Quote Originally Posted by pendell View Post
Continuing.

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Like any good Among Us game, it's time for the crew to do their tasks. Han gives out the orders: Han and Torm will repair damage aft. Atuarre and Pakka will square away the forward compartment and warm up some food. Atuarre objects to this; she's a ranger, not a kitchen drudge. Han doesn't care.

While Han and Torm are alone, he whispers to Torm that he thinks he know who killed Rekkon: It must be the cub, Pakka. He must have been brain-programmed by the Authority as a prisoner and may not even be aware, himself, of his actions. He learned from Rekkon's body that Star's End is on the planet Mytus VI. Han wants to play along for a while to see if he can learn anything. In a few minutes they're all going to log into the computer to see if they can pull any information on the planet, maybe Atuarre or Pakka will let something slip. Meanwhile, he hands Torm a blaster; its readout shows full charge.

After the chores are done, he calls them all to the forward compartment and hands them each a handheld terminal and tells them to start searching for information in the ship's computer on the target planet -- he'll look up navigation, Atuarre planetological, Pakka unclassified Authority government data, Torm outlaw-tech data. Ready? Search!

To their amazement, their terminals remain blank after the search term is entered. Only Han's is hooked up, and he can see what's on their displays thanks to Space Teamviewer. He tells them to turn their screens around.

Torm has gone deathly pale, he knows what mistake he's made.

Atuarre's reads MYTUS IV. Pakka's reads MYTUS V. Torm's reads MYTUS VII -- which is NOT the planet Han told him. Han had told him Mytus VI. But Torm had looked up Mytus VII because he already knew what the right planet was ; he'd seen it on Rekkon's data pad.

Just before he killed him.

We've seen this gambit before. Step aside, Tyrion Lannister (mildly NSFW link) , looks like we've got someone who can play at your level.

I guess we shouldn't be surprised, should we? Torm has red hair, and everyone knows red is sus .

Torm draws his pistol and fires, just as Atuarre draws and fires at him. Both blasters buzz dry of charge.

"Two malfunctions?" Han asks, as he unlimbers his own shooting iron. "I betcha mine works, Torm."

Torm throws his pistol at Han and, while Han is distracted, quickly grabs Atuarre in a neckhold, holding her one fraction of a way from snapping it.

We did mention he was a bulky man with a wrestler build, right? And he has skill at unarmed combat.

He tries to use Atuarre as a hostage, but Pakka jumps on him, fangs extended. As he lets go of Atuarre to deal with Pakka , she turns on him.

Torm is in trouble, but he rises to the occasion. A powerful snap-kick lays Atuarre out and sends her into Han. Then he reaches up, grabs Pakka, and throws him into Bollux, who is also trying to restrain him.

With all four combatants temporarily out of action, Torm takes this opportunity to dash away, to find some place for a respite, perhaps a weapon. He passes by the cockpit, the ladder access, the ramp -- finally he reaches a small compartment , enters, and slams the DOOR CLOSE button.

He looks around -- nothing like a weapon, no useful tools -- then he realizes where he is.

He throws himself at the hatch, but it's already secured from the other side.

Han's voice crackles over the intercom. "Nice of you to choose the emergency airlock, Torm. It's where you would have ended up anyway."

We've ... we've seen this before , haven't we?

Torm starts begging, admitting he'd shot Rekkon but says he was in fear of his life; if he hadn't done it the Authority would have killed him themselves; they don't tolerate failure. He's just looking out for number one -- just like Solo said he does.

Han notes the admission. Atuarre comes to the hatch and is confused. Rekkon found and recruited him because Torm's father and brother were missing, right?

Han, more cynically , says that not only is this true, but that the fact his father and brother are missing make him the sole heir to their ranch.

So, yeah, Torm sold out his own family for personal gain. So is it any wonder he'd sell out a stranger like Rekkon too?

Torm makes his last pitch: He hasn't told everything to the Authority. he was holding on to information to drive the price up. Let Torm go, and with the information they can trade to the Authority they can not only get Chewbacca back -- a trivial ask for the info Torm has -- but enough money that Han can buy a new ship if he sees fit.

"Solo, tell me what you want; I'll get it for you, I swear! You're a guy who looks out for number one, aren't you? Isn't that what you are, Solo!? "

For a moment, Han pauses. The text tells us

"Han stared at his own lean reflection. In another man, he'd have said those eyes were too used to concealing everything but cynicism. His thoughts echoed Torm: Is that what I am? ".

After a moment's pause, he turns back to regard Torm , straining against the airlock viewport, and gives his answer.

"Ask Rekkon".

And hits the lock release.



TORM HAS BEEN EJECTED.





That's it, We've got away and the Imposter's gone. Now let's get on with rescuing our friends -- in the next chapter!

Respectfully,

Brian P.
This is a pretty good chapter, although parts of your summary confused me -

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My vague recollection from reading this book long ago was that Han gave false information, a (nonfunctional) weapon, and the "hey, buddy, I think I know who the traitor is, it's [not you] and I need your help luring them out" spiel to all the suspects? But you only mention that with Torm, which makes it sound like he'd already guessed and was targeting him specifically.