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"Depressed—" Shensu's look of astonishment was, Benden felt, genuine. There was no regret, however, on his face or his brothers'.
"I'm not sure I blame you, Shensu, but it constitutes murder. You had opportunities enough while we were searching the ship."
"We were searching the ship, too," Shensu said with dignity. "We were as busy as you, trying to save our lives."
"Perhaps," Jiro said softly, "he committed suicide rather than face the failure of that brainstorm of his."
"That is a possibility," Ni Morgana said composedly, but Benden knew she believed that no more than he did.
"This will be investigated more fully when we have time," Ross Benden promised them fervently, pi
Returning to the airlock, he found Nev busy with a chisel: the ensign let out a hoot of triumph as he peeled off a paper-thin sheet of platinum.
"I'm sure Captain Fargoe wouldn't mind having a platinum-plated gig . . ." His voice trailed off when he caught sight of Benden's expression. He gulped. "There'd be another twenty kilos right in here." And he applied himself to the task of removing it.
Benden signaled for two of the marines to assist Nev while he and the others piled the accumulated sheets, pipings, strips, and lozenges into the lock.
"Amazing!" Ni Morgana said, shaking her head wearily. "That ought to make up the rest of the four-hundred-ninety-five-point-five-six kilos."
She stepped out of the lock and gestured to Benden, who was at the controls. With a feeling of intense relief, he pressed the evac button and saw the metal slide slowly out into space, a glittering cascade left behind the Erica. It was still visible as the outer door cycled shut.
"I've half a mind to add their personal allowances," Benden began, feeling more vicious and vengeful than he would have thought possible, "which would give us another hundred kilos' leeway."
"More than that," said the literal-minded Nev, and then gawped at the lieutenant. "Oh, you mean just the women's stuff."
"No," Ni Morgana said on a gusty sigh. "They've suffered enough from Kimmer. I don't see the point in further retribution."
"If it hadn't been for the extra fuel, we wouldn't have lifted off the planet," Nev suddenly remarked.
"If it hadn't been for the extra fuel, I don't think we'd've had this trouble with Kimmer," Ni Morgana said sardonically.
"He'd've tried something else," Benden said. "He'd pla
"That's possible," Ni Morgana said thoughtfully. "He was a crafty old bugger. All along he counted on our rescuing him. And he'd know we'd have to check body weight."
"D'you suppose he also fooled us," Nev asked anxiously, "about there being more survivors somewhere?"
That thought had been like a pain in Benden's guts since Kimmer's duplicity had come to light. And yet… There had been no sign of other survivors on the southern continent. Nor had their instruments given them any positive readings as they spiraled across the snowy northern land-mass. Then there was Shensu's story, and that man had no reason to lie. Benden shook his head wearily and once again regarded the ship's digital. The search had taken a lot longer than he'd realized.
"Look alive," he said, rising to his feet with as good an appearance of energy as he could muster. "Nev, try to raise the Amherst again." He knew beforehand that the Amherst was unlikely to be receiving. He also knew that he had to alter the course now, before they went too far along the aborted trajectory. He didn't have any option. He made his calculations for the appropriate roll to get the Erica on the new flight path. He'd worry about contacting the Amherst later. A three-second burn at one g would do it. That wouldn't take up much fuel. And he breathed a silent prayer of thanksgiving. "Nev, Greene, Vartry, check our passengers. We've got to burn to our new heading in two minutes forty-five seconds."
He felt better after the burn. The gig was handling easily again. Like the thoroughbred she was, she had eased onto her new heading. And he had done something positive about their perilous situation.
"Now, let's be sure we get every last strip Kimmer added to the Erica," he said, unbuckling his seat restraints. He'd also go through the gig with an eye to what else could be jettisoned, he decided. But they had a long trip ahead of them and precious few comforts for those on board.
"I'll check the women first," Ni Morgana said, pushing herself off deftly from the back of her couch and grabbing the handhold to propel herself down the companionway. "And see about some grub. Breakfast was a long time ago."
Benden realized how right she was, but under stress, he never noticed hunger pangs. He did now.
"Chow's the best idea yet," he said, and managed a reasonably cheerful grin for her.
When she checked the women, she found them still shaken by the emotional prelude, and though they helped her in the galley, they were apathetic. Chio wept silently, ignoring the food Faith tried to get her to eat. She seemed wrapped in so deep a depression that Saraidh reported her condition to Benden.
"She won't last the journey in this condition, Ross," Saraidh said. "She's deeply disturbed, and I don't think it's losing Kimmer."
"Isn't it just that she was so dependent on him? You heard what Shensu said."
"Well, if it is, we ought to sort it out. We can't avoid discussing Kimmer's demise."
"I know, and I don't intend to. His demise"—he drawled out the euphemism—"was accidental. I would have preferred to have him alive and standing trial for his attempt to disable the Erica," he replied grimly. "What I want to know is how he got those women to sabotage us. They must have known from our conversations that their extra mass would seriously burden the ship."
Shensu had floated down the corridor during the last sentence, and he gave them a terse nod.
"You must explain to my sisters that the gemstones alone will provide suitably for them," he said. "That the stones will not be confiscated by the Fleet to pay for this rescue."
"What?" Ni Morgana exclaimed. "Where did they get that notion?" She held up her hand. "Never mind. I know. Kimmer. What maggots had he got in his brain?"
"The maggot of greed," Shensu said. "Come, reassure my sisters. They are so fearful. They only cooperated with him on the metal because he said that would be the only wealth left to them."
"And how did Kimmer plan to remove all that platinum from the Erica?" Benden demanded, knowing that his voice was rising in frustration but unable to stifle it. "The man was deranged."
"Quite likely," Shensu said with a shrug. "For decades he has clung to the hope that his message would be answered. Or else all he had accumulated, the gems, the metals, meant nothing."
They had reached the marines' quarters and heard Chio's soft weeping.
"Get the kids out of here, Nev," Benden told the ensign in a low voice, "and amuse them. Shensu, ask your sisters to join us here and, by whatever you hold sacred, tell them we mean them no harm."
It took hours to reassure the four women. Benden stuck to his matter-of-fact, commonsense approach.
"Please believe me," he said with genuine concern at Chio's almost total collapse, "that the Fleet has special regulations about castaways or stranded persons. Stranded you were. It would be totally different if the Colonial Authority or Federated Headquarters had organized an official search—then there would have been staggering retrieval costs. But the Amherst only happened to be in the area and the system was orange-flagged. . ."