She had opened her mouth to answer when the entry chime rang again. And continued to ring with each new arrival, someone else who had attended that party who now wished to discuss 'business' with Yana.
Yana urgently motioned Sally and Millard to join her, and then Sally brought Cynthia and Cynthia thought that Marmion had better be involved.
‘You dear people, Petaybee's only a small planet,' Marmion said, arriving not a moment too soon and instantly assessing the scene. 'With very limited facilities. And while it's certainly marvellous of you to volunteer…' That word stopped any conversation as the various representatives turned blank faces in her direction. '… to help the Colonel set up a modern depot.' She smiled at the sobering effect of her little speech, for she, they - and the surprised Yana - knew that no-one had 'volunteered' anything. They'd all been trying to get into a best-advantage situation. 'How good of you to offer. Mind you, who knows what a planet is willing to pay for such amenities but it is a planet that is virtually untouched. Nabatira-san, I think you need to send at least five of those marvellous structural cubes to Petaybee, just to cope with the influx. Yana, you don't think Petaybee would mind an up-to-date self-catering hostel? No, two, I think: north and south.’
By the time the bemused entrepreneurs got a chance to retreat, Marmion had made sure that each had signed a contract to deliver, at a cost later to be discussed with the planet, sufficient of their products to replace what Intergal was taking off-planet. And of a higher quality and more modern design.
‘I think that about takes care of that, Yana, don't you?' Marmion said when the door to her suite finally closed on Macci's heels. 'Macci didn't get you to sign anything, did he?' she asked Yana.
Dazedly Yana shook her head. 'But another two seconds and I'd've signed anything he put in front of me. Is he always like that?’
‘He makes a habit of it. Dangerous man,' Marmion said, 'but you handled him very well considering none of us expected him to appear quite so soon this morning.' Then she made a full circuit of the room with her eyes. 'Where did Bunny and Diego get to?’
Sally and Millard exchanged horrified glances. Marmion, however, was looking straight at Bailey and Charmion.
‘Haven't seen them, Aunt Marmie,' Bailey said. 'We only just woke up when the mob arrived.’
‘While I don't blame them for a moment for leaving the babel…' Marmion broke off. 'Where are they?’
8
The repair-bay light was still on by the time Diego and Bunny reached the corridor. When the light was on, the outer hatch was still opened and no unprotected personnel could enter. A skeleton crew, suited up with oxygen and grav boots, would shepherd new arrivals on board and tend to any emergency needs. Diego had observed such procedures on many stations before.
As soon as the light went off, it meant the outer bay door was closed, the oxygen levels had returned to normal inside the bay, and it was usually OK to go in and look around, if you kept out of the way. Right now the light was staying on for what seemed an unusually long time to Diego. He hoped there wasn't a radiation leak or some other problem that would prevent them from having a look-see. He also didn't want Charmion and Bailey appearing, bored as usual with what was commonplace to them, and taking Bunny off before she had a chance to see what really did interest her. He knew she'd enjoy observing actual repairs to a space-going vessel but she sure wouldn't if Charmion was there to act as if it was all so boring and so grubby while Bailey made another try at sweet-talking Bunny away from him.
Just when he found he was getting bored by the interminable wait, the light went off. He tugged Bunny's hand. 'Come on. Act like you belong here.’
At that point the inside hatch irised open and six figures, still suited and with helmets on, which was a little weird, emerged and headed down the corridor in the opposite direction from Bunny and Diego. As they disappeared, Diego said, 'That's funny.’
‘What?’
‘First thing folks usually do is crack open their helmets! Hmmm.’
‘Maybe they're coming right back,' Bunny said. 'I don't usually wear my parka and snowpants in the house either, but if I just have to go inside for a moment, it's easier not to take off all those clothes first.’
Diego shrugged. 'Yeah. Maybe.’
But he peered through the viewport first. The derelict was alone in the repair bay, the outer hatch closed. The hole in her side was big enough to drive a good-sized shuttle through. He checked the dials on the lock.
‘Well, there's oxygen inside so maybe they just did go to get something, Bunny,' he told her. 'And no-one's inside. So we can at least take a close look at that damage.’
‘Won't we need some kind of code to get through here? Or will the bracelet give us access?' Bunny asked.
That was a good question. He hadn't counted on the bay being empty. He'd planned to ask the repair crew but they'd gone off. Generally crews didn't mind letting you look, if you asked first and kept out of the way.
But at the door he was surprised to find that the iris still bore a pupil of space in its centre where it hadn't completely closed. By sticking his foot through the opening he got it to enlarge enough to let a body squeeze through.
Bunny reached around him, to one of the folds, and touched something shiny. 'This is caught.’
‘Can you use it to pry the door open a little more?' Diego asked.
‘I think so,' she said and complied. Sure enough, when she had wiggled the bit around, the hatch creaked fully open. When they had both stepped through, Bunny pulled the object free and the hatch closed behind them, silently this time. There was a faint smell of singed protein in the air, the same smell Diego had noticed when the dentist drilled his teeth.
‘Maybe I shouldn't have done that,' she said with a backward glance. 'We might need it to get out.’
‘Nah, the crew will be back pretty soon. Come on, let's see what holed the ship.’
Their shoes clanked hollowly on the metal grid floor as they walked towards the lone ship squatting like a toad in the cavernous bay.
‘It's a queer shape, isn't it?' Bunny asked, whispering. 'It doesn't look much like the other ones.’
‘Probably wasn't manufactured by an Intergal company,' Diego said, dropping his own voice to the same level. Though why they were whispering he didn't know. Their footsteps were loud enough to wake the next watch; why try to sneak around? But the bay was huge, except for this - this corpse lying in state. 'Maybe that's why people went to such trouble to drone it in: figure out its design capabilities or something. It's a derelict for sure.’
Bunny was slightly ahead of him, and she peered around the corner of the hole. 'Uh-oh. Diego?’
‘Yeah?’
‘Look.’
He looked over her, his chin resting on the top of her glossy black crown. The interior of the hull was not empty.
The hole sure had been big enough to fly a shuttle through and that's just what somebody had done. A good-sized shuttle - twenty-seater at least from what he could see, crouched inside the hull, wearing it like a disguise. Beside the shuttle lay the bodies of seven people clad only in their underwear.
Bunny turned over a woman who had been lying on her stomach. A burn hole drilled through the centre of her forehead. A gingerly examination of the other bodies showed similar burn holes, all fatal.
‘Frag!' Diego breathed, and peered anxiously at the shuttle. But nobody stirred.
‘Diego?' Bunny asked. 'Why were these people killed?' Her voice had a plaintive note to it and he thought that whatever the dangers provided by Petay-bee's weather and conditions, mass murders didn't happen on Petaybee - at least not yet. She looked pale under the brilliant white lights of the bay. Shock, he thought, a little numb himself.