Then she noticed that one of the messages had come in not from the ships plying the Belt, but from Selene. From the headquarters of Humphries Space Systems.
Her first instinct was to ignore it. Or perhaps delete it altogether. Then she saw that it was addressed to Lars, not her. It was not marked personal, and did not bear Martin Humphries’s signature. No harm in reading it, Amanda thought. It won’t be a two-way conversation, face-to-face. She glanced at her mirror by the bed, across the narrow room. I’m certainly not dressed to impress anyone, she thought. But even if it is from Martin, it was recorded and sent hours ago. Whoever sent it won’t see me.
She didn’t bother to take off her filter mask as she called up the message from HSS.
The wallscreen flickered momentarily, then showed an attractive dark-haired woman with the kind of sculpted high cheekbones that Amanda had always envied. The ID line beneath her image read diane verwoerd, special assistant to the ceo humphries space systems.
“Mr. Fuchs,” said Verwoerd’s image, “I have been authorized by the management of Humphries Space Systems to engage in negotiations for buying out Helvetia Limited. The buyout would include your supply depot, inventory, and all the services that Helvetia performs. I’m sure you’ll find our terms very attractive. Please call me at your earliest convenience. Thank you.”
The screen blanked to the HSS logo against a neutral gray background. Amanda stared at it, seeing the woman’s image, hearing her words. Buy us out! We could go back to Earth! We could live well and Lars could even go back to graduate school and get his doctorate!
She was so excited that she paid no attention to the message from the supply ship that was supposed to make rendezvous with The Lady of the Lake.
CHAPTER 8
Don’t you see, Lars?” Amanda said eagerly. “We could go home! To Earth! You could go back to your studies and get your doctorate.”
Fuchs was sitting on the edge of their bed, his thin slash of a mouth turned down grimly, Amanda beside him. Together they had watched Diane Verwoerd’s full message offering him ten million international dollars for his supply service and its facilities on Ceres. “It’s a bribe,” he growled.
“It’s the opportunity of a lifetime, darling. Ten million inter-national dollars! Think of it! Ten million, free and clear, just like that!” She snapped her fingers. “For nothing more than signing your name.”
“And getting out of Ceres.”
“And returning to Earth. We could go to London, or Geneva, if you prefer.”
“It’s a bribe,” he repeated stubbornly.
Amanda took both his big, callused hands in hers. “Lars, darling, we can go back to Earth and live comfortably wherever you choose. We can begin a new life together.”
He said nothing, simply stared at the blanked wallscreen as if he were looking down the muzzle of a gun. “Lars, we could have children.”
That stirred him. He turned his head to look into her eyes. “I want to have a baby, Lars. Your baby. We can’t do that here, you know that.”
He nodded bleakly. “The gravity. . .” he muttered.
“If we lived on Earth, we could lead normal lives. We could raise a family.”
“The frozen zygotes are waiting for us at Selene,” he said.
She slid her arms around his neck. “We won’t need them, Lars. Not if we live on Earth like normal people.”
He started to pull her to him, but then something crossed his face. His expression changed; he looked almost as if he were in pain.
“They want us to leave Ceres.”
“And you want to stay?” Amanda had meant it to be joking; lighthearted. But it sounded bitter, almost like nagging, even to her.
“The prospectors. The miners,” he said, almost whispering. “All the others rock rats out here . . . our friends, our neighbors.”
“What of them?”
“We’d have to leave them.”
“We’ll make new friends. They’ll understand.”
He pulled away from her and got to his feet. “But we’ll be leaving them to him, to Humphries.”
“What of it?”
“Once we’re out of his way, once he’s bought us out, he’ll be the only source for supplies in the entire Belt. No one else would dare to compete against him.”