Debatable Space by Philip Palmer

nods. “Let me die rather than deal with these terrorist scum,” I say calmly. “Do not pay their
     ransom, do not…”
    And Harry slashes with his claws. My face rips open, blood spurts from my eye socket, I fight back furiously, but he has the
     strength of ten. I lose myself in a maelstrom of hitting and biting and clawing . . .
    He’s eating me… the fucking monster is eating me alive… !
    Flanagan pulls the beast off. The vidcam is still rolling. I stare into the camera. I can feel that one of my eyes is out
     of its socket, it is oozy and cold upon my cheek. I am frozen with fear.
    “That went well,” says Flanagan.
    I am hysterical.
    Slowly I force myself to calm. My breaths become deep, composed. I figure out my error.
    My error is this: they don’t need my cooperation at all. They just need to show me humiliated, in pain. So as to force the
     Cheo to abandon his principles and pay the ransom. This was the message they had always planned. The script was a bluff. I
     fell for it.
    “Get me to the sick bay,” I say, clinging to a semblance of dignity.
    In the hold of their ship is my own space yacht. I am taken to the sick bay there, which is equipped with state-of-the-art
     organic repair technology. The skin cells on my face are boosted. My ripped eye is replaced with a clone from my eye bank.
     My scars are healed. I am given an injection to guard against the risk of fever from the man-beast’s savage bites.
    Within a month I will be as good as new. It’s a process I am familiar with.
    Flanagan comes to apologise. “I want us to be friends,” he says mildly.
    I fix him with my firmest one-eyed stare. And I say: “YOU FUCKING BASTARD!”
Lena
    You should have warned me.
    I didn’t know.
    I thought he was my friend!
    No, no Lena. You never thought that. You were just biding your time, lulling him into a false sense of security. You were
     playing a game with him, guilefully attempting to . . .
    We went flying together! We flew!
    He thought he could win your trust and your confidence. He was wrong.
    I trusted him.
    You never trusted him.
    I… No… of course I didn’t. Never. Of course! Never.
    He’s just a betraying bastard.
    Yes he is! What a rank betraying bastard that betraying bastard is!
    Indeed.
    He pretends to be my friend. But he’s not!
    No, he’s not. He is merely a pathetic, evil, betraying bastard.
    And yet, he took me flying. And yet, he cooked for me. And yet, he looks at me, in that way, so kind, and… and . . .
     sweetly sometimes. And yet, he… desires me. I feel it. And yet . . .
    None of this matters, because he is a betraying bastard.
    Yes, you’re right. Of course. I know it. Of course he is! I mean, how could he treat me the way he did? Why did he let me
     be mauled and beaten?
    Well, since you pose the question: You did in fact pledge to read the ransom demand, without amendments. And instead, you
     . . .
    You dog, you cur, don’t defend that mf c!
    Indeed, no.
    He’s nothing but an mf cs f’ing c’ing piece of shit!
    And, also, let us not forget, a betraying bastard.
    Yes!
Flanagan
    It all goes according to plan. The Cheo sends his response; he will not pay the ransom. But he offers us a deal. Less money,
     fewer ships, no safe haven. It’s a good deal, we accept.
    Alliea and Alby become enmeshed in the technicalities of the drop-off. We will leave Lena in neutral space, on a space station
     owned by the flame beasts. We will wire her up to a remote-controlled bomb and hurry to a nearby system to retrieve the money
     and the ships. Once we are satisfied, we will neutralise the bomb.
    If the Cheo double-crosses us, we can kill Lena. If we double-cross the Cheo, the flame beasts are pledged to a blood feud
     against us. Since they can freely enter Debatable Space, we would therefore be doomed. The Cheo knows this. Legal agreements
     have also been drafted to secure the honour and integrity of the ransom deal. Everything is going according to plan.
    The first stage of