CRYOGEN, MARS

The fading light from the ocean horizon coming through the window left enough to see by what when emergency wall lights, with their own battery reserve power, abruptly came on. Jem glanced at the house security panel, where the words 'Power Source Interruption' flashed on the screen. For some unknown reason electrical power had been cut. Jem assumed it was a neighborhood transformer. Mimi asked, "Brown outs?" There was no sense of surprise to her tone. "It happens. Looks like we don't watch a show." Mimi giggled, "You weren't going to watch very long, anyway." She left the table, putting the can of traxel meat back in the refrigerator, then proceeded to the couch to snuggle next to him. A rapping at the door disturbed Jem's rising erotic desire for Mimi. "Damn. Must be the neighbors checking the power problem." The security cameras had lost power, too. At the front door a man's silhouette was outlined on the opaque glass. No power, no intercom. Mimi, noticing the shadow, withdrew from her host. "I'll find a robe in the bedroom." She backed away from the modular sofa. When Jem opened the door he was surprised to meet a large, unfamiliar man dressed in a Space Force officer's pressure suit. The face was covered with a closed, darkened helmet faceplate. "May I help you?" Without saying a word, the visitor slugged Jem in the stomach. Instantly Jem folded over, coughing out with abrupt pain. As he folded over, a second fist hit the side of his head. Consciousness was gone. He fell limp to the floor. The pain was terrible. Mimi's screams were reviving his awareness. Intermittent with her voice were the thumping sounds of something hitting her. Opening his eyes, he rolled his head to see. The pressure suited intruder, with one hand clasping Mimi's hair, was viciously beating her with some type of club. Jem's vision was too blurred to distinguish precise details. He tried to lift himself off the floor, yelling, "No, leave her alone." The intruder dropped Mimi. She rolled to the floor, and began crawling away. Without speaking, the stranger in the Space Force pressure suit returned to Jem, and with a swift kick, connected with his side. Ribs cracked under the blow. He fell against a wall. A second kick hit Jem's head, and again he lost consciousness. Everything hurt. His ribs, his back, his face. Was he going to throw up? His mouth tasted the blood from a split lip. A broken tooth ached with a sharp pain. Jem tried to move his hands. He was bound to someone. He opened his eyes. Mimi, pressed against him, was unconscious. There was a breeze. There was moonlight. They were on the yacht. Shore lights were visible in the distance. He tried to focus on Mimi's face. Her eyes and nose were swollen. Why was this happening? He tried to look beyond Mimi. The pressure suited man was approaching, this time without the helmet. He was familiar, but Jem was not positive who he was. The man disappeared. Something started lifting him by the ropes that bound him to Mimi. Who was it? He could not see. Did this have to do with the manifest that had everyone so disturbed? He had signed it without an inspection because Chang asked him to. It was ordered by Burns Supply... by Jutt Bristol. Jutt Bristol died a few weeks ago in Cryogen. Was this attack because of Bristol? Whoever was picking him up said nothing. The man was strong, lifting two bound people completely off the deck. As suddenly as he had been lifted, he was dropped; not to the boat deck, but just beyond into the cold waters. He swallowed a mouthful of salty seawater before bobbing back to the surface. He spit out the water, then yelled, "No, don't kill us." Mimi moaned incoherently, also coughing out seawater. The cold bath had revived her. A second splash caught his ear. He tried to look around. Ropes binding his legs abruptly tightened, and then pulled him, along with Mimi beneath the surface. Holding his breath as long as he could, he fought to live as he descended through the black ocean to the seafloor. He kept asking himself, "Why?" He could hold his breath no longer.