Didn’t you know? She didn’t tell you? For god’s sake, the woman’s carrying my baby.”
Harbin rose slowly to his feet. “Carrying… your baby?”
Trying to keep from showing fear, Humphries sat where he was and said innocently, “We just found out about it a few days ago. She’s pregnant, all right. We’ve been sending the happy news to all our friends. I’m surprised she didn’t tell you.”
CHAPTER 58
The drugs only made it worse. Harbin selected carefully among the narcotics available from Humphries’s supplier, but he could not eradicate the thought of Diane betraying him. For two days after his arrival in Selene he lay in the apartment Humphries had provided him, trying to smother the pictures that played in his head. The drugs distorted his visions, twisted them and made them physically painful, but they did not bring the peace and oblivion that he sought. Just the opposite. They sharpened the knives that twisted in his flesh; they drove the daggers deeper inside him.
She’s been sleeping with him! She’s allowed herself to get pregnant by him! All the time she was with me, she was mocking me, manipulating me to do what she wanted, what
At last he could stand it no longer. Close to midnight, he lurched out of his apartment into the corridors that honeycombed Selene, bleary-eyed, unshaven, still in the clothes he had slept in for the past two nights. He shambled along the nearly empty corridors, heading for Diane’s quarters.
Sleeping alone in his giant bed, Humphries was awakened by the buzz of his private phone. Grumbling, he sat up and told the computer to put his caller on-screen.
The wallscreen showed Grigor’s somber lean face.
“He’s left the apartment,” Grigor said without preamble.
