“There was an accident,” Richard said.

“What kind of accident?” Donald demanded.

“Maybe it would be better if I showed you,” Richard said. “You might have an idea of what to do in the interim.”

“Where?” Donald barked.

“My room or Mikey’s room,” Richard said. “It’s the same difference.”

“Lead the way, sailor,” Donald growled.

No one spoke as the group hiked across the expanse of lawn to the open end of Richard’s cottage. They filed in around the edge of the pool. Richard went to the cabinet containing the refrigerator and commanded it to open. Once it had, he bent down and yanked on several of the tightly packed containers, which then tumbled out onto the marble floor. Framed by the remaining haphazardly stacked containers was the frozen, pallid face of Mura. Her hair was matted against her forehead, and the bloody froth had collapsed onto her cheek in a brownish smudge.

Suzanne immediately covered her eyes.

“Now, you got to understand, it was an accident,” Richard explained. “Michael didn’t really mean to kill her. He was just trying to get her to shut up from screaming by holding her head under water.”

“She went crazy,” Michael blurted. “She saw the body of the guy Richard killed.”

“What guy?” Perry demanded.

“It was a little squirt from the gala,” Michael said. “The one who hung around Mura.”

“Where’s his body?” Donald demanded.

“He’s jammed into my refrigerator,” Michael said.

“You idiots!” Perry snapped. “How did the boy die?”

“It doesn’t matter,” Donald muttered. “What’s done is done, and Richard is right: the moment these bodies are discovered all hell could break loose.”

“Of course it matters,” Suzanne snapped as she took her hands away from her face to glare at the divers. “I cannot believe this! You men killed two of these peace-loving, gentle people and for what?”

“He made a pass at me,” Richard explained. “I punched him and he fell and hit his head. I was stoned. I didn’t mean to kill him.”

“You narrow-minded, bigoted bastards,” Suzanne sneered.

“Okay, okay,” Perry intoned. “Let’s ratchet it down a notch. We’ve still got to work together if there’s any hope of getting out of here.”

“Perry’s right,” Donald said. “If we’re going to make a break it has to be soon. In fact, we’d better start tonight.”

“I’m with you,” Richard said as he squatted down to jam the packages back into the refrigerator to re-cover Mura’s lifeless face.

“What can we do tonight?” Perry asked.

“A lot, I’d suspect,” Donald said.

“Well, you’re the military man,” Perry said. “Why don’t you take command?”

“How does that set with everyone else?” Donald asked.

Richard stood up and managed to get the refrigerator door closed with the help of his hip. “Fine by me,” he said. “The sooner we’re out of here the better.”

“Me, too,” Michael said.

“What about you, Suzanne?” Donald asked.

“I can’t believe this has happened,” Suzanne muttered. She was staring into the middle distance. “They spent a month decontaminating us but we managed to bring disease in anyway.”

“What the hell are you mumbling about?” Perry asked.

Suzanne sighed sadly. “It’s like we’re Satan’s minions invading heaven.”

“Suzanne, are you all right?” Perry asked. He grasped her shoulders and looked into her eyes. They were brimming with tears.

“I’m just sick at heart,” she said.

“I’ll take three out of four to be a reasonable mandate,” Donald said, ignoring Suzanne. “Here’s what I propose. We’ll get our wrist communicators, call an air taxi, and get ourselves over to the Earth Surface Museum. Richard and I will visit the submersible to check it out. He’ll help me salvage one of the TV cameras. Perry, you and Michael will go into the museum and get weapons. Michael can show you where they are. Take anything you think might be appropriate but be sure you get the Luger.”

“Sounds good,” Perry said. “What about you, Suzanne? Do you want to come along?”

Suzanne didn’t answer. Instead, she lifted her hands back to her face and massaged her watery eyes. She could not get over the fact that they were responsible for the death of two Interterrans. She wondered what kind of grief such a crime was likely to evoke in Saranta. Two essences who’d survived for eons had been lost forever.

“Okay,” Perry said soothingly. “You stay here. We shouldn’t be long.”

Suzanne nodded but didn’t even watch as the group filed out of the room through the open end of the cottage. Instead, she looked at the cabinetry that hid the refrigerator and allowed herself to cry. The violent and ugly confrontation she feared was already coming to pass.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Donald treated the operation like a military exercise, as did Richard and Michael, who’d had even more covert operational experience than he. Getting into the spirit of the affair, the two divers blackened their faces and garments with soil. Perry wasn’t as gung ho, but he was relieved to be taking his fate in his own hands.

“Is that necessary?” Perry asked when he saw what Richard and Michael had done with the mud.

“It’s what we did for any night operation in the Navy,” Richard replied.

The ride in the air taxi was in some respects even more exhilarating at night than it had been during the day. There was significantly less traffic but what traffic there was lurched unexpectedly out of the shadows.

“This is like a goddamned amusement park ride,” Richard said after a particularly close pass.

“I wish I could find out how these things work,” Perry commented. “There were only worker clones at the factory Richard and I visited this morning.”

“That was one colossal waste of time,” Richard said.

“What do you think about Suzanne?” Donald asked Perry.

“What do you mean?” Perry responded.

“Do you think we have to worry about her?” Donald asked. “She could mess up this whole operation.”

“You mean alert the Interterrans?” Perry asked.

“Something like that,” Donald said. “She seemed pretty upset back there about the two casualties.”

“She was upset, but it wasn’t just about the deaths,” Perry said. “She confided to me that Garona disappointed her somehow. And she feels responsible about us being here, as she said. Anyway, I don’t think we have to worry about her. She’ll be okay.”

“I hope so,” Donald said.

The craft decelerated, hovered for a moment, then rapidly descended.

“Stand by, troops,” Donald said.

As Donald had directed, the air taxi was settling down in the museum’s courtyard. Over the edge of the craft the dim outline of the Oceanus could be seen, silhouetted against the black basalt of the museum.

“There’s the target,” Donald said. “Once the side of the taxi opens I want everyone flat against the museum wall. Understood?”

“That’s affirmative,” Richard said.

The moment the exit appeared the group piled out, ran to the wall, and flattened themselves against it. All eyes swept the immediate area. It was dark, particularly in the shadows, and perfectly still without any signs of life. Behind them the sharply geometric form of the museum soared up into the blackness. The only light on the scene came from the thousands of faux, bioluminescent stars above and a low-level, glow emanating from the museum’s windows. The dark hulk of the submersible was about fifty feet away, sitting on chocks on the flatbed of an antigravity freighter.

The air taxi’s side seamlessly sealed over and the craft silently rose before disappearing in the darkness.

“I don’t see a soul,” Richard whispered.

“I guess the museum’s not much of a night spot,” Michael whispered back.

“Keep the conversation to a minimum,” Donald ordered.

“The place is deserted,” Perry said. He let himself relax. “That’s going to make this a whole lot easier.”