Saturn

For the first time, Holly felt truly afraid.

NANOTECH LABORATORY

“We’ll go on the day after we establish orbit around Saturn,” Gaeta said.

Sitting at her desk in her office cubicle, Kris Cardenas looked far from pleased. “Why so soon? Why not wait and get more data first?”

Gaeta smiled at her. “This isn’t science, Kris, it’s show biz. We go right away, we get a lot more attention, much bigger audience. We wait until the chingado scientists have all the data they want, we’ll be old and gray and nobody’ll give a damn anymore.”

Her cornflower-blue eyes snapped. “I’m one of those chingado scientists, Ma

Pursing his lips, Gaeta answered, “You’d be a chingada, feminine. But you’re not. It’s not a nice word and you’re a nice person.”

Cardenas was not amused. “Isn’t it dangerous enough without plunging in there as soon as we arrive at Saturn?”

“Kris, I love you, but I don’t think you’re ever go

“Until you kill yourself.”

“I’m not go

Despite herself, Cardenas laughed.

Raoul Tavalera popped his head over the edge of the cubicle’s partition. “I’m goin’ home now. Okay?”

“That’s fine, Raoul,” said Cardenas.

An uncertain expression clouded Tavalera’s long face. “You heard from Holly this afternoon?”

“No.”

“She said she’d call me. We were goin’ to go out for di

Before Cardenas could reply, Gaeta said, “I thought we’d go out to Nemo’s tonight, Kris.”

“All right by me.” Turning back to Tavalera, “I haven’t heard a thing from Holly, Raoul.”

“Fu

“It is a little strange,” Cardenas agreed.

“Whatever,” Tavalera said. “I’m goin’. The main processor is still working on the assemblers for Dr. Urbain.”

She nodded. “I know. Switch on the UVs before you leave, okay?”

“Yeah.”

“Well, where is she?” Eberly demanded.

Kananga was sitting up on Vyborg’s sofa now. He had put the cold towel away, but his left cheek was slightly puffy. “I have my whole staff searching for her. We’ll find her within an hour or two.”

Eberly paced past Vyborg, who was sitting in the armchair on the other side of the coffee table. “She’s got to be found. And silenced.”

“She will be,” Kananga said.

“She can’t go far,” Vyborg offered. “This habitat is big, but it’s not that big.”

Eberly frowned at him. His mind was racing. They’ve dragged me into this. Now I’m a party to their crime, whether I want to be or not. Two blundering oafs; they couldn’t even take care of one woman, a girl, a child really. He glared at Kananga as he paced across the room. Or maybe they’re smarter than I think. Maybe they pla

Abruptly he stopped and jabbed a finger at Kananga. “As soon as she’s found I want her brought to me. Do you understand that? No more violence. I’ll take care of her.”

Kananga’s brows knit. “What do you have in mind?”

“That’s my business. I’ll handle it.”

“She can accuse me of murder,” Kananga said.

“And assault, perhaps attempted murder,” said Vyborg. “Certainly attempted rape.”

“You,” Eberly pointed at Vyborg, “get every phone in the habitat checked out. I want to know where she is when she calls, who she’s calling, and what she’s telling them.”

Vyborg nodded and got up from his chair.

Eberly headed for the door.

“Where are you going?” asked Kananga.

“To see Wilmot. If we’re going to hunt down this woman we must prevent him from getting in our way.”

Holly ducked through the hatch and clambered down a steel ladder to the utilities tu

With a puzzled shake of her head she felt thankful that the habitat’s tu

The tu

I could call Kris, she thought. Or Ma

But she hesitated in front of the phone. Kananga’s in charge of security. He’s got the whole warping security force under his command. And Malcolm’s in with him. They could say whatever they want about me, say I’m under arrest or something. Jeeps! They could even say that I murdered Don Diego!

And if I call Kris or anybody else I’d be getting them into trouble. Holly felt panic surging in her gut. What should I do? What can I do?

She sagged against the tu

Or starve to death. She looked up and down the tu

Food. I was supposed to go to di

She pushed herself up to her feet. Sorry Raoul, she apologized silently. Then she gri

She started off in that direction.

SATURN ARRIVAL MINUS 18 DAYS, SIX HOURS

“What’s so important that you have to interrupt my di

Eberly smiled at the older man. He had spent the past two hours watching Morgenthau’s recordings of Wilmot’s evening activities. Morgenthau had been disgusted by the professor’s choice of entertainment, but Eberly had watched snatches of the vids, fascinated by their mixture of eroticism and savagery. Now he stood in Wilmot’s living room, facing the professor’s sternly disapproving frown.

“We have a serious situation on our hands, Professor,” said Eberly. “Well, what is it?”

“One of the Human Resources staff members has disappeared. I have reason to believe she’s suffered a mental breakdown.”

“What?” Wilmot looked startled. “Who is this person?”

“Holly Lane. You’ve met her.”

“Have I?”

Eberly was keenly aware that Wilmot had still not offered him a chair. The two men were still standing, facing each other, barely a meter inside Wilmot’s front door. Inwardly, Eberly was amused. He knew he was keeping the professor from his evening’s entertainment.

“I suppose I’m partially to blame,” Eberly said, trying to sound contrite. “I’ve been protecting her all these months. But she’s finally snapped.”

Wilmot looked puzzled, and more than a little a