The black-hooded man gaped. "What?" he blurted. "Uh, flight control, that last message was a bit garbled. Could-"
"Repeat: where's Marko?"
The black-hooded man looked around, now worried. And the worry doubled when he saw Marko standing woozily in the doorway. Marko sauntered - or staggered - in, and spoke into the mike: "Hey, I'm here. No worries."
"Received," replied flight control. "Awaiting further instructions."
"What-"
Marko stood up, reached under his shirt, and threw the blaster shieldin g to the floor. It had turned a lethal bolt into a mere stun. "They always aim for the chest," he said dismissively. He pulled a blaster on the black-hooded man. "Now, you said something about ten million dollars?"
The black-hooded man thought fast. "Uh... it's in-"
"Spare me the story. You don't have ten million dollars."
There didn't seem to be any point in lying. "No."
Marko cocked the blaster. "I guess this ship might raise a couple. And maybe they can boil your corpse down for a few bucks..."
"Wait!" said the black-hooded man urgently. He turned to the switchboard and pointed to a large red button. "This is wired to a bomb I set on your ship." He rested his finger on the button.
"I could just shoot you anyway," said Marko.
"We're still hovering above the hangar floor," said the black-hooded man. "I'm connected to a least four different controls at the moment. Shoot me and you might save your ship, but you won't save yourself."
"Hmmm," said Marko.
The black-hooded man sensed he was about to be shot. "Look. Listen to this. How about you join forces with me?"
Marko snorted. "With you?"
"Yes! Don't you see? With two portal stones and a large freighter, we can make a lot more than ten million credits. We could make a fortune in precious minerals! And I know where we can get a third."
Marko was listening. "Go on," he said.
The black-hooded man swallowed. "I work for Elaine's mining company. Recently she came into possession of two portal stones. One of them you've already stolen. The second is on Pael."
"Hmmm."
"You might know where it is, but you'll need me to get past security. If it wasn't for my instructions you'd never have made it into Chora Luna either."
"Hmmm."
"You said yourself you couldn't go back to pirating because of the price on your head. If we've got two portal stones, Upchuck can't possibly follow us!"
Marko thought. "Okay," he said. "I'll let you live, at least until we find the third portal stone. Then we'll see. But one thing..."
The black-hooded figure looked at him apprehensively. "What?"
"I need a name," said Marko. "I can't go around saying 'Hey you' all the time. What's your name?"
The black-hooded figure thought. "You can call me... Simon."