The soldier looked annoyed, but he muttered something again, and suddenly there were footsteps, multiple pairs, andRitter was shoved into the room, held on the upper arm by a Caruson soldier.
Blood dripped from his hairline, and there was a bruise running down his cheek.
His eyes widened at the sight of Ethan and Velda.
“How does it work?” the soldier asked him, and pointed to the box.
Ritter swallowed, and the soldier reached over and smacked him in the face, exactly where the current bruise was. “You drop the ball onto skin.” Ritter’s voice was a squeak. “You take it back out with that.” He pointed at the small black box.
“Why in then out?” The soldier picked up the small box carefully.
“To see if the reason it wasn’t working was because it melded with some people better than others.” Ritter’s gaze skittered around the room.
“And did it?” The soldier asked.
“Not so far.” Ritter looked like he wanted to snatch the box away from the soldier.
“Show me.” The soldier stepped back to give Ritter access to the box.
“On you?” Ritter asked.
The soldier made a sound Ethan guessed was a laugh.
“No. On yourself.”
Ritter’s eyes widened. “Why not one of them?” he asked, pointing to Ethan and Velda.
“You.” The soldier pointed.
Ritter stepped forward, picked up the tongs, and lifted out a ball. He hesitated as he extended his palm, and Ethan guessed he’d never tried this himself.
Was he recalling—how had the guards put it? That people were not themselves when the ball was removed?
The Caruson soldier leaned forward, and Ritter’s hand shook as he dropped the ball into his palm.
It melted to nothing.
“Now take it out.” The soldier held out the small box.
Ritter took it in one hand, placed it on his palm, and a silver ball emerged back in the middle of his extended hand. “You’ll have to use the tongs to pick it up,” he said to the soldier.
“You.” The soldier pointed to Velda, and she picked the ball up, lifting it to get a good look.
“In the box,” the Caruson said.
She carefully placed it back.
Ritter looked jittery, but that might be the situation, rather than the removal of the ball.
“What is the ball?” the soldier asked.
“We don’t know.” Ritter’s words were husky, and he cleared his throat.
“Why are you experimenting here?” the soldier asked.
That was a really good question. Ethan had wondered that himself. Why was Ritter here, with the box of nanotech, in a Cores ship that was ferrying ore.
Surely they had labs, or at least a base of operations where experiments were easier to conduct.
