The Aftermath (33 page)

“Can't say I blame you,” said Valker. “Mighty courageous of you, really, trying to protect your mother and sister.”

Nicco piped up, “Whatsamatter, kid, don't you trust us?”

Getting to his feet, Valker said, “I wouldn't trust us, Nicco. Not if I was a young lad facing a shipload of desperados like us.”

He placed a strong hand on Theo's shoulder. “But you see, son, there's a matter of salvage rights here. We found you, and it would complicate the situation if somebody else showed up.”

“We're not salvage,” Theo snapped. “We're not abandoned or adrift. This ship is occupied by its rightful owners and we're on a course that'll take us back to Ceres in a few months.”

“Are you now?”

“Yes,” said Pauline. “We are.”

“We'd only be salvage,” Theo said, “if the ship was abandoned.”

“That can be arranged,” Kirk said, with a smirk.

“None of that, now,” said Valker. “The boy's right. This isn't a salvage operation. We're here to help these people.”

Kirk started to reply, but caught the look in Valker's eye and snapped his mouth shut.

To Theo, Valker said, “You don't have to be afraid of us, son.”

“I'm not your son.”

“Now listen,” Valker said, a little more iron in his voice, “I'm not your enemy. We can help you, but you've got to trust us, at least a little. We're fixing your antenna problem, aren't we? We're going to transfer some of our fuel to you. What more do you want?”

Theo had no answer for him. He simply glowered at Valker, sullenly.

Pauline got to her feet. “Theo, you're tired. Why don't you go to the galley, make yourself some dinner, and then go to sleep.”

He looked into his mother's eyes and saw that her suggestion was really a command.

Nodding, Theo said, “Okay, Mom.”

“And take these gentlemen with you,” Pauline said, gesturing to Kirk and Nicco. “They must be hungry, too.”

Tight-lipped, Theo repeated, “Okay, Mom.”

He left the family room, Nicco and Kirk marching behind him like a pair of guards.

Valker turned back to Pauline. “Alone at last,” he said, grinning.

“I don't want them to hurt my son,” Pauline said.

“Now why would they do that?”

“You know perfectly well. If you kill the three of us you can bring this ship back to Ceres and sell it as salvage.”

Valker nodded. “True enough. Or we could put you into the command pod and send you off. No blood spilled that way.”

“But you'd be murdering us just the same.”

“That's what
they
want to do.” Valker jerked a thumb toward the hatch that Kirk and Nicco had just gone through.

Pauline's chin rose a notch. “And what do you want to do?”

“Me?” Valker's grin faded a little. “I'm not a killer. I'm more of a lover.”

Pauline said to herself, So there it is. Out in the open. He's offering me our lives. But for how long?

“Can you keep your crew under control?” she asked.

He nodded wordlessly.

“I don't want any of them touching my daughter.”

Valker puffed out a breath. “That will be a pretty tough assignment.”

“Or hurting my son.”

“Hell, we can let him join our crew. The boy's got nerve; I like him.”

“But my daughter's got to be safe. From all of them, including you.”

Spreading his arms in a gesture of complete agreement, Valker replied, “If you're willing to let me share your bed, why would I be interested in your daughter?”

She looked into his eyes: greenish blue, hazel eyes, the kind that changes color, the kind that can't be trusted. But what else can I do? Pauline asked herself. What else can I do to keep Angela and Theo safe?

*   *   *

Aboard
Hunter,
Dorn stared at the communications screen as if he could make it light up by sheer willpower.

“The message isn't being repeated,” Elverda said.

“No,” said Dorn. “And it was very weak, almost as if it was made from a space suit radio rather than a ship's comm system.

“No visual.”

“I have a fix on it, through,” Dorn said, tapping on the comm keyboard with his mechanical hand.

“You attacked their ship?”

“Dorik Harbin did.”

“When? How long ago?”

“Just after
Chrysalis,
” Dorn said, his voice barely audible. “Nearly four years ago.”

“We must go to their assistance.”

He nodded slowly as he opened a comm channel and said, “Attention
Syracuse,
this is
Hunter.
We've heard your message and are coming to your assistance.” Glancing at the navigation display, Dorn added, “Estimated time of arrival at your position, thirty hours. Please confirm.”

No response. Nothing but the hiss from the Sun and stars.

Dorn looked at Elverda. “They don't reply.”

“If their message came from a suit radio…”

“Perhaps they didn't get our message.”

“Perhaps they can't reply,” she suggested.

“You take over the comm console,” Dorn said. “Tell the computer to repeat our message, with updated ETAs.” He turned to the navigation console. “I've got to plot a course to their position.”

*   *   *

Strangely, Pauline felt neither apprehension nor excitement as she led Valker to her sleeping compartment. She felt numb. I'm doing what I have to do to protect the children, she told herself. I'm doing what I have to do.

As she started to slide the compartment door open, Valker's pocket communicator chimed.

“Damn!” he muttered, fumbling it out of his tunic pocket.

Pauline could hear Kirk's voice from the tiny speaker. “Somebody's answering the kid's distress call. It's the
Hunter!
They'll be here in thirty hours.”

“
Hunter?
Check it out with Ceres and—”

“Already did. It's the same
Hunter.
Two people aboard, one of them a woman. No weapons registered.”

Valker broke into a wolfish grin. “Good! Let 'em come! Like flies to honey.”

He clicked the communicator shut and jammed it back into his pocket. “Your boy's bringing fresh meat to the table, Pauline.”

She knew what he meant, but she asked anyway, “You're going to take that ship?”

“Why not? Only two people aboard her. They can disappear and we can bring her in for salvage. Get a good price for her, I'm betting.”

“But—”

“No buts,” Valker said, silencing her with a finger on her lips. “This is business.”

He slid the compartment's door all the way open, saw her oversized bed neatly made against the far bulkhead of the compartment. “But pleasure before business,” Valker said, ushering Pauline in to her own compartment. “We have thirty hours. Plenty of time to get to know each other.”

CARGO SHIP
PLEIADES
: BRIDGE

The message electrified Victor.

“Attention
Syracuse,
this is
Hunter.
We've heard your message and are coming to your assistance. Estimated time of arrival at your position, thirty hours. Please confirm.”

“Syracuse!”
he shouted. “They're talking to
Syracuse!
My ship! Pauline and the children!”

He banged his comm key. “
Hunter,
this is
Pleiades.
Can you give me a navigational fix for
Syracuse?
My wife and children are aboard her.”

Several minutes dragged by. At last his comm screen lit up to show the bizarre image of a man whose face was half flesh, half finely etched metal. A gaunt, aged woman sat beside him.

The cyborg spoke in a deep, slow baritone, “
Pleiades,
you are listed as a stolen ship. Are you Victor Zacharias?”

“Yes, yes,” he answered impatiently. “I took this ship to search for my family. Please give me a nav fix so I can go to them.”

Neither the cyborg nor the old woman responded. They merely sat there like mute sculptures, staring at him.

*   *   *

Dorn froze the image of Victor Zacharias's fiercely bearded face on the comm screen and turned to Elverda. “What should we do?” he asked.

“He says he took the ship to search for his family. If they're aboard
Syracuse…
” She realized that she wasn't certain which course of action they should take.

“I could call Ceres to verify his story,” Dorn suggested.

Elverda shook her head. Pointing to the registration data for
Pleiades
that had automatically come up on their comm screen once the computer recognized the caller's name, she said, “Ceres will give us the same information that the computer files have.”

The message light was blinking frantically.

“He's trying to talk to us,” Elverda said.

Dorn tapped the comm keyboard.

Victor Zacharias's bearded face suddenly became animated.
“Hunter!”
he said urgently. “I'm trying to find my family! My wife and two children.”

Reluctantly, Dorn responded, “I'm afraid you're listed as an outlaw. Ceres claims—”

“That I stole this ship,” Victor interrupted impatiently. “It's true. I did steal it. To find my family!”

Elverda punched up the computer's file on
Syracuse
and touched Dorn's shoulder to get him to glance at the secondary screen: Missing since the
Chrysalis
slaughter. Four people aboard, all members of the Zacharias family.

“He's telling the truth,” Elverda said. Then, to Victor's image on the main screen, “Mr. Zacharias, we don't want to be in the position of abetting a criminal. Let us go to
Syracuse
while you go back to Ceres and turn yourself in.”

*   *   *

Turn myself in? Victor echoed silently.

“No!”
he roared. “I want to get to my wife, my children!”

It was impossible to read an expression on the half-metal face of the cyborg, but the woman looked troubled, concerned.

“Listen,” Victor said, toning down his fervor a little. “I'll go back to Ceres and turn myself in after I see my family. I want to know that they're all right.”

“Their message said they need assistance,” the woman said.

“They've been drifting through the Belt for more than three years,” Victor pleaded. “Of course they need assistance! We've got to help them!”

The cyborg started to say, “The lawful thing to do—”

“Don't talk to me about legalities!” Victor insisted. “My family needs help! They could be dying while we're here arguing!”

As unperturbed as a mountain of granite, the cyborg continued, “The lawful thing to do is for you to return to the authorities at Ceres while we go to your family's rescue.”

“No!” Victor shouted. “No! I've got to go to them! I've
got
to!”

“We'll take care of them,” the cyborg said, implacable. “You'll see them when we bring them back to Ceres.”

“No!” Victor bellowed again. But his screen went blank.

“The bastard's cut me off,” Victor groaned. He wanted to batter the screen with his bare fists, smash it into a million shards. Instead, he buried his face in his hands and wept like a man who's lost his last chance for redemption.

*   *   *

Elverda stared at the suddenly blank screen. “That … that was … cruel.”

Dorn nodded minimally. “Perhaps it was.”

“He's trying to find his family.”

“If he's telling the truth. Perhaps he's really a thief and he wants to take our ship. Or
Syracuse.
Or both.”

“That's far-fetched.”

“Is it? Do you have any idea of how many people he has aboard his ship? Thieves. Pirates.”

“The data from Ceres said he was alone.”

Dorn almost smiled. “I'm sure that if he's spent the past several months recruiting cutthroats to serve under him he wouldn't send updates to Ceres about it.”

Elverda had to admit that Dorn was right, but she said nothing to him. Then she realized that Dorn did not want to be confronted with the man whose ship Dorik Harbin had crippled.

“Remember that other ship?
Vogeltod?
” Dorn said. “They claimed they were in the salvage business.”

“But…”

“It would be quite profitable to find a ship, get rid of its occupants, and sell it back at Ceres.”

“And you think that's what this man Zacharias is doing?”

“I'm not willing to take that chance,” Dorn replied. “There are only the two of us here. I've got to protect you.”

“I don't think we need protection from a man who's trying to save his family.”

“If that's what he's truly doing,” Dorn said, looking up at the empty screen. Turning to the screen that showed the file on
Syracuse,
he noted, “There are four people in the Zacharias family. He claims to be one of them. How did he get aboard
Pleiades?
”

Elverda nodded grudgingly. “You think he's lying, then.”

Dorn ran his human hand across the etched metal of his chin. “If he's telling the truth, if he really is who he says he is and is trying to rescue his family, he'll find a way to track us and let us lead him to
Syracuse.
A man desperate to save his wife and children will go to any lengths. A scavenging pirate will look for easier prey.”

Elverda hoped he was right.

SALVAGE SHIP
VOGELTOD
: BRIDGE

The bridge was crowded, hot and sweaty with
Vogeltod
's entire crew jammed into the compartment. Valker had called them all in to plan how to handle the ship that was nearing them.