"Beth?"
No answer. Norman squinted at the boxes. There was lettering on them, but he could not read them at this distance. The sub had turned now, and was coming directly toward DH-8. The lights shone at him. It moved closer and the sensor alarms went off, clanging and flashing red lights. He hated these alarms, he thought, going over to the console, looking at the buttons. How the hell did you turn them off? He glanced at Harry, but Harry remained unconscious.
"Beth? Are you there? You set off the damn alarms."
"Push F8."
What the hell was F8? He looked around, finally saw a row of keys on the keyboard, numbered F1 to F20. He pushed F8 and the alarms stopped. The sub was now very close, lights shining into the porthole windows. In the high bubble, Beth was clearly visible, instrument lights shining up on her face. Then the sub descended out of view.
He went to the porthole and looked out. Deepstar III was resting on the bottom, depositing more boxes from its claw hands. Now he could read the lettering on the boxes:
CAUTION NO SMOKING NO ELECTRONICS TEVAC EXPLOSIVES
"Beth? What the hell are you doing?"
"Later, Norman."
He listened to her voice. She sounded okay. Was she cracking up? No, he thought. She's not cracking up. She sounds okay. I'm sure she's okay.
But he wasn't sure.
The sub was moving again, its lights blurred by the cloud of sediment churned up by the propellors. The cloud drifted up past the porthole, obscuring his vision.
"Beth?"
"Everything's fine, Norman. Back in a minute."
As the sediment drifted down to the bottom again, he saw the sub, heading back to DH-7. Moments later, it docked beneath the dome. Then he saw Beth climb out, and tether the sub fore and aft.
1100 HOURS
"It's very simple," Beth said.
"Explosives?" He pointed to the screen. "It says here, 'Tevacs are, weight for weight, the most powerful conventional explosives known.' What the hell are you doing putting them around the habitat?"
"Norman, take it easy." She rested her hand on his shoulder. Her touch was soft and reassuring. He relaxed a little, feeling her body so close.
"We should have discussed this together first."
"Norman, I'm not taking any chances. Not any more."
"But Harry is unconscious."
"He might wake up."
"He won't, Beth."
"I'm not taking any chances," she said. "This way, if something starts to come out of that sphere, we can blow the hell out of the whole ship. I've put explosives along the whole length of it."
"But why around the habitat?"
"Defense."
"How is it defense?"
"Believe me, it is."
"Beth, it's dangerous to have that stuff so close to us."
"It's not wired up, Norman. In fact, it's not wired up around the ship, either. I have to go out and do that by hand." She glanced at the screens. "I thought I'd wait a while first, maybe take a nap. Are you tired?"
"No," Norman said.
"You haven't slept in a long time, Norman."
"I'm not tired."
She gave him an appraising look. "I'll keep an eye on Harry, if that's what you're worried about."
"I'm just not tired, Beth."
"Okay," she said, "suit yourself." She brushed her luxuriant hair back from her face with her fingers. "Personally, I'm exhausted. I'm going to get a few hours." She started up the stairs to her lab, then looked down at him. "Want to join me?"
"What?" he said.
She smiled at him directly, knowingly. "You heard me, Norman."
"Maybe later, Beth."
"Okay. Sure."
She ascended the staircase, her body swinging smoothly, sensuously in the tight jumpsuit. She looked good in that jumpsuit. He had to admit it. She was a good-looking woman.
Across the room, Harry snored in a regular rhythm. Norman checked Harry's icepack, and thought about Beth. He heard her moving around in the lab upstairs.
"Hey, Norm?"
"Yes ..." He moved to the bottom of the stairs, looked up.
"Is there another one of these down there? A clean one?" Something blue dropped into his hands. It was her jumpsuit. "Yes. I think they're in storage in B."
"Bring me one, would you, Norm?"
"Okay," he said.
Going to B Cyl, he found himself inexplicably nervous. What was going on? Of course, he thought, he knew exactly what was going on, but why now? Beth was exerting a powerful attraction, and he mistrusted it. In her dealings with men, Beth was confrontational, energetic, direct, and angry. Seduction wasn't her method at all.
It is now, he thought, fishing a new jumpsuit out of the storage locker. He took it back to D Cyl and climbed the ladder. From above, he saw a strange bluish light.
"Beth?"
"I'm here, Norm."
He came up and saw her lying naked on her back, beneath a bank of ultraviolet sunlamps hinged out from the wall. She wore opaque cups over her eyes. She twisted her body seductively.
"Did you bring the suit?"
"Yes," he said.
"Thanks a lot. Just put it anywhere, by the lab bench."
"Okay." He draped it over her chair.
She rolled back to face the glowing lamps, sighed. "I thought I'd better get a little vitamin D, Norm."
"Yes ..."
"You probably should, too."
"Yeah, probably." But Norman was thinking that he didn't remember a bank of sunlamps in the lab. In fact, he was sure that there wasn't one. He had spent a lot of time in that room; he would have remembered. He went back down the stairs quickly.