could challenge the best gamers in the world. Maybe even play against the slickwillies of Selene, them and their smug airs of superiority to any flatlander on Earth. That was his goal. The means to reach it was murder in the depths of space.
Kao Yuan was quite content to have things this way.
His communications officer glanced up at him as he closed the soundproof door of the comm booth and went to his command chair.
“Sir,” she said, brushing a long lock of hair from her almond eyes, “the message from headquarters is still running.”
Yuan favored her with a grin. “Keep recording it. I’ll listen to the rest of it when I’ve got nothing better to do.”
The comm officer smiled back at him. “I mean, sir, that other messages are piling up in storage.”
“Other messages?” Yuan asked, surprised. “Who’s calling us out here?”
She glanced at her screen, pushing that stubborn tress from her face again. “A call for assistance from a miner whose propulsion system has malfunctioned.”
“Not our problem,” Yuan murmured.
“A medical emergency on another rock rat ship.”
Yuan shook his head. “I’m not interested in general chatter. Is there anything specifically for us?”
“One of the snoops reported a vessel in its area. Then it went dead.”
“What?” Suddenly alert, Yuan stepped to her comm console and bent over her to peer at the screen. “Where?”
The comm officer displayed the coordinates on her screen. Yuan couldn’t help noticing the subtle intoxication of her perfume. With the touch of a keypad, she had the computer pull up data on the sensor’s location.
“That’s where he wiped out Gormley’s fleet!” Yuan said, excited. He called to the man at the navigation console, “Set a course for these coordinates, top acceleration.”
Yuan didn’t believe that the renegade was visiting the sites of his old battles to recover dead bodies, despite what Headquarters claimed. But he didn’t press for more information, either. My job is not to know why, he told himself. My job is merely to find him and kill him. And whoever is with him.
SMELTER SHIP
BRIDGE
Out of the corner of her eye Elverda watched Dorn as he sat next to her in the ship’s bridge. He had been staring at the crushed remains of the round black sensor, still in the palm of his artificial hand.
She glanced at the screens and instrument readouts displayed on the panels curving around them and saw that the ship was functioning normally.
“What do you want to do?” she asked.
Dorn turned slowly toward her, his human eye looking sad, the other emotionless.
“Find the dead,” he answered.
“But they’ll be coming to find
The human eye closed briefly. Then, “They are probably already on their way here.”
“Shouldn’t we get away, then? There are other sites, other locations where battles took place.”
“They’ll have planted sensors there, too.” Dorn’s voice sounded heavy with resignation.
“Then what should we do?” she repeated.
“I should speed you back to Earth at maximum acceleration. You would be safe there. Not even Martin Humphries would dare to harm you where you are surrounded by friends and admirers.”
“And you?”
“I will return to the Belt and try to complete my mission. As much of it as I can.”
“I could tell the news media about this. That might protect you.”
Dorn’s lips ticked, as close to a smile as he could come. “You would tell them that you are trying to protect the monster who is responsible for the
“I can’t let him murder you.”
“There is no way that you can stop it.”
Elverda felt as if she were locked in a closet with the walls closing in on her. “There must be
Dorn shook his head slightly, a ponderous swiveling of that half-metal, half-flesh construction. “Besides, I will die anyway, soon enough.”
“Die? What are you talking about?”
“My systems are failing.” He raised his right arm slowly. “The power pack needs replacement. Joints need lubrication. I have the mechanical analog of old age.”
“We can go to Selene and get you overhauled, rejuvenated.”
“The monster responsible for
“They wouldn’t know. No one knows that—”
“Humphries knows. Returning to Selene would be a death warrant for both of us.”
Elverda stared at him for a long, silent moment. What can we do? she kept asking herself. What can we do?
Dorn broke the silence. “The bodies from this battle have spiraled outward from this site for hundreds of thousands of kilometers. We should find as many of them as we can and give them proper rites before Humphries’s assassins find us.”
“And then what?”
“And then we die, I suppose.”
She stared into his impassive face. When I met him, Elverda thought, I was ready for death. I thought my life was over, that I’d outlived my purpose. Now I don’t want to die! This man—this half-machine—has given me a reason for living.
He reached out with his human hand and touched her arm. “It’s all right. I’ll escort you back to Ceres. The rock rats are almost finished building their new habitat—”
“Yes,” said Dorn. “You’ll be safe there, and you can find passage back to Earth or Selene. Without me.”
“You’ll return here,” she said.
He gave no answer. None was required; she knew his need.
Abruptly, Elverda turned in the command chair and began to peck at the communications console.
“What are you doing?” Dorn asked.
“I’m calling the news media. There’s a woman in Selene, Douglas Stavenger’s wife, she’s a famous news anchor.”
“No,” said Dorn.
“Why not? Once the world knows what we’re trying to accomplish, not even Martin Humphries would dare to harm us.”
“You’d tell them you’re with Dorik Harbin, the monster?”
“I’ll tell them I’m with Dorn, the priest, the man who has dedicated his life to recovering the bodies of those killed in the wars.”
“Humphries knows who I am,” said Dorn. “He has whole battalions of public relations experts. Your story will be swamped by his. Vigilantes will come out here to find me. The hunt will become a news event. Our deaths will be called executions.”
She took her hand away from the keyboard. “You want to die, don’t you?”
