Free Diamonds in the Sky by Ed. Mike Brotherton Page B

dark-skinned man in a Reege lab coat paused in the doorway, frowning. “See what happens when you don’t wait long enough? Sit down.”

    Shaking his head, Meyer refused. “I’m okay now,” he wheezed. “Where am I?”

    The medtech pointed to the window. “Look.”

    Stumbling over, Meyer looked outside at the reddish-orange desert landscape. Mars, probably the Victoria Crater, judging by the view. Every schoolchild had memorized that crater, since it was near the site of Earth’s first off-world colony.

    That explained the plus-sized biobod. The Mars gravity and pressure were similar to Mercury’s, but without the temperature extremes — merely 140 below on the South Pole’s winter ice cap to a pleasant 20 above in summer up north. Because of the planet’s tilt and lopsided orbit, the seasons got milder the farther north you went. Near equatorial Victoria Crater was practically idyllic for Mars — bearable temperatures and interesting views.

    “Mr. Reege is waiting,” the medtech said drily, and led the way out the door and around the perimeter of a large round room where several other medtechs busied themselves. “It’s mostly carbon dioxide here, like Venus — didn’t you come from there just now? — but here we can get oxygen and small amounts of nitrogen from the atmo, too, so we can recycle our air.”

    “What? No green Martian bodies here?”

    The medtech’s face contorted, confused. “Why would there be — oh! You saw the Martians, didn’t you?”

    Meyer grinned.

    “Those are actually based on a
working
design we use here. Oh, don’t you raise an eyebrow at me! They’re up at the North Pole, where there’s plenty of ice we can melt.” The medtech headed down a hallway nearly opposite the squisher recovery room.

    “So, there really
are
little green men on Mars?”

    Laughing, the medtech corrected, “
Big
green men.” He turned a corner and knocked on a plain metal door, then opened it.

    Reege stood by a window. He turned as Meyer entered.

    Meyer sighed, and quizzed him as he had the other two. “If you’re going to stick me like the others, just do it now,” he said tiredly after a swallow of water the medtech had offered him before leaving. Meyer sat down.

    “No, we drug the water instead,” Reege said with a straight face, then chuckled. “Just kidding; it’s safe.” He turned his head and stared out the window.

    “Is there
really
an imposter, Mr. Reege?”

    Reege walked to the door. “No tricks, Meyer. Come with me.” He left abruptly.

    Meyer followed quickly, but struggled to catch up to Reege through frequent twists and turns down labyrinthine hallways. At last, Meyer found Reege waiting by an open door.

    “In here,” Reege said and slipped inside. “Close the door behind you. This is just between us.”

    Once closed in, Meyer eyed Reege suspiciously. “I don’t trust you.”

    “That’s okay;
I
trust
you
— that’s why you were hired for this task.” Reege sighed. “Could you take a seat over there, please? This … procedure will only take a moment.”

    Meyer hesitated.

    “I assure you, you’ll be out of here in no time at all. Put on that headset by the chair.”

    Still suspicious, Meyer settled into the seat and donned the headset.

    * * *

    Squish
.

    Meyer fought the urge to escape this time; he waited for the inevitable arrival of a medtech to escort him to Reege.

    “Jupiter, I presume,” he croaked.

    “No,” giggled a statuesque blonde woman, looking straight off Malibu beach. “We can’t make biobods for the gas giants! You’re on one of a few dozen observation stations in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Reege squished in earlier to meet you.” She huffed and glanced at the door.

    Meyer stood. “Shall we go?”

    Navigating the curved hallways in the wagon-wheel space station to a transport tube that would take them across the spokes to the other side, Meyer chatted with the blonde medtech. Spinning at