bountiful young redheaded receptionist’s smile had evaporated.
“Mr. Humphries wants to see you both,” she’d said ominously. “Himself.”
Himself. Martin Humphries himself wants to see us, Yuan thought as the flunky in the dark tunic and slacks led them through the maze of cubicles. Report to him personally. Tell the most powerful man in the solar system that you not only failed to carry out his orders, you turned his intended victims loose, sent them on their way to wander through the Belt, free and unharmed. He’s not going to like that.
Humphries Space Systems headquarters occupied one entire tower of the two that supported Selene’s Main Plaza. Fifteen stories of offices and god knows what else. Yuan had heard that Martin Humphries once lived in a grandiose mansion built at the lowermost level of Selene, as deep as he could get, safe from the radiation and meteoroids that peppered the Moon’s airless surface. But that mansion had been burned to ashes by Lars Fuchs, and Humphries nearly killed. Now the man lived over in Hell Crater, surrounded by the casinos and shopping arcades, the hotels and brothels of that resort facility.
But he’s here in his office today, Yuan thought. To see us. And deal with us.
Yuan told himself there was nothing to fear. He tried to concentrate on the vision he’d seen at the artifact. I’m going to live to be an old, old man. I’m going to enjoy my grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A distant voice in his mind tried to warn him that he could experience much pain and sorrow during such a long life, but Yuan tried to dismiss that from his thoughts. Nothing Humphries can do will prevent the outcome the artifact showed me, he insisted to himself.
Down a long corridor flanked with closed doors on either side. Discreet little brass nameplates on each door. Yuan could see a trickle of perspiration sliding down the side of Tamara’s face. She’s not as cool as she’s pretending to be, he realized. She was wearing a sleek pearl-gray jumpsuit that clung to her coltish figure like plastic wrap. Trying to look her best for Martin Humphries. I wonder if that will help her?
“In here, please,” said the flunky as he opened an unmarked door at the end of the corridor.
They stepped through and the flunky closed the door behind them. The room was the size of a spaceport departure gate, thickly carpeted, its walls covered with smart screens that displayed art treasures. Yuan recognized the
“Captain Yuan and Ms. Vishinsky,” said the young woman sitting behind the desk at the far end of the anteroom, her voice flat, toneless. “Mr. Humphries will see you immediately.”
She pressed a key of her desk pad and another unmarked door swung open.
Yuan found himself smiling. He bowed slightly to Tamara and whispered, “After you.”
She gave him a swift glance, fiddled nervously with the buttons on the bodice of her coveralls, and strode to the open doorway. Yuan followed closely behind her, thinking, She’s scared now. Her confidence is melting away.
The office was smaller than the anteroom, but still big enough to land a shuttlecraft. A man got up from behind a broad, immaculately clear desk and stonily gestured toward the two low-slung sculptured chairs in front of his desk.
Tamara said, “You’re not Martin Humphries.”
“No,” the young man replied curtly. “I’m his son, Alex.”
Alex Humphries resembled the holos of his father so closely that Yuan wondered if he was a clone. His hair was dark, his face firm, slightly round, but with a strong jaw. He was taller than Yuan had expected, and wearing a casual open-necked royal blue shirt over tan denim jeans. His eyes were hard and gray as lunar rock.
“I thought we were to see Martin Humphries,” Yuan said as he lowered himself into the slingback chair.
“My father seldom leaves his home over in Hell Crater,” said Alex Humphries.
Tamara asked, “Then you’re running the corporation?”
Alex smiled coldly. “That depends on who you ask. My father thinks he still runs it, but I have the day-to-day responsibility. I do his dirty work and he stays over at Hell Crater and amuses himself.”
“It never even occurred to me that Mr. Humphries had a son,” Yuan said.
“He has two of them. My baby brother Van lives on Earth.”
“I see.” Yuan nodded.
“I also thought we’d been summoned here by your father,” said Tamara.
Alex leaned back in his swivel chair. “My father is very disappointed in you. Angry, you know. So furious that he almost came over here today to deal with you personally.”
“But you’re going to deal with us, instead,” Tamara replied.
“He expected you to carry out his orders.”
“He expected us,” Yuan said, “to murder an old woman and a cyborg who fancies himself a priest on some sort of a holy mission.”
“But you didn’t do it.”
“No, we didn’t,” Yuan said. Then, glancing at Tamara, he added, “To be specific, I didn’t do it. I was in command, it was my responsibility, my decision, not hers.”
“What happened?” Alex Humphries asked, his voice suddenly cold, his eyes hard, demanding.
Tamara was staring at Alex, Yuan saw. Trying to figure him out, he thought; trying to gauge what lay behind those steel gray eyes.
Yuan began to explain, “The cyborg and the old woman are no threat to your father—”
“That’s not your decision to make.”
“They’ll never return to the Earth/Moon sector. They’ll die out there in the Belt, searching for the bodies of the dead.”
Alex’s brows rose. “Is that really what they’re doing?”
“Yes.”
“Searching for bodies?”
“Mercenaries killed in the wars and left to drift in space.”
“But why?”
“The cyborg was a mercenary. He’s the one who wiped out the
“Dorik Harbin.”
“He calls himself Dorn now,” Tamara interjected. “He claims that the alien artifact changed him, turned him into a priest.”
“The artifact,” Alex said, edging forward in his chair. “That’s what I want to ask you about. My father had a bad experience with it.”
Tamara relaxed visibly. She even smiled at Alex Humphries.
Looking at Yuan, though, Alex asked, “Harbin claims the artifact changed him?”
Yuan nodded.
“And the woman? Elverda Apacheta? It changed her, too?”
With a slight shrug, Yuan answered, “It must have. She’s willing to spend what’s left of her life roaming through the Belt with Harbin to find the corpses from the war.”
Alex appeared to relax slightly. “You’ve both seen the artifact?”
“Yes,” said Tamara.
“My father’s forbidden me to go to it. He doesn’t want anyone to see it.
“But you want to see it, don’t you?” Tamara asked.
“Of course! An alien artifact. Who wouldn’t want to see it? Why do you think my father had that asteroid moved out of its original orbit? Why do you think he’s placed guards around it?”
“It’s a powerful experience,” Yuan said. “Truly life-changing.”
“What did you see?” Alex asked eagerly. “How did the artifact affect you?”
Yuan hesitated. How to talk about it without sounding foolish? he wondered.
Misunderstanding their silence, Alex explained, “You see, I want to
“I don’t know if human minds will ever be able to understand it,” Yuan admitted.
