g.

* * * * *

It took only minutes for dawn to become day on Mars, and the sun was
lighting up the messy section of back street when Bruce Gordon's eyes
opened and the pain of sight struck his aching head. He groaned, then
looked frantically for the puff of escaping air. But his suit was still
sealed. Ahead of him, the kid lay sprawled out, blood trickling from an
ugly bruise along his jaw.

Then Gordon felt something on his suit, and his eyes darted to hands
just finishing an emergency patch. His eyes darted up and met those of
the blonde vixen!

Amazement kept him motionless for a second. There were tears in the eyes
of the girl, and a sniffling sound reached him through her Marspeaker.
Apparently, she hadn't noticed that he had revived, though her eyes were
on him. She finished the patch, and ran perma-sealer over it. Then she
began putting her supplies away, tucking them into a bag that held notes
that could only have been stolen from his pockets--her share of the
loot, apparently.

He was still thinking clumsily as she got to her feet and turned to
leave. She cast a glance back, hesitated, and then began to move off.

He got his feet under him slowly, but he was reviving enough to stand
the pain in his head. He came to his feet, and leaped after her. In the
thin air, his lunge was silent, and he was grabbing her before she knew
he was up.

She swung with a single gasp, and her hand darted down for her knife,
sweeping it up and toward him; he barely caught the wrist coming toward
him. Then he had her firmly, bringing her arm back and up, until the
knife fell from her fingers.

She screamed and began writhing, twisting her hard young body like a boa
constrictor in his hands. But he was stronger. He bent her back over his
knee, until a mangled moan was coming from her speaker; then his foot
kicked out, knocking her feet out from under her. He let her hit the
ground, caught both her wrists in his, and brought his knee down on her
throat, applying more pressure until she lay still. Then he reached for
the pouch.

"Damn you!" Her cry was more in anguish then it had been when he was
threatening to break her back. "You damned firster, I'll kill you if
it's the last thing I do. And after I saved your miserable life...."

"Thanks for that," he grunted. "Next time don't be a fool. When you kill
a man for his money, he doesn't feel very grateful for your reviving
him."

He started