This was bad.

  -20-

  Assur was in his office, scribbling notes on a speech he was going to give to the Elder Board. The incoming fleet would arrive in low Titan orbit within a day. Then the fireworks would surely begin.

  There were now direct communication possibilities without any noticeable time lag with the Enkidu, even though the ship maintained radio silence. They all did this. That was a clever move. The Chess Master had no doubt made his final decisions regarding strategy. According to observations from Vaul, there had been much shuttle traffic between the Enforcers. That must mean they were having face-to-face meetings and getting ready.

  Assur had sent a few brief communications trying to provoke them to speech. Then he decided if they wanted radio silence, they would get radio silence. He would prepare on his end for many eventualities.

  As he finished the written speech with a final flourish, he knew he would practice several times aloud to get it right. The practice would help him know where to add inflections and where to lower his voice so the elders would be forced to lean forward to hear him.

  Someone discreetly knocked at his door.

  Assur straightened, surprised. Why hadn’t his secretary given him advance notice of someone about to enter? Oh, right, she wasn’t there.

  After a moment’s consideration, Assur opened a drawer and put a hand on a shredder.

  “It’s me,” came a muffled voice from behind the door. That sounded like Vaul.

  “Enter,” Assur said, while keeping his hand on the shredder.

  The door opened and Vaul stepped in. The tall, lean Valiant halted, his gaze riveted to where the hand was. It took him a moment. Then the Security Chief clicked his heels and bowed his head. “Your Excellency, if I am disturbing you, I will leave.”

  “No, no,” Assur said, letting go of the shredder, closing the drawer as well. “It must be important.”

  Vaul closed the door behind him, moving to a nearby chair and sitting. He cleared his throat. “I have what might be considered bad news.”

  “Spit it out,” Assur said with a wave of his hand.

  “Sentinel 9 on Triton has been destroyed,” Vaul said. “The physical evidence, if there ever was any, has been destroyed as well.”

  Assur’s head jerked up. “There was no real evidence on Triton? We did all this for nothing?”

  “I only speak that way because…” Vaul raised his eyebrows.

  “Oh,” Assur said. “Yes. I understand. My mind was on the speech. I, of course, know what you’re implying.”

  Vaul nodded, as the man did not waste words if he didn’t need to.

  “What is this bad news?” Assur asked.

  “A sub-engineer by the name of Eury found out what the unit did on Triton and that the evidence is gone. She also discovered that all commands regarding the evidence destruction had been scrubbed from the Neptune and Nergal’s Watch computers. I fear she has backup devices that hold this information. I also know she spoke to one other individual here on Titan about it.”

  “This sub-engineer should be no problem,” Assur said. “A word or two from one of your men should clear her mind.”

  “She is the sister of Sarus.”

  “I don’t recognize the name, though it seems faintly familiar,” Assur said.

  “Sarus was one of the Evil Seven.”

  Assur’s gut twisted and pain creased his face. He sat back with a gasp.

  Was that a dirty conscience bubbling up? Back then, Assur had been forced to act against both Acolyte Damkina and Queen Ningal. Both of them had died. Assur did not allow himself to think, I murdered both of them. That was the damning truth, though.

  Vaul didn’t seem to have noticed the pain or weakness that had caused Assur to slouch.

  Soon, Assur breathed normally. He looked sharply at Vaul. The man seemed serene, oblivious to what had just happened. That was surely a mask. Still, Assur appreciated it. This Security Chief was more subtle than those of the past. It helped in many ways, but it meant Vaul was dangerous.

  “A sister of one of the Evil Seven has this knowledge,” Assur said. “Do you think she’s inclined to use it?”

  “I took the liberty of speaking briefly to the station group leader. Sabine was evasive, therefore it seems clear that this Eury is dangerous to us.”

  “Who did she speak to about this on Titan?”

  “One of the people on the intercept team,” Vaul said. “Some time ago, he sent her electronic messages about the stone tablets in the Persian Gulf.”

  Assur frowned. “Then they have most certainly put two and two together, or in this case, one and one.”

  “That is my suspicion,” Vaul admitted.

  “And you want permission to eliminate them?”

  “If you think it is wise, your Excellency.”

  “The man, kill him immediately, as of now.”

  “Should I send the order?”

  “Do you have agents in place ready for the deed?” Assur asked.

  “I do, your Excellency, because I felt this was a primary matter to you. If I have erred in this—”

  “No, no,” Assur said, wagging a finger, interrupting. “Give them the go-ahead this instant.”

  Vaul raised a palm-sized comm unit, pressed a button, and then lowered it. “The woman is farther away. I have an agent on the station I can activate. He can kill her if you desire.”

  “Will he make it look like an accident?”

  “I doubt he’s subtle enough,” Vaul said dryly. “Rather, we should be glad if he can manage it. He’s an old soldier, prone to laziness and drunkenness.”

  Assur waved that aside. “I’m not interested in his bio or proclivities. Yes, kill her as well. Why did we ever let a sister of Sarus live? He was one of the worst of the Seven.”

  “Yes, Excellency,” Vaul said.

  “I notice you have not clicked your comm unit for her.”

  “This will take more deliberation and the right message,” Vaul said.

  “Will that be a problem?”

  “No.”

  “Is this drunken agent capable of the task?” Assur asked.

  “From the dossier we have on Eury, she is not a combat specialist in any way. It should prove an easy elimination.”

  “Still, her dedication to her cause is probably keen. That makes her dangerous.”

  “She is a scientist after a fashion since she is an engineer, if even only sub-quality.”

  “I suspect she would have risen higher if not the sister of Sarus,” Assur said.

  “You are correct, as always. I will take that under consideration.”

  “Good, as we’re speaking about a clever person, likely a resourceful person, and one not afraid of standing against us. Send a backup team to the space station. We must be rid of her, and find out where she has hidden any copies of this treacherous evidence that must always remain non-evidence because it never existed.”

  “Yes, sir,” Vaul said.

  “Now get to it,” Assur said, waving him away.

  Vaul bolted upright, did not say goodbye, and turned with an about-face before hurrying out of the office.

  -21-

  Eury could not sleep knowing that those in charge, the government if you will, had destroyed all the evidence on the computers.

  She and Ishkur had the only backups she knew of, making them precious. They held the real history of the solar system.

  Could this have gone all the way to the Chief Marshal? He had spoken before about eliminating the Earthers, sweeping them from the board so the Valiants could grow strong on the Earth.

  Now, it seemed clear that the Earthers and Valiants weren’t different from each other. Human men had impregnated Valiant women, producing many children. She had seen some of the children on the intercepts. Others in the Titan colony had never seen that. Now she knew why.

  The immensity and enormity of all this made her sit up in bed with her knees thrust up, her arms wrapped around them. She could not sleep. Her body felt coiled with worry. They must know about her. They had killed her brother even though he had been innocent. Now they were going to kill her, weren’t they?

  No, no, another part of Eury thought. They won’t kill you. They’d never take it that far. None of the Seven was a woman. You must find a husband, marry and have a child. That will put you in a higher category. The Chief Marshal wants all of us to have children so our race will thrive.

  There was, however, the engineer part of Eury that looked a problem in the face. She looked at the problem, and though fear stirred, she realized she had always had it harder because her brother was one of the Evil Seven.

  Driven by the engineer in her that liked to fix things, Eury got up, slid out and opened a box, and opened a secret compartment at the bottom. There were pieces of metal, springs, and screws inside. She began to assemble the pieces, attaching screws, maneuvering slides, until she had a small spring-driven sliver gun. It shot slivers of metal.

  She had several magazines, which meant she had about a thousand shots. The slivers were tiny, but they could kill if they hit the right spot. She was in no sense an expert, had barely shot this pistol twice. It was small and illegal for someone like her to own.

  She picked up the computer chip that held the precious information, and she stuffed it in a pocket, putting on the clothes. Afterward, she decided to go for a stroll.

  During the station walk, as she mentally went over the possibilities, driving herself crazy, she decided to go to the main chamber. She needed to be doing something with her hands to calm her racing thoughts.

  There was one other operator working. Eury nodded to him and took her normal seat. On the monitor, she began to scan the harvester balloons.

  Meanwhile, in another part of Nergal’s Watch, a big, old slow ex-soldier named Batrun received a communication from the Titan colony. No one had signed it, but the message had a symbol at the bottom. From that, Batrun knew it was from Vaul, and the orders were clear, if in code. He was to kill the woman. By the woman, Vaul of course meant Eury.

  Batrun grinned and belched. He had been drinking whiskey steadily all evening. He was quite drunk. He had also been viewing explicit photographs from the intercept teams from Earth.

  Batrun picked up a piece of pipe, hefting it. It was the best his drunken mind could come up with to beat Eury to death. Before doing that, though, he should rape her first. Why waste using a woman? He was going to kill her after all.

  The ex-soldier drooled as his drunken eyes gleamed at the idea.

  Batrun both stalked and weaved through the corridors, deciding now was the time to take care of business and earn his pay from the security services.

  As Batrun started his journey, Eury stood in the main chamber, and said, “I’m going to use the bathroom.”

  The other operator hardly looked up. He was playing a video game, as had been happening more and more often with him.

  Eury went to the nearest bathroom. As she returned through the long corridors, she saw Batrun stumble into view.

  The big, old soldier must have sensed her. He turned and stared at her as he clutched an iron piece of pipe. He shouted at her to wait up, and he came lumbering down the corridor with a stupid, nasty, ugly grin on his face.

  Eury stood frozen in shock and disbelief. Despite everything—the making of her spring gun, her restlessness—she could not believe this was happening. She stood transfixed as that big, slow fool staggered for her. He was clearly drunk as he stumbled against the bulkhead several times, but he kept his footing, and he shouted once more. He had an ugly, evil look on that slack and stupid face of his.

  Eury knew he was going to kill her, beating her to death with the pipe.

  Hardly believing she was doing this, hardly believing she was capable of it, Eury reached into her coat. Her hand closed around the sliver gun. She pulled it out, looked at it and flicked the safety. That engaged the spring. She aimed the small gun at Batrun.

  The old soldier laughed and raised his pipe. He was very close now.

  Eury closed her eyes and pulled the trigger. She felt the gun hiss and shiver. She knew that tiny slivers were ejecting from the nozzle in a stream. She couldn’t open her eyes. She couldn’t take her finger off the trigger. She felt the gun weave up and down and all around.

  Then she heard a terrible gasp, a dreadful gasp. A pipe clattered onto the deck.

  Eury opened her eyes and saw Batrun, the ex-soldier, lying on the deck, his chest a mangled ruin with many, many puncture wounds.

  Eury almost dropped the gun, but instead, she clicked the safety on, disengaged the magazine, saw that it was completely empty, and put both the gun and magazine in her pocket.

  Now she was doomed. But there was a spark in her, especially considering what she carried. The computer chip had to reach someone who could tell the Valiants that the Earthers were their brothers. Thus, Eury turned and stumbled away.

  -22-

  Eury staggered away, sick at heart. She didn’t know what to do even as her stomach heaved.

  That gave her a clue. She hurried into a restroom, crashed to her knees, and clutched the sides of a porcelain goddess. She vomited what remained in her stomach. She had never killed anyone before. She had never wanted to kill anyone. But Batrun had come at her with murder, or worse, in his eyes. Why would he do that? He was an ex-soldier. Was he something more? Was it just a coincidence that he decided to kill her today of all days, or nights?

  Eury’s mind was a blank about everything.

  She vomited once more, then wiped her mouth with a sleeve. Struggling up, she turned to the sink and washed up, trying to clean the stain on her sleeve. Afterward, she left the restroom.

  What was she going to do now? She had killed a man. He was lying in the middle of a corridor. It was night cycle, but someone would find his body. There were only eight others on Nergal’s Watch. If they found her weapon… she would be charged with murder.

  She needed a plan, an idea, something. If she stayed here, she was as good as dead.

  Eury strode back to her monitor in the main chamber. The other operator had departed, which was for the best. The automated systems were on, monitoring the balloons.

  Eury sat at her station and stared at the monitor, her mind in turmoil, her guts threatening to heave again. Through force of will, she calmed her stomach and clenched her teeth. She would not vomit anymore.

  She had to think this through. They had killed her brother. Sarus was never coming back. Okay. That was one fact. Another was that she knew a secret. The government, likely Chief Marshal Assur, wanted the secret hidden.

  Her eyes narrowed. That was part of the spark in her. She had a purpose, one more than mere existence.

  They had branded and killed her brother. She knew a powerful truth. For the sake of his memory, she had to reveal the truth.

  How do I do that?

  There was nothing physical to back up her copy of Sentinel 9’s report. Some might say she had faked the data. Yet, she had a copy of the secret orders from the Neptune station to destroy the robot and ancient human. That might be worth something.

  First, she had to remain alive in order to get the truth to others. That was her high purpose. If for no other reason, she needed to think carefully.

  With these logical thoughts, the spark in her grew, as did her determination.

  On the monitor, Eury noticed one of the harvesting balloons in Saturn’s upper atmosphere. A red light blinked. Balloon B07 required attention.

  Eury clicked on the balloon’s icon and went through its checklist: clogged filters and low pressure in the balloon itself.

  That needed an engineer to inspect and fix.

  Eury nodded. This was a logical problem, demanding a logical solution. She meant both the balloon repair and what to do with herself and the copy. If she could figure it out, she would know how to act.

  First, she needed to remain alive. She would die sooner if she remained on Nergal’s Watch. Therefore, she had to leave the station. Where could she go?

  Eury rubbed her jaw.

  She could use the shuttle and fly down to the balloon. For a while, she could move from balloon to balloon. However, that was a limited option. She needed a long-term solution.

  The former invasion fleet had entered the Saturn system and would soon park in low Titan orbit. The ships would need refueling—

  Eury’s eyes lit up as her fingers blurred upon her board. Look at this. Thirsty fuel drones were headed to the station. They would be here… in two hours.

  What does that mean for me?

  What was she missing, not seeing?

  She heard a weird sound and whirled around on her seat. No one came into the chamber to accuse her. That had been a strange creak or groan. The station emitted those from time to time like some great animal of deep space.

  Eury wiped her sweaty brow, noticing that her hand shook.

  Her life depended on making the right decision and doing it in the next few moments.

  What should she do?

  She liked the idea of going down to the balloons. That meant using the shuttle. Then it struck her, becoming obvious what she should do.

  Eury laughed. It sounded a little more than hysterical. She bit off the laugh, concentrating on the situation.

  A few moments later, she typed more. I can’t go back to my room. I must leave the station now, this instant. Therefore, she typed for permission to use the heavy shuttle.

  “Permission granted,” the station’s main AI said.

  Group Leader Sabine would check the AI logs during the morning shift. By then—

  I’ll be gone.

  Maybe she could find help in the Titan colony. Eury shook her head. That was too far ahead. Right now—

  Eury stood and headed for the exit, ready to implement her plan.

  -23-

  Eury sat in the pilot’s seat of the heavy shuttle, her fingers trembling as she keyed in the maintenance log for Mining Balloon B07. Seconds later, the screen blinked confirmation, displaying a routine maintenance mission. Her true objective was far more desperate.