Jack McDevitt - SEEKER

“You’re lying.”

“Suit yourself.”

“What happened to her?”

The lamp on the hatch was amber. Still pressurizing.

“She-”

Alex broke in: “She switched over to the Gonzalez when we stopped at Margolia.”

“Why’d she do that?” He wasn’t going to buy it.

“Boyfriend on board,” Alex said. “Dumb bitch. It’s the only reason she came with us.”

Well, it was better than my story. I was going to claim she got sick at the last minute.

“You’re lying,” said Charlie.

“I wouldn’t do that. Not when you’re carrying a laser.”

He hesitated, unsure what to do next. “Anything happens, anything at all I don’t like, somebody’s dead. You understand, Benedict?”

“I understand.”

“And you out there, Kolpath?”

“Nobody’ll give you any trouble, Charlie.”

“If I see anybody else, anywhere, he’s gone.”

“Stop it,” said Alex. “You’re frightening her.”

“That’s a good thing, Benedict. A little fear at the moment makes for a healthy attitude.”

“Do what he says, Chase. He’s a nutcase.”

“Watch your tongue,” said Charlie.

“Why? What are you going to do? Kill me?”

“I can if you like.”

“Please let him be. We’ll give you whatever you want.” The status lamp turned green.

I took my place a few paces in front of the airlock and raised my hands. “Kalu,” I said, “open the hatch.”

It swung wide. Charlie ordered Alex forward and stuck his head out and looked around. When he saw nobody, he pointed to a bulkhead. “Both of you over there.

Keep your hands over your heads.” We did as we were told while he removed his helmet. He took a deep breath. “Damned stale air,” he said. I didn’t know whether he meant the air from his suit, or the air on the bridge.

Alex pulled off his own helmet. “How’d you know?” he asked. “How did you know we were here?”

He shrugged. No problem. “Anything you do, I know about.”

“You lunatic,” I said. “What the hell’s this about?”

He didn’t care much for criticism. The laser swung in my direction. I threw myself to one side and he fired a short burst. Only a second or so. It seared into my leg, just below the knee. I screamed and tried to roll away from it. Alex started forward. But Charlie turned the weapon back on him. “Don’t,” he said.

Alex stopped dead.

“I don’t want to hear any more mouthing off from either of you.” He glared at me, offended. “Do it again, and I’ll shut you up permanently.” Alex came over to help me while Charlie looked around the bridge. He spotted a couple of air tanks. “I hope you don’t mind if I borrow these on the way out.”

“When are you leaving?” I asked. I wasn’t bleeding, but my leg hurt like hell. Alex tried to get ointment from the first-aid locker, but Charlie told him no. “Don’t go near anything unless I tell you to,” he said.

The airlock door was still open. “Kalu,” I said. “Close the hatch.”

It swung shut.

“No need to do that, Chase,” Charlie said. There was something obscene in the way he pronounced my name. “I wasn’t planning on staying long.”

I stared up at him. “Force of habit.”

He glanced through the door, down the passageway. “Let’s just go make sure we’re really alone.” He backed off, keeping as much distance from us as he could. “You go first, Benedict. Any trouble, I shoot her. ”

“Be careful with that thing,” Alex snapped.

“Just do what I tell you.”

I got to my feet. It wasn’t as painful as it would have been at full gravity, but I still tried to keep my weight off the injured leg.

I limped along behind Alex into the passageway, and Charlie brought up the rear. All the doors were closed. “We’re going to open them one at a time,” Charlie said. “And Chase, you stay back here near me.”

One hand closed on my shoulder.

“Anybody we see,” he said, “is dead. No questions asked.”

“There’s nobody back here, Charlie,” Alex said. His cabin was immediately off the bridge. The first room. “Kalu,” I said, “open room one.”

The door rolled up into the overhead. “Inside,” Charlie told Alex. I followed. He stayed at the doorway, where he could watch the passage. There was a single closet in the cabin. “Open it,” he said.

Alex pushed the manual and the door slid into the bulkhead. A few shirts, a pair of slacks, and a jacket hung inside. Otherwise, it was empty.

We crossed the passageway. “Your cabin?” Charlie asked, looking at me. Clothes were everywhere.

“Yes.”

“Pretty sloppy.” We opened the closet for him. More clothes. “You always travel like this, Chase?” he asked, allowing himself a grin.

“I like to be prepared,” I said. I was seriously hurting at that point, leaning against a bulkhead, trying to stay upright.

Shara’s quarters were next. Alex opened the door and showed him an unused room.

Nothing in the closet. Nothing in the cabinets. Charlie had already seen all her stuff in my place. When he was satisfied we closed it and moved on.

One by one we went through the remaining compartments, same routine each time.

We inspected the operations center, the common room, the washrooms, and the storage area at the far end of the passage.

Charlie looked puzzled. He’d been sure we would find Shara Michaels. “How have you been managing the search without having a technician on board who knew what she was doing?” he asked.

“I know what I’m doing,” I said, trying to sound insulted.

“I’m sure.” He used the laser to start us walking back toward the bridge. His eyes were hard and cold. Pure ice. He kept looking around. When we got to the bridge, he noticed the deck hatch-the one that led down into the parts locker. “What’s that?”

“A hatch,” I said.

That earned me a slap that drove me to my knees. Alex glared at me. Stop provoking him.

“What’s down there?” Charlie demanded. “And forget the smart mouth.”

“Supplies,” I said. “Equipment.”

“Open it up.”

I told Kalu, and the door slid back into the deck. Charlie moved us away, looked down, and growled something. “Okay. You can close it.” He opened one of our comm links and pulled on a pair of earphones. “All set,” he said to someone at the other end of the circuit.

We couldn’t hear the reply.

Charlie nodded. “Everything’s under control.”

Something more from the yacht.

“Okay.” Charlie kept a careful eye on us. “We’ll be changing course in a minute,” he told his confederate. “Once we’re lined up, I need you to bring the yacht alongside.

Off to starboard. Just tell her and she’ll take care of it. I’ll be coming back in a few minutes.” He listened and nodded. “I’ll let you know when it’s done.”

I wondered about the course change but said nothing. Alex’s eyes caught mine, and I couldn’t miss the message. Bad things coming.

Charlie was still listening. “Okay,” he said finally. He was nodding at whatever was being said. Then he switched on the speaker and signaled to Alex: “The boss wants to talk to you.”

Alex nodded. “Hello, Windy.”

“Oh,” she said. It was her voice, whispery and sad and filled with regret. If I’d been sitting in a chair, I’d have fallen out of it. “So you knew.”

“Sure. Who else knew we were out here?”

“Very good.” She paused. “I wanted you to know I’m sorry things are turning out the way they are.”

“It was you all the time,” I said.

“I tried to talk sense to you, Chase. But you wouldn’t listen. Neither you nor your sanctimonious partner was willing to back off. You were going to keep defiling sites, keep stealing artifacts, and keep selling them off for your own damned profit. I’m sorry for you, Chase.” Her voice shook. “You have so much potential. And you’ve made me do things I’ll always regret. But somebody had to stop you.”