by Timothy Zahn
“I’m okay,” Nicole said. He was right on both counts, but her depression had suddenly sparked an unexpected surge of stubbornness. “I’m the reason everyone’s having to run around like crazies. I need to at least pull my own weight.”
“Right,” Jeff said. He looked at the Ponngs. “I’m heading over to Q3 to check on the Thii. You two want to come along?”
“We would be honored,” Moile said.
“Unless the Protector needs us,” Teika put in. “Our first duty is to her.”
“No, go ahead,” Nicole said, the stubbornness fading back into common sense. She was pretty tired, and Jeff could certainly handle the rendezvous with Nise. “I’ve got Cambria and the others if there’s trouble, and Kahkitah’s wandering around somewhere, too.”
“If you’re sure,” Teika said, sounding a little doubtful.
“I’m sure,” Nicole said. “But thank you.”
“Good,” Jeff said briskly. “And when I say take a nap, I don’t mean go stuff Bungie in a padded cell. They’ll be fine right where they are for now. I’ll wake you when we’re back, and we’ll move them together.”
“Fine,” Nicole said tiredly. Actually, the thought of getting Trake’s gang to their permanent prison hadn’t even occurred to her. “Be sure to take a couple of spider guns with you.”
“First on my list of things to do,” Jeff said. “Eat up, gentlemen, and let’s get this show on the road.”
“This will keep until later,” Moile said, taking a last bite and then pushing his tray a few inches away.
“Yes,” Teika said. He took two hasty bites, and Nicole noted that he seemed more reluctant when he also pushed away his tray.
“You really don’t—” she began.
“Yes, we do,” Jeff cut her off as he stood up. “Any new instructions for Nise?”
Nicole sighed. “Just that they’re to keep watching and listening. And tell him we’ll be there to relieve them as soon as we can.”
“Got it,” Jeff said. “Sleep well.”
“And wake me if anything changes.”
“Of course,” Jeff said. Ushering the Ponngs in front of him, he left the room.
“He’s not a very good liar, is he?” Iosif commented from his table.
“Excuse me?” Nicole asked.
“He has no intention of waking you up for anything short of the Second Coming,” Iosif said. “He worries about you.”
“I’m fine,” Nicole groused.
“You look like something the cat dragged in,” Iosif said. “Who’s Cambria?”
“One of my five special Wisps.”
“Special how?”
Nicole hesitated. Those special Wisps were supposed to be a secret, but she was too tired to play games. Besides, as far as she was concerned, Iosif’s and his team’s actions in the Q3 battle had more than proven their commitment. “We told you how the Wisps seem anchored to their own specific quadrants, right? Well, these five are apparently anchored to me.”
“Really,” Iosif said thoughtfully. “Interesting. That could be useful.”
“So we hope,” Nicole said. “Thank you for your help in Q3, by the way. We couldn’t have done it without you.”
“Glad we could help,” Iosif said. “Actually, if the Shipmasters are that easy to outmaneuver, this may be easier than I’d expected.”
“Well, don’t get overconfident,” Nicole warned. “They may not be terrific at fighting, but they’ve got resources and weapons that we don’t.”
“Maybe,” Iosif said. “But wars are won by men, not weapons. Men and women,” he added, inclining his head to her. “But you’re right about the overconfidence. Never a good idea.” He looked over at the door as it slid open and a Wisp glided in.
Not just any Wisp, but one of her special five. But up to now, they’d always stayed put unless she gave them orders to the contrary. “Hagert?” she asked. “Is something wrong?”
The Wisp came over to her and stopped beside the table. Nicole reached out and laid a hand on its arm. Is something wrong? she thought at it.
The Caretaker speaks to me, Hagert said into her mind. Allyce is with him in the animal treatment room on level 6. She wishes to see you.
All right. Go and bring her here, please.
She wishes to see you there.
Nicole frowned. In the treatment room?
Yes. She asks that you come alone.
“What is it?” Iosif asked. “Trouble?”
“Allyce is upstairs and wants to see me,” Nicole said. “She’s one of our doctors.”
“Yeah, I know who she is. You want me to go with you?”
“She wants me to come alone.”
Iosif straightened up a little, his eyes narrowing. “That doesn’t sound suspicious or anything.”
“It does, doesn’t it?” Nicole agreed, a bad feeling settling into the pit of her stomach. Ask the Caretaker if there is danger there.
He says there is not.
Which meant not a single damned thing, Nicole knew. With the Caretaker partially under Shipmaster control, or at least under Shipmaster influence, his assurances were worthless.
“Thanks for the offer,” she told Iosif as she stood up. “But the Caretaker says it’s safe.”
“You believe him?”
“It’s okay,” Nicole said. Which wasn’t actually an answer to his question, but he probably wouldn’t notice. “Allyce has been … a little touchy lately. She may just need a woman-to-woman talk.”
Iosif grunted. “Yeah, I remember woman-to-woman talks. I never saw any of them end well.”
“Well, then, this can be a first,” she said, standing up. “But thanks for the offer.”
“You sure?” he persisted.
“I’m sure.” Nicole pointed to his tray. “Besides, I haven’t finished eating, and Jeff hauled the Ponngs away from their trays. We really should let someone finish a meal in peace today.”
“Now you’re just reaching.”
“Fine,” Nicole said. “Joking aside, I want someone competent here in case of trouble with Bungie and Trake.”
“Better,” Iosif said, gazing hard at her. “You and Jeff still need to work on this deception stuff.”
Nicole sighed. “I’ll be fine,” she said. “This is Q4, remember? One shout, and every Wisp in earshot will be there.”
“Fine,” Iosif said, waving his fork. “It’s not like you couldn’t lose me if I tried to follow you, anyway. What about that one?” He nodded toward Hagert.
“I’ll send him back to my room with the other four,” Nicole said. “If Fievj or Nevvis drops by, I don’t want them wondering why a bunch of Wisps are just hanging around doing nothing.”
“Yeah,” Iosif said. “Well. Be careful, okay?”
“Don’t worry,” Nicole said. “If I die, I’ll be sure to leave a note for Jeff not to blame you.”
Iosif grunted. “Not funny.”
“Sorry. Back as soon as I can.”
“You’re at least taking a spider gun, right?”
“Sure,” Nicole lied. “I’ll grab one on my way.”
Which she wouldn’t, of course. She and Jeff could summon Wisps, but no one else here could do that. The spider guns were all they had to protect themselves, and she had no intention of unnecessarily reducing their odds.
Besides which, she thought darkly as she headed down the corridor, if this was a trap of some sort, anything she was carrying would be permanently lost. She had no intention of risking herself and one of their weapons. This day had been too costly as it was.
* * *
The last two times she’d entered the treatment room she’d come from the aft part of the room. This time, mindful of the oddness of the situation, she decided to try a door she’d noticed closer to the area where the hologram of Ushkai typically waited for her.
The hologram wasn’t visible as she slipped through the door and into the high-ceilinged room with its rows of cages. But Allyce was. The doctor was sitting cross-legge
d on the floor near Ushkai’s usual spot, about fifty yards away, gazing down at the floor in front of her as if in a yoga meditation. She had some kind of handmade scarf wrapped loosely around her neck, the ends dangling down over her chest. Nicole thought about calling to her, decided she’d wait until she was closer, and headed in.
She was halfway to Allyce when a quiet alarm bell went off in the back of her head.
Something was different.
She stopped short, holding as still as she could, her eyes darting everywhere within view as she tried to figure it out. She couldn’t see anyone besides Allyce. There were no sounds other than the background noises she’d always heard when she was here.
Was the oddness the reason Ushkai’s hologram hadn’t appeared? He’d always been there waiting for her. Had Allyce somehow blocked him, or sent him away? Or could it have something to do with the Shipmasters’ control?
“Thank you for coming,” Allyce said into Nicole’s sudden fears. There was an odd tension in her voice as it echoed through the room. “I hoped you would. I prayed you would.”
Nicole swallowed hard. “I’m here,” she said, wincing at the unnecessary words. Allyce already knew she was here. “What do you need from me?”
“I need to set things right,” Allyce said. “I need to put things right. You’re the only one who can help me do that.”
Nicole caught her breath as it suddenly clicked. The sights of the room, and its sounds—all of those were normal.
But not the smell. The smell was different. Just a hint, but it was there.
The smell of Koffren.
“I’m sorry,” Allyce said. “But it was the only way.”
And as Nicole broke her paralysis and started toward her, she heard a faint scuffling behind her. She spun around—
To see a Koffren striding toward her, his short sword gripped ready in his hand.
sixteen
“Wisps! To me!” Nicole shouted desperately, spinning back around and sprinting toward Allyce. There was another door beyond her at the other side of the room, as well as the one past the treatment cages to her right. If she could stay ahead of her attacker long enough to reach one of those, she would hopefully be able to find some Wisps to assist her. She picked up her speed, not knowing how much closer the Koffren behind her might have come and not daring to slow down long enough to find out.
She was a couple of steps from the end of the cages now. Flipping a mental coin, she decided to turn right and try for the door at that end. It was farther away, but she knew the layout better at that end. She reached the end of the cage and started to turn right.
“No—left,” Allyce said, so quietly that Nicole barely heard her over the clump of her own footsteps.
She hesitated, uncertainty braking her rhythm and slowing her down. Allyce’s face was rigid with stress and resolve, but there was pain and something that looked almost like pleading in her eyes. Nicole hesitated another step, slowing even further. Then, somewhat to her own surprise, she shifted direction, turning to her left as Allyce had ordered and trying to pick up her speed again. Out of the corner of her eye she saw the Koffren looming behind her, much closer than he’d been, his sword raised toward her. She turned her attention forward again—
And saw to her horror that, barely fifty yards away, the path was blocked by a line of crates, stacked two high, laid across the entire width of the room. A single gap remained, all the way to the left, beckoning invitingly.
Except that it was just more of the trap. Even as she continued running toward it, she could see that it was too narrow to allow her to slip through. She would make it probably halfway before getting stuck, leaving her helpless to get hacked to death by the Koffren behind her.
Unless …
She eyed the top level of crates. Allyce was the only one she knew had been up here, and the other woman had never struck her as being all that strong. On top of that, this was a treatment area for animals that had long since disappeared from the Fyrantha. There was no reason for any supplies to still be here, and anyway Allyce could hardly have lifted that many packed crates up there by herself.
And if they were indeed empty, there was a chance Nicole could slip into the gap, reach through to the far side of the barrier and get her hand on the back side of one of the second-tier crates, and push it past her to slam into the Koffren.
It was a huge gamble, possibly the last gamble she would ever make. But at this point it was her only chance. It was too late to veer around toward one of the other doors without crossing the Koffren’s path, and the barrier was too tall for her to jump over.
She was bracing herself, eyeing the gap and mentally running through the procedure, when the second Koffren leaped into view from behind the barrier, soaring effortlessly over the top of the crates and landing with a thud almost directly in Nicole’s path.
He straightened up, his sword gleaming in his hand. His face was invisible behind the perforated helmet, but Nicole could imagine the look of triumph and anticipation that must be plastered across his face.
And suddenly Nicole had no chances left. None.
She slowed down her mad dash, coming to a halt a few yards from the Koffren. With her own footsteps silent, she could hear the thuds of the Koffren coming up behind her. Her comment to Iosif about leaving a note for Jeff flashed to mind, together with all the heavy weight of irony that now wrapped around it.
“I’m sorry,” Allyce said quietly.
Nicole turned her head. Allyce had left her seat on the floor and was walking toward her, her arms wrapped around her midsection as if she had a stomachache, the dangling ends of her scarf bouncing gently against her chest in rhythm with her walk. “Yeah,” Nicole said. “Me, too.”
“It was the only way,” Allyce said. She straightened up. “Watch her,” she warned in a louder voice. “She may be booby-trapped. Hold her arms away from her sides and let me check.”
Nicole frowned as the two Koffren wrapped their hands around her wrists and twisted the arms to point straight up over her head. She could feel their breath on her cheeks and the top of her head: a soft, leisurely flow from the one who’d jumped the barrier; faster, heavier puffs from the one who’d had to chase her. Allyce walked up to them, and once again Nicole saw her brace herself as she reached up to the ends of her scarf.
But instead of taking hold of the scarf itself, Allyce’s hands reached up behind the scarf and pulled out two objects that had been pinned there out of sight. Her fingers wrapped around them; and as Nicole’s eyes and brain belatedly identified them as hypodermics with extraordinarily long needles Allyce thrust them up at the Koffren’s faces. The needles slipped through the holes in their masks—there were simultaneous jolts as the needle tips jabbed into the hidden flesh behind them—Allyce’s thumbs squeezed the plungers—
An instant later one of the Koffren let go of Nicole and slapped his arm against Allyce’s chest, the impact sending her flying backward into the side of one of the cages. She gasped with pain as she bounced off the bars and dropped to the deck, rolling half over as both Koffren yanked the hypos from their faces and helmets and threw them aside. The one who’d hit Allyce strode toward her, lifting his sword for a killing blow. Nicole tried to pull away from the other Koffren, but could only gasp as he tightened his grip still further. Allyce pushed herself weakly up onto one elbow, her face twisted in pain as she watched her death approaching.
Then, to Nicole’s astonishment, the grip on her arm loosened. At the same time the other Koffren broke stride, his sword drooping, his body swaying. Nicole frowned, wondering what was happening.
And as she watched in stunned disbelief, both aliens collapsed to the deck and lay still.
For a long moment she just stared at them. Then, she raised her eyes to Allyce, still half lying on the deck.
Allyce nodded wearily at Nicole’s silent question. “Cyanide,” she said, the word coming out with difficulty and a spasm of pain. “It blocks oxygen absorption into the blood. F
igured it would kill anything that breathes the ship’s air.”
“The animal treatment room,” Nicole murmured. “You had plenty of hypos in the medical center, but you needed to find longer needles.”
Allyce nodded. “Sorry.” Another spasm of pain. “The only way to get them close enough together was to convince them I was on their side and use you as bait. Can you give me a hand?”
“Sure,” Nicole said, hurrying over. “How bad is it?”
“At a guess, a couple of bruised or fractured ribs, possibly a broken collarbone”—she broke off for a stifled gasp as Nicole knelt down beside her—“and maybe some internal injuries. No—don’t touch me. You can call Wisps, right? Can you get some of them to carry me back to Sam and the hive?”
“Sure,” Nicole said, frowning. Now that Allyce mentioned it …
She looked around. She had called for the Wisps, hadn’t she, just before the big chase started? Yes, of course she had. But that had been a good couple of minutes ago, and not a single Wisp was in sight.
“I had to do it,” Allyce said, her voice twisted with pain and pleading. “You know that, don’t you? It was my fault they killed Bennett. My drug. My stupid damn—” She broke off in a gasping sob as fresh pain stabbed through her. “I was so focused on going home I didn’t think.”
“It’s okay,” Nicole soothed, still looking around. Had the Wisps not heard her? Were they afraid to respond?
“I messed it up for everyone,” Allyce went on.
“You didn’t know what they were going to do,” Nicole said. “None of us did.”
Or were they simply not able to come into the Caretaker’s stronghold?
Nicole hissed under her breath. Fine. If they weren’t coming on their own, she would just have to go get them.
“I’ll be right back,” she told Allyce, straightening up. She would head through her usual door, she decided, and the route she knew best. “Stay here.”
She headed off, hurrying down the wide lane between the cages. If she couldn’t get any of the regular Q4 Wisps to come, then she’d have to go back to the hive and grab Cambria and the others. Whatever was keeping the Wisps away, her personal group would hopefully not be so squeamish.