they already killed him? Are they going to kill me?
She turned her head and saw that she was in a hospital of some kind. More likely the infirmary aboard the ship that was chasing us. Her bed was surrounded on three sides by blank off-white partitions. The fourth side was a metal bulkhead, with a bank of sensors stacked against it; they were making the beeping sounds she heard.
Tentatively, Elverda tried to lift her head off the pillow. No pain. No dizziness. The beeping changed its tone slightly. She let her head sink back again into the softness of the pillows, too weak to even think about sitting up.
One of the partitions slid back and a bulky, blocky man stepped in. Suddenly the area was overcrowded. He was dressed in light gray coveralls, with marks of rank on his cuffs. His face was square, heavy-set, his skin a light brown, almost golden. Polynesian? Elverda wondered.
“You’re awake,” he said, in a surprisingly light tenor.
“Yes.” Elverda realized that her throat was very dry, rasping.
“I’m Kahalu’u Kaupakulu’a,” he said, smiling gently. “Don’t bother to try to pronounce it. Just call me Koop. Everybody calls me Koop.”
“You must be the ship’s medical officer.”
“First mate,” he corrected. “We don’t carry a medic.”
“I see. Where’s Dorn?”
“Dorn?”
“The man who was with me. What—”
“He’s Dorik Harbin, isn’t he? We have his files. Even with half his body replaced by machinery he has the same DNA.”
“He was Dorik Harbin. Now he is Dorn.”
Koop shook his head. “Whatever he calls himself, he’s locked up, waiting for the captain to make up his mind about him.”
“Don’t hurt him! He’s been hurt enough already.”
“Not my call, Ms. Apacheta.”
“You know my name.”
“I’ve seen
She decided it was a compliment. “Thank you.”
“We injected stem cell activation factor into your heart. It’s repairing the damage.”
“How did you know…?”
“Med program. We have an up-to-date diagnostic program in the computer, and a good stock of medical supplies.”
“I see.”
“It’s not a total fix, y’know. You oughtta see a specialist when you get back to Earth. Or Selene, whatever.”
Elverda nodded, knowing that it would be many months before she returned to the Moon, if ever, and she could never face the heavy gravity of Earth.
Glancing up at the sensors lining one side of her bed, Koop said, “Seems to be workin’. You should be able to get outta bed by tomorrow.”
“But Dorn? Dorik Harbin? What’s going to happen to him?”
Koop shrugged his heavy shoulders. “That’s for the captain to decide.”
Captain Kao Yuan stared at his prisoner. The crew had locked Dorik Harbin in an emptied storage locker. The man had come aboard
Now Yuan stood in the open doorway of the storage locker. Two of his biggest crewmen stood out in the passageway, sidearms strapped to their hips. Dorik Harbin stood in one corner, looking back at him.
Yuan felt distinctly uneasy. This isn’t a man, his mind told him: he’s more machine than human. Half his face is metal, etched metal covers the top of his head like a skullcap, one arm is prosthetic, and one leg. Does he have balls? What are his insides like?
“You can come in,” said the half-machine. “I won’t attack you.” His voice was deep, calm. It made Yuan think of the huge lake he used to swim in when he was a child, before the greenhouse warming dried it out.
Yuan stepped fully inside the storage locker. It was small, meant to house medical supplies. The crew had emptied its shelves and moved the supplies to an unused bed space in the infirmary, where the old woman was being kept.
“You admit you are Dorik Harbin?” Yuan asked.
The lips on the half-face bent slightly. “I was Dorik Harbin. Now I am Dorn.”
“You are the man who destroyed the
“I am the beast responsible for the
Yuan licked his lips nervously. What more is there to ask? He admits it. My orders are to kill him.
“The woman who was with me,” the cyborg said slowly, as if he had to ponder each word. “She had nothing to do with Dorik Harbin’s crime. I did not meet her until years after that.”
“Why is she with you?”
“I wonder.”
“Is she really a famous artist?”
“She is Elverda Apacheta, yes.”
“What made her come out to the Belt with you? For that matter, what in the name of hell are you doing out here?”
“You don’t want to know.”
“Don’t get smart with me! I’m the captain of this vessel. I can have you executed like that!” Yuan snapped his fingers.
“And I can kill you, too, if I choose.” Dorn’s prosthetic hand flashed through the air and grabbed one of the empty storage shelves, ripped it out of the bulkhead and crushed it in his metal fingers.
Yuan jumped back. The crewmen pulled their pistols from their holsters.
“Relax, gentlemen,” said Dorik Harbin, scorn dripping from his tone. “That was merely a demonstration. I can make threats too.”
Yuan wished he’d carried a gun with him.
“I have no intention of resisting whatever sentence you pass on me,” Dorik Harbin went on. “But I would like your assurance that Elverda Apacheta will not be harmed. She has not done anything to be punished for.”
“Then why’s she with you?” Yuan insisted.
The cyborg fell silent for several endless moments. Yuan felt its eyes boring into him: one human eye, dark, pained; the other an unblinking red, like a laser.
“I chose my words poorly a few seconds ago,” Dorik Harbin said. “It would be in your best interests not to know why she decided to accompany me.”
“My best interests?”
“Yes.”
“You’ll have to explain that.”
Again the cyborg hesitated before answering. “My mission is to retrieve the bodies of those who were killed in the war and left to drift alone, unwanted, uncared for.”
“Retrieve the dead bodies?”
“And give each of them a proper death rite.”
Yuan stared at him. “That’s what you’ve been doing?”
“Yes.”
It was impossible to read his half-metal face. Yuan started to ask, “But why—”
Dorik Harbin held up his human hand, stopping his question in mid-sentence. “Again, it would not be in your
