The Iron Maiden Read Online Free PDF Page B

put her helmet next to his, so they could talk, and said “Jupiter rings!”
    Like the rings of Saturn, only smaller and dirtier. He smiled.
    Then they reloaded the empty tank and bolted it back in place. They did the others similarly. The job become tedious, and that gave her time to think, and she remembered how much they had lost: their home back on Callisto, the life of their father, and the honor (or whatever) of their mother. Certainly of their sister. Suddenly it overwhelmed her, and she began to cry. She had been doing more of that recently than she liked, but couldn't help it. Hope understood; he crossed to her and put his suited arm around her for a moment, and it did make her feel better.
    They resumed working, getting the job done tank by tank. Until they got close to where the bagged bodies were tied. Then Hope somehow got tangled up with one, and struggled with it briefly. Spirit watched with bemused horror, uncertain what to do. It was almost as if the corpse were alive. Then Hope lay still.
    She went over to him--and heard something through the hull. Screaming--someone was screaming. Then she saw into Hope's faceplate. He was screaming. Just lying there with his eyes closed and screaming.
    She beckoned to Helse. Helse came carefully around, and they managed to disentangle Hope from the bagged corpse and drag him around to the entrance port. The few remaining refuse tanks could wait; they had done most of the job already. What had happened to Hope?
    They wrestled him inside the lock, and the women helped them get inside. There they removed their suits, and the women removed Hope's suit. He seemed to be all right, just unconscious. He must have overstrained himself working on the locks; he had after all been doing most of the work, and he had not been eating any better than the rest of them.
    He revived. They talked to him. It took some time for them to get his story. It turned out that he had had a vision. He had talked to their father, who had told him there was food available, and extended his hand, saying “Here.” But the hand was empty.
    The women considered that. They sent Hope to their chamber along with Spirit and Helse, and consulted among themselves. Hope fell asleep, and they watched over him. “What do you think happened?” Spirit asked.
    “He had a vision of some sort,” Helse said. “It must have gotten really bad. He saw an empty hand, and started screaming.”
    After a time their mother came to check on them. Hope was still asleep. “Helse, change clothing,” the woman said. “There is no need for further concealment.”
    Helse stared at her. “I don't understand.”
    “Hope's vision. His father told him that he was to have food for us and for that lovely girl of his. I believe that is you.”
    “Oh my God,” Helse breathed. “The vision told!”
    “It's a true vision,” Spirit's mother said.
    Helse looked helplessly at Spirit. Then she got up and climbed out of the cell. Soon she was back, wearing a dark blouse and skirt that had once been Faith's, and her hair hung loose about her shoulders.
    Indeed, she looked almost as pretty as Faith.
    Spirit stared at her. “You're beautiful!”
    “I am what I am. I must admit it's a relief to be unbound.” She cupped her breasts through the blouse for a moment, but she meant more than the physical aspect. "Your father called me lovely, so I must be so.
    For the sake of the vision."
    “The vision,” Spirit said. “I don't understand where there could be food. All he showed was an empty hand.”
    Helse gazed at her. “I'm not sure I should say what I think.”
    “Say it!” Spirit said. “I want to know.”
    Helse took a breath. “He meant--to eat the hand itself.”
    “The hand it--” Then Spirit got it. “Oh, no!”
    “Now don't start screaming, or you'll get me going too. Try to think of it objectively. We will all die if we don't get more food--and there is--is plenty of--of meat frozen out there. It makes sense to--to use