The guide beam from the ship’s auxiliary laser played over Matilda’s habitation module. George watched as the smaller ship maneuvered leisurely, the evil red spot of the guide beam sliding away from the hab unit. For a moment it was lost in the depth of space, but then George’s heart clutched in his chest. The red spot was moving across the slab to which he and Nodon were clinging.
He knows we’re here! George thought, sweat breaking out on his face. He’s gonna slice us!
But the red spot slid across the slab more than ten meters below their boots. It stopped on the bell-shaped nozzle of their fusion engine, then walked slowly up to the throat of the nozzle. A light flashed there. George blinked against the sudden, unexpected glare.
Nodon bumped his helmet against George’s. “The engine!” he whimpered.
Another flash. This time George saw shards of metal fly off the rocket nozzle, glinting briefly in the pale sunlight as they spun out of sight, into the endless darkness.
Again the laser fired. This time it hit the piping that fed cryogenic hydrogen into the nozzle’s cooling capillaries. Fookin’ bastard knows his business, George thought grimly. He’s disabled the engine with three bloody shots.
The attacking ship maneuvered leisurely, drifting out of George’s sight, beyond the edge of the slab on which he and Nodon hid. For moments that seemed like hours, the two men lay there unmoving. What are we gonna do? George wondered. How can we get home without the main engine?
In the darkness, George felt Nodon’s helmet touch his again. “Do you think he’s gone?” the young man asked.
Before George could answer, he caught another glint in the corner of his eye. Pushing slightly away from the slab, he saw that their attacker was punching holes in their propellant tanks. Thin cold jets of cryogenic hydrogen and helium-three hissed noiselessly into the vacuum, brief whitish wisps of gas that dissipated into the emptiness of space in an eyeblink.
“We’re movin’,” George muttered, even though Nodon could not hear him. Like a child’s balloon when he lets the air out of it, the gases escaping from the punctured tanks were pushing Matilda slowly away from the asteroid.
“We’re gonna get a fookin’ tour of the solar system,” George said aloud. “Shame we’ll be too dead to enjoy the sights.”
CHAPTER 19
I’m surprised he hasn’t had us thrown out of this hotel already,” Fuchs said morosely.
Pancho Lane tried to smile encouragingly. Lars and Amanda both looked so down, so— bewildered was the word for it, Pancho decided. Overrun by events and their own emotions. “Hey, don’t worry about the hotel,” she said, trying to sound cheerful. “Astro’ll pay for it if Humphries reneges.”
Fuchs was still in the light gray business suit he’d worn for his meeting with Humphries. Amanda was wearing a pale turquoise knee-length frock, modest enough, but she still made Pancho feel gawky and shapeless, as usual. Mandy didn’t mean to, but whenever Pancho was near her she felt like a beanpole standing beside a vid star.
“We’re going back to Ceres,” Amanda said. “Back to prospecting.”
The two of them were sitting glumly on the sofa set beneath a hologram of Valles Marineris on Mars: the grandest Grand Canyon in the solar system.
“What about Helvetia, Ltd.?” Pancho asked. “You’re not gonna let Humphries muscle you out of business, are you?”
Fuchs grunted. “What business? Our inventory went up in flames.”
“Yeah, but the insurance oughtta cover enough of it to get you started again.”
Fuchs shook his head wearily.
“You got a lot of good will out there on Ceres,” Pancho urged. “Shouldn’t oughtta let that go to waste.”
Amanda’s brows rose hopefully.
“Don’t want to let Humphries get a monopoly, do you, Lars ol’ buddy?”
“I’d prefer to strangle him,” Fuchs growled.
Pancho leaned back in her chair, stretched her long lean legs. “Tell you what: Astro’ll advance you the credit to restock your warehouse, up to the limit that the insurance will pay you.”
Fuchs looked at her. “You can do this?”
“I’m learnin’ how to play the board of directors. I got a clutch of ’em on my side. They don’t want Humphries to monopolize the Belt any more’n you do.”