ASTEROID 67-046
Koop stood uneasily at the lip of the hatch that led down to the artifact. He and the armed crewman with him were both in nanofabric space suits, despite being inside the pressurized and heated glassteel dome that Humphries Space Systems engineers had built on the surface of the asteroid.
Outside the dome’s airlock sat the squat, spindly shuttle-craft they had used to fly from
“How long’ve they been down there?” the crewman asked, echoing Koop’s own nervousness.
Without bothering to look at his wrist, Koop answered, “Damn near three hours now.”
“Maybe I oughtta go down and see if they’re okay.”
“Naw,” said Koop. “If the captain wants us he’ll holler for us.”
The crewman nodded half-heartedly. Then he asked, “Is he still in charge?”
“Who? The captain?”
“Yeah. I mean, Vishinsky seems to be giving the orders now.”
“He’s still the captain.”
“You think so?”
“I’ll tell you when I don’t.”
“What’s she like in bed?”
Koop drew in a breath. He’d known it would come to this, sooner or later.
“None of your damn business,” he growled.
The crewman grinned at him.
Yuan’s voice came through the speaker set into Koop’s bubble helmet. “We’re coming up.”
“Okay,” said Koop, adding silently, Good.
Koop peered at them carefully as they climbed up through the hatch set into the dome’s floor. The four of them seemed unchanged by their experience with the artifact.
The cyborg was still as stolid and menacing as ever. The old woman was the same. Tamara was smiling, but there wasn’t any joy in it. Her smile was like a cobra’s. The captain—well, maybe he did look a little different. More serious. Quieter. Like he had a lot on his mind, a lot to think about.
“Isokuru,” said Yuan to the crewman, “go power up the shuttle.”
“Hai!” The crewman made a perfunctory bow and started through the airlock.
Koop edged over to the captain’s side. “Did you see it?” he asked in a near-whisper.
Yuan pressed his lips into a thin line and nodded. “I saw it.”
“What was it like?”
He shook his head slowly. “I don’t think I can describe it, Koop. I don’t have the words for it.”
Koop glanced at Tamara, then asked, “Do you think I—”
“It’s shut down now,” Yuan said. “We don’t know how long it’ll stay shut. It kept Tamara in there for more than an hour.”
Before Koop could say anything more, Tamara tapped Yuan on the shoulder.
When he turned toward her she gestured to Elverda and Dorn. “We’re not bringing these two back with us.”
Yuan felt his brows hike. “We’re not?”
“No. Kill them now. Let this be their final resting place.”
Perspiration trickled down Yuan’s ribs. “Why don’t we just leave them here? They wouldn’t last long.”
“Kill them. I want to bring absolute proof back to Martin that they’re both dead.”
“Oh, so he’s not Mr. Humphries anymore.”
Tamara gave him a pitying, almost disgusted look. “Kill them both. Now.”
Yuan’s hand slid to the sidearm at his hip. His hand was trembling, he realized. Elverda lifted her chin and stood before him at her full height like an Incan queen facing her doom regally. Dom stood beside her, impassive as a machine.
“I told you to kill them,” Tamara insisted.
This isn’t a computer game, Yuan was saying to himself. These are real people, real living human beings. Even if the cyborg is half machine, he’s still a man. In his mind’s eye he saw the blood splashed across the old commander’s chest, the startled look in his sightless eyes. It must have hurt when the blade went in, Yuan thought. It must have hurt like hell.
“Kao Yuan, you’re not fit to be captain of your ship,” Tamara snarled. “I’m taking over. You’re nothing but a gutless coward.”
Coward? Yuan’s inner voice echoed. Coward? Yuan saw again what the artifact had showed him. He saw himself at the end of his life, respected by everyone, surrounded by his devoted children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren. He saw warmth and safety and admiration. He saw love.
“Koop!” Tamara’s voice cut through the vision like a diamond-bladed saw. “Kill them both and leave this pathetic coward with their bodies.”
“Me?” Koop squeaked.
Yuan’s mind was racing. I’m not a coward, he said to himself. I’m on the wrong path and if I murder these two I’ll never be able to get off that track, never be able to reach the path that the artifact showed me.
“Stand down, Koop,” he said to the Hawaiian. “That’s an order.”
Koop looked relieved, Tamara furious.
“When Humphries hears about this—”
“Hears about what?” Yuan replied softly. “That I refused to murder two unarmed prisoners?”
“That you’ve disobeyed his orders,” she snapped. “He’ll kill you. He’ll have you roasted on a spit.”
Yuan laughed at her. “No, he won’t. I understand what my path has to be, Tamara. I’ve seen the end of my life. Humphries isn’t going to kill me. I’m going to live a long, long time—and raise a big family.”
“You’re crazy! The artifact’s unhinged your mind.”
“No. The artifact’s shown me how to live.”
Tamara uttered a guttural growl and flicked her right hand. The stiletto-slim blade snapped into her hand.
“No!” Yuan shouted, reaching toward her. She slashed his arm. Blood spurted. Koop remained rooted where he stood, eyes popping, mouth open but no sound coming from it. Yuan clapped his other hand over the slicing wound that pumped blood through his grasping fingers.
Tamara whirled and sank the bloody blade into Dorn’s human side. She felt it scrape along a rib, then sink deep into his chest. The cyborg grunted and tottered backward a step.
Yanking the blade free, Tamara turned to face Elverda. The old woman put out her arms defensively, but she was frail, her arms bone thin, no barrier at all to the knife.
Then Dorn’s mechanical arm flashed out. His metal hand closed on Tamara’s fingers. Bones snapped and she screamed in sudden agony. The blade dropped clattering to the floor as Tamara sank to her knees, her face white with pain and shock.
Dorn released her, then collapsed himself, his tunic darkening with blood. Yuan and Koop both rushed to him, leaving Tamara gasping and staring wild-eyed at her mangled right hand.
Elverda knelt beside her just before she fainted from the pain.
SALVAGE SHIP
TWO MONTHS LATER
“Let me get this straight,” Valker said to Kao Yuan. “You want me to hand
“To its rightful owner,” said Kao Yuan, nodding toward Elverda Apacheta, sitting on the front few centimeters of the big recliner in the middle of Valker’s compartment.
