Chapter 17

Anita froze. That sound was impossible. No one had alerted her that they were stopping by. The perimeter alarm hadn’t gone off like it would have if a scout had flown in. No one else even knew where this base was.

She couldn’t see the airlock directly from the computers, but she could pull up the cameras from the entrance. That monitor showed… nothing. It had been blocked somehow. Whoever was at the door didn’t want to show themselves. Perses.

It was over, then. They had found her, and it was over. The airlock was locked, but it wouldn’t take lock to override the lock code. They could be inside within minutes, and then she would have the choice of surrendering quietly and hoping they wouldn’t arrange an accident for her, or trying to protect her equipment and data and probably getting killed in the process. There wasn’t time to destroy everything again, and she had no way of effectively destroying the completed suit.

The intruder knocked again.

Wait… why would they knock at all, Anita wondered. Wouldn’t they just… hack the door and burst in? Something didn’t make sense. At least, it didn’t make sense if it was Perses waiting at her door. But there was a new player in the cat and mouse game.

She lowered herself onto the floor and peered through the doorway. A solitary figure stood on the other side of the airlock. The walls weren’t transparent enough for her to see any details, but it didn’t look like there were others present, though they could easily be standing out of sight.

She pulled back from the doorway, and sat with her back against the wall. It would be ridiculously dangerous to allow anyone entry who wasn’t known to her or her team. But she couldn’t move through the base as long as they stayed at the airlock. The base had been built for functionality, not for concealment, and she had to pass through a corridor in full view of the airlock in order to get to the scrap parts she needed for the suits. Large parts of the computer room were visible as well, and the entry to the kitchen.

Anita decided that the best course of action was to take no action and outwait the intruder. Nothing they could see from outside the airlock would indicate the base was inhabited. Maybe they were here by accident, an explorer stumbling across an abandoned base that seemed interesting. Right, and went to the trouble to avoid a perimeter alarm and block the camera. Highly unlikely.

It was three hours before Anita checked the airlock again. The figure was still there, though it now appeared to be sitting on the other side of the lock rather than standing and trying to see inside. Shit, Anita thought. They’re trying to outwait me. Have fun with that, asshole. I can stay here a hell of a long time.

In the end, Anita’s bladder proved to be the weak point. She had learned to hold bodily functions as long as possible in the field, but the human body only had so much capacity for liquid, and Anita’s had reached it. She debated the best tactic for crossing the room and getting to the tiny closet that held the toilet. In the end, she decided speed was more important than trying not to be seen, since the entire doorway was visible from the airlock. She cursed the low gravity that made fast movement impossible, and braced her feet against the wall. She leaped for the doorway, putting as much force into her feet as she could. She bounced off the door frame and shoved herself off that wall and into the room beyond.

The knocking resumed on the airlock, now escalated to pounding. There was no escaping the fact that she had been discovered, Anita thought, using the bathroom facilities as quickly as she could. Best to face facts and find out what I’m up against.

After exiting the toilet, she moved back into the entry room. When the figure on the other side saw her approaching, the knocking stopped. Anita studied the airlock. Still no sign of any others waiting outside, but that wasn’t surprising. She locked the airlock controls to her side of the door, which would prevent the intruder from being able to operate them from inside the lock itself. The outside controls were already locked by her personal code. She tried to take courage from the fact that the stranger hadn’t attempted to break into the airlock. Maybe that was a good sign.

Once she was sure the airlock was entirely under her sole control, she punched the button to open the outer hatch. The stranger stepped in, alone. She vented some of the base atmosphere into the little room, and the stranger took off his helmet. He stood between a hundred seventy and a hundred seventy five centimeters tall, approximately her own height. His hair was dark brown and a little bit wavy, though dishevelled from the helmet. His face was clean shaven, and he moved with a grace that struck her as being almost feminine. He smiled at her through the airlock wall and waved. She didn’t return either gesture.

He signed, “Sorry to intrude. Found evidence of someone living here and couldn’t help but try to find out who it was.”

Anita replied, “Who are you? Are you alone?”

“In more ways than one. And my name is Herschel Amundsen.”

Anita shook her head. “I don’t know you.”

“Let me in, and I’ll be happy to explain more. But my signing is a little shaky and I’d rather just talk.”

“I wouldn’t,” Anita signed back.

“Fine. But don’t leave me stranded out here. I’m starving. Besides, I know where you are now. I think you’d rather have that knowledge on the other side of this door than on the outside.”

Dammit, Anita thought. She hit the button to open the inner door before she could stop herself. Amundsen stepped into the room and shook his head. “Ah, oxygen. I always find helmets so constricting.” He ran his fingers through his hair, enhancing the waves. “So far, you’ve gotten to ask all the questions. My turn. What’s your name?”

Anita shook her head. That was information that was much more dangerous than he probably expected. If he wasn’t with Perses, he could either sell her out, or join in the conspiracy to keep her location a secret and be in danger himself. Best that he not know.

“Look, I can’t just call you ‘Hey you.’ I mean, I could, but it’s not particularly fun. Give me something to call you.”

Slowly, Anita signed “Christine.” It was her middle name, and not one she had ever used in a professional capacity. It should be safe.

“Ok. Christine. It’s kinda old-fashioned. I like that.”

“Old-fashioned? You’re the one named Herschel.”

He shrugged. “My parents were big fans of comets, so they decided to name me in honor of Caroline Herschel. Why are you still signing?”

“That’s my business,” Anita responded in signs that reflected irritation.

“Hey, ok, sorry to ask. You do what you need to do. Just remember I haven’t had to do this much, and I may be a little slow in catching your meaning. Be patient with me.”

“Why should I? You’re the intruder here. Why are you even here?”

He motioned to the kitchen. “Mind if I sit and eat while I explain? I’m starved. I’ve got my own food, I’m not asking you to deplete your stores. I just need some fuel.”

Anita hesitated for a minute, then signed for him to wait. She went into the kitchen and scooped up all of the suit components and moved them onto her bed, covering them with a blanket. Not nearly as secure as she would like, but it would do for now. She returned to the kitchen and signalled for Herschel to come in.

He sat down at the table, and rummaged in his suit for a small packet of unidentifiable bars. He waved one in the air before shoving half of it in his mouth. “Food bar for explorers. More nutritious than the usual dried meat and cheese. Impervious to cold for up to 48 hours, so there’s no need for any kind of special storage. Saves tons in transportation and storage fees. One bar has double the nutrition of most meals with full meat and vegetable components. My own development.” He chewed noisily, and swallowed with a cough. “Ow. Not meant to be eaten that fast, though. Just hungry.” He took a smaller bit, and continued.

“So, I’m here on business, really. Well, on Titan for business, anyway. I’m based out of Mars for the moment, but looking to expand. I’m the creator and director of Eos Industries. You haven’t heard of us? Well, we’re still fairly new. We’re trying to find ways to support exploration in ways that aren’t destructive. I mean, we don’t do the actual exploring. We leave that to the scientists. But we come up with things that make their lives a little easier. Like these bars. I’m here on Titan to talk to Themis about sending these with their scouts. But I also like to get an eye on the terrain I’m trying to market to. Gives me a better idea of what the needs of the market are.”

Anita sat up and signed, “Wait, Amundsen on Mars? As in Amundsen Financial?”

He grinned sheepishly, and nodded. “The family business. I started my own, but my shares of the moneylenders on Mars let me do pretty much whatever I want.”

Like afford a satellite in covert orbit above Titan, she thought.

“Now, I’m guessing that if you’re here alone on Titan, trying very hard not to be noticed, that there’s a really good reason for that. But I’ve got a few good reasons why you should tell me. First of all, I’m pretty immune to payoffs. There are very few companies in the world that could offer me more than what I’ve got coming in from home. Secondly, I’m usually on the side of the underdog in any given case. I like seeing that fighting spirit. And thirdly, I think I want you to like me, so I’m not inclined to do anything that might prevent that.”

Anita held back a smile. He couldn’t possibly know what he was asking, but she liked his way of asking for it. Despite his reasons, there was no way she could risk telling him what was going on. She would endanger either herself and her team or him, and both seemed unacceptable. I might be willing to risk myself, she thought, but I won’t risk my team’s careers. She shook her head.

“Really? Damn. Must be something big. Ok, if you can’t tell me what you’re doing out here, can you at least let me stay a little while? It’s almost night out there.”

“How did you get here? Do you have a ship parked outside? I can’t have anyone find this place,” Anita signed rapidly, but Herschel shook his head.

“I won’t say more right now –I’m entitled to my own secrets-- but you don’t have to worry about anyone spotting this place because of me. My ship is out of the area and my tracks are covered.”

Anita considered. There were lots of reasons to say no. He was a stranger. He might be lying about the ship being out of the way. And when she let herself admit it, he was an attractive human being, and that was probably the greatest danger to her right now. Right now, fear and caution held the flames in check, but that could end at any moment. It would be at least six nights before he could leave again, and every one of those nights could be the one when she broke. There were no moral barriers between them, like there had been with her scouts. It would be harder to say no if the fear wasn’t a strong enough deterrent.

She had thought loneliness was preferable to human company, but the weeks of loneliness had changed her mind. Isolation and company were each hell in their own way at this point. Exhaustion took over and Anita nodded. What the hell, why not.

Herschel grinned and reached out to pat her hand. “Fantastic! I’ve got everything I need with me except blankets. You got a few I can borrow? Perfect. Well, it’s been a long day for both of us, with you trying to hide and me trying to find out who you were, all alone here in the middle of nowhere. I’m ready to drop, how about you?”

Anita took the suit components off her bed and wrapped them in a spare blanket before shoving them under her bunk. She set up the bunk furthest from hers, and showed him to it. “Great. I’m going to sleep forever. Don’t worry about waking me up, just go about your schedule as usual, and I’ll do my thing.”

She nodded, and lay down on her bed, still in her day clothes. She had taken an extra hormone suppressor right after dinner, just in case, but there was no sign of the flames that had tormented her on so many nights. Probably just fear and adrenaline, she told herself, as she drifted off to sleep. I’ll take it.