by Timothy Zahn
On her first trip, Nicole had been screaming-crazy terrified. The fact that she’d been paralyzed and unable to give voice to that scream had only made it worse.
This time, with the Wisps and their characteristics far more familiar, she could almost enjoy the ride. There was a certain peace inherent in the blackness, especially in contrast to the violence and strife aboard the Fyrantha. Automatically, she found herself counting off the seconds again, wondering if she would reach the same number as before or if the fact that she was doing the traveling would change her perception of the time any. She vaguely remembered one of her teachers talking about that, with someone called Einstein.
And then, suddenly, the blackness lifted.
She was back.
It was nighttime, the Philadelphia streets quiet and mostly deserted, the streetlights blazing. A thin layer of snow lay along the sides of the pavement, and with a shock she realized that while she’d been on the Fyrantha she’d completely lost track of the seasons back home. The air was cold, and she knew that if she could breathe properly she’d be able to see her breath.
She’d always hated the cold of winter. The cold, the short days, the misery of standing watch for one of Trake’s schemes. Now, though, it was almost with nostalgia that she took in the muted sounds of the city she’d grown up with.
She’d never really understood Sam’s and Bungie’s passion for getting back here. Now, in this single moment, she could almost sympathize. For all its faults and dangers and frustrations, Philly and Earth were still home.
Then, as suddenly as it had disappeared, the blackness returned.
Philly was gone. Earth was gone. She was on her way back to the Fyrantha.
And if she’d been wrong about the Koffren in the larger teleport room, she was going to be in serious trouble. She counted out the seconds—twenty-seven of them this time—and the black again lifted and she was back.
She’d expected to find herself looking at two or more Koffren, grouped angrily around the control room door as they tried to break in. But the door in front of her was intact, and there was no one standing there. Had they given up and gone away?
Belatedly, her brain caught up with her. She and the Wisp had arrived facing the exit door. The control room door, and any associated Koffren, were on the other side of the room.
The Wisp opened its arms. Holding her breath, Nicole turned around and peeked gingerly around the Wisp’s side as it refolded its wings.
They were there, all right. Not the two or three Koffren she’d expected, but five of the massive aliens. They were hunched over a cutting torch one of them had taken from an equipment closet, poking and prodding and trying to figure out how it worked.
Nicole let out her breath in a silent sigh. It had worked. She was back, and the Koffren had completely missed her return.
But the moment of grace wouldn’t last long. With the ambush of Jeff’s supposed invasion now over and done with, the rest of the Koffren could be charging through the door in front of her at any time.
She touched the Wisp’s arm. Thank you.
You’re welcome. Protector.
With a final careful look at the Koffren, Nicole crossed the room and slipped out the door.
The corridor outside the teleport room was deserted. If she hurried, she should have a clear path back to Q3 and then to safety in Q4.
Only with all the confusion that Sam’s drug had pumped into her, she had no idea how to get there.
She hurried to the next cross-corridor, painfully aware that she also didn’t know which direction the incoming Koffren would be coming from. Fortunately, the cross-corridor was also deserted. “Cambria?” she called softly. “Cambria? Come here, please. I need you. Cambria?”
No answer. She stood still, her heart thudding, trying to listen for ominous footsteps. She’d looked over Q1’s section layout a little back when she was learning everything she could about the ship, but most of that knowledge had gone vague in her mind. If she mixed up the sector names, she could end up going the completely wrong direction. Worse, without Cambria she would have no safe way of crossing either of the heat-transfer ducts, whether to Q3 or Q2.
She’d been lucky with the teleport room Wisp, talking it out of the Shipmasters’ control. But she couldn’t count on pulling that off a second time.
That was a problem she needed to deal with.
Out of the corner of her eye she caught movement as a figure came around the corner. She tensed, then relaxed as she recognized Cambria. “Come here,” she ordered, beckoning.
The Wisp was already on its way. It reached Nicole, and Nicole took its arm. We need to get back to Q4, she told it. You know the way, right?
Of course, Cambria replied. Come. I will guide you.
The approaching Koffren footsteps were audible as Nicole and the Wisp headed toward Q3 and safety.
nineteen
“So that’s it?” Allyce asked. “He’s gone?”
“He’s gone,” Nicole confirmed. “Back to Philly. I hope he’s happy there.”
“I’m sure he is,” Allyce murmured. Lying on the medical center bed, her latest batch of meds on a tray beside her, she looked ten years older than she had even a few days ago. “I wish I could have said good-bye. He wasn’t a bad man, you know. No worse than some of the rest of us, anyway.”
“I know,” Nicole said. Dr. Sam McNair. The man who’d once hoped to sidetrack Nicole’s humanitarian efforts in the Q4 arena by trying to get her drunk. The man who, when that didn’t work, had tried to poison her.
But of course Allyce didn’t know any of that. “I’m sorry, but there was no other way,” Nicole said. “I needed to see how much noise or light the teleport system made, and he was the only one around to try it with.”
“You could have sent one of the Thii and then had the Wisp bring him back,” Allyce said.
“And then what?” Nicole countered. Allyce was weak and hurting, and down deep Nicole knew it was a waste of effort to argue with her. But she was tired, too, and right now her tolerance and self-control levels weren’t very high. “There was only one Wisp in the room, and they can only teleport one at a time. I was barely able to get to the other teleport room and out the door without being seen. There was no way we could have done it with two of us and two trips.”
“How do you know they can’t carry more than one at a time?”
“Because when they brought me here from Earth they had to send two more Wisps for Bungie and Sam,” Nicole said. “Would you rather I ran off and left Sam with Ryit and the Koffren?”
“Why not? He wouldn’t have gotten in trouble. Everything he did was according to Shipmaster instructions.”
“Except the part about letting me break free and get them spider gunned.”
“That was you, not him.”
“You know that,” Nicole said. “But they don’t. Do you think Ryit would believe Sam hadn’t betrayed them? Or the Koffren?”
Allyce closed her eyes. “No, I suppose not,” she said, her antagonism disappearing. “I’m sorry.”
“It’s okay,” Nicole said, her own brief flicker of fatigue-driven stubbornness fading as well.
The first thing she had done once she and Cambria returned from Q1 was to locate Jeff and confirm that he and the rest of his diversion squad had also made it back safely. After that had been a long, hot shower in her room, followed by a quick snack. Only then did she think to come to Allyce to tell her how things had worked out, and to thank her for her help in creating an antidote to Sam’s drug.
In retrospect, her brain probably would have done better with a nap than a shower and food. “I am sorry I couldn’t bring him back.”
“I know,” Allyce opened her eyes again and smiled tiredly. “Maybe I should have let the Shipmasters bribe me into betraying you instead.”
“You’d never have made it past that first Koffren,” Nicole said, a shiver running through her as she thought back to his voice and murderous stance at that encounter. �
��The one who calls himself Justice. He’s furious about what you did up in the treatment room. Deal or no deal, if you’d been there he would have killed you.” She reached over and gently touched Allyce’s hand. “Don’t worry. We’ll get you home.”
“That’s okay,” she said, closing her eyes again. “Maybe it’s not even worth thinking about. After twelve years … Tad’s probably decided I’m dead or run away and moved on by now. How soon after you disappear can they declare you dead?”
“I don’t know,” Nicole said, wincing. That thought hadn’t even occurred to her. Could everyone aboard already have been declared dead?
That would be bad. Very bad. Going home had to be the main motivation for most of the people who’d accepted her leadership in this war. If she couldn’t deliver on that implied promise, what else could she possibly offer them?
“But at least we’re in charge of the teleport room now, not them,” Allyce said, visibly dragging herself away from the depressing thoughts of home and the husband the Wisps had snatched her away from. “I’m glad it worked.”
“It worked perfectly,” Nicole assured her. “Oh, and this will give you a laugh. Remember that you put the antidote in a square capsule? Turns out Sam used one of those for a second dose, telling Ryit and the Koffren it would kill me.”
“Not sure he was right,” Allyce said doubtfully, frowning into space. “The design profile he put together when he designed the drug was very specific about the dosage parameters. Doesn’t mean a second dose would have been exactly good for you, though.” Her face twitched with sudden understanding. “Oh! You’re saying that when you brought it out, they all thought you were about to kill yourself?”
“Exactly,” Nicole said, smiling tightly. “I couldn’t have asked for a better way to keep their attention on me if I’d tried. It was perfect.”
“Well, I did have a fifty-fifty chance with the capsule choice,” Allyce pointed out. “But if you want to credit me with extra insight or brilliance, I don’t mind.”
“You deserve every bit of credit we can give you,” Nicole assured her.
The door slid open and Jeff walked in. “There you are,” he said, nodding to Nicole and then Allyce. “Firth thought you were still in the dining room.”
“No, I’m here,” Nicole said. “I wanted to bring Allyce up to date on everything. So have you figured out yet how many Koffren we’re dealing with?”
Jeff wrinkled his nose. “It’s a work in process,” he said. “I think there were eight of the beasts visible before they got to the drones and smashed them. Levi thinks there were only seven; Iosif is pretty sure there were nine or ten.”
“So with the two in the teleport rooms, we’re talking ten to twelve total?”
“Right,” Jeff said. “Unfortunately, that assumes they didn’t have another battalion or two in the corridors who didn’t have time to show themselves before the vanguard got to the drones. So it could be ten or twelve or a whole lot more.”
“I don’t think so,” Nicole said. “I got the impression that the Koffren really wanted to intercept Sam and me before we got to the teleport room. If they had a bigger group to draw from, you’d think they’d have put more than just two of them on that job.”
“Good point,” Jeff said. “Still, even just twelve makes for a pretty hefty stack of enemies.”
“And no more drones to hunt them down with,” Allyce said.
“Not a problem,” Jeff assured her. “We always assumed the Shipmasters could monitor their cameras. We just needed to come up with a situation where we could use that against them. And we’d already drained the paralyzing drug out of the drone’s whips for possible future use, so I’d say we got our money’s worth.”
“Good,” Nicole said. “I’m thinking the Ponng and Thii arrows might be the place to use that. Though we’ll need to do some tests and make sure the stuff adheres well enough to stay there until it’s delivered.”
“It will,” Jeff said. “I took a good look at those arrowheads, and they’re made of an odd kind of porous material. I’m thinking the Shipmasters might have designed them with an eye toward adding poison for some future test.”
Nicole shivered. “Lovely.”
“Agreed,” Jeff said sourly.
“Speaking of drugs and poisons,” Allyce said, “did the Ponngs get back yet with my cyanide mix?”
Nicole frowned. “What cyanide mix?”
“They heard about what I did to the Koffren and asked if I could make them another batch,” Allyce said. “I told them some of my original mixture was still upstairs in the animal treatment supply room—tenth level, bahri something.”
“And you sent them up there alone?” Jeff asked.
“I didn’t send them anywhere,” Allyce said, a bit crossly. “It was their idea. And they’re not alone. Nicole’s Wisp—Cambria—went with them.”
“Wait a second,” Nicole said. “The Ponngs asked Cambria to go with them, and it obeyed them?”
“I don’t think they ever asked it anything,” Allyce said. “They left, and it left with them. My point is that the mix is very dangerous, and I need them to bring the container here right away before someone mishandles it.”
“Yeah,” Nicole said, frowning as she crossed to the door. Her five Wisps were supposed to be attached to her and Jeff, and only because she’d specifically added Jeff to the list. What in the world was Cambria doing, wandering off without orders?
Could the whole anchoring thing be starting to unravel? Cambria and the others had been Q3 Wisps before Nicole woke them from their trance, or whatever the hell it was she’d done. Could they be reverting back to that orientation?
But in that case, how was Cambria even able to move around in Q4? As far as she could tell, the only reason her Wisps could see Q1 and Q4 was because of her. Maybe it had followed the Ponngs because they were all it could see?
Whatever the reason, she needed to figure it out before all five suddenly walked out on her.
“Trouble?” Jeff asked, moving aside as she reached the door.
“Maybe,” Nicole said. The door slid open and she looked out. Jessup was a few feet down the corridor, standing guard over Allyce and the medical center as Nicole had ordered it to. “Jessup? Come here, please.”
The Wisp glided over, and Nicole took its arm. Where is Cambria? she thought at it.
I don’t know, Jessup replied.
Nicole frowned. What do you mean, you don’t know? I thought you could see Wisps and other people anywhere aboard the Fyrantha.
I can see only Q4.
You can’t see Q3? But you all came from Q3.
You are here. While you are in Q4, we can only see Q4.
So if I were in Q1, you could only see Q1?
Yes.
Nicole glowered down the corridor. A damn good thing, then, that she’d arranged to have Cambria come across from Q3 after she and Sam went over instead of before. You still obey Jeff, right?
Yes.
If Jeff were in Q3 and I were in Q4, could you see both quadrants?
Yes.
Okay, so that was a little better. Still, it was a limitation she needed to remember.
She half turned to see Jeff watching them, his eyes wary. “I asked it where Cambria was,” she relayed, letting go of Jessup’s arm. “Turns out it can only see the quadrants where either you or I are.”
“Interesting,” Jeff said. “So Cambria’s not in Q4 anymore?”
“Oh,” Nicole said, wincing. She’d been so busy tracking through this latest twist of Wisp logic that she’d completely missed that point. “No, I guess not.” She took Jessup’s arm again. What about Moile and Teika? Can you see them?
I can. They are on level 10 in bahri-four-four-six.
Nicole frowned. Wasn’t that the storage room where Allyce had concocted her cyanide mixture? She was pretty sure it was. What are they doing?
They are doing nothing. They are motionless.
Something cold ran up Nicole’s back
. How long since they last moved?
Thirty-five minutes.
“Damn,” Nicole muttered, again letting go. “The Ponngs are in trouble.”
“The cyanide?” Allyce asked, her voice dark with dread.
“I don’t know,” Nicole said, pushing past Jessup. “I’m going to check.”
“Hold it,” Jeff said, catching her arm as she started down the corridor. “Let’s get a party together—you, me, Iosif, and a few more.”
“There’s no time,” Nicole insisted. “They may still be alive.”
“Then at least grab a couple of your Wisps,” Jeff said. “We’ll leave Jessup here to watch over Allyce and call Lehigh and Hagert.”
Nicole clenched her teeth. Finding the two Wisps would take time they might not have.
But he was right. After the Koffren humiliation in the teleport room, the big aliens would absolutely be looking for her head. “All right,” she said. “But make it fast.”
“Two minutes,” Jeff promised, squeezing her arm and setting off at a fast jog. “Pretty sure I know where they are.”
* * *
Two minutes later, as promised, they were off. Five minutes after that, with the two Wisps having carried them up twenty-two levels with their usual speed and efficiency, they reached Allyce’s supply room.
Where they found the two Ponngs.
“Oh, God,” Nicole muttered under her breath over and over, staring at the unmoving figures as Jeff crouched down beside them. She knew she should be doing the same—checking for life, examining injuries, doing something—but the sight of her two beaten and bloody companions somehow had frozen her to the deck. “Oh, God.”
“The good news: they’re both alive,” Jeff reported. If he was bothered by her lack of usefulness, he at least wasn’t saying anything about it. “The bad news: they’re in pretty bad shape. We need to get them to Allyce right away.”
“Right,” Nicole said, breaking free of her paralysis. “Lehigh? Hagert?” She beckoned to the two Wisps, standing just inside the door. “Come help.”
“We need to keep them as flat as possible,” Jeff warned. “There may be broken bones or internal injuries.”