The airlock door slid open and the Colonel strode into the cargo bay of the troop transport ship. Six soldiers and his two aids followed him. They all still wore their spacesuits but had left their helmets and gloves in the airlock. The Colonel stopped in front of me and glanced at the kneeling, handcuffed man I held.

“So this is the culprit.”

I looked past his stone cold face straight into his fiery brown eyes. ‘Yes Sir.”

Thirty-six hours ago we had landed on this small asteroid. Close by lay the reason we were here; the two huge rocket engines half buried in the regolith. The construction workers had thought we were a supply ship. They threw a few wrenches at us before we captured them and confined them to their barracks.

I watched steam rise from the Colonel’s head and mouth. It was cold in the cargo bay.

The prisoner’s naked shoulder shook under my grip.

After he and I had peeled off our spacesuits, I had stripped him of his clothes as well.

Except for us, the steel gray, ten by twenty meter cargo bay was empty. It had been full of weapons and supplies.

Along the wall ran a bench. The Colonel sat down on it. He then leaned forward till his white breath cloud touched the prisoner’s face. “You did quite a job on the rocket engine. You completely destroyed the helicon antenna and quartz tube. The rocket engine is now quite useless.”

The prisoner spat in the Colonel’s face, then smiled. “I guess you won’t be crashing this asteroid into the Earth then.”

The Colonel leaned back and wiped the spit from his cheek. I’ve served with him for years and know him as well as I know my pistol sidearm. Beneath his calm surface a fire of anger burned.

“What’s your name son?” he asked.

The prisoner sneered. “I think you already know.”

The Colonel nodded at an aid. The aid tapped at the display screen on his suit’s forearm.

“You are Arita Tor,” he began. “You are a nuclear engine installer. At Tharsus City College you studied history and political science. You dropped out after your third year to earn twice the money in construction as you would with a degree in your major.”

The sneer on the prisoner’s face melted to fear as he heard his bio.

“Four years ago you married Fujika. And you now have three children – Maria, Laurette, and Mikhale.”

As he heard his wife’s and children’s names the prisoner slumped to the floor.

“Sounds like you have a nice family - Arita,” said the Colonel.

Arita began sobbing, “Please, don’t hurt them.”

The Colonel tapped at his forearm display. “Now why would I hurt them? Your wife is a loyal Martian. And you belong to the Tharsus Army Reserves.”

The Colonel knelt down close to Arita. “That’s why I don’t understand why you did it.”

Arita sobbed. “Please...please, don’t hurt my family.”

“We both want to be rid of Earth Gov,” said the Colonel. “A war is coming, don’t you see? I’m saving millions of Martians from a death in that war?”

Arita cried. “There are millions of liters of water and tons of rare metals in this asteroid. The rockets were going to put it in a low orbit around Mars. It’s all for the people.”

“What good is all that,” said the Colonel, “If we don’t have our freedom?”

“I want Mars’ freedom.” said Arita. “Not a dead Earth.”

The Colonel sat down on the bench. “Pick him up.”

I picked Arita up off the floor and held him so he faced the Colonel.

“How did you catch him?”

“I was fifty meters away from the rocket when I saw the front of it explode. I ran over to it and found him sitting in the engine nozzle. He was wearing one of our spacesuits.”

“No resistance?”

“None. He told me he did it. Didn’t want others accused.”

I felt Arita stiffen up in my grip. “That’s right...I did it...alone.”

The Colonel rubbed the beard stubble on his chin. “No. I don’t believe you. The nuke engine is fifty meters from the rockets. I bet you hadn’t set foot in the rocket until now. Someone had to tell you where to go and what to break.”

“No,” said Arita. “I did it alone.”

“Well,” said the Colonel. “We shall soon find out.”

He motioned to an aid. The aid reached inside his suit and pulled out a needle and a capsule.

I held out Arita’s arm.

“Colonel,” said the other aid. “If what you say is true his friends might guess we’d try a truth serum and give him something for it.”

The Colonel motioned the aid with the needle to stop. “You’re right. Check it out.”

The aid pulled out a different capsule and stuck it in the needle. He then jabbed the needle into Arita’s arm and sucked blood until it mixed with the clear fluid in the capsule. He pulled out the needle, removed the capsule and gave it a couple of shakes. The fluid turned black.

“If I had given him the truth serum,” said the aid. “He’d have died in seconds.”

The Colonel took the capsule and stared at it for a moment. He then motioned at the two aids and me. “You men stay. The rest of you leave - now. Go find out how he got one of our suits.”

I watched the soldiers leave. The Colonel was right. There was no reason for them to see this.

The door closed behind them.

“We now know,” said the Colonel. “That there’s at least one partner you’re trying to protect.”

Arita shivered in my grip. He glanced at the two aids, the Colonel, and then at me. “Please! Believe me! I acted alone!”

The Colonel shook his head. “It looks like we’ll have to get the information the old fashioned way.”

Arita sobbed and slid to his knees. “Please – don’t hurt me – please!”

I grabbed his hair with my left hand and backhanded him across the face with my right.

“No more!” he cried. “Not again! I was alone!”

I punched him full in the face and felt his nose crumble beneath my fist.

He cried out and slumped to the floor. The Colonel leaned forward and smiled. “You’ve failed Arita. You destroyed one engine, but there’s still the second one. It has enough thrust to send this asteroid to Earth. The orbit will be larger and the trip seven months longer, but the end result will still be the same.”

Arita crawled over to the Colonel and grabbed a white boot. He pressed his bloody cheek against it and smeared it with his blood.

“Asteroid...meant for Mars. Water...Ore...for millions.”

The Colonel kicked him off his boot. I grabbed his ankles and dragged him away from the Colonel.

“Twenty-four hours from now,” said the Colonel. “This asteroid heads towards the Earth.”

I pulled Arita up by his hair and held his face centimeters from my own. His puffy lips arced into a crooked, bloody smile. He winked with his good eye. I punched him in the stomach and he crumpled to the floor, crying.

Tomorrow, I hope I’ll be as brave as he is.