Stavenger smiled sphinxlike.
If it had been anyone else Pancho would have fumed. She felt her brows knitting. “Some sort of game going on?”
Stavenger’s smile faded. “Some sort, indeed.”
The inner door swung open and Amanda stepped into the room. She was wearing the latest style of baggy blue-gray sweatshirt that stopped short of her rumpled, darker slacks so that her midriff was bare. In keeping with the current fashion, she had an animated decal sprayed around her waist: a procession of colorful elves and trolls, their endless marching powered by Amanda’s body heat. Her golden hair was slightly disheveled. Even though she smiled at Pancho, the expression on her face seemed far less than happy. She looked pale, tense.
Stavenger got to his feet, but Pancho went like a shot to Amanda and wrapped her arms around her and held her close.
“Cripes almighty, Mandy, it’s great to see you.” Without your sumbitch husband between us, Pancho added mentally.
Amanda seemed to understand exactly how Pancho felt. She rested her head on Pancho’s shoulder for a moment and murmured, “It’s good to see you, too, Pancho.”
They disentangled and sat down next to each other. Stavenger pulled a third chair over to sit facing them.
“The room’s clean,” he said. “Whatever we say here won’t go beyond these walls. And all the other waiting rooms along this corridor are unoccupied.”
Pancho realized that the security people out in the hallway were from Selene, not Humphries Space Systems.
“What’s this all about?” she asked.
“I need to tell you something, Pancho,” said Amanda.
“Must be important.”
“Life or death,” Stavenger muttered.
“Martin is planning some sort of move against Astro,” Amanda said. “He’s furious with you, Pancho. He believes you’ve been supplying Lars, helping him to prey on HSS ships.”
“That’s bullshit,” Pancho snapped. “Hell, he’s knocked off three of Astro’s robot freighters in the past month. First one, I thought maybe Lars had done it, but not three.”
“Lars wouldn’t attack your ships, Pancho,” Amanda said.
Stavenger agreed. “There’s something in the wind, that’s for sure. Someone’s pumping money into this new African corporation.”
“Nairobi Industries,” said Pancho. “They’re building a facility at Shackleton Crater, near the south pole.”
“And Martin is backing them?”
“Either Humphries or a third player that’s staying behind the scenes so far,” said Stavenger.
“The Hump’s always planning some sort of move,” Pancho said lightly. “He’s wanted to get his paws on Astro from the git-go.”
“If he gains control of Astro Corporation, he’ll have a monopoly on space operations from here to the Belt. He’ll have the rock rats at his mercy.”
“I think whatever Martin is planning could become violent,” Amanda said. “He’s rebuilding the base on Vesta that Lars destroyed. He’s hiring a small army of mercenary troops.”
Pancho had heard the same from her own intelligence people.
“But why is he going to all that expense?” Stavenger wondered aloud.
“To get control of Astro. To get control of everything,” said Amanda.
“Including Lars,” said Pancho.
“He’s promised not to harm Lars,” Amanda said. Without much conviction, Pancho thought.
“You believe him?”
Amanda looked away for a moment, then said bitterly, “I did once. I don’t anymore.”
Pancho nodded. “Neither do I.”
“I thought we had this all settled eight years ago,” Stavenger said. “You both agreed to stop the fighting.”
“Astro’s lived up the agreement,” Pancho said.
“So has Humphries,” replied Stavenger. “Until now.”
“But why?” Pancho demanded again. “Why start all this crap again? Is he so damn crazy he really wants to be emperor of the whole solar system?”
“It’s Lars,” Amanda said. “He wants to kill Lars. He thinks I still love him.”
“Do you?”
Amanda pressed her lips together tightly. Then she said, “That’s why I’m here.”
“Here? You mean this med center?”
“Yes.”
“I don’t understand, Mandy.”
She took a deep breath. “The baby I’m carrying is Lars’s, not Martin’s.”
Pancho felt as if someone had punched her in the solar plexus. “Lars’s? How in hell did you—”
“We stored frozen zygotes years ago,” said Amanda, “back when Lars and I first went out to the Belt on the old Starpower. We knew we could be exposed to dangerous radiation doses, so we fertilized some of my eggs and stored them at Selene.”