“And Shin’s dead!” Bill Martin cried passionately. “The person I loved more than life was needlessly and cruelly taken from me. In my nightmares do you know what I see? It’s his body in those jaws. That’s my partner. The man I loved with all my heart.”

To Michaela’s surprise, Aguila hadn’t exploded. Instead she stood with one hand on her pistol butt, a flint-like hardness in her half-slitted eyes.

“Supervisor,” Michaela told her, stepping close. “They’re just . . .”

“I say we go it on our own,” Dharman interjected. The man’s jaw trembled, his cheeks tear-damp and shining in the light. “It worked on Ashanti, it’s best for us now.”

Gabarron cried, “Who says we do it as we did on Ashanti? We’ve always functioned the best when we did so as a family. I’m with Kevina. Let the Supervisor supervise from Corporate Mine, but we need to run things the way we think they need to be run. Who’s with me? Raise your hands.”

Michaela’s chest went tight, seeing the growing determination in the expressions, in the defiant looks and thin-set lips. She knew them well enough to mark that instant when they had reached a consensus. One by one, the hands went up. The last to lift his was Yoshimura, who was plainly conflicted.

Maybe, if Shinwua had been there to back her, she might have persuaded them to give the Supervisor another chance.

Michaela shot a desperate glance at Aguila, saw the ghost of a deadly smile flicker across the woman’s lips.

Michaela told her. “I don’t know where this came from, but maybe after we can come to terms with what’s happened to Shin and Lara . . .”

Aguila’s stare might have been a laser the way it burned through Michaela. “Director, I hope you and your people know what they’re doing. They remind me of a flock of sheep. The last time The Corporation brought sheep to Donovan it didn’t work out well.”

“Supervisor, don’t close us down. Give us a little time to come to grips with our loss, work some things out.”

“You still don’t get it, do you?” Aguila still had her hand propped on her pistol. “Sure, I could close you down. Bring a couple of my marines in armor and load you all up to go work in Corporate Mine. Cut the Pod loose from the reef and haul it to the mainland.”

“Please, don’t.”

The room had gone deathly quiet, people straining to hear.