Earth Afire (The First Formic War)

stopped beside him.
    Lem smiled at the boy, amused. “My goodness, but you are angry.”
    “I’m sorry, Mr. Montroose,” said one of the women. “I tried to get these two back to their shuttle, but they wouldn’t listen.”
    “What is the meaning of this?” demanded Felix, facing the boy. “Get out of here! You’ve been asked to leave.”
    The boy never took his eyes off Lem. “I paid to be here.”
    “And your money will be returned.” He waved his arms, as if shooing off a wild animal. “Now get out. Both of you. Leave Mr. Jukes alone.”
    The boy spoke directly to Lem. His voice was calm, but there was steel behind it. “I wouldn’t expect you to remember me, Lem. I doubt you got a good look at my face before you hit me.”
    Lem suddenly felt uneasy. There was something about this situation that didn’t sit well. “Mr. Montroose, will you and your employee please excuse us?”
    Felix looked at Lem with surprise. “Are you sure, Mr. Jukes? I can have this boy thrown out.”
    “Thank you, but that won’t be necessary. Some privacy is all we need.”
    Felix looked unsure, then motioned for the woman to follow him. They went out the way the boy had come in and sealed the door behind them.
    Lem regarded the boy and the woman with him. They were an odd pair. The woman was a few years older, though still quite young, midtwenties maybe, and ethnic, perhaps Native American. The boy was a Belter, no question.
    “You clearly know who I am,” said Lem. “But I don’t have the pleasure of knowing you.”
    The boy just stared, seething.
    “I’m Imala,” said the woman. “Imala Bootstamp. This is Victor Delgado.”
    The names meant nothing to Lem. “Victor, I think you may have me confused with someone else. I don’t hit people. Not in my nature. I don’t even know how to throw a punch.”
    “Not with your hand. With your ship. Asteroid 2002GJ166. Kuiper Belt. Ten months or so ago. You killed a man. This ringing a bell?”
    Lem felt the blood drain from his face.
    “You killed Marco. He was my uncle. He had a wife and children.”
    Lem’s mind was racing. He wanted to believe that this was blackmail somehow, that someone had heard about the bump with El Cavador , and that they were now trying to take Lem for money by acting like a member of the crew. Lem wished that were the case. Blackmailers he could handle. Chubs might even have a special treatment for them.
    But he knew it wasn’t true. The kid wasn’t lying. Lem could spot a dishonest person in a blink.
    But how was that possible? Lem had seen El Cavador destroyed. Every man on El Cavador had died in the assault on the Formic ship. Lem had watched it happen. The women and children had been placed on the WU-HU ship, but this kid wouldn’t have gone with them. He was too old. He would have stayed with the men. He was a man. He would have joined in the assault.
    And then Lem remembered. “You’re the one they sent. The one who was supposed to warn Earth.” Lem had dropped the suave exterior. Now he was panicked. “What the hell are you doing here? You should be on Luna or Earth. You should be telling them what we know, sharing the evidence. Why didn’t you push on?”
    The boy stared at him, confused now, his anger evaporated. “How do you know my family sent me?”
    “Because they told me. They told me they sent you in a quickship. I didn’t expect you to survive, quite frankly. I figured you were a lost cause. But you obviously made it. You shouldn’t be here, though. You should be home. You should’ve gone to my father.”
    “We did,” said Imala. “We saw your father. Victor’s evidence is why Ukko made the announcement.”
    Lem felt as if a hundred things were bouncing around in his head at once. “What announcement? What are you talking about?”
    “That the alien ship was coming,” said Imala. “It was your father who told the world and alerted STASA.”
    Of course, thought Lem. Father would pounce on something like this. It was the perfect opportunity to paint himself the hero and tout the company’s strength. Lem could almost picture Father all over the news feeds, humbly offering up all of Juke’s resources to “protect Earth from harm.”
    “When did my family tell you about me?” Victor said.
    It was then that Lem realized that Victor knew nothing about what had happened, which should have been immediately obvious to Lem. Of course Victor didn’t know. How could he? He had left before El Cavador