“I think the cat is out of the bag. Or dog, as the case might be,” Scott said. “Yeah, he talks. He’s also a pain in the neck when he wants to be, Hector. Trust me.”
Hector laughed. “You are showing me many new things. I suspect you have even more to demonstrate, once we have my daughter back. Is she still well?”
“She’s still hidden in the engine, if that’s what you mean by well,” Toby replied. “But the dragon is doing a number on our drive systems.”
“We’ll put a stop to that,” Scott said.
He took the rifle from the airlock deck and slung it over his back. The thing was massive, with a scope on the top. What caliber was it? He didn’t remember. It would say, somewhere on the ship’s manifest. Anyway, a bigger bore meant bigger holes in the dragon. Probably.
He slipped out the magazine from his pistol and replaced it with a fresh one. Shit, he’d been down to just two bullets. It’s a good thing the chief hadn’t decided to attack anyway. He might have nailed one or two of the men before they poked him full of holes with their spears. Had to remember to bring more than one magazine from now on.
What a crazy world. Scott had never imagined needing to defend himself like this. Well, that was why he had the weapons on board. In case he ran into trouble when he got back to Earth. But never in a million years had he really expected to use them!
“Time to climb some more,” Scott said. “You ready to roll?”
“I am ready,” Hector replied.
“Secure the ship,” Scott told Toby. “Nobody comes in but me.”
“Aye, Captain! Shall I swab the decks for you, too, sir?”
“Just… argh. See what I mean, Hector?” Scott said. “Make the ship as secure as you can and be ready to fire up the drive if I order it.”
Toby stilled. “With you up there?”
“I hope it won’t come to that, but be ready no matter what,” Scott said.
“Gotcha. I’m off,” Toby said. The outer hatch slid closed.
“A remarkable beast,” Hector said. “Where did you acquire him?”
“A gift from my mom,” Scott replied.
“You must have a remarkable mother.”
“You don’t know the half of it,” Scott laughed. “Come on, still a ways to go.”
He led the climb up the side of the ship. It was a long way up. Damn, but his arms were getting tired. The last part of the climb was going to be the worst, too. The rungs clung close to the hull all the way. That meant when it came to climbing the rungs attached to the rocket cone, they were going to be ascending what amounted to an overhang.
That was going to suck.
Scott halted just before the cone. He looped his arms through the rung so he could take the weight off them and shook out his hands. His shoulders burned. His wrists weren’t much better, and his hands were shaking.
“Are you all right? Why did we stop?” Hector asked.
“Just need to catch my breath,” Scott replied.
Hector didn’t seem to have half the problems he was. But then Hector looked like he was built of solid muscle. He had to be five or six inches taller than Scott and fifty pounds heavier. None of that extra weight was fat, either.
Adding insult to injury, the big man had his spear strapped across his back with some sort of fancy rope sling. It was twice as long as Scott’s rifle, and it was all he could do to keep the gun from tangling him up as he climbed. Hector didn’t seem to have any problems, though.
“We must hurry,” Hector said.
“It’s not going to get us to the top more quickly if I fall off,” Scott snapped.
“Ah. I see,” Hector said. He looked thoughtful for a moment, scanning the way above. Then he slipped his spear free from his back, carefully unwinding the rope which held it there.
He lowered the spear down and trapped it with his knees. Holding the rung with one hand, he somehow unraveled the sling into a length of rope. He held that out to Scott.
“Take it. Tie yourself in,” he said. “If you fall, at least it won’t be the entire way.”
“What about you?” Scott asked as he took the rope.
“I will make the climb. My daughter’s life depends on me.”
Good enough, Scott figured. He tied the rope off to the rung above him and then to a loop at belt level on his ship-suit. It was designed to hold his weight. It ought to work here.
That done, Scott took a deep breath and began ascending again. Now the way was much harder. Each new rung brought him further away from the center of the ship as the cone angled away. His feet slipped from a rung, leaving him hanging by his hands, his legs pinwheeling in the air.
Scott looked down and regretted it at once. That fall was going to suck, even if he only fell partway. Assuming the rope and clip held. There was no guarantee they would. He was over a hundred feet up. What the hell was he doing out there? He was no action hero! This was real life, not a game. He could die out there.
“Scott. Listen to me,” Hector said. His voice was soft. “I know what you are thinking. I have been there too. Fear lives in all of us. You have shown yourself willing to fight through that fear, which makes you the best kind of man. You can do this.”
Pulling with all his strength, Scott lifted his feet back to the ladder rungs. The person who’s designed this system was a damned sadist. Well, maybe not. The Stargazer was upside-down, after all. This should have been the easiest part of the climb, instead of the hardest. He reached for the next rung and lifted himself up.
Damned if he was going to let chief know-it-all show him up. Face his fear? Overcome it? Ha!
“I live with fear every damned day of my life,” Scott said between gritted teeth. “I have been overcoming it for years now. This? This is nothing.”
He lifted himself up another rung, not sure if he’d been speaking to Hector or himself. Whichever it had been, the words seemed to work. New energy flowed through exhausted limbs. He was almost to the end of the ladder. Another rung. Just a few more and he would be at the top.
Tamara needed him. She’d come through for him when he was imprisoned. She even went against her own father and chief to help him get out. Now she was in trouble, and he was the most likely rescue team. Not like Hector was going to get far with his spear against a dragon. It might use the weapon as a toothpick after it was done eating him.
The thought made Scott grin. He didn’t actually want to see Hector eaten, but it would be nice to see him get a little of his own back. The irony of teaming up with the guy who’d knocked him out yesterday to fight a monster that could kill them both with a twitch of its tail wasn’t lost on him.
Scott reached up for another rung and found there were no more. He pulled himself slowly over the edge of the cone, straddling it with his legs, and peered down.
Twenty-Five
The dragon was facing away from him. That was a relief. He hadn’t thought over what to do if the dragon happened to look up as he clambered over the edge. That might have resulted in the shortest-lived rescue mission of all time.
It was down at the base of the cone, facing in toward the drive. The creature had something in its teeth — her teeth, Scott reminded himself. This dragon was a mom.
The eggs were near her, resting against what was left of the photon drive’s external apparatus. Scott winced. The 3D printer on board the ship could replace those parts, but it would take a while. The drive might still fire right now, but it could also blow off the back end of the ship. Hard to say which would happen.
The stuff in the dragon’s teeth were bits of his ship. As Scott watched, it spat out a chunk of metal and then leaned down again to chew out another section.
OK, that was about enough. The Stargazer was his, and the last thing Scott wanted was to watch some oversized lizard chew it up.
“How do we proceed?” Hector asked, keeping his voice soft.
He’d climbed up beside Scott so silently that he hadn’t heard the chief arrive. That was good, given that they
really didn’t want to attract any unnecessary attention. The man still had his spear! Scott looked down at the rope still tied to his suit. How had he hauled that up without the sling?
“One of us needs to distract it while the other climbs down to rescue Tamara,” Scott whispered. He untied the rope. It was long enough to drape down a little ways into the cone. It would give them something to climb out with.
But the airlock was a long way down. How they were going to get there without the dragon picking them off the side of the ship, Scott didn’t know. One step at a time.
“I can get its attention quickly enough. These dragons care for their young as we do,” Hector said. He raised his spear over his head.
Before Scott could say a word, Hector hurled the spear. It slashed through the air. Scott couldn’t see how the simple weapon would do more than bounce off the dragon’s scales, but the mother wasn’t Hector’s target.
The spear struck one shimmering egg and shattered it. Scott was expecting something like a bird’s egg, all runny goo flowing everywhere. But the inside of the egg was mostly dry. The spear had punched through the outer shell and stabbed into the small dragon inside. It cried out once, a high-pitched yowl. Then it was silent.
Mama dragon was not. She whirled at the sound of her egg shattering and moved her body to cover the eggs. Scott saw her sniffing the dead baby dragon. Then her head darted up glancing around to look for threats. Her eyes locked on Hector and Scott, and she roared.
Dragon breath stank. Scott got a clear whiff from where he was sitting, which he decided was way too close to a man-eating lizard for his personal comfort.
He whipped the pistol up from its holster and aimed. Meanwhile, Hector leaned forward and slid down the inside of the cone. The dragon tried watching both of them, but decided Hector was the more immediate threat. He was the one moving closer to her eggs, after all. Her head darted toward him, maw open.
Scott fired. He unloaded the entire magazine into the dragon’s head and neck. She screamed in a shrill tone and backed away, moving up the opposite side of the cone. The dragon was hurting, but she wasn’t out of the fight yet. He pressed the button to drop the magazine. It went clattering down the cone as he loaded a second one.
Hector had snatched his spear back up and was yelling something to Tamara. She hollered back, but Scott couldn’t hear their words over his ringing ears. The damned pistol was loud. He had the new magazine loaded and aimed it back at the dragon. It was just in time. She was already moving back toward the center where Hector stood. Scott took aim and pulled the trigger.
The pistol clicked but didn’t go off. What was wrong? Shit, he’d forgotten to pull back the slide and load the first cartridge! He reached up and worked the action on the pistol, then aimed it again.
The dragon was already danger-close to Hector. Scott couldn’t shoot without risking a hit to the man instead of the monster. He shifted his aim to her body and squeezed off a shot, but wasn’t even sure if he’d hit.
Hector stabbed out with his spear. The dragon snapped back at him. It roared, then let loose with a burst of flame, but he dove sideways just in time. Scott managed to nail the dragon with two more shots, but then it whipped its tail around, sweeping Hector’s legs out from under him. The crack of bones snapping was louder than the chief’s screams.
He rolled away from the dragon. Scott knew the man had to be in incredible pain, but he kept fighting anyway. He’d dropped his spear, but was reaching for something on the hull.
Then Hector rolled over onto his back and presented one of the other eggs to the dragon. She had been closing in to finish him off but halted when she saw the egg in danger. The dragon let out a hiss as it slowly leaned in.
“Get out of there!” Hector shouted to Tamara.
“Not without you!” she cried.
“Go now!”
She shook her head. The woman was being as stubborn as her father. Damned if Scott wasn’t going to have to figure out a way to save the both of them. He holstered the pistol and unslung the rifle from his shoulder. It had to have more punch than the little gun. He hoped it did, anyway. He needed something that would do more than sting the dragon.
Then he grabbed the rope and swung himself down into the cone. He stumbled a bit coming to a stop, but at least now he had a better angle from which to aim at the dragon.
“Hey, you!” Scott shouted.
The dragon turned toward him and let out an angry hiss. Well, he had its attention now, anyway. Time to see what he could do about it. Scott drew the rifle up to his shoulder and aimed at the dragon’s chest. She started moving toward him, opening up her belly as a perfect target. Scott squeezed the trigger.
The recoil sent him back on his tail and almost tore the rifle from his hands. He’d never fired a gun that hit like that! Echoes of the shot rang in Scott’s ears. He shook his head, trying to clear it, and raised the rifle to his bruised shoulder again.
The dragon was still coming toward him, but it was staggering with each step. Blood poured from a fist-sized hole in her chest. Her eyes were full of pain and fury. The dragon knew she was hurt badly, probably dying. But she would do everything in her power to take down the man who’d hurt her before she went.
Scott squeezed the trigger a second time. This time, he was better braced against the recoil. He still felt like the hammer-blow of the stock had shattered his collarbone, and his entire right arm went numb. But he stayed on target and was able to fire a third shot.
The impacts slammed into the dragon. She reared back after the first, roaring. Then the second struck. She tumbled over backward and was still.
Silence was everywhere. At least, as far as Scott could tell it was. He couldn’t hear a damned thing over the ringing in his ears. He slung the rifle over his shoulder and limped to Tamara so he could help her out of the hollow spot she’d hidden in.
She raced to her father’s side. Scott saw the chief moving, and figured he was fine for the moment. He went over to the dragon’s head. Better to make sure it was actually dead. No sense taking any chances.
But her eyes were already glazing over in death. She was gone. A tear rolled down Scott’s cheek. He couldn’t help but feel sad. Sure, it was a murderous killing machine, but it was also a mother trying to fend for her young.
He reached down and patted the dragon’s nose, feeling her rough scales under his hand.
“I’m sorry,” Scott whispered. “I was just trying to defend people who matter to me. Same as you. I wish it could have been different.”
One of the eggs was shattered under her head. The baby inside had been crushed when she fell. More senseless death, for no reason. Scott felt anger broiling inside his chest. He wanted to put a stop to the stupid violence. How, he didn’t know. But he would find a way.
The third egg still rested on the hull nearby Hector. He’d let go of it and it had rolled away. Scott leaned down and examined the egg. It seemed intact.
Careful not to damage it, he rolled it down into the hollow spot where Tamara had been. He could recover the egg later. Maybe he couldn’t find a way to save Tamara without killing its mother and siblings, but he could save this one. If he was going to find a way to end the fighting, he had to start somewhere.
Twenty-Six
Getting Hector down turned out to be simpler than Scott had feared. His people climbed up and rigged ropes to the top of the cone. They laid their chief gently into a litter and prepared to slowly lower him back to the ground.
Despite the victory and rescue, the mood was somber. Hector had shattered bones in both legs. The damage was pretty extensive. Scott’s doc-in-a-pod might be able to do something with injuries that severe, but without proper medical attention it was uncertain whether the man would ever walk again.
Scott took Tamara aside to ask her what she thought. It was her father, after all. She’d already seen the pod. Keeping that a secret wasn’t in the cards anymore. But letting Hector into the Stargazer meant trusting the man with a
lot more secrets. Scott wasn’t certain he was ready to do that yet.
“You can fix him, yes? The way you fixed me?” Tamara asked, touching her ears.
“I think so. His injuries are severe, but the pod can at least help him along the way toward recovery,” Scott said.
Tamara sensed his hesitation. She tilted her head like she was listening. “But you don’t know if you can trust us. I can appreciate that.”
“He did hit me over the head and lock me up,” Scott pointed out.
“He did. But now you and he are allies. How better to cement that alliance than for you to offer him something as a gift?” she asked. “My father is an honorable man, Scott. If you cannot trust him, can you trust my word on that?”
Tamara had been true every step of the way. He hadn’t hesitated to bring her inside the ship when she was hurt. Was it just because she was a woman? Scott liked to think he was immune to that sort of sexist behavior. His mother would have run him over with a truck.
No, the truth was he did trust her. He had trusted her instinctively since they first met. Her father had yet to show enough reason for that sort of trust, but Tamara already had. If she vouched for her father, it had to be good enough for him as well.
“We’ll do it, then. Let’s see if we can convince him,” Scott said.
“To get a look inside your ship at all your wonders? I don’t think that will be as hard as you think,” Tamara replied.
“You’re probably right,” Scott said.
He walked over to the chief, still laying on the litter as his men prepared to hook it up to ropes and lower him down. Hector’s face was drawn and pale, but he was still alert. The pain had to be incredible, but he never cried out as the litter jostled about. The man was impressive. Scott thought he would have been crying like a little baby.
How to deal with someone like that? In some ways, Hector felt like every jock Scott had ever run into. Big, strong, easily comfortable with his body. Tall, handsome, able to get his own way easily. But there was more to the man than that. He’d risked his life to save his daughter. Moreover, he had charged a dragon head-on, trusting Scott to finish the job if he fell in battle.
The Quantum Dragonslayer Page 10