by Timothy Zahn
“Hence the helmets,” Jeff said, nodding.
“That was my thought, as well.”
Nicole winced, thinking back to that first confrontation. Just as well that she hadn’t tried to take one of their swords while the Wisps held them frozen. She probably couldn’t have cut through their skin even if she’d tried.
“Anyway, good catch,” Jeff said. “Though just because we’ve already met these two it doesn’t prove there aren’t more of them wandering around the Fyrantha.”
“Agreed,” Kahkitah said.
Nicole sighed. A lot of questions, not a lot of answers. “So what’s their next step? Bring in a whole army of Koffren to hunt us down?”
“That would be the logical escalation,” Kahkitah agreed. “Assuming the Wisps are willing to do that.”
“If the teleport rooms are in Q1 the Wisps probably wouldn’t have a choice,” Jeff said. “The Shipmasters have that section pretty well locked down.”
“Perhaps,” Kahkitah said. “But I’m beginning to suspect the dynamic is considerably more complex.”
“I agree,” Jeff said. “Let’s hear your take and see if it matches mine.”
“Very well.” Kahkitah paused a moment, steepling his fingers in front of him as if collecting his thoughts. “The Shipmasters are unwilling to face us directly. Not in combat, at least. The Koffren, whether permanent residents or recent arrivals, are therefore pressed into service as surrogates.”
“Only they didn’t do all that well,” Nicole pointed out.
“Exactly,” Kahkitah said. “But at this point, the Shipmasters have a dilemma. If they can’t stop us quickly, they risk us doing permanent damage to the ship, or at least to their plans. But if they bring in more Koffren to assist them, it underscores the Shipmasters’ weakness. Worse, if the Koffren are indeed buyers, they might decide they have sufficient numbers to take the entire Fyrantha for themselves by force.”
“Cutting out the middleman,” Jeff said, nodding.
“Exactly,” Kahkitah said. “I daresay that a ship run by Koffren would be worse for us than a ship run by Shipmasters.”
“If they could really take control,” Nicole said. “The Shipmasters might be able to turn the whole ship against them before they were taken down. If they did that, I don’t think even Koffren would do very well.”
“Perhaps not,” Kahkitah said. “But that doesn’t mean they wouldn’t try.” He looked at Jeff. “Did I miss anything?”
“No, I think you covered it pretty well,” Jeff said. “Just one more point. I agree that right now the Shipmasters probably don’t want to show weakness by bringing in more Koffren. But if and when that resolve breaks, it’ll break all at once. In other words, we won’t be able to just push them back gradually. The minute they think we might get the upper hand they’ll crack, and we’ll be up to our armpits in Koffren.”
“Ouch,” Nicole said, wincing. “How do we know when that’s about to happen?”
“Unfortunately, probably not until we’re up to our armpits in Koffren.”
Nicole snorted. “You’re a big help.”
“Sadly, he’s not wrong,” Kahkitah said. “There’s seldom any way to anticipate an enemy’s desperation level. Worse, when Fievj decides to bring in reinforcements he may not bring Koffren. He might instead bring in someone worse, someone we’ve never seen and don’t know how to fight.”
“You think they’ve got someone worse than Koffren they could call?”
“I wouldn’t want to bet they don’t,” Jeff said. “Of course, the nastier the ally, the bigger the risk that they’ll turn on the Shipmasters and we’ll get running battles through the Fyrantha’s passageways.”
“Until the Wisps catch up with them,” Nicole said. “Near as I can tell, they can immobilize anyone they can get a grip on.”
“Which means that if Fievj ever gets control of all of them, in all four quadrants, we’re toast,” Jeff said, scowling. “You’re absolutely sure he can’t send any of the Q1 group here?”
“As far as I can tell, the Wisps can’t even see any of the Fyrantha except the part they work in,” Nicole said. “Plus a corridor or so into the next section.”
“You realize how bizarre that is, right?” Jeff asked. “What if there’s an emergency? Do you have to reprogram all of them before you can send them somewhere else?”
“No idea,” Nicole said. “But I’ve questioned a bunch of them, and that just seems to be the way it works. Trust me, if I could have brought some Q4 Wisps into the Q1 arena, I’d have done so. We’d have taken down the Koffren with a lot less trouble.”
“I’m not doubting you,” Jeff assured her. “I’m just thinking about going up against a quadrant’s worth of Wisps you can’t control. Unfortunately, that’s where the Shipmasters and the greenguns are, so that’s where we have to go.”
“You intend to capture some weapons, then?” Kahkitah asked.
“Well, we’re sure not going to take out the Koffren with the toy arrows and swords the Ponngs and Thii brought along,” Jeff said. “You know, it occurs to me that one other reason the greenguns haven’t come out to play might be that the Shipmasters don’t want the Koffren to even know they have weapons like that. If that’s any part of it, us just having one that we could bring out for show-and-tell might make for a decent bargaining chip.”
“I’m not sure what you think we can bargain for,” Kahkitah said. “But I agree that better weapons are vital. Have you a suggestion on how to proceed?”
“We get a crew together and head into Q1,” Jeff said. “There has to be an armory in there somewhere. We find it, we get in, we get armed, we get out.”
“Just like that?” Nicole asked, frowning.
“More or less,” Jeff said. “That’s the easy-to-remember version, anyway.”
“Sort of skips over the part about dodging Wisps, Shipmasters, and Koffren, doesn’t it?”
“I didn’t say there wouldn’t be challenges,” Jeff said with a shrug. “But the Fyrantha’s a big ship, and there can’t be that many Shipmasters and Wisps aboard.”
“What about Ushkai?” Nicole countered. “If he and the Shipmasters are watching the whole ship, it’s going to be pretty hard to keep dodging everyone.”
“Only if there are enough of them to watch everywhere at once,” Jeff said. “Once we’re ready to move on the armory, a couple of nice diversions will hopefully help clear the way.”
“Though you first have to find this hoped-for armory.”
“Number one on our things-to-do list,” Jeff agreed. “You coming?”
“If you think I’ll be useful,” Kahkitah said.
“Oh, I’m pretty sure I can find something for you to do.”
“I’m coming, too,” Nicole said.
“Uh-uh,” Jeff said firmly. “Sorry, but you’re too valuable to risk.”
“And you aren’t?” Nicole countered. “Besides, I know the ship better than you do.”
“And you know the Shipmasters, as well,” Kahkitah said, his birdsongs suddenly sounding thoughtful. “Interesting.”
“What’s so interesting about it?” Nicole asked. “I’ve spent a lot more time with them, that’s all. It’s no big deal.”
“You also understand how to deal with the Thii,” Jeff said, eyeing her thoughtfully. “And from what you told me earlier, you did the same thing with the Ejbofs in Q2.”
“And the same answer for both of them,” Nicole said. “Are we going to go hunt down some weapons, or aren’t we?”
“What do you think, Kahkitah?” Jeff asked, making no move to stand up. “The inhaler?”
“She hasn’t used it for quite some time.”
“Residual effects, maybe?”
“Perhaps,” Kahkitah said. “Though you’d then have to explain why none of the other Sibyls could do such things.”
“Maybe they can,” Jeff suggested. “Maybe they all get these same hints and feelings, but Nicole’s the only one who hasn’t ignored them.”
/>
“Also, none of the others were declared the Fyrantha’s Protector.”
“Point.”
“Okay, just stop it,” Nicole cut in. “If you’re talking about me, you do know I’m right here. Right?”
“We are indeed talking about you,” Kahkitah said. “Specifically, we’re noting the ease with which you understand the Fyrantha and everyone aboard.”
“I already told you that’s not a big deal,” Nicole said. “I had to learn to read people back in Philly. It was how you stayed alive in Trake’s gang.”
“Reading humans is one thing,” Kahkitah said. “Reading Wisps, Shipmasters, and Thii is something else. I believe there’s more at work here than just your Earth experience.”
“I agree,” Jeff said. “I’m thinking you’ve become more of an ally to the Fyrantha than you realize. It’s picking up information on everyone aboard and feeding it to you, maybe on a subconscious level. Giving you stuff you otherwise wouldn’t know or understand.”
A cold chill ran up Nicole’s back. She’d known he was going to say that. Somehow, she’d known.
How in hell had she known?
“We know the Fyrantha’s on our side,” Jeff continued. “The fact that it hasn’t blown the whistle on the Ghorfs’ secret comm system shows that much. If it wants the Shipmasters kicked out, or at least doesn’t want them turning it back into a warship, then it makes sense it would do whatever it could to help you.”
“Yeah, interesting,” Nicole said, pushing herself up off the floor and standing up. A little too fast; a whisper of light-headedness touched her.
Jeff was up and at her side in an instant. “You okay?” he asked, taking her arm in a steadying grip.
“I’m fine,” Nicole said, trying to pull away. For half a second he seemed to resist, then let go. “You must be feeling better.”
“I’m pretty much healed,” he said. “Whatever else the Fyrantha might be, it’s got a really good medical service. Doesn’t mean I ever want to get shot by another greengun, of course.”
“Yeah, let’s all try to avoid that,” Nicole said. “I’m going to Q3 to find Wesowee and Kointos’s gray group. Maybe I can talk them into helping us.”
Jeff glanced at Kahkitah. “I thought you wanted to help us look for the armory.”
“I thought you said that was too dangerous,” Nicole shot back. “So how do I use these secret Ghorf phones?”
Another look between Jeff and Kahkitah, a longer one this time. “Just find another Ghorf,” Kahkitah said. “Seven of the eight Q3 repair teams have one. Any of them will know how to get a message to me.”
“Fine,” Nicole said. “Send a message to Wesowee when you’re ready to head to Q1 so he’ll know I’m coming.”
“Yeah,” Jeff said, sounding distinctly unhappy. “Nicole, I really don’t like the idea of you going off alone.”
“She won’t be,” Kahkitah assured him.
“No, you need to go with Jeff,” Nicole told him firmly.
“Not me,” Kahkitah said. “I was speaking of Moile and Teika.”
“What, the Ponngs?” Nicole scoffed. “Sorry, but I’m not waiting for you to go back and get them.”
“No need,” Kahkitah assured her. “They’re already here.”
Nicole felt her eyes widen. “They’re what? Where?”
“In a room a few doors down the corridor,” Kahkitah said. “I thought they might be useful, so I brought them with me from the hive.”
“And just left them outside?” Jeff asked, frowning. “Why didn’t you bring them in?”
“I thought we might discuss matters they would not yet be permitted to hear.” Kahkitah looked at Nicole. “You will take them with you, won’t you?”
Nicole glowered. For a second, Kahkitah had seemed like the earnest, simpleminded creature he’d always pretended to be.
She would never again see him as simpleminded. But maybe the earnest part was real.
She’d hoped to go off on her own for a little while, to work through the stuff Jeff and Kahkitah had just dumped on her. Clearly, that wasn’t going to happen. Maybe that was what Kahkitah had planned all along. “Fine,” she bit out. “Whatever. Go grab them, and let’s get moving.”
* * *
Moile and Teika were more than willing to accompany Nicole, their pointed but otherwise useless swords held proudly.
Useless swords; and out here in the Fyrantha’s hallways, mostly useless Ponngs. But at least they knew how to keep quiet.
They were doing a lot of that now as Nicole led the way up along a nearby stairway, her mind churning. Maybe the idea that she was becoming linked to the Fyrantha was something new, something she’d never thought of before. More likely, it was something she’d already known and simply pushed into the back of her mind with all the other thoughts and memories she didn’t want to admit were there.
Now, thanks to Jeff and Kahkitah, those suspicions had been dragged out into the open where she could no longer ignore them.
It made a certain amount of sense, really. Ushkai had told her the original Lillilli owners had set up the Fyrantha so that only humans could repair it, though he hadn’t known why. Maybe that was because they knew that humans could connect to the ship on a level that would let them become true friends and allies. If Nicole thought about it that way, it was like she suddenly had a boyfriend.
Problem was, she didn’t want a boyfriend.
She’d worked incredibly hard over the years to avoid that exact situation. She’d played Trake’s men against each other, favoring one and then another, talking one into giving her crash space—and hopefully nothing else—then making sure to move on to the next before she wore out her welcome. Every time she’d slipped up, every time she’d been forced to endure one of those horrible and thoroughly unwanted couch sessions, it had left another black scar on her mind that needed to be buried away.
It wasn’t just that there was no one in the gang she liked enough to be a willing participant in such things. It was that anchoring herself to any one person was incredibly dangerous. With all the jockeying back and forth for position, with Trake ruling over everyone with an iron fist, and with deaths and injuries sometimes a monthly occurrence, picking the wrong partner could be fatal for a woman. If she lost her man to gang violence, she would be fair game for whoever grabbed her first. If she lost him to gang politics, she would be bit by the same backlash.
What would happen to her if the Fyrantha lost its battle against the Shipmasters?
Because it might. Probably would, in fact. The Shipmasters had all the cards, all the weapons, and the most critical parts of the ship. They had allies and servants and the teleport rooms and a full quarter of the Wisps. All Nicole had was Jeff, Kahkitah, a handful of humans and Ghorfs—
“Where are we going?” Moile asked from a few steps below her.
Nicole sighed. And two Ponngs and four Thii.
Wonderful.
“Up another couple of levels,” she told him. “We’ll be heading back down to the arena, but I want to cross the central heat-transfer duct a few levels above it. Less chance of running into a Q3 Wisp that way.”
“I thought the Q3 Wisps were under your control,” Teika said.
“I haven’t really tested that,” Nicole said. “Anyway, whatever it was before could have changed in the past few hours. Why, you getting tired?”
“Not at all,” Moile assured her. “We will follow the Sibyl wherever she leads.”
Nicole hissed silently. Still playing their self-chosen roles as her loyal slaves. The whole thing still set her teeth on edge.
And it got worse. One of Trake’s gang getting kicked under the bus usually bounced the same mess to his woman. If the Fyrantha lost, and Nicole lost along with it, would that happen to the Ponngs and Thii? The Shipmasters needed the humans to fix their ship, and the Ghorfs to provide the necessary muscle, but she doubted they needed a half dozen aliens who barely came up to Nicole’s chin and had no strength or technical ex
pertise to speak of.
Could she persuade Jeff and Carp to take them into the blue group and teach them how to repair the Fyrantha’s circuits? Maybe their thinner fingers could get into places that human ones couldn’t reach.
Another chill ran through her. What in hell’s name was she doing?
She’d spent half her life training herself not to care about other people, because caring never gained anyone anything but a punch or a knife in the gut. She’d started life aboard the Fyrantha by playing Carp and the others against each other, making sure to never get close to any of them. Maybe she’d gotten a little too close to Jeff and Kahkitah, but that was purely because they could be useful to her as allies.
But the Ponngs and Thii were of no value to her. None at all. So why did she care what happened to them?
Or was any of this coming from her at all? Was it instead coming from the Fyrantha?
Get out of my head! she thought viciously at the ship. You can tell me what to do, but you can’t tell me what to think.
There was no answer. She hadn’t really expected one.
But her concern for the Ponngs and Thii was still there.
Ushkai had declared her to be the Fyrantha’s Protector. He hadn’t mentioned anything about her also becoming the ship’s slave.
three
She led them all the way up to level 22, a full ten levels above the arena. Partly that was to make sure they crossed the centerline at a spot where they would hopefully not be expected. Mostly it was to test the Ponngs’ stamina.
To her private annoyance, they handled the climb better than she did.
“We’ll now be carried across the gap?” Teika asked as they waited for the Wisps Nicole had called to show up.
“That’s how you got to Q4 in the first place,” Nicole reminded him. “Why, were you thinking about seeing if you could jump it?”
“No, of course not,” Teika said hastily. “I just … we don’t have good memories of these creatures.”