by Timothy Zahn
She looked back at Wesowee. “Okay, that takes care of the Koffren. I think we’ll put the Shipmasters in the Q3 arena.”
“Just a second,” Jeff said. “These are Q1 Wisps. You sure they can see into Q2 and Q3?”
“Good question,” Nicole said, scowling to herself. For a moment she’d completely forgotten about the Wisp perception problem. “How about it, Fievj? Now that they’re all under my control, can they see the whole ship?”
“They can,” Fievj said. “No part of the Fyrantha is dark to them anymore.”
Nicole reached up and touched Jessup’s arm. Is that true?
Yes, Protector. The blindness has lifted. For that, and more, we thank you.
You’re welcome. “Jessup confirms it,” she told Jeff, letting go of the Wisp’s arm. “Any other questions?”
“We may not have enough Ghorfs to transport both groups together,” Kahkitah pointed out.
“You won’t need to.” Nicole pointed over his shoulder as the first group of Wisps glided into view around the bluff. “Our reinforcements are here. Wisps? Come here. Gather around.”
Nicole had never seen a hundred Wisps all moving purposely together. It was an awesome and rather intimidating sight. From the suddenly stiffened backs of the surviving Koffren, it seemed that they agreed.
“Wisps, who am I?” she asked when they were all standing around her and the others. She touched the closest one’s arm—
You are the Protector.
Right, Nicole confirmed. These creatures here are the Ghorfs. They and the humans aboard are going to be performing tasks vital to the Fyrantha’s survival. I’m therefore giving them command over you. You will obey them as you obey me.
Do you order us to obey the humans as well as the Ghorfs? Or do you order us only to obey the Ghorfs?
Nicole hesitated. The Ghorfs had proved themselves reliable, and she trusted them. She wasn’t yet willing to go out on that same limb with all the humans. For now, just the Ghorfs. Is that understood?
It is. The Wisps and the Fyrantha welcome the Protector’s army.
An eerie tingle went up Nicole’s back. She’d never thought of her group as an army. But apparently it was. Thank you. I also need the entry codes for the Q2 and Q3 arenas. Can you contact the Caretaker for those, or do I need to talk to him myself?
No need. The Q2 code is three seven two six two two four. The Q3 code is eight four six nine two four six.
Thank you. Nicole released her touch, pulled out her notepad, and scribbled out the numbers. “Here are the entry codes,” she said, handing the notepad to Wesowee. “The Wisps will obey you and the rest of the Ghorfs, so grab however many you need and get moving. Once the Koffren and Shipmasters are tucked away, you can split up and go talk to your work crews.”
“Understood,” Wesowee said. He studied the notepad a moment, then handed it back to Nicole. “What about food? Those arenas aren’t stocked with the proper nutrients.”
“If we survive the next few hours we’ll redo the dispensers,” Nicole said. “For now, they can make do with water.”
Wesowee nodded and gestured to the nearby Ghorfs. “We’re leaving,” he announced. “Bring the Koffren and the Shipmasters.”
“So,” Nicole said quietly, touching Jeff’s hand as the arena began shuffling itself all around them. “We’ll get you to Allyce and see what she can do for you.”
Jeff shook his head. “Allyce can wait. So can I. There’s one other thing we need to get on right away. Remember what the Caretaker and Oracle said about the Core?”
“Damn,” Nicole muttered. She’d all but forgotten about that.
“Damn and a half,” Jeff agreed. “Fixing the shield is nice and all, but I’m thinking that getting the Fyrantha fully up and running might be a hell of a lot better.”
“Agreed,” Nicole said. “But I saw how the shield works. If we lose even one piece of it there’ll be an opening the Koffren ships can shoot through. We need to fix all of it.”
“Sure, but I wasn’t suggesting we take a team off shield duty,” Jeff said. “You heard what the Caretaker said about the Core: densely packed with narrow access corridors.” He gently touched his right leg. “I’m not going to be running around the Fyrantha anytime soon. But I can lie on my back in a corridor and swap out components with the best of them.”
“Yes, but even there you’re going to need to move,” Nicole said. “Remember how big he also said it was.”
“The Wisps can carry me.”
“What if the access corridors are too narrow?”
“Then we will carry him wherever he needs to go,” Nise spoke up.
“You?” Nicole asked, surprised. “But don’t you…?” She broke off.
“There will be a time for remembrances for Iyulik,” Nise said quietly. “But for now, there is vital work to do. He wouldn’t have wanted his sacrifice to be in vain.”
“Of course he wouldn’t,” Nicole agreed. “All right. We’ll unlock the Sibyls and explain what’s about to happen. Then the two of you will come to the Core with Jeff and me and see how much work it’s going to take to fix it.”
“Okay,” Jeff said. “Don’t forget I’ll need a Sibyl.”
“You’ve got one.” Nicole tapped her chest. “Me.”
“Absolutely not,” Jeff said flatly. “You’re the Protector. We can’t risk you hurting yourself any further with that damn inhaler.”
“I’m about to ask them to use theirs,” Nicole countered, gesturing back toward the arena hive. “I can’t ask them to take a risk I’m not willing to take.”
“Sure you can,” Jeff said. “Generals do it all the time.”
“I’m not a general.” She lifted a hand as he started to speak. “Subject closed. I’m going. You want to come, or should I have Jessup go get Levi instead?”
Jeff glowered, but reluctantly nodded. “Fine.”
“Good,” Nicole said, gesturing to one of the Q1 Wisps still grouped around them. “I want you to go back to Q4 and tell Allyce to join us at the Q1 section of the Core.”
“She can’t walk,” Jeff reminded her. “She’s still injured, remember?”
“Of course I remember,” Nicole said huffily, turning back to the Wisp. “Also tell Cambria to give her a lift. Got that? Allyce and Cambria to the Q1 side of the Core as fast as you can.” She looked back at Jeff. “You good with that? Or do I send you back to get fixed up first?”
“No, I’m good,” Jeff said again. “Anyone ever tell you you’re a hell of a hard-assed general?”
“All the time,” Nicole said, eyeing him closely. He was putting up a good front, but she’d seen men who were in pain and trying not to show it. Jeff’s face and neck muscles looked exactly that way. “Do you need some painkillers before we go? I can send a Wisp to see if any of the tool closets nearby have a first-aid kit.”
“No, I’ve still got a couple left,” Jeff said, digging into one of his pockets. “They took my kit away, but I’d figured they would and put the painkillers in my pocket.” He winced as he moved his hand around. “I’m pretty sure I’ve got a couple left.”
“You sure it’s in that one?” Nicole asked, easing a hand into one of his other pockets. “No—just ease back. I’ve got this.”
The two pills were indeed in the pocket Jeff had thought they were in, partially hidden in a fold of the pocket’s lining. She gave him one, along with a drink from her water bottle, and a minute later he nodded. “Okay,” he said. “Really like the way those things work so fast. We ready?”
“Yes,” Nicole said, standing up and looking around. While they’d been focusing on getting his painkillers all but a dozen of the Q1 Wisps had disappeared, along with the Ghorfs, Koffren, and Shipmasters. The Wisp she’d ordered to get Allyce was also gone. “Jessup, Lehigh: pick up Jeff—gently—and follow me. The rest of you Wisps, come with us.”
They waded through the ankle-deep flow from the river and headed back toward the hive. As they passed the bluff Sofkat joined the o
ther two Thii, and the group continued through the reeds and bushes and trees until they reached the hive door.
Nicole had told Iosif to make sure the door was really and truly locked. He’d taken her at her word, and possibly a little more. It took nearly ten minutes, and a lot of Jeff’s expertise, to finally get it open.
One of the Sibyls, Nicole remembered, had been wildly and loudly furious at being locked in. She’d hoped that the subsequent day of idleness would cool down the woman’s anger.
It hadn’t.
“What the hell did you think you were doing, you bitch,” the woman stormed, stomping out of the hive at the head of the group of other women. “You think you can just throw us in here and lock us up—?”
“That’s enough,” Nicole said. “I need to talk to you—”
“Who are you to tell me to shut up, girl?” the woman snarled. “If you think I’m going to sit here and let you crap all over us this way—”
“She said she needs to talk to you,” Sofkat said. There was the creak of a bowstring.
The woman broke off, her eyes going wide at the sight of the three arrows suddenly pointed at her.
The moment passed. “You trying to scare me, girl?” she said mockingly. “I used to go around my neighborhood dropping bricks on cockroaches. You got three cockroaches? Well, you just give me a brick and we’ll see who wins.”
“This isn’t the fight,” Nicole said. “Sofkat, Nise, Misgk—put down your weapons.”
“You expect me to thank you?” the woman demanded sourly.
“I expect you to listen,” Nicole said. “Like I said, this isn’t the fight. The fight is coming.” She pointed at the ceiling. “From out there.”
She told them everything: about the Koffren, the Shipmasters, and the role the Fyrantha had been playing in their schemes for way too long. She warned them about the danger to Earth, and to the ship itself. She told them there was hope, and that there was time, but that they had to move quickly and together.
They listened in silence. All of them, even the loudmouth. Nicole watched their faces as she talked, seeing doubt become cautious belief become fear become equally cautious hope.
Finally, she ran out of words. “So what I’m saying—”
“I know what you’re saying,” the loudmouth cut her off. Alone of all of them she showed no sign of either belief, fear, or cooperation. “You’re saying that because you’ve got these things”—she waved dismissively toward the Wisps—“you’re the queen bee around here. Well, honey, that’s not how it works.”
“That’s exactly how it works,” Jeff said. “One word from her and the nearest Wisp picks you up and locks you in a tiny room somewhere.”
The woman snorted a laugh. “So it’s slavery, huh? We do what we’re told or Queenie gets her drone bees and makes us? And you said the Shipmasters were the problem?”
“Fine,” Nicole said, suddenly viciously tired of this. “You think all I’ve got is the Wisps? Fine.” She raised a hand. “Wisps: from now on you will also obey orders from the Sibyls.”
“Right,” the woman scoffed. “Like you really just did that.”
“I really just did that,” Nicole assured her. “Go ahead, give it a try.”
For a long moment the woman just stared into her eyes. Then, her lip twitched in a smirk. “Wisps, take those bows away from the big cockroaches.”
Three of the Wisps glided forward. “Protector?” Nise whispered urgently.
“It’s okay,” Nicole soothed. “Let them.”
Nise muttered something under his breath. But none of the Thii resisted as the Wisps took their bows and arrow quivers.
“Bring the weapons to me,” the woman ordered.
The Thii started to move; again, Nicole gestured them to stay where they were. The woman took one of the bows and an arrow, peered at it a moment—
“And now grab her,” she said suddenly, pointing the arrow at Nicole.
The Wisps didn’t move.
“Did you hear me?” the woman snapped. “Grab her. Grab her now.”
“They won’t,” Nicole said softly. “I’m the Protector. I protect the ship, and the ship protects me.”
“She told you to obey me!” the woman shouted. “Obey me, damn you. Grab her!”
“You still don’t get it, do you?” Nicole said. “You wanted power. Fine; you’ve got it. But I have authority.”
For another moment the woman glared with the sort of hate Nicole had seen far too often on the Philly streets. Then, spitting a curse, she lifted the bow and arrow.
She was still fumbling, trying to get the arrow lined up with the string, when two of the Sibyls detached themselves from the group and silently took the bow and arrow away from her.
“Enough,” the older of the two said. “We’re with you, Protector. Tell us what we need to do.”
Nicole nodded in silent thanks. “The Ghorfs will be coming back soon,” she said. “They and the Wisps will return you to your work crews. About that same time, hopefully, we’ll get a list of the defense systems that need to be repaired before the Koffren warships show up. Your job will be to guide your crews, just like you’ve always done.”
“Only faster?” someone suggested.
Nicole smiled as a nervous twitter ran through the crowd. “If any of you have been dogging it, this is the time to stop,” she agreed. “Any other questions?”
“What about her?” someone asked, pointing to the loudmouth.
Nicole focused on her. “You want to help?” she asked. “Or you want to sit this out?”
“I don’t work for you,” the woman bit out.
“Sitting out it is,” Nicole said, nodding. “Wisp?”
A Wisp glided forward. “Hold her here until the Ghorfs are back and everyone’s left,” she ordered. “Once the arena is empty, you can let her go and come join everyone else. Lock the arena door behind you, of course.”
“You can rot in hell,” the woman snarled. “You will—” Her final words froze in her mouth as the Wisp wrapped its arms around her.
“The plan is to avoid rotting at all,” Nicole said grimly. “Okay, Sibyls. You good here?”
“We’re good,” the older Sibyl said as the others returned the bows and arrows to the Thii. “How can we contact you if we need you?”
“You can give any messages to the Wisps,” Nicole said. “They should be able to get word to me. Good luck.”
* * *
The Q1 section of the Core was on level 51, nineteen levels below the arena access doors. Nicole led the way aft to the crosswise heat-exchange duct and, leaving the three Thii behind, ordered Jessup and Lehigh to take her and Jeff down. She got Jeff settled on the corridor floor, then sent the Wisps back up for the Thii.
“I’ll need a tool kit,” Jeff reminded Nicole as the door closed behind the Wisps, cutting off the flow of hot air.
“I’ll go find one,” Nicole said. “Do you want any food or water?”
“If you spot some, I wouldn’t turn them down,” he said. “But tools first.”
By the time Jessup and Lehigh returned with the Thii—Lehigh carrying Nise and Misgk, Jessup carrying Sofkat—Nicole had found and collected tools and food. She waited while Jeff gulped down a food bar and a bottle of water, then directed the two Wisps to again pick him up for the thirty-foot walk down the corridor to the heavy door that marked the Q1 section of the Core.
“A formidable barrier,” Nise commented as the Wisps again set Jeff down on the deck.
“Like the doors into the teleport rooms,” Nicole agreed, eyeing the door. Ryit had used some kind of remote-control door opener to get them through that door. Unfortunately, she hadn’t thought to ask Fievj if she would need something like that to get into the Core.
On the other hand, Ryit had also needed the remote to open the panels into the heat-exchange duct, which the Wisps could do without any such devices. “Jessup, can you open this door?” she asked.
“Don’t bother,” a familiar voice
said from behind her. “You’re not going in.”
Slowly, her pulse suddenly pounding in her ears, Nicole turned.
Bungie and Trake were standing there, Bungie grinning, Trake glowering. Behind them, an open barracks room door a few yards down the corridor marked the spot where they’d been hiding.
And in Bungie’s hand was the gun he’d brought aboard when he and Nicole had first been snatched from Philadelphia. The gun he’d taken from one of Trake’s rivals after killing him.
The gun that was now pointed at Nicole’s chest.
“We’re not going in there,” Trake repeated. “We’re going to the teleport room … or you’re dying where you stand.”
twenty-five
And in the space of a single heartbeat, Nicole was back in Philadelphia.
Back to the gang, and Trake’s absolute rule over it. Back to facing down guns and angry men, trying to stay safe and knowing she was anything but. Back to her life being held in Trake’s hands, her future balanced on whatever whim he felt like exercising that day or whom he wanted to watch being abused or humiliated or crippled. Back to Trake’s utter confidence as he stood back, letting other people hold the guns, protecting himself from legal consequences with the knowledge that none of those underlings would betray him.
Knowing that at one word from him, Bungie would kill them all.
“I was wondering when you’d crawl out into the sunlight again,” Jeff said calmly. “Rest of your crew not crawling so good?”
Nicole tensed at the sudden hardening of Bungie’s smirk, the whitening of the hand gripping the gun. “Give me an excuse to kill you right now,” Trake said, his tone quietly vicious. “Just one excuse.”
“Hey, the Koffren are your friends, not mine,” Jeff protested. “Not my fault that they’re stupid. Anyway, you can’t kill me. You need me for leverage.”
“I just need you alive,” Trake countered. “And not by much.”
“You need all of us alive and well,” Nicole said. The brief panic attack had passed, and she was back on balance. Once again, Jeff’s ability to sense her meltdown, and his willingness to draw enemy attention and anger to himself, had bought her the time she needed to recover. “Whatever mechanical stuff you want me to do, I need Jeff to help me.”