by Timothy Zahn
“It’ll be all right,” Nicole said. “I know what I’m doing.”
For a moment Wesowee eyed her in silence. Then he did the sighing thing again and tapped out the rest of her message. “He acknowledges,” he said, returning the screwdriver to the sensor box and replacing the cover. “Have you discussed this plan with Kahkitah or Jeff?”
“No,” Nicole said. “Mainly because I didn’t come up with it until we found out about the drones.”
“They will be useful weapons,” Wesowee said. “But good weapons require good soldiers to best use them.”
“If this is about Iyulik again, don’t worry about it,” Nicole said. “Young and inexperienced is sometimes a good thing.”
“In what way?”
“There were these two things Jeff was very big on when we were talking about plans,” Nicole said. “He called them assumption and misdirection. The Shipmasters have made some assumptions about us—”
She broke off. “Did you hear something?” she asked, lowering her voice.
“In the corridor,” Wesowee said quietly. “Shall I look?”
“I will,” Nicole said. “Be ready to run.”
She stepped to the door, waiting while Wesowee disentangled himself from the machinery. She spotted a small bucket on the floor beside the door and picked it up. It wasn’t much of a weapon—small, light, and awkward to hold—but it was all she had.
Wesowee was standing behind her now, waiting for her to make her move. Bracing herself, she opened the door and stepped out.
And nearly walked straight into an armored Shipmaster.
“Yeeeough!” she shrieked.
Luckily, he seemed as startled by the near collision as she was. He jerked back, jerking a second time as he reacted to her unexpected scream.
Fortunately, he wasn’t carrying a weapon. Unfortunately, the same couldn’t be said of the two Koffren five steps behind him. Even as Wesowee popped into the corridor behind Nicole the big aliens grabbed for the spider guns holstered beside their swords and started lifting them into firing position.
“Run!” Nicole shouted, and hurled her bucket as hard as she could toward the Koffren.
Useless as a weapon, as she’d already noted. But the Koffren hadn’t had time to focus on what was in her hand. Reflexively, they dodged sideways to get clear of the unidentified object arrowing toward them.
A second later, Nicole was snatched off her feet as Wesowee wrapped his lumpy arms around her, turned his back to the Shipmaster and Koffren, and took off at a dead run.
“What’s the danger?” he asked in a bewildered tone as he raced down the corridor, his voice just loud enough for the Shipmaster to hear. Even in the midst of a potential battle—maybe especially in the midst of a battle—he needed to continue playing the role the Ghorfs had set for themselves. “Nicole? What’s the danger? Why are we running?”
“There are bad people back there,” she said, trying for the same volume level. She didn’t know whether or not the Shipmasters were still buying this act, but she owed it to the Ghorfs to do whatever she could to maintain it.
“Stop!” a Shipmaster voice demanded from behind them. “I order you to stop.”
“Let me down,” Nicole murmured to Wesowee. “We can run faster that way.”
“Not yet,” Wesowee said. “I need to shield you from the spider guns. If I fall, go on without me.”
“But—”
“Have no fear, Protector,” he said. “I know how to pretend foolishness.”
“That wasn’t what I meant—”
An instant later a spider shot flashed past to slap into the ceiling. Nicole frowned, wondering how on Earth the Koffren could have missed—
And as a second shot plastered against the wall ahead to her right a drone shot past overhead. It tilted up sharply on the back edge, the air blast from the rotating blades killing its forward momentum, then headed back, its poisoned whipcords snapping out into attack mode.
Apparently, the Ponngs were fast learners.
“Let me see,” Nicole whispered.
Wesowee hesitated, then loosened his grip a bit, just enough for Nicole to twist around in his arms and look over his shoulder.
The two Koffren had been taken completely by surprise by the sudden attack from behind. One of them was staggering along, barely maintaining his balance, his spider gun forgotten as he pressed both hands against the right side of his head where the drone must have tagged him. The other Koffren seemed unhurt, but he was also clearly off balance, his gun spitting spider shots uselessly into floor, ceiling, and walls as he tried to take down the zigzagging drone now coming back toward him. The Shipmaster, his armor presumably protecting him from both the drug and direct physical impact, had nevertheless ducked to the side of the corridor as far out of the way as he could get. He was pressed against the wall, half-turned as if trying to hide his face from the drone.
And then, Nicole’s brain caught up with her. The Shipmaster wasn’t trying to hide.
He was going for a greenfire weapon.
She twisted back around, cursing under her breath, mentally urging Wesowee to run faster, knowing full well that all the wishing and urging and running in the universe wouldn’t save them now. The end of the corridor was still a good ten seconds away. The Shipmaster would have his weapon out of storage and ready in half that time.
Wesowee’s massive body could protect her from a spider gun shot. With the bolt from a greenfire weapon, they would simply die together.
Maybe the Ponngs could do something. Maybe they could keep the drones flying through the spider gun barrage long enough to distract the Shipmaster, or ruin his aim, or maybe even knock the weapon from his hand.
But only one drone was in the air, and even if the second emerged from the barracks right now, it would be too late to affect anything. Wesowee would die, and Nicole would die; and then the Ponngs, too, would die.
And Jeff would never even know what had happened to her.
And then, to her amazement, a hidden panel in the corridor wall ten feet in front of them popped open, one of the hidden staircases that even a lot of the Fyrantha’s long-term workers didn’t know about. “In here!” a hoarse voice came from the opening. “Come on! In here!”
“Do it,” Nicole said, her thudding heart suddenly in her throat. The voice was strained, but it sure sounded like—
Wesowee barreled through the open door, nearly flattening the person holding it open for them … and with Nicole’s first glance her suspicions became certainty.
It was Bungie.
“What the hell?” she breathed as he slammed the door shut behind them.
“Yeah, later,” Bungie shot back, pointing up the staircase. “Right now, run. It won’t take them long to find the door and figure out how to get through it.”
“If they don’t just blast it open,” Nicole warned. “Wesowee, put me down.”
“How are they going to—? Oh, hell. Has he got a greenfire weapon?”
“He’s got a whole buttload of them,” Nicole bit out as Wesowee set her down on the stairs. “Where to?”
“Five floors up,” Bungie said. “I’ve scoped out a room where they shouldn’t find us.”
“No, let’s go down,” Nicole said, brushing past him to the down part of the staircase.
“What are you doing?” he snarled. “I already have a place.”
“So do I,” Nicole said. “And it’ll be harder for the Shipmasters to track us there.”
“I know this ship, damn it.”
“So do I, and better than you.”
She kept going down, Wesowee clomping along beside her. She was making the first turn when Bungie caught up with them. “Fine,” he snarled. “How far are we going?”
“Not far,” Nicole said. “Level 36.”
With adrenaline still pumping through her blood, Nicole did the four flights in record time and without a single ache in her leg muscles. She opened the hidden door, checked both directions, and sl
ipped into the corridor.
“Where now?” Bungie asked tightly.
“This way,” Nicole said, turning to the right.
“You’d better sure as hell know what you’re doing,” Bungie warned as he hurried along behind her.
“I do,” Nicole said. For a moment her thoughts flicked to the Ponngs, wondering if she’d just left them to die. Hopefully, the Shipmaster and Koffren would concentrate on Nicole and let the small aliens escape back to Q4. If the Wisps Nicole had left on the Q3 side of the central heat-transfer duct were still there, they should be able and willing to ferry the Ponngs back to safety.
But whether they were or not, there was nothing else Nicole could do for the Ponngs now. Nothing but make sure that whatever suffering they might have to go through wouldn’t be for nothing.
seven
Bungie was not impressed by the room Nicole found for them.
“You’ve got to be kidding,” he grumbled, looking around. “What the hell is this place, an army barracks?”
“It’s got room, it’s got beds, and there’s a water dispenser in the corner,” Nicole said. She walked to one of the nearby beds and sat down at one end.
“So did my place,” Bungie said sourly, coming over and sitting on the bed facing hers. “And food, and places to hide if the Shipmasters got too close. And it had some leftover tubing from when they were parking fighters here that we could have used for weapons.”
“Tubing against greenfire weapons?” Nicole scoffed. “Right. No, thanks.”
“That’s why I wanted hiding places,” Bungie said with exaggerated patience.
“You can hide under the beds.”
“I stopped doing that when I was three.”
“Excuse me,” Wesowee said hesitantly. The Ghorf was still standing, looking uncertain, but Nicole noticed that he’d picked a spot where he could watch the door but also get to Bungie in a hurry if he had to. “You say the tubing was from fighters? What did the people do with the tubing? Wrap it around themselves for protection?”
“What? Oh.” Bungie rolled his eyes. “Not fighters, like people that shoot at each other. Fighters like airplanes that shoot at each other.”
Wesowee gave a startled-sounding birdsong. “There were airplanes aboard the Fyrantha?”
Bungie snorted and looked at Nicole. “You always knew how to pick ’em, didn’t you?”
“I’d put his loyalty up against your street smarts any day,” Nicole said stiffly. “Speaking of loyalty, you won’t mind if I ask what the hell you’re doing, right? Starting with how you knew we’d be down there, and why you got us out.”
“How I knew is because I’m still in with Fievj and the other Shipmasters,” Bungie said. “They think I’m their best chance of talking you down, or whatever the hell they want to do with you.”
“What do they want with me?”
“They want you to just go away, I guess,” Bungie said. “You’re messing things up, and it’s gonna come back and bite you. And Jeff and the rest of your buddies, too.”
“But I don’t want to be bitten,” Wesowee said plaintively. “Being bitten hurts.”
“Yeah, you want to shut up and let us talk?” Bungie growled, glaring at the Ghorf. “Pretend you’re not here or something.”
“Oh—pretend games!” Wesowee said, his birdsong voice brightening. “I like those.”
“Good.” Bungie rolled his eyes again and turned back to Nicole. “Anyway, they spotted you in the Q3 arena but weren’t able to get down there before you left.”
“More likely couldn’t get the Koffren to come with them,” Nicole said. “Or they were worried about the drones.”
“Yeah, they said you had drones now,” Bungie said, nodding. “They’re worried about that, too, I can tell you.”
“Why?” Nicole asked. “The poison can’t get through those centaur suits.”
“I think they’re more worried about you using the drones to spy on them,” Bungie said. “There are cameras inside that feed pictures to the controller.”
“Yeah, the wolfmen said something about that,” Nicole said. “I don’t know if Moile and Teika have figured that part out yet. Did they get away, do you know?”
“How could I?” Bungie retorted. “I’ve been with you the whole time.”
“Right,” Nicole said. “Right. Sorry. So Fievj couldn’t get down to the arena, but you figured you could?”
“They want you to quit messing with the ship, but they’re not doing a hell of a good job of stopping you,” Bungie said. “I figured that while they were scrambling to get the Koffren into place I’d give it a shot. If anyone can talk some sense into you it’ll be me.”
“Yeah,” Nicole said, passing over the extreme unlikelihood of that happening. “How did you know where I’d be?”
He snorted. “What, after all that grandstanding in Q4 and Q3 to get food to the poor helpless aliens? Of course you’d be trying to do that with this bunch.”
“Okay, that answers the how,” Nicole said. “Now, let’s hear the why. Why did you get us away from them?”
“Like I said, I wanted to talk.”
“About what? And don’t tell me to quit, because I’m not going to.”
“I’m not.” Bungie lowered his eyes. “I’m here because I decided you were right.”
“I was right?” Offhand, Nicole couldn’t remember him ever actually saying those words. “About what?”
“About that they’re not going to send us home.” He looked back up at her face for a second, then again lowered his gaze. “They’re just using us. Using me. We could all have been killed in the arena when they sent in the Koffren.” He sent a hooded look at Wesowee. “Me, anyway. That other Ghorf—Kahkitah—sure as hell wanted to break me in half.”
“I can’t believe that,” Wesowee said, sounding both confused and nervous. “I remember meeting Kahkitah. He would never do such a thing. Especially not to a fellow worker.”
“Well, if he didn’t, Jeff sure did.” Bungie waved a hand. “Never mind. The point is that the Shipmasters aren’t going to do anything for us. If we want to get home, we have to do it ourselves.”
“You think that’s a good idea?”
“What, go home instead of hanging out here? Damn right. Why, do you want to stay?”
“Not the way things are,” Nicole admitted. “So what do you think we can do about it?”
“We need to join forces,” Bungie said. “I know a lot about Fievj and the other Shipmasters. They’ve taken me around Q1 a lot, and I know where all the good stuff is.”
“What sort of stuff?”
“The room we landed in when they brought us from Philly, for starters,” he said. “They call it the teleport room. I also know where they keep their guns.”
“Really,” Nicole murmured, sitting up a little straighter. “That could be very useful.”
“Yeah, but not so much for me,” Bungie said. “They usually have me on a pretty short leash.” He shot another look at Wesowee. “But you have friends. You could use some weapons.”
“I suppose.” Nicole took a deep breath, let it out in a long sigh. “Though Jeff might not want to change his plans at the last minute.”
Bungie snorted. “What plans can he have that can’t use a few guns?”
“I meant change his plans so that we’re working with you,” Nicole said. “I mean … he doesn’t really trust you.”
“In that case he’s screwed,” Bungie said bluntly. “He’ll never get to the guns without me, and he’ll never get anywhere against the Shipmasters without guns.”
“I know,” Nicole said. “But you know Jeff. I don’t know—maybe his plan doesn’t need guns.”
“I’d sure like to hear what kind of plan doesn’t need guns.”
“Me, too,” Nicole said. “I really don’t know much about it.” She screwed up her face. “I don’t think he trusts me, either.”
“Yeah,” Bungie said contemptuously. “Hell. You hook up with him”—
he hooked a thumb toward Wesowee—“and you hook up with Jeff. You should have stuck with me from the start. At least I’d have treated you right. Did he tell you anything?”
“Just that he thinks it’ll work,” Nicole said. “He’s pretty proud of it. And now that we’ve got drones…” She trailed off.
“Now that we’ve got drones what?” Bungie pressed.
“I don’t know,” Nicole said, hunching her shoulders. “I was just wondering … you said there were cameras on them, right? If we can get them into Q1, maybe we can find the guns.”
“What for? I already told you I know where they are.”
“But you can’t show us the way,” Nicole pointed out. “If the Shipmasters catch you, they’ll never trust you again.”
Bungie snorted. “Don’t worry, I can talk my way around them. It’s Jeff who’ll be a problem. You think you can find out his plans? Come on to him or something?”
“He probably knows that trick,” Nicole said. “But maybe you can get to him.”
“What, me?”
“Why not?” Nicole asked. “You’ve got the guns. He’s got the plan.”
“And he wants to kill me.” Bungie shook his head. “I don’t think so. Anyway, I can’t go to Q4. If Fievj catches me there, I’m done.”
“So I’ll get him to come here.” Nicole looked up at Wesowee. “Wesowee, can you go to Q4 and ask Jeff if he’s got time to come talk to me?”
“You want me to bring someone here?” Wesowee asked. On the surface his tone was eager and willing, but Nicole could hear the sudden uneasiness underneath it.
“Yes, please,” Nicole said, pretending she hadn’t heard the doubt. “His name’s Jeff, and he’ll be wearing a blue jumpsuit like mine. Just ask anyone you see—they’ll be able to take you to him.”
“Wait a second,” Bungie protested. “I haven’t even said yes yet.”
“Oh, and if you run into Nise and the other Thii, tell them I’m sorry I haven’t been back to see them,” Nicole added casually. “I know they don’t like it if I ignore them too long.”
“You have Thii with you?” Wesowee asked, eyeing Nicole closely. “I thought they all went home.”