by Douglas Hill
Returning to the'main compartment, he glanced round, establishing the layout in his mind. The communication equipment almost encircled him, in banks and cabinets against the hull of the satellite, leaving a sizeable clear area directly in front of the airlock. He would be better off in the other compartment, he thought, when the Veynaans arrived.
But before he could move, his attention was caught by the picture on the broad display of monitor screens, above the place where the dead Veynaan had sat. A large, florid man was pictured on all the screens - a man wearing a lavishly decorated uniform of some sort, and a ferociously angry expression.
Curious, Keill moved closer to watch and listen.
'... have heard the demands and threats of the duster rebels," the uniformed Veynaan was saying. "The people of Veynaa will not need me to tell them that these demands are outrageous. In fact, they are insane." His voice grated.
"That is what has overtaken the leaders of the rebellion - insanity, and evil."
If you knew how right you were, Keill thought, watching.
"You will also have heard the ultimatum from the rebels," the man on the screen went on, "which gives us twenty-four hours to submit to their terms.
Submit 1" The man spat the word as if it were poison. "But the government and military authorities have authorized me to tell you this: we will not submit.
Veynaa will not give away its most priceless asset - it will not bow down to madmen and murderers."
Quern had said the Veynaans were hard-headed realists, Keill remembered.
Hard-headed they certainly seemed to be.
The man on the screen was growing more furious with every word. "All Veynaans will also have heard the rebels" threat - to attack our world if we do not accept their terms. Most of you will have felt that threat to be absurd, impossible. But I must tell you that it is a serious threat - and the authorities are taking it seriously." His voice darkened. "The rebels have acquired some sort of destructive device - and they demonstrated its power, for us, on the dead outer planet of this system, Xentain. But they did not know - or did not care, if they knew - that our exploratory team had landed on Xentain some weeks ago. That there were two hundred and thirty Veynaans on Xentain when the rebels launched their ... demonstration. Today the planet is as dead as it ever was, and all of them with it."
The man's voice was ragged with pain as well as rage. And Keill too felt chilled by the revelation, by the pointless, unnecessary killing. He knew that the speaker was right - that Quern would not have cared, if he had known, about the exploratory team.
CHAPTER SEVEN
"I sent a robot ship to relay back pictures of Xentain as it now is," the man went on. His image began to fade, and another image to replace it.
And though the Veynaan's voice went on speaking, Keill heard no more words. He was staring rigidly at the screen, pale with shock, clenched fists white-knuckled, his mind a swirling tumult of horror.
It was a sight he had seen once before in reality, and a thousand times since in nightmare.
A planet surrounded by a glowing, pulsating, golden nimbus of lethal radiation.
Just as his world, Moros, had been, on that terrible day when the Legions had died.
Through the waves of horror and shock, Keill fought for control, and found it, as, deeper within him, a steel-cold, hate-filled, relentless rage began to form and build. Final proof was there on the screen, if it had been needed, that Quern was of the Deathwing, an agent of the Warlord, and that he was threatening to do to Veynaa what had been done to Moros.
The ghastly image of glowing death vanished from the screen, and the uniformed Veynaan returned. "Our scientists say that this is a totally new form of radiation. They cannot say what it is, or how it is formed - only that it is lethal, and long-lasting." His fist slammed fiercely on to the table before him. "But we will not panic - and we will not submit. We will meet this monstrosity with our anger - our courage - our strength '
The speaker also now struggled for control, rubbing a hand across his face.
"Your local governors have begun preparations. Protective clothing will be issued, shelters will be prepared, as far as possible in the time we have. Key personnel from each district will be evacuated offplanet, as niany as the available spacecraft can take. But these, people of Veynaa, are merely precautions. Your government is convinced, without any doubt, that the rebels" threat is a bluff -that not even they would dare to use such a weapon against a planet of six million peoplel'
Fool, thought Keill coldly. You doa't know who you're fighting - or what.
"In any case" the Veynaan went on grimly, "they will not get a chance to do so. They will be stopped - and our dead, on Xentain, will be avenged. Plans are now well advanced for a full military strike against the Cluster. We will wipe those vermin off the face of their planet, and reduce their nest to rubble I'
"You can't !" Keill heard himself shout. Fools twice over, he thought - for the moment that attack is launched, Quern will activate the weapon, and every living thing on Veynaa will die!
His mind raced. He could hardly set out to stop the Veynaans and their blindly vengeful plans. Which meant that he would have to stop Quern — and somehow also warn the Cluster.
And that meant returning to the Cluster—back into Quern's grip-As his mind feverishly began to make plans, the inner door of the airlock hissed open behind him.
CHAPTER EIGHT
Keill spun, reaching for the gun in his pocket, but as instantly letting his hand drop. The two spacesuited men in the airlock were both armed - and their surprise at seeing him had not prevented them from levelling their energy guns at him.
They stepped in warily, glancing round, their guns unwavering as they unfastened the visors of their space helmets and raised them. Their faces were brown, leathery, seamed -the faces of experienced spacemen, veteran regulars in the Veynaan armed forces.
'Look at this," the taller of the two said. "They left one behind."
Keill neither moved nor spoke.
I'll take a look around," the shorter one said. "Watch him."
The short man moved to one side, professionally cautious, staying well out of Keill's reach. "Should be two technicians," he growled. "What've you..."
He stopped, catching sight of the body of the dead Veynaan. His eyes narrowed and his brown face flushed with rage as he saw the entry wound, the darkened stream of blood on the dead man's hair. "They killed one !'
The taller Veynaan, glaring, raised his gun to sight carefully at Keill's face. "Make it one for one."
"wait," said the short man - a fractional instant before Keill moved.
The gun was lowered, and Keill held back, still standing relaxed and silent, 'Somebody's gonna want to talk to this one," the short one explained.
"Yeh." The tall one looked disappointed. "Have a look in the other part. And call the other ships, tell "em what we found."
As the shorter one moved to the hatch of the other compartment, Keill was savouring the meaning of his words. The other ships of the squad he had seen were elsewhere - probably still seeking the shuttle. These two Veynaans had come alone to the satellite.
"Heyl" The shorter one was staring at the bulging dent in the hatch, the shattered lock. "What could've done this ?"
The surprise in his voice made the taller man involuntarily begin to turn his head. Before he realized his mistake, Keill had dived.
It was a headlong, flat, low tackle that swept the Veynaan's legs from under him while his gun flared harmlessly above Keill's head. The tall man sprawled on top of Keill in a tangle of threshing arms and legs, until Keill slammed an elbow into his belly and drove all breath and fight out of him.
The shorter man was cursing and bobbing back and forth, trying to get a clear shot that would not endanger his friend. But Keill's own gun seemed to leap into his hand, and its energy beam bit into the Veynaan's upper arm.
He shrieked and dropped his gun, staggering backwards, clutching his seared arm, a
nd overbalanced as he stumbled through the hatchway. Then Keill was on his feet, snatching up his helmet and leaping for the airlock.
By the time the outer door had opened his helmet was fastened and the flitter was in his hand. Beyond, a slender, needle-nosed Veynaan fighter floated silently, keeping pace with the satellite. Keill hurled himself into space towards it.
As he did so, the inner voice of Glr clamoured into his mind.
Keill! What in the cosmos are you doing out there?
"At the moment," Keill said laconically, "stealing a Veynaan fighter.
What are you doing?"
Coming to find you, Glr replied. The sensors told me that Quern and the shuttle have returned to the Cluster. Yet I knew that your mind - which I was still shielding - was in space near Veynaa. What happened?
'Tell you later," Keill said quickly. In the distance he had caught sight of five tell-tale points of light, moving in his direction. "In a minute I'll have five other fighters on my tail. Keep coming."
I am ready to enter Overlight now, Glr said.
"Will you be able to locate me?"
Keill, I could pinpoint your mind from across the galaxy, Glr said calmly.
Her mind withdrew as Keill plunged through the airlock of the Veynaan ship and into its narrow, tunnel-like interior, flinging himself into one of the two contoured seats at the control panel. It was a compact, up-to-date ship, much like fighters that Keill had often flown with the Legions. Rather have my own, he thought, but it'll do.
As he fed power to the drive, veering the ship away from the satellite, the viewscreens showed a spacesuited figure framed in the satellite's airlock. A gun in the figure's hand spat an energy beam, but it crackled harmlessly past as Keill swung the ship up and out of range.
But the other five Veynaan ships had sighted him, no doubt being told by the men in the satellite what had happened to their ship. They were closing fast, in battle formation.
Without hesitation, Keill sent his ship leaping ahead, its drive bellowing like a challenge - straight at the centre of the formation.
The manoeuvre clearly took the others by surprise. The formation wobbled a bit, then tightened as Keill flashed towards them.
They've recovered well, Keill thought to himself. They'll be ready to fire just about...
Now.
Hands flashing over the controls, Keill cut power and brutally forced the nose of the ship down. It fell away, twisting and fishtailing - as five energy beams blazed through the space it had vacated.
At once Keill slammed on full power and jerked the ship up again, its drive howling, its own beam raking upwards.
Bright flame exploded from the sterns of the two ships in the middle of the attacking group. As they faltered, Keill flashed between them, neatly intersecting the path of the attackers.
The two damaged ships spiralled away. Keill ignored them, knowing that they were only disabled, and should reach the planet safely if the pilots were good enough. He dragged the ship over in a tight loop, his eyes blurring darkly for a moment as the gravs clutched him, the ship shuddering and vibrating in protest. The three remaining Veynaans had also begun to wheel, in a gentler curve, but then frantically tried to twist round to bring their guns to bear as they found Keill sweeping down on top of them.
Before they could find their aim, Keill's gun fired again, slashing into the body of one of the ships - which whirled crazily away, out of control.
In the same moment, thundering out of the emptiness, Glr was there, the forward guns of Keill's fighter ablaze.
One of the two remaining Veynaan ships jerked upwards as if it had run into an invisible wall. Keill felt rather than heard the explosion as flame gushed from a gaping rent in its hull.
And the fifth and last ship lost no time in changing course, fleeing at top speed into the distance.
We missed one, Glr's voice said.
We must be out of practice,"keill replied with a grin.
Glr's laughter bubbled as she swung Keill's ship near. Keill thought he had never seen anything so welcome as that sleek, blunt-nosed, wedge shape, its blue Legion circlet gleaming.
He set the Veynaan ship's computer, to leave it drifting, and once again leaped out into space, to float across into the opening airlock of his own ship.
As he stepped into his ship's interior, GIr rose to greet him -whirling around the cramped space in one wild, delighted circuit, the tips of her wide, diaphanous wings clattering against the bulkheads. Then she settled abruptly on to his shoulder, her little hands gripping him with painful strength, making Keill glad that she had remembered to keep her talons retracted.
He craned round to look at her, grinning, and her round eyes glowed at him like small moons. He reached up to run an affectionate hand over the overlapping plates of skin like soft leather that covered her domed head and small, compact body - then snatched his hand away as she playfully snapped at him, a glint of sharp little fangs within her short muzzle.
I suppose I should be glad to see you, her mental voice said, striving for a grumbling tone. But 1am not happy at being caged in this ship for so long. I have nearly forgotten what it is like to spread my wings fully.
Keill moved towards the controls. "Wben this is over," he promised, "I'll take you somewhere that is the most perfect place for flying in the galaxy."
How would you know, ground-crawler? she replied, her laughter rising.
As Keill slid into the familiar supporting grip of his sling-seat, Glr hopped from his shoulder to her own place, which Keill had rigged for her, above the control panel. It supported her small body, and also had attachments to which she could fasten the finger-hooks on the upper joints of her membranous wings, leaving her hands - which were also her feet - free to handle the controls.
Not so much a sling-seat, Keill had said when he had finished it, as a sling-perch.
Settled, she turned her bright round eyes to Keill again, her silent merriment fading to seriousness. Now, she said, tell me.
Quickly Keill related everything that had happened from the moment that he had left the Cluster on the shuttle with Quern and the others, up to the nature of the monstrous weapon now orbiting Veynaa, and also what he had learned from the satellite's monitor screens.
Glr was gravely silent for a moment. "Doyou think, she asked at last, the Veynaan humans will be foolish enough to risk attacking the Cluster?
'Not much doubt of it," Keill said. They're angry, and they're Uokingfor revenge. People do foolish things when they feel like that."
Humans do foolish things much of the time, Glr replied primly. For example, you are doubtless now going to return to the Cluster, although Quern will surely have you killed on sight.
"He can try," Keill said. "But be has to be stopped - and I can't do that sitting out here."
Very well. There was a troubled note ia Glr's silent voice. Willyou landyour ship openly?
"I'll have to. But I'll put it down somewhere safely out of sight of the Home, and those cannon."
Then he realized what was troubling Glr. "I'm sorry," he added gently. "I don't like takingyou back into Quern's range."
No matter, Glr sighed. He was probingyour shield constantly, when you were near him — it is a relief to be away from that power. But the shields will withstand him, for as long as is necessary. And it will be useful if I am near to hand with the ship, in case you need help.
Keill nodded, reaching for the controls. But Glr stopped him.
Before you enter Overlight, give me time to report to the Overseers, They will be growing anxious.
"Fine. I'll get myself some food while you do so - I don't expect much hospitality on the Cluster."
"The Overseers will want to know what you intend to do" Glr added.
Tell them I'm going to get into the Home, one way or another, and warn the Cluster folk - against Quern as much as against tbi Veynaans."
And if the Clusterfolk will not listen?
Then - whoever tries to stop me - I'll have
to kill Quern."
PART THREE
SAVE A ODD
CHAPTER NINE
Emerging from Overlight, Keill sent his ship arrowing down towards the misshapen collection of planetoids and asteroids that was the Cluster. Glr stirred, her inner voice sounding strained.
Keill, the Overseers are deeply concerned. They think that the aggressive reaction of Veynaa was foreseen by the Warlord, and was a part of his plan all along. One way or another, Quern will seek to destroy the planet, to give the Warlord total control over the Cluster. And the Overseers fear that the memory of Moros, and its similar destruction, will makej/ou reckless.
Keill grinned tightly. "LetQuern worry about that."
But Glr did not reply, for then they were nearing atmosphere, at the threshold of Quern's telepathic reach.
On the control panel the communicator crackled into life.
'This is Clusterhome. Identify yourself."
"Keill Randor," he snapped. I'm coming in."
A gasp of surprise from the voice at the other end. "Randor i They said you were dead 1'
'They were wrong. Let me speak to Joss, or Shalet."
"They're all in the meetin" room, next level," said the Clusterman. "I'll get "em."
A pause, while the image of the Cluster on the viewscreens seemed to be rushing towards the ship, ever larger.
Then Joss's voice, breathless with astonishment. "Keill ! Groll said you'd been killed!"
"groll's wishful thinking," Keill said. Is Quern with you ?"
"The Council is in the meeting room," she replied. "Quern too - finalising plans for when the Veynaans reply to the .ultimatum."
They'll reply all right." Quickly he outlined what he had heard on the satellite. "Joss, the Home will have to be evacuated - and Quern must be prevented from using that weapon 1'
'No, Keill." Joss's voice was low but determined. "The Veynaans may talk bravely of attacking, but Quern is certain that they will not dare. And no matter what happens - the Cluster will not back downl'