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bare walls.
"Can't tell you what a pleasure it's been." Heath stood close to their
visitor. "Perhaps our paths may cross anew someday."
She smiled up at the tall, straight-backed old man. "I'd almost bet on it."
Heath beamed as she looked at the others. He would have been crushed to learn
that from the very first he had reminded Ashili not of a lover past or future,
but of her father. "You've all been so nice, so caring. I almost wish that& "
There was an odd undercurrent in her voice as the words trailed into
inaudibility.
"Wish what, dear?" Gelmann prompted.
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"Nothing. That I could spend more days like the last few, I guess." She
brightened. "I read somewhere that true humanity isn't reached until the age
of sixty."
Hawkins winked at her. "Experience counts for a lot, kiddo."
She had to grin. For the past week she'd felt as if she'd been pampered and
cared for by five grandparents. She was startled to realize how deeply the
experience had affected her.
"As per your instructions I have communicated with the small vessel." The
Autothor bobbed at Gelmann's shoulder. "They have responded and are presently
approaching the location of this airlock. I have opened the outer door."
"Let me talk to them." Ashili glanced to Heath for approval.
"Go ahead," he told her magnanimously. "Let them know that you're all right."
"Zabela Ashili." The azure ellipse kept the communication's volume modest.
"Are you& ?"
"Right here," she said brightly before the other could finish. "Fine and
healthy, thanks to my newfound friends. Who am I addressing?"
"Medtech Maje Praxedes, of the hospital cruiserOssain . With me is Medtech
Fraja Bassan and two pilot-navigators. We're all volunteers, and I can't tell
you how happy we are to find you alive. What happened to you?"
"My ship started coming apart around me, and these people had me rescued."
"Hadyou rescued?"
"By the artifact. There's some kind of highly active mobile communications
device on board, and it responds to their commands."
"Fascinating." There was a pause, then, "We're inside the indicated lock and
setting down. How do we proceed?"
Ashili turned to her escort. "Howdo we proceed?"
It was Gelmann who directed the Autothor. "Close the outer lock door and
pressurize the interior." She regarded the younger woman. "We'll start back to
the searoom. As soon as we're well on our way we'll direct the Autothor to
open the door here."
"You don't have to leave," Ashili protested. "Don't you want to meet my
friends? I know they'd be honored to meet
"It would be nice to have some new visitors," Iranaputra observed.
Gelmann gave him a severe look, turned to gaze regretfully at Ashili. "We
know nothing about your rescuers, dear. You should pardon my paranoid nature,
but I'd just feel more comfortable if we didn't expose ourselves to any
stran-gers, even a pair of medtechs. People are simply too interested in our
present situation."
"I know. It's only natural for you to be suspicious."
The Autothor conveyed a voice. It sounded impatient. "We're reading normal
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atmosphere outside our ship. Ashili?"
"Be just a moment," she said to the drifting ellipse. She turned back to
Gelmann. "I hope you understand, but I have to do it this way."
In one smooth motion she brought her left foot up toward her backside and
removed the heel of her boot. Her arm went around Mina Gelmann's throat as she
pressed the inner edge of the heel against the older woman's neck while
backing both of them against the nearby wall.
Gelmann struggled at first, then gave in as she felt the unexpected power of
the younger woman's forearm secure against her throat.
"I'm really sorry it has to be this way." Ashili's gaze darted from each of
the stunned old men to the next as she strove to watch all of them at once.
Shimoda looked stricken, while Heath seemed on the verge of tears. Iranaputra
was numb, while alone among them Hawkins wore the mordant, knowing expression
of a man who'd just had a lifetime of depressing encounters reconfirmed.
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