Before he could reply, George got to his feet again and said, very calmly, “Everybody on Ceres knows that Humphries is tryin’ to squeeze Fuchs out of the Belt. Ask anybody.”
“Mr…” Wilcox glanced down at his computer screen. “Ambrose, is it? Mr. Ambrose, what ‘everybody knows’ is not evidence in a court of law. Nor in this hearing.”
George sat down, mumbling to himself.
“The fact is,” Fuchs said, struggling to keep from screaming, “that someone is killing people, someone is attacking prospectors’ ships, someone is committing terrible crimes in the Asteroid Belt. The IAA must take action, must protect us…” He stopped. He realized he was begging, almost whining.
Wilcox leaned back in his chair. “Mr. Fuchs, I quite agree that your frontier is a violent, lawless place. But the International Astronautical Authority has neither the power nor the legal authority to serve as a police force across the Asteroid Belt. It is up to the citizens of the Belt themselves to provide their own protection, to police themselves.”
“We are being systematically attacked by Humphries Space Systems personnel!” Fuchs insisted.
“You are being attacked, I grant you,” Wilcox responded, with a sad, condescending smile. “Most likely by renegades from among your own rough and ready population. I see no evidence linking Humphries Space Systems to your problems in any way, shape or manner.”
“You don’t want to see!” Fuchs raged.
Wilcox stared at him coldly. “This hearing is concluded,” he said.
“But you haven’t—”
“It’s finished,” Wilcox snapped. He stood up, grabbed his computer, clicked its lid shut and tucked it into his jacket pocket. Then he turned and strode out of the room, leaving Fuchs standing there, frustrated and furious.
CHAPTER 36
Straining to keep a satisfied smile off her face, Diane Verwoerd led the squad of Humphries employees out of the hearing room, leaving Fuchs and his two friends standing there in helpless, confused frustration.
Out in the corridor she made polite small talk with Douglas Stavenger and Pancho Lane as they left, looking disappointed at the outcome of the hearing. Verwoerd knew that Pancho was Humphries’s chief opponent on the board of Astro Corporation, and that Humphries would not be satisfied until he had full control of Astro. Which means, she told herself, that once we’ve finally gotten rid of Fuchs, Pancho is next.
She hurried to the power stairs that led down to her office. Once there, alone, she put through a tight-beam laser call to Dorik Harbin. He should be arriving at Ceres in another hour or so, she knew.
It took nearly twenty minutes before his face appeared on her wallscreen: smolderingly handsome without the beard, his chin firm and hard, his eyes icy blue, intent.
“I know you can’t reply to this before you land,” she said to Harbin’s image. “But I wanted to wish you good luck and tell you that… well, I’m counting the minutes until you get back here to me.”
She took a deliberate breath, then added, “I’ve made arrangements with the HSS people at Ceres. The drugs you need will be there, waiting for you.”
Verwoerd cut the connection. The screen went dark. Only then did she smile. Keep him personally bound to you, she told herself. Use his weaknesses; use his strengths. He’s going to be very valuable, especially if you ever have to protect yourself from Martin.
She turned and studied her reflection in the mirror on the far wall of her office. Delilah, she said to herself, and laughed.
“So whattawe do now?” George asked as he, Fuchs and Nodon made their way down the power stairs.
Fuchs shook his head miserably. “I don’t know. This hearing was a farce. The IAA has given Humphries a free hand to do whatever he wants.”
“Looks that way,” George agreed, scratching at his beard.
Nodon said nothing.
“Amanda,” Fuchs said. “I must tell her what’s happened. I must tell her that I’ve failed.”
Harbin looked over the eight men that had been assigned to his command. A ragtag bunch, at best. Roughnecks, hoodlums, petty thugs. Not one of them had a scrap of combat training or true military discipline. But then, he remembered, this isn’t really a military operation. It’s a simple theft, nothing more.