The World Watched; I Salvaged Scrap

Lin caught the sinking slab and clipped on a tow hook. When the drone’s searchlight passed over him, it found a poor fool clutching a rapidly rusting plate because he could not bear to surface empty-handed. The drone hesitated, then ignored him and descended. Han dragged Lin onto the deck. Gray patrol ships were approaching, loudspeakers demanding inspection. Han stared at the worthless-looking plate. “You risked your life for this? Scrap yard pays less than fifty cents a kilo!” “Maybe fifty-two.” Lin lay across the mesh pouch. The cold polyhedron pressed against his waist, its voice audible only to him. “Correction: outer armor contains point-seven tons of phase titanium, four point one kilograms of neutron-stable gold, and one damaged matter