Valker took a genteel sip of his brandy, then mused aloud, “Maybe we ought to take care of the kid before
Kirk glanced at Nicco, then shrugged. “Wouldn’t take much. We go out with him, finish the antenna job, then we yank out his air line and send him jetting into deep space.”
Nicco giggled. “He might be the first guy to reach Alpha Centauri.”
Valker saw that Nicco’s glass was empty, too. Taking both glasses and putting them down on the cabinet, Valker turned and laid a hand on each of their shoulders.
“Good thinking, lads.” Gently he nudged them toward the door. “Now you go out there and take care of the boy. I want him out of our hair by the time
Victor Zacharias unconsciously scratched at his thick beard as he scowled at his communications screen. The system displayed a graph showing the direction from which
That damned half-robot, he growled inwardly. Telling me to turn myself in to the authorities. Victor refigured the keyboard beneath his fingers to call up the propulsion controls, then lit
They’ll be gone by the time I get there, he realized. But maybe I can pick up their ion trail. If it hasn’t diffused too much. Maybe I can track them and let them lead me to Pauline and the kids.
Maybe.
ORE SHIP
PAULINE’S QUARTERS
She stayed in the shower until the ship’s life support computer shut off the hot water. As she toweled dry, Pauline said to herself for the ten thousandth time, You did it to protect Angela and Thee. It’s all right. You did what you had to do. You didn’t have any choice, really.
Still she felt grimy.
As she dressed she thought that it could have been worse. Much worse. Pauline had wondered, as she watched him strip and climb into bed with her, grinning like a wolf, if she could actually allow another man to make love to her. She closed her eyes, picturing Victor in her mind. I’ll fake it, she told herself. I’ll please him as much as I can. It doesn’t matter what he does to me. I’ve got to protect Angela.
To her surprise, Valker was a gentle lover, even thoughtful. All his swaggering, smirking attitude dissolved as he genuinely sought to bring pleasure to her. With some surprise, Pauline remembered what she had learned all those years ago, before she’d met Victor: you never know what a man is truly like until you’re in bed with him.
Once dressed she walked absently into the family room. Everything was still the same. All the chairs in their places; the sofa, the lamps and wall screens. But I’m not the same, she told herself. I’ve been unfaithful to my husband. I allowed that grinning hyena to use me. Then the truth slapped her in the face: I enjoyed it! I enjoyed having sex after all these years. My body overpowered my mind.
She sank into the nearest chair, guilt flooding through her like a tidal wave, and burst into racking sobs.
A noise from the galley startled her.
Stanching her tears, she went to the hatch and saw Theo sitting at the table, his back to her, scraping the remains of a meal from his plate.
Pauline hurriedly wiped her face, rubbed her eyes. She had to swallow hard before she could get any words out. “Thee?”
He turned and smiled at her. “Hi, Mom. Where’ve you been?”
Ignoring his question, “How long have you been here? In the galley?”
His youthful face wrinkled slightly with thought. “Oh, ten, maybe fifteen minutes. I thought I heard the shower running.”
“Yes,” she said, sitting beside him, hoping he wouldn’t notice her reddened eyes.
“I’ve got to go out again, finish the work on the new antennas.”
“Have you checked on Angela?”
“No, didn’t get a chance to do that. Those two apes were with me all the time I was out. I just got rid of them no more than a half-hour ago.”
“I don’t think anyone’s aboard right now.”
“Yeah, but they’ll be here in a few minutes to finish the antenna work. Maybe you can call Angie on the intercom while I start to suit up.”
Pauline nodded. “I’ll do that.” Silently she added, If the intercom is working today.
Angela was startled by the intercom’s sudden chime. She’d been pacing around the circular interior of the storm cellar, counting her steps: two hundred and fifty-three, two hundred and fifty-four… Nothing better to do, locked in the pod alone. Then the intercom chimed.
She touched the keypad and her mother’s face appeared on the tiny wall screen.
“Are you all right?” they asked simultaneously.
Pauline broke into a tight smile. “I’m fine, Angela. What about you?
“I’m bored out of my skull. There’s nothing to
“Good. Just stay there. It’s the safest place in the ship for you.”
“But—”
“No buts, Angela. Stay in there. Stay where it’s safe.”
The screen went blank.
Angela stared at it for long moments, thinking, If it’s safe in here, that means it’s not safe outside, where Mom and Theo are.
Despite his headband, sweat trickled into Theo’s eyes, stinging, forcing him to blink. But through the glassteel of his helmet he looked with some pride at the finished antenna set that he and the two men from
He hung at the end of his safety tether, Nicco and Kirk on either side of him. Battered old
“Try transmitting now, Mom,” he said into his helmet microphone.
In his earphones he heard his mother’s calm, steady voice, “This is
Turning to Kirk, hovering in his nanosuit alongside him, Theo switched to the suit-to-suit frequency and asked, “Did it work?”
Kirk grinned and made a circle with his thumb and forefinger. “They heard her on
Switching back to the ship’s frequency, Theo said, “Sweep through the comm channels, Mom. See what you can pick up.”
For several moments he heard no reply. Then, “Thee! I’m getting Ceres! And video from Selene! And Earth! It works, Thee! It works!”
