<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;">Peter laughed and sat down too. He looked at her grinning.<br/><br/><span style="color: #FF8000">"That's the answer I expected, Sandra. Or whatever your real name is. Let me tell you a story and then I will ask the same question again."</span><br/><br/>He opened his own nutrition pack and started eating some dried beef.  <br/><br/><span style="color: #FF8000">"Once there was a young man, let's call him Vick. He was often accused of a lot of bad things and maybe he had really done those. One never knows. But whatever the MPs tried, they could never find any proof for one single accusation. For fifteen long years they tried to pin anything on him, but they never managed. Now it happens that after fifteen years the contract of a miner expires. This Vick, he is a miner and his contract expires in six weeks. Those military folks are quite annoyed, if they don't find any proof in the next six weeks, then he will be gone. Retired. So they put a young investigator on his tracks. Let's call her Sandy. She is one of their best and she will get close to him and maybe she will find something to haul him in. And once he is in their hands, he will tell all he knows. And she is really good, she goes in the disguise of a miner. Unfortunately nobody told her and her superiors about the policy of Universal Exploration. Which is quite a pity, as it blows her cover into tiny pieces. Vick discovers her immediately and he puts in his weight to have her assigned to him. Not because he wants to kill her, but because he looks forward to this cat and mouse play. But he did something unexcuseable. He told everybody that she is an undercover narcotics officer. Which means, that everybody, and I mean really everybody in this hellhole will try to kill her. But this Vick is some strange bastard. He has some principles and killing and brutality are not in his line of work. He will take care that she is safe, if she admits to some principles. And there the story ends."</span><br/><br/>Peter leaned back and looked over to Sandra. She was some stubborn bitch, but he liked her already. <br/><br/><span style="color: #FF8000">"Now back to the reality. You made a mistake, Sandra. Did you realise that everybody her is older than 32? Universal Exploration are some dirty bastards. The policy of UE includes, that in your first two years you are stationed on one of the big mining planets. Those with a lot of amenities and entertainment facilities. You start to believe that mining is hard work, but that it is not the worst there is. Once you signed your fifteen year contract you get shipped to the worser planets. And in the bitter end, when you are simply functioning, all your energies for rebellions are long subdued by years of drug use and you drag yourself only to work to survive, then you are shipped to hellholes like this one. Never and that is a rule, never would a rookie be send here. So stop playing the miner, at least when we are under ourselves like we are now. Don't insult my intelligence, Sandra."</span><br/><br/>He dug a bottle of water out of his box and threw it over to her. <br/><br/><span style="color: #FF8000">"And now to those principles, Sandra. I know you want to drag me in, that it is your goal to succeed. Me, I want to retire in six weeks. You got six weeks to pin one of those crimes on me and I have six weeks to avoid this and maybe to change your point of view on all this. We will work everyday. Together. I will not try to rape you, to kill you or anything else that will harm you. I guess you read my file. Did you find anything in there that is related with violence or death? I doubt it. I hate violence, so you know that you can trust my word on this. We will have our own mind game going. But first principle, as long as we are on our own, I want some respect. I want your real name and I want to know with whom I have to deal. That's only fair, you know mine too. Second principle, you don't try to run away. I can guarantee for your safety as long as you are with me, but I can't when you try to run away. They will kill you. Where there is no witness, every kill remains undetected. And here is the bonus. If you accept those two principles then I will organize another room for you. One were it is actually possible to sleep. And you get more of this kind of food. And my undivided attention."</span><br/><br/>A grin split his dirty face and he looked like some smiling moor.</div>