"Not that it'll make much of a mess," added Harriet. "Just a spot or two, from what I can tell." Then, before Smith could stop her, she turned and strode to the airlock door.
"Hey, where do you think you're going?" Smith waved the gun. "I've got this, remember?"
"I've seen you using it. You couldn't hit the side of a planet," said Harriet viciously. She hauled the airlock open and took three steps to the outer door. As she went to open it, she hesitated. Alice could be just outside, waiting to fire. "Screw it," muttered Harriet, and she opened the door a crack. "Alice! It's me, Harriet."
"Send Smith out!" shouted Alice.
Harriet was in no mood to take orders, but she bit off her angry reply and tried to sound more like Harriet Walsh, calm, measured Peace Force trainee, and less like Harriet Walsh, furious and angry and consumed with white hot rage. "Alice, I've worked out a deal. We can all walk away from this."
"He's a dead man," shouted Alice. "You can shove your deal."
Harriet was about to reply, but at that moment there was a loud whining noise outside. "What the…?" she began, and then she got it. Smith might not have enough fuel to take off, but he could fry everything on the landing pad with the thrusters. Hurriedly, she left the airlock and ran to the flight deck, where she found Smith at the controls, one hand on the throttles while the other was busy flipping switches. The gun was on the console next to him.
"Smith! What are you doing?"
He ignored her, and studied the engine gauges, waiting impatiently until they were ready to fire.
"Your people are down there too!" shouted Harriet.
"I can always get more people," he remarked.
"What about the box?" Harriet asked desperately. "You need Alice to open it. You'll lose your precious cargo."
Smith shrugged. "I only need her DNA. I should be able to scrape enough up … afterwards." He abandoned the switches and turned to the throttle, and she saw his arm tense as he prepared to push it forward.
At that instant Harriet took two steps from a standing start, and launched herself at him.
— ♦ —
Alice crept towards the airlock, placing her feet carefully to avoid making too much noise. The ramp was made from thin steel, with slots to reduce the weight, and every now and then it buckled underfoot with a hollow sound. Fortunately the insects were still making a racket, but she wasn't convinced they'd mask every sound she was making.
As she got closer to the door she turned her head to one side, trying to hear something, anything, but all she heard was the endless chirping, buzzing and creaking from the planet's wildlife. Then, all of a sudden, she heard something clearly: a shout of alarm, and a gunshot.
Alice sprang for the door, hauled it open and ran into the flight deck. She saw Smith and Harriet locked in a struggle, Harriet with her back to the airlock and Smith with one hand in the air, the gun in his grasp. Harriet was trying to reach it, and even as Alice burst in, the gun fired again, blasting a hole in the roof panels.
"Drop it!" shouted Alice, aiming Teresa's gun at them both.
Smith managed to overpower Harriet and brought his own gun down, firing at Alice as soon as it was level. The shot skimmed past, and in return she fired twice. The first shot missed, but the second missed Harriet's head by a whisker and slammed into Smith's shoulder. He looked down for a moment, his expression surprised, and then the gun fell from his fingers and he slumped to the deck.
"Again?" said Harriet angrily. "Are you that determined to kill me?"
Alice gave her a strange look. "Relax, this is Teresa's gun."
"I don't care if it's the emperor's personal hand weapon," shouted Harriet. "That's twice you've nearly—"
"Harriet, it's a stunner. Smith will have a lousy headache when he wakes up, but he's not dead."
"You still might have hit me!" growled Harriet, not mollified in the slightest.
"Yeah, well … better a headache than a funeral." Alice shot Smith again, just for luck, then spun the weapon and tucked it into her belt. "Do you know how to use the radio on this ship? Teresa's hit, but she reckons they'll send a medic from the capital."
"I'm sure I can figure it out," muttered Harriet. "What about Teresa? Is she okay?"
"She's still breathing." Alice looked down at Smith. "You'd better ask for some kind of security detail, too. They can take Smith away, because there's no way I'm sharing oxygen with this piece of garbage all the way home."
Chapter 23
While Alice fussed over Teresa, making sure she was comfortable and demanding the paramedics attend to every detail, Harriet spoke to the head of the private security team. The commander was a grey-haired woman in a dark blue uniform, and she was surprised to see a Dismolle Peace Force officer on Vasquez.
"Haven't seen your lot for years," she remarked, as her people gathered up Smith's fallen crew. "Just as well, if you're going to bring this kind of trouble with you."
"Smith kidnapped me," said Harriet. She explained quickly, making sure the woman noted it down. "What sort of legal system do you have here?"
"A rope," said the woman. She saw Harriet's expression. "I'm kidding. Don't worry, he'll be taken care of. We usually lock them up and charge them by the day. Once they run out of cash we hand them over to your lot. I've got an arrangement with a Peace Force office in the next system. You probably deal with them a lot."
"Yes, all the time," said Harriet quickly. The last thing she wanted was for the woman to discover she was only a trainee. Smith would probably claim she wasn't qualified to arrest him, and then he'd be free.
"Well, they come by every so often, to take away all the
