74

“Julie, can you hear me?”

Julie had been lying on the deck of the harvester near one of the heaters. Stan had found a blanket in one of the back bays and wrapped it around her. She looked better than she had since the accident.

“Stan?” she said. “I'm very cold.”

“Let me see if I can find another blanket,” Stan said. “I already have these heaters going full blast.”

He stood up to go, but Julie reached out and grabbed his arm. “No, don't leave me, Stan. We're in a lot of trouble, aren't we?”

“To one way of thinking, yes, we are. But to another, we're in no trouble at all. We're together, and we're going to stay that way. Here, Julie, I have something for you. For us both, actually.”

He reached into his jacket pocket and brought out the little case containing the Xeno-Zip ampoules.

There were six of them. He uncapped one and lifted Julie's head so she could drink. When she took down the first ampoule, he matched her with one, then uncorked another.

“We aren't supposed to take more than one, are we?”

“I've got a special dispensation,” Stan said. “Don't worry, it'll do us no harm.”

Julie swallowed the contents of a second ampoule. She shuddered, then laughed. “You were right, Stan. I feel a lot better.”

“Me, too,” Stan said, sitting down on the deck beside her and holding her close to share the warmth. “This is nice, isn't it?”

“It's very nice, Stan,” Julie said. “We never found much time for this before, did we?”

“Unfortunately not. Sometimes it takes a long time to realize what a good thing is.”

“As long as it happens sometime,” Julie said. “Don't worry, Julie. We're going to get out of this.”

“I'm sure we are,” Julie told him. “One way or the other.” She could feel the pain leaving her body. How miraculous the Xeno-Zip was! What a pleasure it was to be free of pain.

She knew it had to be the same way for Stan. For the moment they were both young and strong and were going to live forever. This could only last a little while. But perhaps, she thought, it'll be long enough. The radio kicked into life. “Dr. Myakovsky! Are you there?” It was Captain Hoban from the Dolomite.

“I have to issue a few last-minute instructions,” Stan said to Julie. “Excuse me, my dear, I'll be back as soon as I can.”

75

In the Dolomite, Hoban had been working hard to keep the location of his ship a secret. He had no doubt what Potter would do if he knew there was another ship in the area, and where it was situated. He had no intention of sharing the fate of the Valparaiso Queen, the wreck that silently circled the planet. He hadn't known quite what to do. But then Stan's message had come to him, and he had no choice but to make contact.

“Sir,” Hoban said, “I need to tell you, by radioing me, you have compromised this ship's position. You shouldn't have done that, sir.”

“Now, now,” Stan said. “I have a plan whereby Potter and his crew will be neutralized. There will be nothing to prevent you from making rendezvous with us at these coordinates as soon as possible.”

“I understand, sir,” Hoban said. “But there is a problem. From your present location, it is going to take me at least twenty minutes to get to you.”

“As long as that?” Stan exclaimed. From where he sat, he could see through one of the viewports as the aliens massed in front of the force field, not trying to get through it — that would have been impossible — but coming together in ever-growing numbers, those behind pushing away those in front They were crowded as close to each other as they could get and some of them were mounting on the back of others, and others were climbing on top of those.

Stan saw at once what was going to happen. They were going to keep on piling themselves up until they were able to topple over the rim of the force field, which was only about twelve feet high. Then they'd come for him and Julie.

He didn't want to think about it, so he took refuge in analysis.

This swarming behavior was probably some sort of instinctual mechanism for getting them over barriers that were otherwise impassable. It was really very interesting. Ari had to see this.

Stan took out the cybernetic ant, poised him on a fingertip, and lifted his hand so Ari could see through the viewport.

“See what's happening, Ari? Are you taking it all in? Future generations are going to be very interested in what we have done today.”

The little creature gave no sign that he was listening, yet he showed a certain alertness.

Stan continued, “You've been a good companion, Ari. Silent and uncomplaining. Who could ask for anything more? I only wish Norbert were here, too. You'll have to tell them how it was with us, Ari. If you get out of this, that is.”

Ari, as usual, was silent.

“Stan!” Julie called.

“I'll be right over,” Stan answered. He broke the connection with Hoban and changed frequencies. In a moment the sullen face of Captain Potter appeared on the viewscreen.

“About time you called, Myakovsky. I don't have much patience.”

“Not much more is required,” said Stan.

“I will listen now to your offer.”

“Yes, Captain. What I suggest is that you forget all about this matter and take your ship some distance from here. While you are gone I will take this harvester ship and get away. You needn't worry about losing the royal jelly aboard. There's plenty of it down here for you. You can easily milk yourself another harvester load.”

“That's great,” Potter said. “And just why should I do that?”

“Because I have a legal claim to this stuff which is every bit as good as Bio-Pharm's claim. And because I want you to.”

“I think you've flipped out.”

“You're not going to do it? No harm in asking, was there?”

“You're wasting my time,” Potter spat “There's no deal, Myakovsky. I don't need to negotiate with you. I'm taking what I want.”

“Right,” Stan said. “Gill?”

Gill's face appeared in the viewscreen. “Yes, Doctor?”

“Activate Subroutine Diogenes,” Stan said. “Signing off, Captain Potter.”

“That doctor of yours is really crazy,” Potter said to Gill. “He must think he still swings some weight. You can just forget any order he gave you. Things are going to be a little different now.”

“Yes, they are,” said Gill. The time was finally at hand.

He put his remaining hand to his mouth and popped in one finger. With a single wrench, he tore the finger off.

“What are you doing?” Potter said. “Stop that!”

“Subroutine Diogenes is beginning,” Gill said, tearing off a second finger. “You know the old story about the rich man's house?”

“What are you talking about?”

Off came another finger. “In the rich man's house,” Gill said, “a guest has a problem if he wants to spit.” Off came the fourth finger.

“You're crazy,” Potter said. “Stop or I'll shoot.”

“In the rich man's house,” Gill said, “there's no place to spit but in his face.” The fifth and last finger came off. There was a frozen moment in the control room of the Lancet. Then Gill blew up. Literally.

The explosion of the artificial man enclosed the Lancet in a rosy glow shot through with yellow diamonds.