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violence. And that, in and of itself, was dampening to say the very least.
    He paused when he reached the lock boxes that apparently held the construction tools and turned to look at her speculatively for several moments, as if weighing her usefulness. Finally, he picked up a coiled length of hose and handed it to her. It was heavy even with the lighter gravity.
    She didn’t object. She took it, waiting obediently while he pulled out a leather tool belt and fastened it around his waist. When he’d finished shoving hand tools into every loop on the belt, he took another length of hose, slung it on his own shoulder and then grabbed a power tool of some sort and a bucket that appeared to hold rivets. Turning without a word, he headed across the slab. Rhea followed him, wondering just how useful she was going to be.
    She didn’t even know what the tool was that he was carrying, let alone the purpose of it. He stopped beside a machine near one of the columns that had been setup to form a framework for the building that was being erected. Taking the hose she’d carried, he connected it to the machine and began to uncoil it toward a ladder leaning against the column.
    He climbed it, uncoiling the hose as he went.
    Rhea stayed where she was, tipping her head to watch his progress.
    When he’d reached the second level, he connected the hose he had over his shoulder to the first and then stared down at her.
    “Bring the rivets up.”
    Rhea felt her jaw slowly drift downward in surprise. He missed it. He’d already turned away and was walking along the beam above her head, unrolling the hose he was carrying.
    “Turn the air compressor on before you come up.”
    Rhea jumped when his voice, carried by the comm. unit built into her helmet, sounded in her ear. Glancing toward the machine after a moment, she moved slowly toward it and stared at it. There were gauges and buttons all over it and she had no idea what any of them were for.
    “It’s the switch that says ‘on/off’. Switch it to ‘on’.”
    Smartass! Rhea crouched to study the machine more closely and finally found the switch and flipped it. The machine came to life with a roar that startled her. She leapt back. Her heel connected with the bucket of rivets Raathe had set down when he’d connected the hose and she lost her balance, sitting down hard on top of the bucket.
    “I see you’ve identified the rivets. When you’re done resting, maybe you could bring them up so I can get started?”
    Amusement threaded his voice. Rhea felt her face heating with a mixture of embarrassment and irritation. Pushing herself to her feet, she grabbed the handle of the bucket and pulled. It was a lot heavier than she’d expected. Raathe had lifted it and carried it as if it hadn’t weighed anything. Grunting, she managed to lift it from the concrete slab and staggered toward the ladder. She stopped when she reached it, debating whether she actually wanted to climb the thing or not and whether there was any possibility that she could climb it with the bucket.
    She thought not.
    On the other hand, Raathe was on the second level and she was on the first … by herself—except for the hardened criminals walking around her looking at her like she was a particularly choice piece of steak. That reflection was enough to convince her to give it a try. Grasping the bucket handle again, she lifted it to the highest rung she could reach, balanced it and then climbed a couple of rungs. Bracing herself, she lifted the bucket to the next rung and inched up the ladder.
    She was nearly half way up when she felt the ladder shift. Her heart sprang into her throat, visions of slamming into the concrete below her with the heavy bucket of rivets directly behind her instantly leaping into her mind. A moment of vertigo swept over her before she realized the ladder wasn’t falling. Craning her neck around, she discovered a man on the ladder behind her.
    “I’ll carry that up.”
    She stared at him,