"I killed my mother!" he roared into Doug's face. "Don't talk to me about starting a new life."

He pushed Doug down onto the bunk again and went for his own helmet. Doug watched him put it on, seal the neck ring. Then Gordette started to pull on his gloves.

"Where are you going?" Doug asked.

"Out there. Anyplace. I'll keep going until I run out of air. That'll put an end to it."

Doug got up from the bunk. "Bam, you can't do that! I can't let you do it."

Staring grimly at him through his open helmet, Gordette muttered, "How you gonna stop me, man?"

Doug walked toward him. "Don't kill yourself, for God's sake. You can start a whole new life here."

"Yeah? For how long? In a week or so the Peacekeepers are gonna come marching in here and I'll be on my way back Earthside, heading for jail 'cause I didn't nail you."

"We can keep the Peacekeepers out," Doug said, feeling almost desperate. "We can stay free."

"Yeah. Sure."

"Don't kill yourself, Bam!"

Gordette looked at him with eyes suddenly grown calm and cold. "One of us has to die, Doug. I'd rather it be me. Even if I killed you, they'd just set me up for some other piece of shit. Let me end it, man. Let me put an end to the whole fucking mess."

"No!" Doug snapped, and grabbed for Gordette.

Almost by reflex, Gordette backhanded Doug across the jaw, knocking him off balance, staggering in his spacesuit halfway down the length of the shelter.

Gordette slammed his visor down and turned for the airlock hatch. Doug charged after him. Gordette spun to face him, snapped Doug's head back with a straight left, then levelled him with a right. Doug's eyesight blurred as his head hit the concrete flooring, then everything went black.

Edith woke up, stiff and groaning, in the tractor's seat. She went to rub her eyes but her hands bumped the helmet visor. Pulling herself up to a sitting position, she saw that the tractor was stopped in front of the tempo and Doug was gone.

He must be inside with Gordette, she thought, suddenly alarmed. Quickly she searched around her seat for something that might be useful as a weapon. If there was a tool kit on the tractor, it wasn't in sight.

Empty-handed, she started to climb down to the ground. As she put one boot on the sandy regolith she saw a spacesuited figure march determinedly past her, past the other parked tractor, and away from the tempo. It wasn't Doug's suit, she knew.

Ignoring the distress signals her bladder was sending, Edith went to the open airlock hatch. Doug must be inside, she thought. It took an eternally long moment for her to find the instructions printed on the inner wall of the airlock, alongside the control keypad. Edith had to turn on her helmet light to read them.