There was a scream of breaking metal. The car spun completely around. Josh was not strapped in. He jerked forward, sideways, backward again. His head hit the side window, then the padded door column.
He did not pass out, not quite, but everything became slow and dreamy. Someone was groaning, and after a little while someone else was talking. That went on for an annoyingly long time. He could not understand the words, because a red tide was sweeping over him and lifting him on its flood. He decided he would have to swim. That was a real pain, because he didn’t like swimming, not even at the best of times. He started a dolphin kick and flailed with his arms.
“Josh! Josh!” The irritating voice was back, and suddenly he could understand it. “Stop fighting me. Do you hear? Relax!”
It was Winnie, dragging him toward his right. She had him by the arm, and it hurt. He wanted to protest, to tell her to leave him alone, but he couldn’t find the words. Something banged him hard on the head. He blinked the red tide away from his eyes.
He was halfway out of the aircar, and the blow on the head had come from the molding at the top of the car door. Instead of resisting, he allowed Winnie to pull him the rest of the way. He felt himself dragged across a hard, smooth floor, and then suddenly he was on a dense carpet of purple plants. He sagged to his hands and knees and stayed there.
“Damn, damn, damn, damn.” Winnie sounded furious, but not with Josh. “I’m an idiot, a total idiot. Can you stand up?”
Now she was talking to him. Stand up. Could he? He didn’t know. He lifted his head.
He was just outside the building. A gray-suited figure lay crumpled a few feet in front of him. The arms and legs were twisted into strange positions, and the man was not moving. Blood dripped from his nose and open mouth. Josh fought back nausea and looked farther. Sapphire, her singed hair in a wild tangle over her forehead, sat leaning against the building wall. Bright red burn marks on her forehead and cheeks stood out against the pallor of her face, and she cradled her left arm in her right. Beyond her was Brewster’s headless body. To his left lay a second contorted and broken doll figure.
Winnie stood by the aircar. It had smashed into the wall of the building, spun around, and finished halfway inside. The tail section had been sheared off and lay on the floor of the ruined communications center.
“Not a chance.” Winnie came to where Josh still rested on hands and knees. “It will never fly again. We’ll have to take their lander. Can you stand up?”
She had asked him that before. He still didn’t know the answer. He reached for her outstretched hand, made a great effort, and with her assistance lifted himself to his feet. He stood teetering, fighting for balance.
“Good,” Winnie said brusquely. “Can you walk?”
He wasn’t sure he could even remain standing if she let go. Josh did not speak, but began to weave his way toward Sapphire, one arm held out toward the building wall in case he needed it.
“Don’t touch her,” Winnie said. “You’re more likely to fall over Saph than help her. Go to the Unimine lander. I’ll bring her.”
“Don’t need to.” Sapphire spoke through clenched teeth. She was standing up, very slowly and carefully. “I can make it. But I think it’s broken.”
“It sure is.” Winnie hovered near in case Sapphire needed help. “I took a look when I was getting you out of the car. You have a fractured humerus. Luckily it’s a clean break, and not compound.”
“It hurts like hell. Worse than the burns.”
“You bet it does. Wait there for a minute, and we can do something about that. You’re a brave girl.”
Winnie disappeared into the kitchen, leaving Josh and Sapphire wavering on their feet and gazing at each other.
“They’re all dead,” Josh said.
“I know.” Sapphire nodded slowly, and winced as the movement ran down to her arm. “But we’re not. And Winnie isn’t.”
“They would have killed her, wouldn’t they? If we hadn’t run the aircar into them.”
“Her. And then us. I didn’t mean to kill them. But I couldn’t see anything after the windshield burned out.”
“It was their own fault.” Josh didn’t want to think about the question of just who had killed the two men. He felt confident enough of his balance to move away from the wall of the building, as he went on, “But how did they know? What told them it was a trap? Did we do something to tip them off?”
“Not that at all.” Winnie had reappeared. “I ought to be locked up for terminal stupidity. Hold still, Saph. This is a painkiller. You’ll stop hurting in a minute or two, but after that you’re going to feel dopey. I want us all in the lander before then.” She applied the spray to Saph’s neck, and went on, “You didn’t tip them off, nor did I. They didn’t know it was a trap. But I was a fool, and Sol Brewster an even bigger one. How are you doing?”
Her question was to Sapphire, who nodded and took a tentative step forward. “It’s not too bad now. Won’t I need a splint?”
“You will. First things first. I want to get into the lander and out of here. The splint can wait until we’re back at the camp with the others.”
“What do you mean, you were a fool?” Josh hurt, too, but he wasn’t about to admit it when Saph had a broken arm and didn’t complain.
“I’m right out of my depth on this case.” Winnie sounded angry and depressed at the same time. “The situations I’ve had to handle in the past were minor-league stuff, smuggling and embezzlement and sometimes encroaching on claims. SDSI didn’t expect to find multiple murders here, or they’d never have sent someone as junior as me. But Unimine operates on a different scale from anything I’ve seen before, and they are completely ruthless. I had it wrong when I said their philosophy was ‘Anyone who isn’t a friend is an enemy.’ It’s more like, ‘Dead men tell no tales.’ ” They had reached the lander, and Winnie was opening the door and examining the interior. “Look at things from the Unimine point of view. They were an accomplice to the murder of everyone in the original settlement group on Solferino, and also the new trainees. Their claim will be that those people died from unknown but natural causes, that Unimine found the planet empty of humans, and that they are laying claim to it. The only person who can say anything different is Sol Brewster. Not only that, he is expecting a huge reward for all his work in discovering the stable transuranics, and then for disposing of the Foodlines employees on Solferino.”
Sapphire and Josh were occupying separate rows in the rear of the lander, where they could lie down if they wanted to. Winnie had been studying the control panel, and was preparing for takeoff. “The people from Unimine had their plan made before they came here,” she said. “Brewster was out of his depth, too. He had outlived his usefulness, and he could be a nuisance. So he had to be killed. But he didn’t realize that—and I’m ashamed to say that I didn’t, either.”
“But what will happen now?” Sapphire was sprawling full length across her seat, and her speech was slower and slurring. “Won’t they try to kill us?”
“No.” Winnie lifted the lander smoothly off the ground and set a heading for the Avernus Fissure. “I shouldn’t sound so confident when I was so wrong before, but I believe we’re safe. I’m going to use the lander’s own communicator to send a message. It will say that Solferino is under SDSI quarantine, and no one except SDSI ships will be admitted. Unimine won’t have any idea what’s been happening here, but they know two of their people didn’t return. The last thing they’ll do is come to find out why. They’ll stick their heads in the sand and if anyone asks they’ll say, ‘Solferino? Never heard of it. We’re doing mining work on Cauldron.’ ”