Gray shook his head and decided not to mention Susan again. Bester didn’t have to know about his personal life, although he might have already found out about his crush on Susan during that unexpected mind-scan. Well, thought Gray, he was on a new assignment and headed back to B5, and that was all that was important.

The young man chanced another look out the window. Half of the hotel on the great ridge was illuminated again, which was encouraging. The emergency systems and airlocks must have kicked in. Best of all, thought Gray, the voices had died to a whimper.

“Do you think the Mars separatists did that?” he asked softly.

“Who else?”

“I wonder how many people died in that explosion?” Gray mused.

Bester closed his eyes. “I counted twenty-six.”

Chapter 2

“27 Perish in Mars Hotel Bombing!” exclaimed the banner headline in the Universe Today newspaper.

Talia Winters paused in her stroll down the mall to stare at the newspaper displayed on the newsstand of a small gift shop. The statuesque blonde only had to glance at the first few paragraphs to know that her all-expenses-paid trip to Mars was in serious jeopardy.

The report began:

“The Royal Tharsis Lodge in Central Mars was the target of a terrorist bombing early this morning, in which 27 people, mostly hotel employees, died. Authorities have yet to make an arrest, but a previously unknown terrorist organization has claimed responsibility.

“The organization, calling themselves Free Phobos, issued a communiquй saying that the purpose of the bombing was to prevent a scheduled conference of Psi Corps officials at the hotel. A Psi Corps spokesperson said the hotel was only one of several facilities under consideration.

“Authorities believe the attack was made overland, because suspicious tracks were found on Tharsis Rise.”