You’ve got work to do, girl, she reminded herself sternly. Turning to the inner hatch, she could see all five of their faces clustered around the little circular port. None of them had the sense to find a radio, Pancho knew, so she gestured to her sealed helmet visor with a gloved finger. They all nodded vigorously and the guy with the fancy wristwatch held it up where Pancho could see it.

The others backed away from the port while the guy stared hard at his wristwatch.

He held up four fingers, then three…

Counting down, Pancho understood.

… two, one. He jabbed a finger like a make-believe pistol at Pancho, the signal that she was to lift her visor now.

Instead, Pancho launched herself out the airlock, into empty space.

LA GUAIRA

Martin Humphries looked irked. “What’s so funny about the Asteroid Belt?”

Dan shook his head. “Not funny, really. Just… I didn’t expect that from you.

You’ve got a reputation for being a hard-headed businessman.”

“I’d like to believe that I am,” Humphries said.

“Then forget about the Belt,” Dan snapped. “Been there, done that. It’s too far away, the costs would outweigh the profits by a ton.”

“It’s been done,” Humphries insisted.

“Once,” said Dan. “By that nutcase Gunn. And he damned near got himself killed doing it.”

“But that one asteroid was worth close to a trillion dollars once he got it into lunar orbit.”

“Yeah, and the double-damned GEC took control of it and bankrupted Gunn.”

“That won’t happen this time.”