Shilo finished pulling a second shift working the asteroids. The rock dust pelted his clothing and thick grease coat his fingers black. He'd been shocked the shift change allowed a human back and had to admit he couldn't keep with the frost bears pace. Not that it was a weakness of humans, just an admittance of Shilo's that he was older, slower, and way out of shape. He promised himself that he'd hit the gym.

  Garr must have been reading Shilo's mind. "Hey, human detective," he dragged the words out with laughter on his chest.

  Shilo smiled and firmed up. He dropped his hand from the safety bar in the shuttle and waited for the frost bear to shuffle over to him.

  "Shilo. You're scrappy. That rigging job is tough and then boss man had you on the torch."

  Shilo wiped the grime from his neck and nodded. The frost bear was talking about the plasma cutters. Asteroid mining was a brutal industry of crushing rock. Explosives were avoided, nothing said an accident waiting to happen or inefficiency like blowing a rock in half and destabilizing its orbit. Worse when you crash that into the mining equipment. Running the torch was indeed a critical operation.

  Rocks worth enough in minerals and metals for Zander to retire a dozen times over were first collected into controlled orbits, like billiard balls. Then smaller craft would attach themselves and remove wild rotations. Only Sowbu performed that job. They had a knack for quick reactions and could withstand the high g forces.

  With the rocks lined up in controlled orbit, the last thing anyone wanted was the orbit of one asteroid to be disturbed.

  Rock crushers had a dangerous job because they wanted to squeeze the rocks to a pulp but not split them. Do it right and the small energy field kept everything as a tight group, ready for sorting and smelting. Do it wrong and you don't get a chance to correct your mistakes.

  Shilo said, "Just doing my part. I do think I won't be missing the job."

  Stolen story; please report.

  "Union can keep ya on. You did good. Everyone knows you can pull weight and uncovering that slime balls gambling problem helps us all. Mind ya inept bosses come with the territory. Norm not so dumb to wreck us all. But corp will send another suit and repeat the damn—think you call it rodeo."

  Shilo laughed and said, "When you say it like that makes it pretty easy to turn it down. Glad I could help. I was only looking out for me to be honest. Fuel costs were way overpriced."

  "You should see them drop when we send out some good rock and show them productivity is up. But what's your gig if your turning down pay?"

  "I'm a detective."

  "That don't sound like a job."

  "Occasionally it is. Harder to do than I thought. Least in the private sector." Shilo flashed his business card hologram at Briggs and tipped his fedora at he frost bear. "You need any detecting work done. Look me up."

  Stepping off the transport and into the station left Shilo watching the transport zipping off for the next stop and his mind wandering. Being a detective has been a flat out rotten hit on his bank account, but he smiled when he thought about saving a hard worker's life today and possibly stopping worse accidents from happening. Then he smelled his shirt and gagged. Time for a shower.

  At his flat and after his shower, he notices that the phone system had a missed call with a voice only message. "Shilo! Hey thanks again for saving me. Honestly. Oh yeah. This is Briggs. Look, I know it was a bit over stepping here, but I have a problem and Garr said you could figure it all out. I'll explain everything but need you to come to the fights, lower deck. Tonight. Dress down alright. Something to fit into a crowd… um maybe something athletic."

  Shilo was hovering his finger over the delete key, and he hit the replay button again. Something in him tugged when he heard Garr say problem. There was genuine concern there, but not fear. At least Shilo didn't think it was fear. What problem does a heavyweight fighter and miner need help with that he's not afraid of?

  His collection of suits and ties were not dressing down. But in the box of junk he kept from the storage unit, he found a t-shirt and some used slacks. Maybe a bit lower dressed than Briggs would expect, but it was what he had. That and a pair of good sneakers. But Shilo wasn't without some protection, skintight stab resistant underlayers would work, long as he avoided a gun fight. What was he thinking? This is why he needed an assistant. Someone to make sure he was working on a case and not walking into a trap.

  Shilo pulled the t-shirt over the skintight armor and headed to the fight ring. He didn't expect to make a return trip to the fighting arena so soon. He was stunned by what Briggs said when got there.