One glance told him what had happened: she had disconnected her own hose so that he alone was connected to her suit’s bottle. Her thin lips were already touched with the cyanotic blue of suffocation.
In desperation, ignoring the signs that his own supply had finally run out, he twisted her helmet off to allow the now-filled lock’s air to reach her and smashed her chest in a desperate attempt to restart her breathing.
He passed out just as the medics arrived.
Surra watched Taylor walk toward her across the Marsport concourse. How would it feel to be that young again; to have your whole life ahead of you, free and unencumbered by family and a stupid jinx? She’d probably never know.
Taylor flopped down beside her in that loose-jointed way of his, stuck his hands in the side pockets of his suit and slouched. “Been a real bitch, tracking you down,” he said.
“Listen, Taylor,” she said. “I’m real sorry my jinx ruined your race. I guess I should have warned you about it before we started; that would have been more honest.”
“Honest?” he shot back. “What the devil is more honest than sacrificing yourself for me? It was my stupidity that sent us off the starting line half a second too early, not yours! That stupid jinx had nothing to do with it!”
“Just the same,” she answered, “I’m sorry about what happened, but, you’ll get over it. You’re young. Huh, at least you’ll be able to tell your grandfather that you broke the freaking record, even if we didn’t win the purse.”
“That doesn’t matter; I don’t need the money anyway! What I really want to know is why you pulled such a stupid stunt.”
“Short odds, kid. I’d only be out a few minutes at most if you made it. If you didn’t the rescue team was right there. Either way I’d come out a winner.” She hesitated, “And so would you,” she added softly.
“Damned asinine idea,” Taylor repeated, but his smile took the sting out of his words.
Surra put her hand on his arm. “Listen, my shuttle is leaving real soon so say good-bye. Been nice knowing you, kid.”
“Why did you sign a contract for wild-cat prospecting down in Maternis? Why didn’t you ask me for a stake—you know I would have gotten it for you.”
She held up three fingers. “First, Sid is an old friend; it’s a good contract, so I won’t get hurt. Second,” she put down one finger, “I don’t take charity, even from guys I like.” Before he could react to that she touched the remaining finger. “Finally, I need to get the hell away from here, from the jinx reputation, from a lot of history that I’d rather you didn’t know about, and a family that I’m not particularly proud to have.”
“I know, I saw that you signed my bank draft over to your sister. That was your money, not hers.”
“Told her that was the last time, and you know what? I feel free for the first time in years. Maybe getting a new start in Maternis will be for the best, much as I hate leaving all this behind.” She waved her arm and laughed.
Taylor didn’t blink. “There’s some real work to be done on Io, you know.
Gramps wants me to stake out some claims for him. Thinks it has great potential. I need a good prospector, somebody who has the guts and brains to explore some really risky landscape.”
“Good luck,” Surra replied. “Io’s far enough away. I think it’s probably out of the range of my jinx.”
“I doubt that,” Taylor responded with another of his boyish smiles.
“Yeah, you’re probably right,” Surra said. “My bad luck will probably stick with you the rest of your life, like the crap that sticks to the bottom of your shoe. Sorry,” she added quietly.
The wall screen lit up with the number of her flight. She stood up and reached for her pack. It was a pitifully small package. Taylor put his foot on top of it. “I really need to go,” she protested.
“No,” he replied. “I need you on Io, with me, to make this prospecting venture work. Wouldn’t be right to let you run away to the bottom of some deep Martian canyon because of some ridiculous reputation.”
“So instead you want me to come out to Io, in the middle of all that radiation, the volcanoes, the ice, and especially the poisonous atmosphere?” she asked incredulously. “Yeah, right. Sounds like a great alternative. Now move your damn foot; I’ve got a contract to fulfill.”
Taylor smiled, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a folded sheet. “Here’s your contract. Paid Sid a good price for it, too. Man’s a natural-born pirate. Matter of fact, I think I’ll tell my grandfather to contact him. They’d get along great. Two of a kind.”
“Why did you do that?” Surra asked as she sank into her seat. “I know you don’t have any interest in Martian mining.”
“No, but I do have an interest in you, Surra. Hell, you just helped me defeat the biggest, baddest mountain in the Solar System! You’ve shown me what a damned adolescent I was being about my family. You made me understand myself, so how the devil can I let you go? Please, come with me. I don’t want to come back here some day and find your cairn in the desert.” He held out his hand. “I need you to remind me of what I was, and what I can be.”
Surra hesitated. “Why do you have to be so damned young, so idealistic? Don’t you know that people don’t change? What the devil did you think you’re doing; screwing up my life like this? Don’t you know that I’m too freaking old for another damn mountain?”
“Come on, our ship’s waiting,” Taylor said, holding out two tickets. He picked up her pack and began to walk toward the orbital shuttle. “Nobody’s too old. There’s always another mountain, always another chance.”
“Yeah,” she replied as she fell into step beside him, following his lead, taking his hand in hers, “and I guess you just have to take them as they come.”