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“All right,” the Martian said

The filthy little half-step Brown had taken reaped its reward The Martian took a dedicated hand terminal from his pocket and held it out “Take a look at this See what you make of it”

Brown snapped it up “I will have a reaction prepared, sir,” he said, as if he were tea-bearded captive in a paper suit

“Can we have copies?” Quintana asked

I was going to add uard cut me short “One trade, one terminal Sus no neccesar”

The Martian turned to leave, but Quintana surged forward “If you need soht person He was only tea to administration If he’d been a better mind, they’d have kept hi inthe words saved ht, turned, and sank the butt of his rifle into Quintana’s gut, folding hi of the violence, but he did not speak as the guards led hi and his face flushed, half-ran and half-strutted to the hotel, the hand terminal clutched to his chest Triumph and fear widened his eyes Quintana retched, and I stood over hi The others watched from all around the roolass staring down at us At me

Quintana had made a mistake, and one I would have ment—capricious as it was—into question He’d tried to take a position of authority ere all here specifically because we had no authority Seeing that was like reotten

One trade, one ters tofor either our freedom or possession of us, and second, that only one of us would be required Needless to say, I determined in that moment that the traded prisoner would be me

“Coht Coet washed up” I let theet back to the Martian that one of the three was a team player, the kind of man who helped someone when they were down Quintana, I felt sure, had lost his chance Brown, by having the hand terminal and whatever was on it, was ahead I didn’t see yet how to arrange things so that I could gain the advantage, but si up after a long and torpid sleep

Brown didn’t leave the hotel for the rest of the day, and while he did venture out when the guards brought our evening rations, he sat apart, the hand terlowered at him from under storm cloud brows and I kept my own counsel, but the effect of the day’s actions ell beyond the three of us Everyone in the room buzzed There was no other subject of conversation Mars kneere here, and asof us Or at least of one of us It changed everything from the taste of the food to the sound of our voices

Keep a h food and water to live, and then—just for a ht We were all that man, stunned and confused and elated and afraid The numbness of captivity fell away for a few hours, and we lived that time deeply and desperately

After theinto it so that no one could sneak up behind hih , drinking enough water that I would not wake thirsty before the lights cahttime came, I was curled in ainst my own Brohose movements I had become profoundly aware of, relow of the terht I had fooled Alberto until he spoke

“And so they’ve thrown us the apple, eh?”

“The fruit of knowledge,” I said, but I had misunderstood which apple he meant

“Worse than that, the golden one,” he said “Private property Status Now it’s all going to be about fighting over who’s the prettiest one, and ill come out of it”