Hero! Read Free Page B

counts as twenty million tons of meteor strike, near enough. Any more questions?”
    “You’re saying that if it’s any size at all, it will wipe us out totally.”
    “I’m saying it will wipe us out if it’s the size of a racing bicycle. If it’s the size I think it is, it’ll sterilize the planet.”
    She drew a hard breath. “Why would anyone do such a thing?”
    “Because the crew’s dead and the mechanicals have failed, maybe.”
    Revenge was another possibility, but he didn’t feel like mentioning it and Maeve wouldn’t think of it. Her head did not contain such horrors. She pondered for a moment, absently playing with one of the ribbons on her thigh.
    The torrid dance tune on the lower level died away into a sound of applause. Vaun thought about taking that redhead in his arms for a dance, or better. Feirn.
    Maeve’s throaty voice broke his dream. “So what’s the Patrol doing about it, the ship?”
    “The Patrol’s chasing its ass like a puppy, of course.”
    She regarded him thoughtfully. “You know that, or just guessing?”
    “I know it.” Too late he remembered that he’d never had much luck lying to Maeve.
    “You mean Roker trusts you now?”
    “At the moment he hasn’t got much choice, has he?”
    Maeve hesitated, then chuckled and seemed to dismiss the matter with a flutter of silver starlight. “I expect not. But that’s what Roker gets paid for, isn’t it? That’s why we have the Patrol?”
    “How did you know about the Cabinet not knowing?”
    She sighed. “I’m the Commonwealth’s Minister of Resources. Oh, Vaun! You really didn’t know?” She sounded more upset by that realization than she was by the Q ship problem. Why should she care what he knew or did not know? What sort of a girl would put her personal vanity ahead of the fate of a planet?
    “I hadn’t even realized I was over Commonwealth territory. I don’t come this way much.” This was close to Hiport—normally he would stop in there whenever he happened to be going by.
    Again she sighed. “No.”
    Silence…Angrily, he found his gaze was sliding easily over starlit silver pathways, following familiar lines and curves, dipping into interesting places that he had once known better than anyone. Probably common knowledge now. Published maps…
    Suddenly a voice broke into song down where the band had been playing. In a moment a chorus of male voices broke in.
    Vaun was on his feet before he knew it.
    Maeve made a vexed sound. “Wait! Don’t leave yet. I’ll have them stop it.”
    “Time to go,” he said. “The longer I stay, the more we’ll claw. Nice place. I like it. You’ve done well—Minister.”
    Traitors always did well in politics; it was their natural element.
    “Thank you, Vaun.”
    Nice place, but if the Q ship was a missile, then she had only eleven weeks left to enjoy it.
    She rose also, and for a moment he thought she was going to try and kiss him. Fortunately, discretion prevailed, but her laugh sounded brittle.
    “I don’t suppose I’d recognize Valhal now, would I? Lots of changes?”
    She wasn’t going to get the chance. Think spying. Think betrayal . “No, you wouldn’t. Good-bye, Maeve.”
    The damnable singing was getting louder, twisting his nerves like hot wires. He’d turned and taken two steps when she spoke.
    “Vaun?”
    He stopped, and waited.
    “What are you looking for?”
    He swung around. “What the hell does that mean—what am I looking for?”
    She recoiled slightly at his anger, then took a step forward. “Just…curious. You always seem to be hunting something. I just wondered what.”
    “Girls! Girls, girls, and more girls. Blondes, brunettes—”
    “Oh, don’t talk crap! There’s more to life than screwing, and you know that. You know that better than anyone. No, you’re ruthless. Hunting, always hunting! I knew it even back when…when you owned me body and soul…”
    “Ha! Body, maybe, but it was Roker who—”
    “Even then! You’ve got