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very good plan, Margo knew. It would have been a better one if they’d roughed her up a bit first, or cut off her pinky toe like she’d suggested (“It grows all wrong, anyway. And it’s not like I’m using it.”) But even Kell had been too pussy to do it. She hoped the dustpan looked like a horrible enough place that it would still be believable. It was too late to reconsider.
    The com-link connected on the third try, and the other ship picked up.
    “You are speaking to a representative of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force. Please identify yourself.”
    Rumer was ready with the apple sack over his head. “I am what you might call an independent profiteer looking to do some business. If you would, please inform Secretary Glass that we have her precious little daughter, and are interested in discussing the terms under which she may be returned in one piece.”
    The man on the other end paused, and went pale. “One moment. Don’t do anything. One moment.”
    “Don’t take too long, now.”
    The man disappeared for what seemed like a very long time. Margo wiggled against her ropes so that at the very least her wrists would have rope marks on them.
    The man reappeared. “We need to see her before anything can be discussed.”
    “You know we have her,” said Rumer. “She’s got a chip. We found it. Would you like to learn how?”
    The man set his mouth, calmly obstinate. “If you want to move forward, put her on the com, and let me speak to her.”
    “Assholes,” Margo muttered. “I could be dying right now.” But she whipped up some shuddering breaths and let Rumer throw her against the terminal.
    “Please!” she screamed. “Please it’s me! Tell my mother it’s me!” She didn’t know the man on the com, and she hoped he knew her only by sight.
    “Calm down. Calm down, now. You’re going to be all right. Who are these men? What are they doing to you?”
    Rumer piped in loudly. “Wrong question, G-man.” Margo winced as though he’d tightened the ropes.
    “I don’t know who they are, they never take off the sacks,” said Margo, feeling the blood pound in her ears. “They boarded our ship, and they… everyone … so they took a bunch of stuff, and they took me. They want money. That’s all they want, and then they’ll let me go. Tell my mom… seventy-five thousand. In credits. Tell her.”
    “Alright,” said the man. “Alright, we’ll tell her, Miss, stay calm. We’re doing everything we can.” The man shifted to try to get another look at Rumer, just out of frame, and then disappeared.
    “We should’ve asked for more,” muttered Kell.
    “You should’ve roughed me up,” said Margo.
    “Shut up, children,” said Rumer.
    The com crackled in the silence, picking up no conversation on the other end.
    “He’s not goin’ for it.” Kell rubbed his eye. “We should’ve asked for a lot more. No one lets a piece like her go for under ninety thousand.”
    “Oh, they’ll round it up to a nice even hundred for us when they put it to the secretary.” Rumer didn’t take his eyes from the screen. “They wouldn’t go for this if they couldn’t take something off the top.”
    “And this way, they’ll think it was their idea,” said Margo proudly.
    Kell scowled at her.
    The man on the com returned. “We’ve spoken to Secretary Glass. She’ll pay. Clear your bridge. We’ll send someone over shortly to make the trade.”
    Margo swallowed the bile in her throat. “NO!… no, you can’t. If you send someone over here, they’ll kill me! I don’t want to die, please, don’t make me die!” It surprised her how easily the whimpering came from her throat.
    “Calm down, Miss. Miss? Please calm down.” The man seemed more rattled by her hysterics than by the situation itself. “What does he want us to do?”
    “You have to send the credits directly using the ship’s AT, and then they’ll send me in the shuttle. That’s what he says. Just do what he says. Please!”
    Then