Part 36 (1/2)

”It's not a story.” He peered at Flint. ”The story, as you call it, has lots of personal twists and turns, which I'm not going to tell you. Let's just say that our new mummies and daddies weren't always vetted well.”

Flint wasn't in the mood for a sob story, but he didn't know how to easily shut Norton down. ”Then this lovely woman walks into our lives. Not all of our lives, but enough of them. She tells us how much money we can get from the Martian government, how the laws had changed, and how the Multicultural Tribunals favor people like us, people who've suffered for no apparent reason. All she needed was a little money to get the case prepped.”

Flint stared at him. Norton let his arms drop.

”You know how this ends, right? How she took our money?”

”I don't know what it has to do with me,” Flint said.

”Yes, you do.” Norton started to cross his arms and then stopped.

The movement put Flint on alert. Norton was going to try to something. This close to the c.o.c.kpit, he was probably going to try to take over the s.h.i.+p.

”You said you know who she is,” Norton said, ”and if you know that, you know why she was there. Do you know why she had no flesh on her bones?”

A s.h.i.+ver ran down Flint's back. Norton knew how Jrgen died.

Flint leaned his chair until the back hit the console. He hoped the move seemed natural. ”No, I don't know why.”

Norton smiled ever so slowly. That smile had probably been the last thing Jrgen had seen before she died. ”She took everything from us, coming back over and over again with new pet.i.tions, seemingly real refiles of the case, court doc.u.ments that seemed to pertain to us. And we paid each time, her fees, just to keep her going.”

Flint's left arm wasn't in Norton's view. Flint slowly reached back under the console.

”She skinned us clean. I thought it only fair to do the same to her.” Norton spoke calmly, as if everyone killed and then desecrated the corpse.

”Why are you telling me this?” Flint made himself sound nervous. Norton wanted him to be afraid, so Flint pretended to be afraid.

”So that when I ask you to turn this s.h.i.+p around, you'll do it.”

”And then what?” Flint said. ”You know what you just told me, right?”

Norton shrugged. ”No one's going to pay attention. No one cares. It was thirty years ago, she was a crook, and I can confess all I want. There's no evidence. I cut it all off.”

Flint's fingers found his laser pistol. ”A confession counts.”

”And now you'll tell me that the c.o.c.kpit's system recorded it, and that the courts can use it against me.” Norton smiled. ”So? They have to arrest me first.”

He took a step toward Flint. Flint raised the laser pistol. ”Stay back.”

Norton stopped. He raised his hands.

Flint stood slowly. He felt the top of the console, pressed the intercom b.u.t.ton. ”Would you all come in here, please? I need help with Mr. Norton.”

”They can't do anything,” Norton said. ”Especially since I'll have control of this s.h.i.+p by the time they get here.”

”You know what I wonder?” Flint said. ”How did they find you, of all people? I would have thought you would have been the hardest survivor to find.”

Norton's smile was small and chilling-one of the most chilling smiles Flint had ever seen. ”It's hard to get my revenge from the Outlying Colonies.”

Flint felt a s.h.i.+ver as he understood the implications of that. ”You've killed others, haven't you?”

”Let's just say your gun doesn't frighten me. I've been in this situation before.”

Flint hit the silent emergency controls on the c.o.c.kpit console. Now no one could fly the Emmeline Emmeline but him. ”You planned this crisis with the Disty?” but him. ”You planned this crisis with the Disty?”

Norton's smile grew wider. ”I wish I'd been that smart. This entire thing has simply been a bonus. When I'm done, the Disty will destroy Sahara Dome. And that'll be a marvelous thing.”

Then Norton lifted his right fist and opened it slowly. On his palm, a white disc rested.

”Do you know what this is?” he asked.

Flint shook his head.

”It's my guarantee that no one saves Sahara Dome. It's a concussion bomb.”

Flint started. His system had searched Norton when he had come aboard and found nothing. Flint would have a.s.sumed that the police had searched him as well when they picked him up.

”Only at this range,” Norton was saying, ”you and I won't survive it.”

Flint frowned. He could have his system scan again, but if this little device avoided detection the first time, he had a hunch it wouldn't register on the scans a second time either.

”This lovely yacht of yours won't survive it,” Norton's smile faded. ”Unless, of course, you hand me the gun.”

”Why would I do that?” Flint asked.

”So that we can turn around, you and your six little friends can live, and this all ends without any bloodshed.”

”Except for people on Mars.” Flint said.

Norton nodded. ”Except for them.”

Flint's heart was beating hard.

Norton's thumb hovered over the disc. ”Shoot me, and I will press down on this little device here. So. Wouldn't you rather live?”

”Yes.” Flint stepped away from the console and lowered his laser pistol ever so slightly. ”I'd much rather live.”

58.

Iona Gennefort crouched on the curb, near the pile of bodies. She felt numb, overwhelmed, and completely responsible. So many dead, just because she had allowed the trains to pa.s.s through Wells. She had had no idea that would happen; if she had, she would have stopped the trains outside the Dome, just like the other cities had.

But unlike them, she had had no examples and no guidance. The Disty hadn't talked with her, and no one else seemed to know the intricacies of the Disty fear of death-if, indeed, fear was what it could be called.

Now she was in Wells's Disty section with her a.s.sistant, two police officers, and the medical examiner. The claustrophobic streets, with their narrow walkways and the low rooftops from the various buildings, seemed wider without the Disty.