“No,” Kalico said with a sigh. The notion that Alia and Stana’s corpses were lying down there in the waterlogged blackness, under tons of broken rock, kept haunting her. “My call? We refocus on the Number Two. Maybe run a couple of lateral drifts off the main stope that follow the uplift’s strike northwest. That will keep the crews busy while we figure out what the hell went wrong in the Number Three.”

“We don’t know what’s in the mountain in that direction,” Ghosh reminded. “Let alone what cutting through that rock will contribute to the water make. We might drift that way and find nothing worth the cost of the magtex.”

Kalico arched an eyebrow. “Bet you didn’t know it, but there’s a mining term for what we’re going to be doing.”

Ghosh glanced nervously back and forth. “Yes, Supervisor?”

“It’s called prospecting.”

Ghosh almost hid his flinch.

“So . . . ?” Ituri asked, “We’re just giving up on the Number Three?”

Kalico traced her index finger down the scar on the line of her jaw. “We de-boarded Turalon with a little over three hundred people. Some spaced back to Solar System on Turalon. Some ran off to the bush or otherwise took their own fate in their hands. Some killed themselves. We came down here to Corporate Mine with one hundred and ninety-seven. A handful of us spaced back on Ashanti. I shot a couple. A few were deserters. Three were murdered. Most of the rest were taken by quetzals, mobbers, a couple by slugs, and some of the other wildlife. After the cave-in, we’re down to one hundred and thirteen of us.”

Every eye in the room was watching her.

“We’re a tight bunch here. We’ve made this our home. This mine is ours. Each and every one of us pitches in and does more than his or her share. Not a one of us is the same person who first set foot here. What you will earn by fulfilling your contracts will make you all rich back in Solar System. Think about it. That’s a lot of credit in the system. You’ll have the finest apartments, health care, pretty much anything you requisition through The Corporation. You’d never want for anything again.”

Heads were nodding around the table.

She added, “And compared to the plunder you’re taking back home, everything you’ve earned through Contract is like a pittance.” She paused. “When you go back, it will be to a different Corporation. Just by showing up, wealthy as you will be, nothing will ever be the same. The reason I bring this up is because I want you all to have the chance. I want you to make it home and show those white-assed Corporate bastards what it means to take a risk and have it pay off. I want you all to stick it to them.”