<div style="text-align: center;"><span style="color: #80BFFF"><span style="font-size: 150%; line-height: 116%;">Peter Halvardson</span><br/><span style="font-size: 120%; line-height: 116%;">'The Viking'</span></span></div><br/><br/><div style="text-align: justify;">The Viking watched the long row of miners escape the shuttle, while its freight doors opened. He had expected the female investigator to arrive in disguise, maybe as a doctor or a pschologist, but she surprised him. He spotted her immediately when she exited the shuttle. He had been wrong with the gazelle among elephants. She was more a lioness hidden between water buffalos. That she had taken the deep undercover as a miner told him more than he actually liked to know. They were after him and they wanted him alive. If they would have wanted him dead they would have arrived with the large guns. But Peter had no intention to fight for the rest of his life to survive on the ice-planet in the Pellagro-constellation as a high security prisoner. They would never get him alive, that was for sure. But they had to get him first at all. She was probably extremely good in her profession, they would have send the best after him. Unfortunately her disguise could never have worked. Not because of her appearance, oh, she did the best to mimick the other women and her hair was as messy as all the others. And even her size may have not betrayed her, but her age did. She was simply to young to be send to a planet like Sirius-238. She couldn't be older than 28, 29. <br/><br/>Peter walked over to the large guy with the pad, waiting for the new folks. It was not his fault that she had chosen to go as a miner, she had digged that hole for herself. She wanted to be a miner, she would be one. Oh, she would regret that decision every minute.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF8000">"Hi, Ralph. You see the little one in the middle of the women? Give her room 8320."</span><br/><br/>The quarter master looked at the Viking in utter disbelief.<br/><br/><span style="color: #80FF00">"The hellhole? That's impossible, we never put anyone there after those three..."</span><br/><br/>The hand of the Viking found the hand of Ralph and when he felt the fingers wrap around the two ampulles, he knew that it was a deal. The hellhole as everybody called room 8320, was a sleeping room above the slide ramp for the ore-lift. Every five minutes the lift arrived and 30000 tons of ore clattered down the slide. It made the entire room 8320 vibrate like in a huge earth-quake. The first three people assigned to that room had all underwent suicide within one week, as it was impossible to sleep there.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF8000">"Not only the hellhole, but assign her to me too for explo-prep..."</span> <br/><br/>The eyes of the quarter master got large, really large. He scratched his chin.<br/><br/><span style="color: #80FF00">"You wanna kill her? Who is she, your ex-wife?"</span><br/><br/>The Viking laughed throately and removed his hand from Ralph's. Maybe a little lie would be suitable now for his purpose.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF8000">"No. She is undercover military police, narcotics division. She send 530 miners on Delta-11 to Darquel for drug abuse. One of them was my best friend. He died on Darquel. But I want to learn first who has talked to the authorities here..."</span><br/><br/>The sympathy he had seen in the eyes of the quarter master for the little miner vanished into thin air. Darquel was another prisoner planet and everybody needed drugs from time to time on a mining planet. An undercover narcotics officer would mean that they all were half way to Darquel. With this little lie the Viking had created a wall of innocence and silence on Sirius-238. The female officer would have fun to break it.<br/><br/>He stepped away and watched how Ralph assigned every miner to room and work. When the little one came up front, he asked for her name and his finger searched it on the list. He said something to her and pointed to him. She walked over to him and Peter offered her his hand for a handshake. When she took it he crushed it as much as he could.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF8000">"So, you are working with me, good. I am Peter, but you can call me Viking, everybody does. And what is your name?"</span><br/><br/>He had to give her a lot of credit. Although he was pretty sure that her hand hurt like hell, she didn't show it in her face. And her eyes remained neutral when he said his name. She was really good, probably the best the military had. It would be a lot of fun to mess with her.</div>