Between the Stars by John Maddox Roberts, Eric Kotani

artifact that was un-egg-shaped." Jesus, he thought, I could've phrased that better. The holos made it look a lot easier to think fast at gunpoint.
    "Ah-ah-ah, Mr. Kuroda, that won't do." He lowered the muzzle back to Derek's midriff, then lowered it farther. "You aren't exactly lying, but then, you aren't telling the whole truth. So, I won't shoot off your whole—" He stiffened, his eyes crossed, and he collapsed to the deck.
    Valerie stood above the inert form, a long needle in her hand. She released it and it slipped back up her sleeve. There was a look of intense disgust on her face. "I guess this means I don't get the interview, huh?"
    Things were happening too damned fast. Derek didn't know which was worse—the surprise, the embarrassment, the sheer disorientation, or what. "Next time," he said finally, "I keep my gun with me."
    "It wouldn't help," Valerie said. "He was a pro. Not in my class, but a pro. What that means is, if you started out with your gun in your hand and he had his back turned and his weapon anywhere in reach and you tried to shoot him, he'd manage to get you first."
    "You know," Derek said, "I can't think of a single day in my whole life that's given me so many blows to my ego."
    "The day isn't over yet, Derek," said Ulric. He came in through the all-accommodating hatch. The gray old man wore his black armorcloth singlet and carried a pistol that looked a lot more lethal than the one the somnolent agent had carried.
    "Hi, Ulric!" Derek said. "I want you to meet my friend Valerie. Val, this is—"
    "Shut up," said François. He was behind Ulric, and had a weapon that looked even deadlier. "I can't believe that you've been allowed to work in Clan security. You're so dumb—"
    "Don't talk to me," Derek said. "Talk to your superior here, who appointed me to my present—"
    "Shut up, both of you," Ulric said. "It's this lady that concerns me now. Your name, please, and no prevarications."
    "Valentina Ambartsumian."
    "Hey, that's not too far from the name you gave me," Derek said. "If I had a name like that, I'd shorten it, too."
    "Will you be quiet?" Ulric shouted. "I've been following this lady's progress in our fair asteroid since she arrived. She's an Earthie agent, recently operating on Luna."
    Valentina was appalled. How had the man known that? Her training and cover was the best to be had. She didn't think she could have been detected by some slipup, like Alexandrov. Far more likely, there was a traitor in Carstairs' operation. Treachery was one of the great human constants.
    "If she's an Earthie agent," Derek said, "then why did she nail this one?" He nudged Alexandrov with his toe. The body shifted in the faint gravity. "By the way, is he dead?"
    "Paralyzed but conscious," Valentina said. "He'll come out of it in a couple of hours."
    "Excellent," Ulric said. "The fact that you removed him as a threat in so professional a fashion is the main reason I'm being so civil. My first impulse was to shoot you."
    "Let's not rule that out as an option," François said. "She may still be armed. I say we search her."
    Derek turned to her. "You're not going to commit suicide, are you?"
    "What in the world for?" she asked.
    "I thought spies and secret agents carried poison around in case they were captured."
    "How melodramatic. No, that may be true in wartime, when an agent may have secrets that the other side shouldn't learn, or just to avoid torture. I don't have any information that would do my superiors any harm and I doubt that you employ torture."
    "More's the pity," Ulric said. "By way of precaution, young lady, would you please remove the device with which you dealt with this man?"
    Valentina pulled back her sleeve and unclipped the sheathed needle. It drifted to the deck and lay there looking absurdly harmless.
    "She could have implants," François insisted.
    "No, Gretchen says there's nothing under her skin that didn't grow there." He turned to Valentina. "Gretchen was your masseuse."
    Only her superb