Hysterical laughter filled the scraper. Lily's laughter.

"Oh, my God," she uttered in the midst of her fit, "can you really not move?"

Vlex's brow crinkled. "It would seem so."

Veeing her arms, Lily punched her fists into the air and cheered. She did it. She did the tertiary hold when it really, really mattered. The escalating thrum of the charging fade field dimmed the afterglow of her triumph. She had to terminate the launch sequence then she could bask more. Cackling, she pushed herself up along the wall.

The chamber wavered when Lily stood. She put a hand to her forehead and waited out the head-rush. Using the wall for support, she tottered to the navigation alcove. Control clusters winked at her. She found the one Vlex used to generate the fade field for the void shunt. The last time he terminated the sequence she paid attention. Patterns and colors were easy for her to remember. Implementing the deactivation sequence was simple.

Lily touched one of the motes on the correct cluster and tried sweeping it to the right place. The light wouldn't move. She tried again with a different mote. That one stuck in place too.

"What's wrong with this stupid thing?"

"My scraper responds only to me," Vlex said. He turned his head—the one part of him not paralyzed—in her direction. "The system is DNA synched to me."

Right. Reesa and Vortrand told her that.

"Shit!" Lily hollered. "Now what?" She chewed the fingers of her barriersuit's glove while she mumbled to herself.

"Now, we wait for the shunt to suck us in and deposit us at my plotted checkpoint. If I'm not mobile by that time we will be boarded, I will be recognized, and we will be escorted to my dysonaught."

Hands clamped over Lily's ears. She would not listen. There had to be something else she could do. Something she hadn't thought of. Her talk-round popped. Hands lowered. A burst of static blasted from the speaker/receiver along with a blip of sound. She hit the captain's private channel button.

"Vortrand? Hello? Vortrand!"

Static answered her. Lily wandered around the scraper and repeated her page, searching out a clear transmission point if one existed.

"Are you there?" She called out over the 'rounds a final time.

"Ab—" A pop of interference cut off the rest of the word. Lily tilted her arm at a different angle. "Abadie? Abadie, are you getting this?"

"Yes, yes!" Lily laughed, jumping while tears welled in her eyes then stopped when she remembered what she'd done to Reesa and the rest of the crew. "I...I thought you were going to turn me over. I thought Luthe was going—"

"I understand why you did what you did. We'll sort it later. What's the Utori's status?"

"Incapacitated."

A pause, then, "I see. Did you shoot him in the back of the head too?" Sarcasm saturated the captain's question.

"I used...yes, I used the L-Striker. He didn't think I had it in me to shoot anyone."

"Now we all know differently."

Lily made a face then swallowed. "I can't stop the scraper's launch sequence. The ship's controls only work for Vlex."

"Can you get any of his DNA?"

"Ummm..." Lily pivoted Vlex's way and hobbled over. Squatting at the commander's side, she inspected his chest and the side of his head where the liquis round grazed him. Nothing broke his tough skin. Eyes went to his mouth. Saliva. Searum. Fingers reached for his lips. Vlex chomped his bear trap jaws at her.

"I dare you," he said, that menacing hiss rising from his throat.

Arm retracted. Was there something less hazardous she could...Lily's gaze wandered to Vlex's crotch and lingered there. A soft growl rumbled from the commander's mouth.

"That would almost be worth it," he said.

Lily gusted out a yeah, right sound and paged the captain.

"I can't get any."

"What about his hands?" Vortrand asked. "Where is he in the ship? Near the alcove?"

"He's by the entry hatch."

"Can you move him?"

With a hold of Vlex's arms, Lily heaved, but couldn't budge the Utori shaped ton of dead weight. Sitting, she panted over the 'rounds. "I can't move him. I, I guess I'm trapped."

From the sound of it the scraper was about ready to drop into the shunt. The hum of the fade field generator almost drowned out the captain's transmission.

"You said he's by the entry hatch. Do you see a handle there?"

Lily did. It wasn't far away and that's what she told Vortrand.

"Can you get the Utori's hand around it? If you can a series of controls will activate. Get him to touch any of them and the hatch will open. You can jump out before the scraper drops into the void shunt."

Jump? Out there? Into space?

"But there's no air or anything," Lily said. "I'll die the cezin the hatch opens."

"The resnance chip will keep you alive. In low orbit you'll have three peccards of recycle time. More than enough time for us to lasso you into the manta."

Lily hugged herself. Giving her own death serious thought made her sick and a little lightheaded and more than a little afraid. If she stayed aboard the scraper she would live. Her home would be a cell. Earth would be subject to Utori rule if any of it survived first contact and maybe one day Vlex would tire of her and let her free on her scorched baseworld. But she would live.

You can't do that to all of them, a small voice inside her said.

"Fuck." Lily snarled and clenched her fists. After two beats she paged Vortrand. "Ok, see you in a cez."

"Make sure you have your barriersuit helmet on," Vortrand said then said no more.

Taking a shaky breath, Lily grasped Vlex's wrist.

"Don't do this, Lily," the commander said as she circled his fingers around the entry hatch's handle. The control motes appeared like Vortrand said they would. She didn't say anything to the Utori so he kept talking. "You'll have the recycle time with your resnance chip, but your barriersuit can't keep you from freezing to death. And it won't be instantaneous. You'll have a number of cezins to feel yourself dying."

"Which one of the controls gives me the most time for the hatch to open?"

"That blue one on the end."

Lily touched his fingertip to that control. An alarm went off. Hands shook as she searched for her helmet pack.

"Secure me, please," Vlex said. Worms of the commander's damaged slicksuit crawled from the trouser portion of it that remained. The suit reformed over his torso and chest.

"What?"

"I'd rather not be sucked out the hatch with you. There are tethers in the back. If you tie me to those cargo loops there I'd be ever so grateful." He meant the half circles of dakolite attached to the scraper's wall. Following his direction, she found the tethers and bound him tight to the ship.

"Lily," Vlex said when she clipped the final tether to the cargo loop, "it would be a miracle should you survive this."

Black eyes reflected Lily's blank expression.

"Miracles happen everyday," she said, then stared at the helmet sandwiched in her palms. Standing before the entry hatch, she positioned the protective gear at the top of her head.

"Lily."

She turned. Oily slugs that formed Vlex's helmet slithered up his cheeks and chin.

"We're not done with each other. Not nearly done." Vlex's sealing helmet cut off the end of his last word.

Lily shoved her own helmet down and fastened it into place."Good luck with that."

The entry hatch opened. Depressurization sucked her from the ship. Aleph-Three and the starry voidscape rotated in her field of vision. Gusts of her breath were the only sounds. The air was too thin. Heart struggled to pump. The cold was so cold it burned. She screamed. She couldn't help it. Could she possibly stand this for even half a peccard?

Half a cezin after the thought crossed her mind Lily blacked out.