Free Angel of Europa by Allen Steele

his mouth to speak. Before he could say anything, though, she slid her arms around his neck and, standing on her toes, planted her lips firmly against his. Her mouth was as soft as it had been in the airlock, but this time the kiss lasted much longer. He could the warm, supple strength of her body, and when he placed his hands upon her waist, a single touch was all it took to confirm his suspicion that she was naked beneath the T-shirt.
    “I was hoping you’d come to see me,” Evangeline whispered as she pulled her face away. “I owe you something.”
    “Evangeline …”
    “No. Enough talk.”
    Resting a hand against his chest, she gently pushed him backward. Even though it had been nearly a week since he’d been revived from hibernation, Danzig was still too weak to resist; the firm but insistent pressure was all it took to make him fall back upon her bed. Its covers had already been pulled aside. In the next instant, Evangeline was on top of him, her legs straddling his body as she reached down to rip open his shirt. Then, as she placed her hands on either side of his shoulders, she descended upon him, her long brown hair falling down around her face as her eager mouth found his own.
    Danzig didn’t love her, and he knew that she didn’t love him. This was a transaction as pragmatic as the payment of a bribe, with flesh as the preferred currency. The sex was dishonest, but it was all too tempting to believe the lie. It had been a long while — too long, really — since the last time he’d been with a woman, and it would be easy to let her take him.
    All he had to do was forget what he knew. But he couldn’t. When she sat up to remove her shirt, he finally had a chance to speak.
    “Why did you murder them … and try to kill me, too?”
    Evangeline had lifted her T-shirt enough for him to see her naked thighs and the bottom of her breasts. She froze, her hands still grasping the shirt’s hem.
    “You killed Klaus and John,” he went on, trying not to look at her body. “I know that now, even if I didn’t before.” He paused. “You also attempted to kill me, back when you voided the main airlock while I was inside. I don’t have a good memory of what happened … the doctor says it’s because of shock … so I didn’t catch on to what you did. But now I know better.”
    “Otto …” Letting her shirt drop, she stared at him in disbelief. “How can you say that? You saw the pseudocetacean for yourself. You know it exists …”
    “Yes, I do … but that’s really beside the point, isn’t it?” He shook his head. “Or maybe it isn’t. I had the whole thing mixed up. The creature wasn’t your alibi … it was your motive, the reason why you decided to murder Connick and Werner.”
    Danzig felt an involuntary shudder pass through her body. Her mouth twisted as if she was trying to find something to say, but he wouldn’t let her interrupt him “With them out of the way,” he went on, “you won’t have to share credit for its discovery. Oh, the textbooks will probably mention them, but once we’re back home, you’ll be the one who stands to gain the most. There’ll be a lot of fame coming to the person … the living person, that is … who discovered the first alien, and a lot of money to go with it. You knew this would happen. That’s why you killed them.”
    Evangeline shook her head. “I don’t … I didn’t …”
    “Oh, yes, you did. You practically said so yourself, while we were making the dive.” Danzig gazed up at her, searching for her eyes amid the shadows of her hair. “I almost didn’t remember it. Maybe I really wanted you to be innocent. But when Dylan told me what I hadn’t know before, that you’d let him know that I was in the airlock … that’s when I realized that what happened to me wasn’t an accident at all. You’d opened the outer hatch while I was in the airlock, but then Dylan ran into you as you were leaving the deck and so you had no choice but to