byBarstac walked the mile across the red Martian plain. He felt but little emotion as he reached the resort building, and the sports rockets waiting on the other side. He had to get one of those rockets and get to Deimos—or die trying. One would be about as good as the other.
Then a slight tension grew in his stomach and sweat began to run down under his helmet and pressure suit, down his sharp nose and the burned face, as he started directly for the sports rockets.
He saw no one at all at first, then the gray-and-black-uniformed cop not ten feet away. The cop’s helmet tilted and curious eyes studied Barstac. Barstac didn’t wait for any further reaction; his face pulled into a tight scarred grin as he fired. The kinetic energy release burned away the side of the cop’s head. A scream floa
