“Zdravstvuyte, tovarishch—” Blok said as the Russian reached the ground, but his arm was pushed away.The figure straightened and stood on its own; glancing first at the crowd near the airlock, then once again at Blok.
“Hello, Blok,” said a woman’s voice, her English flavored with a sort of dry, European rasp.
“Colonel Mayakenska?” Blok seemed awed, even a little frightened. Molly recognized the name; Mayakenska had been one of the higher-ups in the Institute for Medium Machine Building, the Russian equivalent of nasa, but the Soviets had managed to keep her exact position obscured by disinformation.
“So you haven’t forgotten me.”
“Of course not, how could—”
She waved him silent.“I’m afraid it’s only Mademoiselle Mayakenska now.” She caught up with her fellow cosmonaut, and the two of them walked away from the ship with their heads up, their steps even and nearly in rhythm.
Molly knew the effort it cost them to put on such a show of strength, and it made her uncomfortable. She also didn’t like the fact that Mayakenska insisted on speaking English, an attitude that struck her as both condescending and overly theatrical.
Blok introduced her to Mayakenska, and Mayakenska in turn introduced Valentin, the other crewman. Neither of them offered to shake hands, and Molly contented herself with a formal nod to each of them, a gesture nearly imperceptible outside her rx suit.
“Are you in command, then?” Mayakenska asked, and the choice of words and the tone told her that this was as bad as it could be, that this was where the end truly began.
“My husband is,”she said.A cold lump lay in her stomach;she suddenly hated the inhuman taste of the compressed air she breathed. “If you’ll come inside—”
The airlock door opened behind her and she heard Curtis’s voice. “Okay, Molly, I’ve got it.” He stepped out and stood in front of the Russians, blocking, as if by accident, their way into the dome.“My name is Curtis,”he said.“I’m governor here.Welcome to Frontera Base.”
Kane came back to life. He shifted away from her, legs spread, and through the tinted visor of his helmet she could see his black eyes focus on Curtis.
Christ, she thought, I want away from here. She tried to visualize herself in a sleek ship, headed out toward Titan, Mars shrinking to a point-source in the screens, the stars closing in around her. It was a vision that had eased her before, but now she could no longer believe in it.Three heavy cables were looped over the fins of the ship, dragging it back, and on the ends of the cables were Curtis, Kane, and Mayakenska.
“We have a good deal to talk about,” Mayakenska said.The light was wrong for Molly to see into Curtis’s visor but she could imagine how sexy he would find the Russian’s voice, imagine the slow, predatory smile spreading across his face.
“I’m sure we do,” he said.“Blok will see to whatever you need for the moment—food, a change of clothes, whatever—and we’ll meet a little later at the Center. Blok will show you.”
And that, Molly thought, is what he does so welclass="underline" strut, posture, and maneuver. I would only have tried to be polite.
Curtis stood aside and let Blok and the two Russians go through the lock first.
“Kane,” Curtis said as the door hissed shut. Molly realized Curtis had switched over to the external speaker on his suit, cutting the Russians out of the circuit. She snapped her own switch to ext and saw Kane and the three others do the same.“I see you’re up and around.”
The other three, she suddenly realized, were all Curtis’s people.
“What happened to Dian?” Kane said.
“Dian?” Molly said.“Curtis, what’s he talking about?”
“I don’t have the foggiest notion,” Curtis said.
“You killed her,” Kane said.‘‘You pumped the air out of her house and let her hemorrhage her lungs all over the walls and floor. Because you were afraid she was going to talk to me about something.”
“Oh Jesus,” Molly said.The edges of her helmet seemed to be closing down into a tunnel, as if she were accelerating away at some phenom
enal speed.
“Why was that, Curtis? What is it you’re trying to hide?”
“You’re obviously upset,” Curtis said.“Let’s go inside and we’ll get you some help.”
“Curtis.” Molly’s voice sounded distant and faint to her own ears; she still seemed to be falling away from the dome, from Kane, from her husband, even though she could see that she’d hardly moved at all.“Is. Dian. Dead.”
“I doubt it, sweetheart. I don’t think Kane is in any condition to tell what’s real at the moment.”
“Hanai saw it,” Kane said.“She’s one of yours.Takahashi, too. For Christ’s sake, man, this isn’t New York.You can’t just throw the body in some alley and pretend it didn’t happen.”
“Inside,” Curtis said. Molly saw, numbly, that the airlock telltale had flashed green. Curtis was in first, followed by Kane.As soon as she was through the door Molly slapped the mushroom-shaped button to seal them in, isolating Curtis from his henchmen.The gesture was thoughtless, impulsive, but Curtis turned on her in a rage.
“You traitorous little bitch,” he said, or at least that seemed to be the gist of it. He was still patched through ext and his voice was lost in the roar of compressed air.
Kane pulled his helmet off.The lock was small, less than a meter and a half on a side, and one elbow thumped against the plating of Molly’s suit. He’s crazy, she thought. His eyes were ringed with purple so dark the skin appeared contused, and a wide, white band of sclera showed under his irises.
He shifted nervously from one foot to the other until the inner door opened, and then he shoved past Curtis and ducked through the hatchway. Molly took her own helmet off and followed him, with Curtis right behind her.
The Russians were still getting out of their gear; Blok was handing them oxygen masks and explaining how to use them. Molly began to strip off the clumsy rx suit, her back to the airlock.When she turned around, orange padded cape in hand, she saw Kane standing by the controls, the inner door locked open, the lower half of his body still armored in jointed beige plastic.
“Don’t push it, Kane,” Curtis said.“Shut the door and let the others in.” He hung his suit on the wall and belted on a pair of slacks. Blok, glancing nervously at Kane, hurried the Russians out into the dome.
“Not until I get some answers,” Kane said. Molly suddenly remembered the bundle Kane had hidden in one of the lockers.The thought grew into a bright spot of panic. Could Kane have murdered Dian? Was he going to start shooting now, punching holes through this fragile box of air? She took a small, sideways step toward the locker.
“What am I supposed to tell you?” Curtis said.“We’ve found the lost city of Mars, and we’ve got the Martians in an all-night poker game in a tool shed somewhere? That all those things that look like glaciers up there on Arsia Mons are really single crystal silicon ribbons? What do you want to hear?”
“Just the truth. Everybody’s been lying to me since I got involved in this fucking mission and I’m sick of it!” He threw his helmet aside and Molly saw him wince at the answering pain in his ribs.The helmet bounced off the wall of lockers with a booming crash and buried itself in the rack of suits.
“You stupid little punk,” Curtis said.
Kane moved on him.
Turn around, Molly told herself.Walk away.You don’t want to see this, don’t want to have to deal with any more of this macho bullshit. But she couldn’t make herself go.
Kane’s attack was oriental, his legs bent and center of gravity low, his body twisting and turning as he covered the distance between Curtis and himself in two long strides. Even to Molly’s inexperienced eyes he looked weak, off-balance, and she was surprised when he feinted a spin kick, turned in close, and caught Curtis with a fist under the heart.