Part 2

The woman was pale and frightened. One of the men stared through a porthole. "Look at it back there," he exclaimed. "It looks like it's going to--"

"Attention all lifecraft pilots," a loudspeaker said. "Rendezvous at a point within one thousand yards of lifecraft number one. Distress signals have been sent to the outer planets of Sol and help will arrive shortly. Follow this beam." The message was repeated and then replaced by a humming sound.

The pilot switched off the sound.

George said, "Hadn't you--" and then he stopped.

The pilot got up from his seat. There was a gun in his hand. "The signal won't be necessary," he said calmly. "None of you aboard this ship will be rescued."

Silvia bit her lip, hesitating. Then she said, "I've changed my mind, the deal's off."

The man smiled. "A contract is a contract, Mrs. Bennet," he said. "Besides, we've gone too far now with plans to turn back."

George was staring at her in disbelief. "Silvia, you mean that you--"

"I'll explain later," she told him.

"The time for explanations," the man said, "is right now. There will be no 'later' for any of you. What your wife means, Mr. Bennet, is just what you suspect. And what your husband is trying to say, Mrs. Bennet, is that _he_ arranged a similar contract with me as did these other people."

Silvia felt a chill pass through her at the words. George, she thought, George was planning to--

"I was desperate," George cried, beside her, his eyes pleading. "I was afraid that once we got a divorce you'd tell them about me. But I couldn't go through with it, Silvia: that's what I meant when I said I'd changed my mind."

She listened numbly.

"An interesting situation," the man smiled, "but it's much too late for anybody to change his mind. At your deaths, the organization will collect ten percent of your insurance benefits, plus the insurance covering passengers killed as a result of a spaceship explosion."

"Spaceship explosion," one of the male passengers said, coming out of a lethargy, "but there's been no--"

"Look," another cried, pointing to a porthole.

They looked, and the _Arcturus Queen_ burst into flame, erupting with a great soundless explosion that sent metal splinters flying in all directions.

The man smiled again, a smile of satisfaction, of knowing his plans were ripening. "The _Arcturus Queen_ was insured by the owner, who needed money. We take ten percent from him, a nominal fee considering the risk involved."

"And what of us?" one of the men passengers demanded.

The man shrugged. "Each of you is married to someone who prefers your insurance money to your companionship. Not a very satisfying thought, is it?"

The woman began to cry softly.

"You'll never get away with this," another of the men said, fists clenching.

"Can you think of any reason why not?" the man said, fondling the weapon in his hand.

I can, Silvia thought; George and I aren't getting caught in our own traps if I can help it. If I can only tilt the ship, get him off balance--

Slowly, she edged toward the control panel, signaling George with a careful nod of her head. George caught the signal, and she could see him tense.

"We're wasting time," the man said, a trifle impatiently. He readied the gun. "If there are no last questions--"

Silvia made a sudden thrust for the control panel.

* * * * *

The man whirled, cursing, and brought the gun to bear on her. But George was on him, gripping the man by the throat. The gun went off, and a searing blast of flame filled the lifecraft.

"The wall!" someone cried.

Silvia looked up. The wall of the lifecraft hung suspended for a moment like some great jigsaw puzzle where the gun's blast had struck it. And then it fell apart, blowing outward with the hurricane of the cabin's air leaping into space.

Instinctively, Silvia slammed shut the glass on her faceplate and tried to grab some solid support. But a giant hand lifted her from the floor and whisked her out into the blackness of the void. Weightlessness came with terrifying suddenness, and at first it was like falling through black silent endless waters. She tried to scream, but the sound refused to come out.

She called George's name several times and then remembered the radio and turned the activating knob. "George," she said. "I'm outside the lifecraft. Can you see me?"

No answer came. Space was a velvet black out here, the stars gleaming points. She had no sensation of movement, but twisting her head in the helmet, she could see the lifecraft becoming smaller. Her heart sank with the knowledge that inertia was pulling her out, out farther and farther into space.

_He's not coming after me_, she thought suddenly, and the thought terrified her, made her throat suddenly tight. _Even if he hears, he won't come._

Around her, space drifted--dark, silent, limitless. Ahead, a great nebula glowed.

"I'm sorry," she said slowly to herself. "I suppose I deserve it."

"Probably," George's voice came in her helmet, "but I'm coming after you anyway. Everybody's okay on this end, except our insurance man who couldn't get his helmet on in time; it seems my hands were somehow in the way."

Her heart leaped at his voice. "Do you still love me, George?" she asked. Somehow, that mattered more than anything else.

"I don't know," he said wearily, "I don't really know."

"Can't we try again?" she pleaded.

"I'm sick of trying," George said.

Her heart sank. She drifted through space watching the lifecraft bear down upon her. In a few seconds it would be close enough, so that the braking rockets--

"George!" she cried. "You're coming too close. I'll be burned by the braking rockets!"

"Accidents happen," George told her.

She screamed.

The lifecraft turned aside then, and long fingers of flame shot past her from the forward tubes. The ship drifted alongside her then, and all jets were cut.

She breathed sudden relief. "Thank goodness. For a few seconds there...."

"It was a bad few seconds for both of us," George told her. "Don't tempt me again, Silvia."

He appeared at the gaping hole in the lifecraft, a rope in his hands.

"I won't, George," she promised. "We'll try again; this time we'll _really_ try."

He tossed her the rope. She grabbed it and began the descent to the ship. When he pulled her inside it was like being born again.

And somehow, she knew this new life would be different.