Carlos held up a hand, but no sound came. He looked like something risen from the dead: blood running from nose and ears, mouth wide open, one feeble hand raised against gravity.

“One thing,” Ausfaller said briskly. “I saw many dead men; I saw no living ones. How many were there? Am I likely to meet opposition while searching?”

“Forget it,” Carlos croaked. “Get us out of here. Now.”

Ausfaller frowned. “What—”

“No time. Get us out.”

Ausfaller tasted something sour. “Very well. First the autodocs.” He turned, but Carlos’s strengthless hand stopped him.

“Futz, no. I want to see this,” Carlos whispered.

Again Ausfaller gave in. He trotted off to the control room. Carlos tottered after him. I tottered after them both, wiping blood from my nose, feeling half-dead myself. But I’d half guessed what Carlos expected, and I didn’t want to miss it.

We strapped down. Ausfaller fired the main thruster. The rock surged away.

“Far enough,” Carlos whispered presently. “Turn us around.”

Ausfaller took care of that. Then, “What are we looking for?”

“You’ll know.”

“Carlos, was I right to fire on the tugs?”

“Oh, yes.”

“Good. I was worried. Then Forward was the ship eater?”

“Yah.”

“I did not see him when I came for you. Where is he?”

Ausfaller was annoyed when Carlos laughed and more annoyed when I joined him. It hurt my throat. “Even so, he saved our lives,” I said. “He must have turned up the air pressure just before he jumped. I wonder why he did that.”

“Wanted to be remembered,” said Carlos. “Nobody else knew what he’d done. Ahh—”

I looked just as part of the asteroid collapsed into itself, leaving a deep crater.

“It moves slower at apogee. Picks up more matter,” said Carlos.

“What are you talking about?”

“Later, Sigmund. When my throat grows back.”

“Forward had a hole in his pocket,” I said helpfully. “He—”

The other side of the asteroid collapsed. For a moment lightning seemed to flare in there.

Then the whole dirty snowball was growing smaller.

I thought of something Carlos had probably missed. “Sigmund, has this ship got automatic sunscreens?”

“Of course we’ve got—”

There was a universe-eating flash of light before the screen went black. When the screen cleared, there was nothing to see but stars.

✴
GHOST: SIX

“Sigmund Ausfaller killed three miners without a thought,” I said.

“He was right, though.”

“That weapons shop he built aboard Hobo Kelly: he was in love with it. No sane man toys with such things.”

“Saved your life.”

“He was wearing an asymmetrical beard when I first saw him. He’s too short and stocky to pass for a Wunderlander. I’ve wondered about that for twelve years.”

“None of my business, nor yours,” Ander said. “Maybe someone was supposed to take him for a gullible tourist, or a fool, or a crazy.”

“He’s not to be trusted, Ander.”