“We have no proof that your partner is dead,” the center Gyonnese said.
“I can give you his body,” Yu snapped. “You want it? I don’t know what to do with it.”
Four of them scuttled even farther back, but the center one stayed in position.
“We shall pay half.”
“Half?” Yu asked. He hadn’t expected this. The Gyonnese had always been fair until now.
“She is damaged. We know nothing of your kind. She might live until you are far from here and then die. We need her alive for court.”
“She’s fine,” Yu said.
“You have told us she’s ill.”
“I also told you it was nothing major.” But had he? Bruised meant that she was fine to humans, but what did it mean to Gyonnese? And the contamination. He’d explained the 95 percent but not how severe the 5 percent was.
“We have no external verification for that.”
“You’ll have the medical program,” Yu said.
“Which you will give us,” the center Gyonnese said. “We cannot trust it.”
They had a point, but he wasn’t going to concede it. “I want full payment.”
“You will get the second half when she appears in court,” the center Gyonnese said.
“Pay me three-quarters,” Yu said. “I’ve lost my assistant.”
“Half,” the center Gyonnese said.
“I’ll take her away,” Yu said.
“Half.” The center Gyonnese took his long arms and folded them across his body. He had clearly negotiated with humans before.
Yu had already negotiated a full price higher than anything he’d ever received from the Gyonnese. Maybe they’d figured that out. Half would still be more than he’d ever made from them.
“Half,” he said, “if you pay me the rest after she wakes.”
“You are not staying,” the center Gyonnese said.
“Nope,” Yu said. “I’m going to get my hand repaired. When it’s done, I’ll come back, and you give me the rest.”
“When we take her to court.”
“No,” Yu said. “If I don’t get the second payment in the next few Earth days, I’m taking her now. You get nothing.”
He heard a shushering sound and realized that was the other Gyonnese talking softly, without benefit of the amplification device.
Finally the center Gyonnese said, “Half. The second payment will come within one Earth week.”
That was about how long it would take him to find an adequate medical facility, to have the repair, and then to return.
“Fine,” Yu said. “I want the first half now.”
“Done,” the center Gyonnese said. “You owe us a medical program.”
“You’ll get it as soon as I return to the ship.”
“How do we take custody of the woman?” the center Gyonnese said.
Yu pressed the side of the coffin. “Where do you want it?”
“We want it to follow us,” the center Gyonnese said.
“As soon as I verify payment, I’ll program that,” Yu said.
Instantly his links hummed. They had been blocking most of the nearby network. He quickly scanned the account he’d given them when they made the deal, and then he tapped part of the coffin.
“She’s all yours,” he said. “Good luck with her. You’ll need it.”
And finally, Yu was free. He hurried back to his ship, closing all the doors behind him and setting double locking protocols. He used an emergency voice command to power up the systems before he got to the bridge, and he didn’t even remove his environmental suit as he moved through the ship.
He stopped at decon and went into the machine himself. He left the environmental suit in a secondary decon unit.
Neither unit recorded any problems, but he still felt dirty.
He knew that was because of the job.
The job, the injuries, the loss of Nafti. All the mistakes Yu had made. He almost regretted leaving the woman behind. She would find no sympathy from the Gyonnese. But they wouldn’t kill her.
No matter how much she deserved it.
He got to the bridge and sank into the pilot’s chair. He had to be careful as he took off because he had no help. If he was going to make more mistakes this was where he would do it.
The ship rose quickly and the lights on the pad went out. He didn’t breathe deeply, though, until he was outside Io’s orbit and on his way out of the solar system.
Shindo was with the Gyonnese. And if he didn’t register his flight plan with anyone, no one would come after him for a while.
He had his onboard computer search for a base outside this sector that specialized in human hand repair.
It took a while for the ship to locate one, but when it did, it gave him the information. He programmed it into the navigational system.
Then he set the ship on autopilot and went into his cabin for a long, much-deserved rest.
The ship woke him in some weird asteroid belt that didn’t show up on any of the charts. The ship didn’t believe the autopilot was enough to avoid collision.
He felt that it was, but stirred himself anyway. He had some other business that had to be completed here.
He went onto the bridge and called up the readings for the belt. The asteroids were closer together than in any other belt he’d traveled through. No wonder the ship wanted extra guidance.
He waited until they found a fairly large gap between the rocks and ordered a full stop. Then he ran a hand over his face. He was still tired. Deep down exhausted, in fact, and sick of himself. He knew this would only make him feel worse.
He could have had the bots do it.
But he was having enough trouble living with himself these last few days. Shrugging this job off on the bots would only make him feel worse.
He went to medical lab and stared at Nafti. Nafti’s skin had gone a horrible whitish color that showed the veins in his face and hands. His eyes, which no one had bothered to close (which Yu hadn’t bothered to close), had clouded over.
Nafti didn’t look human any more.
But that didn’t excuse what had happened or the way Yu had treated him. Yu had never given Nafti any respect, even though he had hired Nafti for his strength and experience.
Yu could use that strength now. The trek to the smallest cargo bay would be a difficult one.
Yu ran a hand over his hair. He didn’t know what to say over Nafti’s body or if he should say anything. He didn’t even know if Nafti left a family behind. He had no idea if there was someone to contact about Nafti’s death. He’d never had Nafti fill out any forms.
Yu wasn’t even sure if Janus Nafti was the man’s real name.
Yu sighed. Then he hit buttons on the side of the diagnostic table, unhooking it from the floor and giving it wheels instead of feet. He tucked Nafti’s arms on his torso and grimaced. The corpse was ice cold. At least it wasn’t in rigor any longer. Yu would have hated having those arms hanging over the side, bumping into corners as he wheeled the table out of the medical lab.
It took longer than he expected to get to the cargo level. He had to go around some tight corners, and once the wheels got stuck. Yu struggled, but eventually freed them.
He didn’t want to remove Nafti sooner than he had to.
Using his good hand on the back of the cart, Yu pushed the body into the smallest cargo bay. This bay was empty of everything. Yu rarely used it, except to jettison cargo that he didn’t want. And since he didn’t want valuable items disappearing into space, he just made sure nothing stayed in that bay at all.
He pushed the diagnostic table into the bay. It was cold, with unpainted metallic walls and a matching floor. Not much to look at, and certainly not enough to pass as a ceremonial transition spot from one life to the next—if, indeed, Nafti had believed in that kind of thing.