The Aftermath Read Free Page B

surrender him to me I will destroy you.”
    His image winked out, replaced by the telescope view of Ceres and the spacecraft hovering near the asteroid.
    Victor began to peck intently on the propulsion keyboard set into the curving panel before him, muttering, “We’ve got to get ourselves the hell out of here.”
    â€œHuh? Why?”
    â€œBefore the shooting starts.”
    â€œ Chrysalis is unarmed,” Theo said. “They don’t have any weapons. Everybody knows that.”
    â€œWe don’t have any weapons either,” said his father.
    â€œBut they wouldn’t shoot at an unarmed ship. That doesn’t make sense.”
    â€œYou hope.” Victor’s fingers were flicking across the controls.
    Turning a massively laden ore ship is neither a simple nor a quick maneuver. It takes time and lots of space. Theo glanced at the control screens and saw that Syracuse was slowly, painfully slowly, coming about.
    Something flashed on the main screen.
    â€œHe’s fired on her!” Victor shouted.
    Theo saw a red-hot slash cut through the thin metal hull of one of Chrysalis ’s modules. A glittering cloud puffed out and immediately dissipated. Air, Theo realized. The module seemed to explode, shards of metal spinning out dizzily. And other shapes came tumbling, flailing into the airless emptiness of space. Bodies, Theo saw, his heart suddenly thundering, his guts clenching. Those are people! He’s killing them!
    â€œStop!” screamed a voice from the habitat’s comm center. “Stop or you’ll kill—”
    The voice cut off. Theo watched with bulging eyes as invisible laser beams from the attack ship methodically sliced one module of the habitat after another, slashing, destroying, killing. A cloud of spinning debris and twisted bodies spread outward like ripples of death.
    â€œYou’ve got to do something!” Theo shouted.
    â€œI am,” his father replied. “I’m getting us the hell away from here.”
    â€œSomething to help them!”
    â€œWhat can we do? You want to join them?”
    As Syracuse slowly, ponderously turned away from its approach to Ceres, its telescopic cameras maintained their focus on the slaughter of the Chrysalis habitat. Module after module exploded soundlessly, corpses and wreckage flung into space.
    Tears in his eyes, Theo leaned over his father’s broad shoulder and shouted into his face, “You can’t just leave them there!”
    His eyes fastened on the carnage displayed on the main screen, Victor told his son, “The hell I can’t! I’ve got to protect you and your sister and mother.”
    â€œYou’re running away!”
    Victor nodded bleakly. “Just as fast as I can get this ore bucket to fly.”
    Theo glanced up at the main screen once more, then down again to his father’s grimly determined face. He saw beads of perspiration on his father’s brow; his knuckles were white as he gripped the chair’s armrests.
    â€œBut there must be something we can do!”
    The bearded man’s image appeared again on the main screen, sharp and steady. “Ore ship Syracuse, ” he said, “just where do you think you’re going?”
    Theo’s blood froze in his veins.

BATTLE FRENZY
    â€œAre you harboring the fugitive Lars Fuchs?” asked the stranger, his voice dagger-cold.
    Victor replied evenly, “We’re inbound from the deeper Belt, carrying fourteen thousand tons of ore.” Then he added, “No passengers.”
    â€œHow do I know that’s the truth?”
    â€œYou’re welcome to come aboard and see for yourself.”
    The dark stranger lapsed into silence, apparently deep in thought. Theo thought his eyes looked strange, their pupils dilated wider than he had ever seen before.
    â€œDamn!” Victor growled. “The intercom’s down again.”
    â€œWe just fixed it yesterday,” Theo