The excitement lasted only minutes and the crowd dispersed. Marines assembled their kits, fitted armor, and the villagers and islanders struggled with metal collars and helmets that would shield them from Toth’s electromagnetic control if it were used against them. Michael joined Mootry, Krisha, Nimri, and Davos in the Agbayekhai house and they went over the final assault plan, a plan that would keep Gull Two in reserve until the last possible moment. Derald joined them and Osen was right behind him, standing silently behind his father as the plan was reviewed one last time. Michael looked at the boy in a new way: dark, brooding eyes, and chiseled face. The boy did not resemble his father, but the mother must have been something, he thought.
Krisha oversaw the loading of the Gull, speedboat and four sailboats making up the nucleus of the attack force. Twelve other boats to be sailed by twelve brave men stood forlornly in a great semicircle beyond the Gull, sails down, and their futures dark and uncertain. Michael sat on the beach with Mootry, watching silently until Nimri approached them, dressed in a robe, a staff in his hand. “Leader Queal,” he said stiffly, “I have a protest to make.”
“What’s the problem?” said Michael.
“Captain Elg insists that I be assigned to the second wave of the operation. This can not be allowed.”
“Why not? The first wave is marines only and you’ve put yourself in the roll of emissary to Toth. You’ll go in without a weapon, and that makes the rest of us responsible for your safety. You’ll be in the second wave with me and the colonel here.”
“I’ve heard your troops talking. They will shoot anything that moves, and Lord Toth must not be harmed. I must be there.”
“You’ll be there soon enough; we’ll be right behind the first wave and you don’t go anywhere without us,” said Michael firmly. “Do you know the island?”
“No, I’ve never been there.”
“Then we’ll help you find Toth, and that means we don’t let you out of our sight. Captain Elg’s order stands. Understood?”
Nimri sighed. “Yes, Leader Queal, but if Toth is harmed, you are responsible.” He turned, and in his haste to get away nearly walked into Osen, who was standing right behind him.
“Sir,” said Osen, saluting them both, but looking at his father, “Captain Elg, at my request, has assigned me to second wave. Is this acceptable to you, sir?”
“It is if you want it that way, private,” said Mootry, looking stern. “If you want first wave I can get it back for you. You’re ready for that, and I’m proud to say it.”
“Second wave, sir. I have my reasons.”
“Then you watch our backsides when we get in there, son.”
Osen’s eyes widened in surprise and flicked towards Michael, who maintained a straight face as if nothing had been said.
“Yes, sir!” Osen saluted again, and marched away.
“Hell of a kid,” said Mootry, “and I wasn’t there for him, and now he wants to keep two creaky, old marines from getting their asses shot off. He deserves better.”
Michael thought of his own aging son a thousand light years away. “He found his dad, Floyd, maybe that’s all he really ever wanted, all he really needed, to know who he came from, the kind of man who fathered him.”
Floyd slapped him on the shoulder. “For a combat marine you’ve become one hell of a diplomat, Mike. Thanks for that.” He got up and followed his son.
Michael was left alone to sit on the sand—and think about Gini. He wanted to return alive from the coming battle. He wanted it desperately.
And he was afraid it might not happen.
CHAPTER TWENTY
Rudy dreamed Toth had summoned him. It startled him awake, but when he looked at the monitor in his room it was blank and silent. A clock next to the monitor showed it was near sunrise, and he’d slept nearly four hours. He leapt from his bed and left the room, walked quickly down an empty hall and up the twisting flights of stairs to the great dome housing the four laser batteries keeping watch over sky and sea. All men were at their posts, two of them on optical and infrared scanners. He went to the watch commander now standing behind the operator of the optical scanner. The man’s eyes were rimmed with red from a lack of sleep, and he nodded curtly. “Good morning, Counselor.”
“Anything new? Have the men returned from the mainland?”
“We’ve seen nothing, Counselor, not a single boat, and the starship has not appeared. The men should have been back by now. First Counselor is concerned about it. He finally went to his room about an hour ago for some sleep. He feels the attack will come soon, at night or early morning. We have to take some rest late this morning, and the scanners are only being manned in half-hour shifts. We’re all exhausted.”
Rudy grasped the man’s arm warmly. “The blessings of Toth for you, Rustin, your vigilance will be rewarded.”
His next thought was for the safety of Toth. He’d not been with him for nearly a day and had not been summoned. In the years he’d served on the island, never more than four hours had passed in his room before Toth had summoned him about some matter, large or small. He was suddenly worried, and took the stairs three at a time in his downward flight to the throne room.
The room was silent and empty, the throne dark and vacant, the only light coming from the terminals and monitor screens around the walls. He went to a terminal, typed in the coding that gave him private audience with His Lord, and then hurried to stand before the throne.
Nothing happened, no light, and the throne remained empty.
His heart pounded. He went back to the terminal and typed in the same command, and still there was no response. Sweat beaded on his forehead. He called up the display of the life-support system, checked the readings and gasped; “Can’t be. It can’t be!” The flow of Beta-Choline had been reduced to a trickle, an amount so small it could not relieve Toth’s pain or perhaps even sustain His life. The supply of the drug was more than adequate, had hardly changed from the day before. Whatever had happened to the flow? Rudy typed furiously, hands shaking. He watched the flow-rate rise, brought it to a level even higher than he’d used previously. “Oh, Lord, what have I done to you? What have I done?”
He watched and waited long minutes, thinking; this has never happened before. Never! A computer malfunction? Unlikely. Everything’s fine now. No, the flow was reset, deliberate or accidentally, and I’m the only one who—
The thought hammered him. No, there was one other who knew the procedure for controlling the flow of the drug. He had shown it to him only the day before. Jezrul. Jezrul had done this, and not by accident. He had knowingly done this to destroy Lord Toth!
Rudy waited, seething with fear and rage, and then the throne was suddenly illuminated and he remembered he had not cancelled the call to His Lord. The throne was illuminated and Toth appeared there, moaning, curled up in a fetal position and tearing at his own face with long, bony fingers.
“My Lord!” shouted Rudy.
Toth screamed a horrible thing that echoed from the walls, and filled Rudy with terror. He fell on his knees before the throne. “Forgive me, Lord! Forgive me for not coming sooner, but I could not know this had happened! Treachery, Lord! TREACHERY! Someone has attempted to take your life, Lord, and it is a person you have given your complete trust to! It is Jezrul, Lord! Only Jezrul could have done this! Please, Lord, speak to me, and hear me!”
Toth continued to claw at His face as Rudy repeated his claim, giving the details of how he’d shown Jezrul the procedures of the life support system only he had known until the day before. In fear for his life he blurted out his own suspicions of Jezrul, the things he’d seen and heard, the man’s desire to baptize the woman, the sending of the men to the mainland before Toth had been coaxed into ordering it, and the fact that the men had not returned and were long overdue. The words streamed forth until he was babbling, arguing for his life, in terror of the possible wrath of the man who was now recovering before his eyes, no longer clawing at his face, uncurling from his fetal posit
ion to sit normally on the throne, hands clutching the arm rests.
Rudy knelt, placed his forehead on the floor and waited for the worst to come.
“Rudy,” gasped Toth. “Stop it now. Wait. Wait until I can breathe again. The drug—it’s working—I can feel it!”
Rudy looked up. Toth’s head was thrown back and he was panting. Rudy’s eyes were clouded with tears. “Is it enough, Lord? Shall I increase the flow?”
“No. No, it is enough. I—Rudy—I think I was dead, and then—the pain—like never before, but now it goes away. Stand up; you’ve nothing to fear from me.”
Rudy stood up, hands twisted together over his stomach. “I also fear Jezrul, Lord. The things I’ve said—Jezrul said he would kill me if I brought you disturbing news or told you what he’d done, and now I’ve said even more than that. If he finds out he will kill me, Lord, I know it.”
Toth breathed heavily, but His eyes were now like green embers beneath the hood of his robe. “So, Rudy, he will not find out, just yet. If he inquires, you will say I’m resting and cannot be disturbed. You are concerned about this, but it is My Will. Change the access code to the life-support system, and if what you say is true, Jezrul will return to check on his handiwork, using the old code. I will then deal with him, but in the meantime his leadership is needed to rid us of the outsiders. If the battle is lost, all is lost. I must regain my strength before any confrontation, and as usual it is you I can depend on. Change the code, Rudy, do it now!”
The image on the throne flickered and disappeared. Rudy rushed to the terminal and performed the ordered task, but fear had not left him. Jezrul would expect His Lord to be dead by now, at best totally incapacitated. A careless word, a show of emotion or darting of the eyes on his part might show Jezrul his treachery had been uncovered and the result could be instant death. Rudy went back to his own room, retrieved a laser pistol and a fisherman’s knife from his closet, and strapped both weapons to his sides beneath the robe. He opened the door and stepped out, then pulled back quickly.
Three doors down from him, Jezrul was coming out of the woman’s room, staff in hand, and Rudy thought he heard sobbing before the door was closed.
He peeked, saw Jezrul walk away from him and enter the staircase at the end of the hall. He waited one minute, two, and then went to her door, fumbling to retrieve his own master key that gave him entrance anywhere in the sanctuary. He opened the door and stepped quickly inside, locking it behind him as the woman sobbed; “No! Leave me alone!”
He turned; saw her sitting up in bed, arms bare, the covers pulled up to her chin. Her face was streaked with tears and she was shivering convulsively, eyes wide with fear. “Don’t come near me!” she said. “I’ll scream!”
“What happened here?” said Rudy softly. “I saw Jezrul come out of your room and heard you crying. What has he done to you?”
“You don’t know?” she sobbed. “Didn’t he tell you what he was going to do? Doesn’t Toth know? Is this what he does to all his chosen people?” She wrapped the bed cover tightly around her, lay down on her side and wept bitterly. A flash of white at the base of her neck and Rudy dared to approach the bed, sitting down slowly on its edge. “What’s that on your neck? A bandage?”
His face flushed with the realization that a blasphemy had occurred. “Did Jezrul cut into you, did he?—”
“He said he baptized me,” cried the woman. “I tried to tear it out after he left, but it hurt, and then he came back—last night—this morning—oh, I want to die! I want to DIE!”
Facing away from him, her body heaved under the covers.
“He had his staff with him. Has he used it to give you The Pleasures? Please, tell me. Such use of his staff is a perversion forbidden by Toth’s Laws. Please.” He reached over to touch her shoulder, but she jerked away.
“Don’t touch me! He touched me, and at first—yes—it felt good, but then it HURT and that’s what he wanted. He was all over me and covered my mouth so I couldn’t scream, and the pain was all through me. He loves PAIN, even for himself! His eyes were wild and this thing he put in me—” Her hand scrabbled at the bandage on her neck, pulling at it, her back arching as she moaned; “It’s like fire, and I can’t even touch it without hurting awful, and he’ll be back again and again!”
“No, no,” said Rudy softly, and took her hand away from the bandage. “You can’t get rid of what he’s placed in you, but I can be sure he doesn’t use you in this way again before your people come. Get up and get dressed. I’m taking you out of here.”
“What?” she said, looking over her shoulder at him.
“Hurry up! We don’t have time to discuss it. Your people will be attacking us any hour now. I’ll hide you until then.”
“But I thought—”
“Jezrul told you lies. There’s no truce with Leader Queal, and you will either be saved by your people or die with them. That is Toth’s Will, and what Jezrul has done is not. I cannot save your life, but I can prevent further blasphemies by Jezrul, so get dressed!”
The woman stood with the bed cover wrapped around her, and then dropped it, and Rudy watched her naked back as she slipped a robe over her head. “Follow me,” he said, “and be quiet!”
He locked her door, took her hand in his and hurried along the hall and down two flights of stairs to the hallway encircling Toth’s garden at sea. “There’s only one place, outside, where you might be safe until the attack comes, but then you’ll be in the line of fire from your own people and I take no responsibility for what happens to you. Can you swim?” They walked down the hall, footsteps echoing.
“Yes.”
“The water is shallow, but nearly your height. It might be necessary. Here, we’re coming to it.”
It was the channel leading out to sea, the channel where the Yellowfin they fed on were collected, attracted by the signal from a transponder two meters beneath their feet.
Rudy went to a wall panel, opened it, and punched in a number sequence on the keys there. “There, the new signal will calm any fish, even a Charni which comes into the channel while you’re there. When you reach the outside, climb up on the rocks and if your people get close they might see you. Get in and watch your head. The tunnel ceiling is close to the water.”
The woman hesitated, eyes wide. The water was dark in the pit below. A railing surrounded it and there was no ladder or steps down to the water a meter below the edge. Rudy climbed over the railing, held out his hands. “Here, I will help you get down.”
“I’m afraid,” she said, shivering.
“It’s only a few meters to the outside. You can see the light from here. Hurry, please, before Jezrul discovers you’re missing.”
She ducked under the railing and he grasped both her hands tightly, turned her back to the water. “Tell me when your feet are on the bottom.” He pushed her backward, holding tight, her feet went over the edge and scrabbled at the wall until she felt him holding her up. “I’ve got you. Be calm. Now, down you go.”
Her eyes were wide with terror and she gasped as her feet and legs hit the cold water. She was light, and the expression on her face gave him new strength. Rudy crouched and lowered her until her chin was nearly at the water, felt her feet hit bottom. “There,” he said. “Now stay at either wall of the channel and go. Remember, no fish will hurt you, not even a Charni. You must not make a sound. See? The light is only a few meters away. Go!”
The woman finally let go of his hands, pressed against the far wall and inched along it. In moments she was in the tunnel, the rock ceiling centimeters above her head and Rudy crouched low to watch her progress.
She was halfway along the tunnel when the Charni arrived.
Rudy saw it first, the great dorsal fin slicing the water at the tunnel exit and drifting inside. The woman let out a muffled scream and pressed her back to the wall. “Quiet! It’s lethargic by now, hypnotized by the signal. Be still!” he whispered.
She closed her eyes, chin touching the water, and sob
bed. The dorsal fin drifted towards her, only its tip above water, came to her, slid past slowly. She gasped, voice barely controlled; “It’s—it’s touching me. It’s squeezing me against the wall!”
“Stay calm! It’s past you now. Go on, and remember to stay out of the water once you’re outside! I’m turning on the barrier again as soon as you’re safely outside.” The huge Charni entered the pit, filling it, drifting until its horrible head was pressed to the screen behind which a transponder sang a tranquil song. The woman was moving again, more quickly now, and in seconds she was outside, looking left and right, then scrambling up out of sight to her right.
Rudy waited a moment, but she did not reappear. He climbed back over the railing again, went to the wall panel and punched in a new sequence, was startled by the thrashing sounds in the pit. The Charni was suddenly enraged, crashing against the walls, and water erupted out onto the floor. The ghastly animal arose from the water, twisting to snap at the railings before crashing down and streaking down the tunnel and out to sea. From outside there came a scream. Rudy froze, looked around, but the hallway was empty. He closed the panel and started back towards the staircase, thinking; I have followed the will of My Lord. I have prevented further blasphemy by Jezrul and placed the woman where the Charni and her own people determine her fate. We are now rid of her. It is the Will of Toth.
Toth Page 24