Credit: Jamie Tufrey

There were stories. Every time a ship went dark the rumours flew. It didn't matter that there were a million stupid things you could do to get yourself killed out in the belt. People needed a bogey-man. The tales used to be about claim jumpers and pirates, but lately they were all about the bugs. The robots and their mysterious project on Ceres were like a shadow that darkened everything. Knowing that all human history was likely to change some time in the next few decades seemed to make everyone a little crazy.

Holden set the drill for the next cut. "How long?"

"Nav is guesstimating six hours."

"Then get your butt out here and help. We'll cut until whoever it is gets here. Then we'll see.

We were here first."

"Let's hope that matters to them."

"And I don't mind sharing. Plenty to go around."

"What if they don't feel the same way?"

"Then we play whatever hand we're dealt."

There was resignation in Asa's voice. "Ten million rocks out here and these idiots have to come for ours."

"And Ace?" Holden tried to sound casual, but wasn't sure he pulled it off.

"Maybe you should bring the plasma torch."

They cut as fast as they could without being reckless. Concentrating on high-yield clumps of oxides, they ignored spots that ordinarily they'd have milked for every last gram. They didn't even bother with the netting. Clouds of dust lingered around them. The refinery was running at the red line.

With an hour left, Holden pulled another platinum ingot out of the refinery and added it to the stack in the cargo hold. It looked to him like they were near break-even. Exhausted, he headed out for another cut.

"Damn!"

Holden stopped in the hatchway. "Will you stop already with the 'damns'?"

"This one's for real, Holden. Like damn-plus."

"What is it?"

"I've got an optical on our guest. It's a bug."

Holden rolled his eyes starward and wondered why the universe hated him.
He stifled a sob and pushed himself back out to the asteroid's surface.

"Did you hear me? We gotta go, buddy."

Holden trudged back to the dig site, feeling the resistance from his magboots. "It's not here yet." He angled the drill under a ledge left from his last cut.

"We should be packing."

He fired up the drill. "I'm not folding until I have to." Holden kept cutting. He chewed out two more chunks of oxide-bearing iron. Asa came and went, gathering lights and tools and hauling them back to the Aces. Somewhere along the line he'd given up talking. Holden noticed that the ore disappeared, though. Asa wasn't leaving money on the table.

"It's time." Asa waved a hand in front of Holden's faceplate and pointed.