"In a ship. A starship, I believe. It is so advanced we are hard pressed to a.n.a.lyze it. Captain is their leader, you see? That"s why we call him Captain. Of course, I don"t know if he"s really their captain in our sense of the word. But that"s what he is to us."

"And ... if this is real at all ... well, how many of them are there?"

"Less than ten, I believe. They are smart. They are fast. We tried to resist them in the beginning, and it became clear that we were outcla.s.sed. We"ve tried to alert the outside world, get some help-" Alec shrugged. His face looked tired, the skin grayer, the eyes more sunken, than Chris remembered.

"I"m having a hard time believing you," Chris said. "I mean, I heard what you said, but I find myself wondering if this is some sort of test."

"It"s no test, believe me. That metal body houses the brain of an alien creature. I suspect they"ve had cybernetic bodies for so long that the sight of regular flesh and blood, even alien flesh, disgusts them. At least that"s the best guess I"ve been able to piece together as to why they require us to wear these plastic suits around."

Oh my G.o.d. They made the rules. How could I have been so wrong? "Captain spins like some kind of ... living thing," Chris said. "Except unbelievably fast."

Alec nodded solemnly. "I suspect that their ancestral bodies, or perhaps the bodies of some agile predator on their home planet, moved like that. For whatever reasons the aesthetics of that movement pleases them, because they can switch bodies in real life like you and I switch clothing and mental contexts."

"They switch bodies?"

"They did it once or twice. There were some repairs that had to be made outside the station, and it made them suspicious. When they go out into vacuum, they use different bodies. They don"t do it often. I think they truly prefer the spinning form."

"Perhaps that home planet you envision was a low gravity planet, or maybe one with a thicker atmosphere that supported the body so they only need thin legs, with only one directly beneath the body at a time." Chris found himself believing Captain was an alien. It fit so well with so many little things he"d observed in the behavior of VG, Captain, and now Alec himself.

"I think low gravity may be a good guess," Alec said. "Because a thick atmosphere would seem to inhibit speed and agility. Although I could be wrong. The speed could be a natural improvement from the robotic bodies. But clearly their brains can keep up with the speed."

"So now I"m here permanently because I know the truth? But I only know because you told me."

"I wouldn"t have told you anything, but Captain has already read your actions and marked you as a possible threat if you return home. He sees your actions against him and suspects that you know the truth. He also said that he detected some sort of malfunction in your gear, and claims you caused it."

"I see," Chris said. "But I don"t know anything about any malfunction."

"It doesn"t matter, he believes it. So that"s a lot of information to absorb, I expect," Alec said. "So go back to your quarters and chew it over. We"ll have more time to talk later, between challenges. But don"t spread the word about this. You see, you"d just be forcing more people into permanent a.s.signment here. a.s.suming that Captain even tolerates it and doesn"t just kill you outright."

Chris clamped his jaw tight and swallowed back a panic attack.

"He"s done that?"

Alec shrugged. "In the beginning ... some of us didn"t accept things very well. Including myself. But Captain thinks of me as valuable, so he spared my life ... brought me into line by putting some of my friends into the airlock and ...." His sorrowful voice trailed off.

"I suppose that Cinmei is gone, now that she"s done her job and reported my activities to you?"

Alec attempted a small smile but failed. "Ha. Good guess, but wrong. Cinmei is nothing more than a servant, a concubine. No, it was Captain who figured you out by a.n.a.lyzing the tactics of the humans in challenge three, and verified by your movements throughout the station. He"s very smart, unfortunately for us. Very smart ...." Again, Alec"s voice trailed off.

"Okay," Chris said. Alec stood, presumably to end their meeting, so Chris stood as well. Alec"s eyes narrowed and his mouth turned down in a pained look.

"I believe that Captain will have a word with you and then you are to leave," he said.

"Okay," Chris said. He looked around, but he didn"t see Captain. Alec turned and walked away quickly. Chris slipped his helmet back on. If Captain was going to see him personally....

Chris got a message pointer through his link. He saw that it was Captain. He accepted the connection and received a synthetic voice transmission.

Let there be no doubt in your mind. Obedience is required.

Then Chris screamed as a blinding jolt of pain ripped through his psyche. He lost track of time as agony engulfed his universe.

At some point, his normal life returned, perhaps mere seconds later, perhaps longer. He found himself on his knees.

He felt a warm wetness in his gear. He realized he had p.i.s.sed himself. His face turned red under his mask. Part of him thought how ridiculous the emotional response of embarra.s.sment was in relation to what he had learned and what had happened to him. Nevertheless, he felt humiliation on top of his shaking pain, numbing fear, and growing dismay.

Tell no one. Follow the edicts. Only by doing this will survival be possible.

Chris recovered by lying in his quarters and staring up at the mirrored ceiling. His previous sense of being on the verge of great progress had been crushed. Now he felt only dismay and hopelessness. Even thoughts of suicide had cropped up, but he"d dismissed them, albeit with a stunned sort of robotic sensibility.

He heard soft footsteps approach then stop. He knew it must be Cinmei.

"You have trouble?" she asked.

She seems nice enough. Besides, I might be able to use her help.

He thought about the warning and his orders not to tell anyone. But he couldn"t give up that easily. Captain was a G.o.dd.a.m.n alien. And Cinmei was already stuck here as a slave.

"Huge trouble. Leviathan trouble," he said. He doubted she knew the word "leviathan." He found her reflection on the ceiling and gazed down on her. She kept her head down so he couldn"t see her face.

"Big trouble?" she asked.

"I"m a prisoner here like you," he said, trying to accentuate what they had in common. "I found out a big secret about this place. That missile I found is an alien ship. Captain is an alien cyborg. We have to get out of this place, and warn Earth. But I"m powerless to do that. I need time to think it over."

Cinmei looked up at him, then to the ceiling, meeting his gaze in the mirrors above.

Cinmei slowly opened her garment and let it fall to the floor. Chris resisted the urge to look directly at her body. He continued to stare at her reflection through the ceiling mirror.

Her hands reached out to unzip his pants. Chris felt a doubt but his desire swept it aside. She worked slowly, unfastening the plain company issue garment and then slowly working it down his legs. Finally, she pulled the pants off him and dropped them beside the bed.

She slid one knee onto the bed, then smoothly threw her other leg over him to take a position astride him. She kissed his neck and chest while he caressed her. She began making small sounds while they lay under his scrutiny through the mirror. He could feel himself touching her thighs, pulsing and ready.

Cinmei shifted herself to accept him. He gasped. She responded as well, breathing heavily above him. She grabbed his strong arms at the wrists and pulled them above his head with her own darker, more slender hands. She moved for both of them energetically, allowing him to continue his pa.s.sive observation.

Her moans increased their volume. She rode him fiercely, using sharp thrusts of her hips. He finally felt frustration building, but when he tried to move his arms to take a more active role, she fiercely held his wrists in place.

Chris felt that he could break away, but this wasn"t a position he disliked in any way. He realized he couldn"t postpone his own response much longer. As Cinmei peaked on him, he joined her with cries of his own and finished almost simultaneously. Her slender, hot body collapsed onto him at last as if she had burst her own heart with her urgency.

He gasped and shook for a moment. His wits slowly returned.

Cinmei slid off him onto her side. Her dark brown skin held a sheen of sweat. After Chris caught his breath, she spoke again.

"Better now?"

Chris finally looked away from the mirror and regarded her directly. She smiled at him almost playfully.

"Yes ... much better. I guess if we"re stuck here, at least we have pleasant company."

"So, you know too much? They not let you go."

She made me forget for a short while, now she reminds me?

"Right. I"m surprised that they haven"t put more security on everything. Unless maybe Alec wants someone to leak it."

Cinmei picked up the helmet of his gear from a plush white chair by the bed and sat down across from him.

"Was more security precaution," she said. "Helmet can control you. Can make you forget things you see."

Chris stared at the helmet in horror. "It"s done something to my brain?"

"No. I disable it. Otherwise, you not find anything out. Then I not find anything out, either."

"You? You knew about it?" Chris stared at the helmet. "Wait a minute! Captain has trapped me here because of that! He discovered it. He said I caused a malfunction."

"I did not know. Very sorry," she said rapidly. "I here to find out things. To report back. We work together. Have others like me. I arrange our escape."

Chris struggled to a.s.suage his anger with her offer of escape. "That"s ... I guess that"s a good thing! I need to figure out how to get away and warn VG about this. h.e.l.l, warn the whole world!"

"One thing ..."

"Yes?"

"We escape to China."

"Oh."

Nine.

Aldriena and Martin debriefed in an engineer"s pod on board the hydrogen barge. They sat on the floor of the boxlike interior, crammed amid ceiling-high stacks of replacement parts and food crates. The gentle spin of the giant barge gave them a fraction of their normal Earth weight, but it was enough to orient them in the pod. After she recounted the details he didn"t already know, the conversation turned personal.

"Have you been Black Core for long?" she asked.

"Five years."

"You go to Xanadu often?"

He laughed.

"What?"

"It sounds like that pick up line ... come here often?"

"If I decide to pick you up, trust me you"ll know."

"You"re a very confident woman."

"How could I do this job and not be confident?"

Martin nodded. "Yes. You"re right."

"So do you do this a lot or what?" she asked.

He laughed again. "Yeah. I do."

"So are you like the artist who paints the nude and always sleeps with the model afterward?"

"That depends on the girl."

"Oh, you poor thing. You have to rely on their whims?"

"No. I meant that I only sleep with her if she"s exceptional," he said.

"Oh! Now who"s the confident one?"

"How could I do this job and not be confident?"

"Good point," she said.

"I wouldn"t head back to Silvado just yet," Martin told her. "I"ve heard stories of people disappearing on these things out in deep s.p.a.ce. Sometimes they"re never heard from again."

"Well, sure. I"ve heard all those kinds of stories," Aldriena smiled. For once, Aldriena wasn"t flirting as part of a manipulation. Martin treated her with respect, and he understood the value of her skills. Besides, he was Black Core, too, which meant he was more than capable. For once, she could talk to someone without having to lie.

As she stared at Martin, she admitted to herself that she liked him for more reasons than that. His jet-black hair and broad shoulders had their effect as well.

"We"ve got a lot of time to kill," Aldriena said. "You have a bunkmate?"

"No," he said.

Aldriena didn"t actually have much experience with men, but she covered her uncertainty with aggression. She leaned forward from her cross-legged sitting position onto all fours, moved forward, and kissed him.

"You don"t believe in wasting any time, do you?" he said.

"People like us don"t have time to waste."

She kissed him again, pressing ever forward until she pinned him against a giant supply container. He responded to her eagerly, running his hands through her hair. They clutched each other in the low acceleration, moving slowly as if in a dream.

She unzipped his vac suit all the way to his groin. Her hands slid over his flesh underneath, then her mouth followed.

At first, Martin remained a gentle lover, although as they rolled about in the tiny cabin, he slowly stepped up his own urgency to match hers. Aldriena directed the course of their lovemaking as if to remind herself that she had chosen this encounter rather than having fallen victim to the whims of a male. She reluctantly gave up the reins as he neared his climax, yielding at last to this man and his instincts. She admitted to herself that it did feel good, at least physically.

Afterward, Aldriena quickly slipped back into her Veer skinsuit.