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past orbit, you can mind yammer all you want and I’ll be free to ignore you.”
    “Take the collar off, and I’ll speak.”
    “I don’t think so. I heard that lion-roar thing that you did inside the building. It made the trees shake. I don’t want to be deafened.”
    “I promise not to roar or harm you in any way, but please listen. It’s important.”
    “I’m supposed to trust you? Let’s be clear about one thing. You’re my payday. I need the money. Political sequester and other matters aside, you are a trespasser on private property. I’m going to drop you off on Penal Colony X57, and they can deal with you. Call your ambassador or do whatever you have to do, which at that point will be none of my business.”
    The pre-ignition switch received a harsh finger-jab and she watched in disappointment as the engines flared and then fizzled.
    “Damn! I knew it. I can’t even warm up the hover jets. Naveen’s autopilot has loaded me up with meta-viruses. I hate this!”
    “I can’t ask the Kironian ambassador for help because I am the Kironian ambassador.”
    “Excuse me. I need quiet. I have to electrically wipe and reset all the circuits and pray I remembered to set everything back in the proper sequence or else we are going to go kaboom when I hit the thruster jets on the edge of orbit. Do you understand?”
    “I’m very thirsty. May I have something to drink?”
    A twinge of guilt ripped through; she knew he was dehydrated.
    “I’m busy right now but as soon as we get out of orbit—I’ll serve cocktails.”
    “Cocktails? How do you drink them? In my earlier experiences with your language, I discovered a cock’s tail was a feathery protrusion from the posterior of a male bird. I do not understand how such an item might quench thirst.”
    “It’s going to be one of those days.” She sighed. “A cocktail might not be enough. Once I’m off duty, I’ll have to get a few shots in me.”
    He seemed shocked. “You want to be shot?”
    “No. It’s a saying.”
    “The force cuffs are hurting me. They’re too tight. The blood’s left my fingertips. You know I’m telling the truth.”
    Telepathically she did feel his pain, and her hands throbbed in sympathy. Gemmina turned from the control console and looked at his hands. The fingers were swollen and blue.
    “Oh, God.”
    She bolted out of the chair and hurried to him. “I’m going to deactivate the force cuffs.”
    His eyes flooded with emotion. “Thank you.”
    Damn it, why did he have to look at her like that?
    “I’m trying to be humane. I don’t need to judge you. I’m going to let someone else do that.”
    “I did not kill the people of Sarna.”
    “Someone did.”
    “It wasn’t me.”
    “Jason Naveen says differently. You’ll have a chance to defend yourself and contact your people. If your story checks out and you’re innocent, you’ll be immediately released to the Kironians with apologies, which is what I suspect will happen. I’ll get my fee, and everyone goes home happy.”
    “That won’t happen for me.”
    “Yes, it will. Everyone is walking on eggshells where the Kiron sector is concerned. No one wants to offend the Kironians or blow a potentially lucrative alliance. Trust me, it’s unlikely you’ll spend more than a day or two on X57.”
    “Do you know what cryptoerasing would do to me?”
    “Naveen mentioned a few things. I understood it was the selective eradication of deviant and violent behavior.”
    “It’s more than that. I overheard Naveen’s guards. The person undergoing cryptoerasing is reduced to a child-like state. All adult memories, drives, and desires are gone. He is alive but a large part of his personality and life history is destroyed.”
    “Is that true?”
    “It is true, and, once I’m cryptoerased, it won’t matter if I’m found innocent or not. I’ll have no memory of my adult life at all. Do you understand my life as a man will be over and can never be restored?”
    “Why does