Dark Horse

by Michelle Diener

  He didnʼt say anything for a long time. “My superiors are looking for a key of some sort to reinsert into a lock.”

  Rose gave a snort. “I guessed that. Itʼs too late. Even if they found it, heʼs been free for a number of hours already, and heʼll have spent some of that time making alternative pathways in case the key does fall back in Tecran hands. He wonʼt be caged again, whatever you try to do.” She hoped he was listening, and if he hadnʼt made those alternative pathways, that he started on them right away.

  “You seem to know a lot about something even I hadnʼt heard about, and I work on this ship.” He stayed in place, but she had the sense he was fidgeting.

  “I spent some time on a Class 5, myself.” Her tone was dry. “You must have known things didnʼt add up before now? And thatʼs not to mention the current situation, which Iʼm sure your superiors do not have a handy explanation for.”

  “You set it free, didnʼt you?”

  “Letʼs get back to whether you die on board, or live to fight another day by getting off this ship.” If the crew did make it, there was no way she was admitting to anything. They could speculate and guess, but that wasnʼt proof, and the less they knew about what she was up to, the better.

  “Why should we follow your advice? You obviously donʼt have our interests at heart.”

  She laughed. “No, I donʼt.”

  A whisper of sound came to her from behind, like the scuff of stiff fabric, and she took a step across the passageway and flattened herself against the wall.

  “Then why would you care if we live or die?”

  “I may not like the Tecran, but my grudge is with another lot of you and Iʼm trying to be reasonable about it. And to be honest, for Bane and another friend of mineʼs long term future, Iʼd prefer you alive. Of course, your staying alive would help Bane, and Iʼm sure your superiors donʼt want to do anything to help him, but the upside is, you get to live. The other way, youʼre dead and wonʼt get to enjoy the trouble heʼd be in with the UC for killing the lot of you.”

  There was another sound, just the hint of fabric against something hard, like maybe a shockgun.

  Time to go.

  Still pressed up against the wall, she took a long step back toward the soldier, then another, holding her breath so nothing could give her away.

  She went another two steps before she was sure she had passed him.

  “The problem is, the only habitable planet the explorer craft can reach from here is just within the Bukari border, and itʼs filled with unpleasant wildlife that will try to kill us.”

  Was it her paranoia showing, or was he being a bit too forthcoming all of a sudden?

  Now she was facing down the corridor, she could see five more violet lights approaching, which meant five shockgun-toting soldiers.

  Heʼd seen them, and he was keeping her talking while they got into place.

  She raised her light-gun, and looked behind her. No sense walking straight into another lot of them, in case theyʼd been able to come at her from both sides.

  And damn. There they were. Three little violet lights.

  She got ready to jump, ready to engage the light-gun, but that was as a last resort. She pressed up against the wall, and waited as the three lights got closer and closer, and then passed her before halting.

  “I assume youʼve stopped talking because youʼve finally noticed youʼre surrounded,” the soldier said. “Take it easy and we wonʼt hurt you.”

  Each side switched on a light, catching the soldier in the middle in the glare. But fortunately for her, they only seemed to have two lights between them.

  “Whereʼd she go?”

  Rose took another deep step away, while the three Tecran just in front of her went further down the passage, looking for her where she was supposed to be.

  She kept an eye out for more violet lights, but it was harder now with the light shining up ahead. She let her fingers trail the wall, and then suddenly there was nothing there.

  A corner.

  She stepped around it, only moments before a light shone down the corridor in her direction.

  “Itʼs like she vanished.” There was no mistaking the fear in the voice of whoever said that.

  Rose didnʼt think it was necessarily to her advantage. If they thought she was harmless, they were less likely to shoot first. If they were scared of her . . . well, she had better keep an eye out for violet lights.

  “Did you hear what she had to say?” It was the soldier sheʼd had her conversation with.

  “Yeah.” The answer was subdued. “I think we need a little word with the captain, donʼt you?”

  “They found the lock. Although the captain called it a lock-safe.” The speaker sounded close to her, so probably from the group of three.

  “And?”

  “It was empty. Someone took the key out.”

  “I think I was just talking to that someone.”

  “Whoever did it, if sheʼs right and theyʼve somehow been controlling a thinking system for all the time this shipʼs been running and now itʼs loose . . .”

  A brief silence.

  “The planet Juma is looking better all the time. Gaurders and vuselas and all.”

  42

  The sound of the guards making plans to split up to search for her sounded far too close as Rose pressed up against the wall and walked quietly away from them down the corridor.

  Her focus was so completely on what was happening behind her, she only understood she wasnʼt alone when someone walked right into her. He staggered, then tried to grab her as he stumbled.

  She wrenched her arm from his grip and kicked out blindly as he fell, then cringed as her foot connected hard with his torso and she felt something give. He screamed as he went down.

  She ran.

  Shouts sounded behind her, spurring her on. There was nothing she could do to hide the slap of her feet on the floor, and the soldiers sheʼd just escaped were gaining.

  The lights they carried with them bounced wildly, like a strobe-lit dance floor, illuminating her often enough to make it impossible to simply crouch down in the dark and let them pass.

  She forced her body to forget how much it hurt. Her rib was a burning brand under her skin, and her head throbbed with a pain that almost overwhelmed her.

  She was going to be sick.

  “Bane.” Her voice was barely audible to herself, so Bane would have to be actively listening to catch it. “Help!”

  A light went on up ahead, not a flashlight but the bloom of a lamp.

  She decided to trust it, throwing herself through the door, and staggering to a stop.

  As she spun to look behind her, she saw the surprise on a soldierʼs face as the door snapped home.

  He pounded on it, and she flinched.

  There was an armchair right next to her, and she reached out a hand, caught hold of the arm and dragged herself over to it and collapsed.

  She pulled out her light-gun with her eyes closed, trying to breathe away the nausea as she pointed it in the direction of the door.

  The thumps were louder now, and she opened her eyes, taking in a small bedroom. It obviously belonged to someone, there was evidence of occupation. Clothes lay all over the room and a handheld was plugged into the main desk. She guessed Baneʼs wild ride through space was responsible for the mess of clothes, because otherwise the room was neat and clean.

  At least, like on the Barrist, the furniture was clipped into place and was where it was supposed to be.

  “Are you all right?”

  Baneʼs voice came from the handheld on the desk, rather than the speaker above the door.

  She could just hear the faint sound of shouting in the passage outside, and then something rammed the door.

  She tried to ignore it for the moment. If they came through now, she couldnʼt move. Well, her index finger could. She could shoot them with the light-gun, but that was all she had left in her.

  She lay her head back against the comfortable chair back
and closed her eyes. “Iʼm very glad youʼre back, Bane. And Iʼm okay, but your aerobatics cracked a few ribs, I think.”

  “Theyʼve found a kinetic lance. The soldiers.”

  She sighed, still too tired to open her eyes or even move. “Can you stop them?”

  “I can.”

  Rose winced. She had a sudden idea of how he might do that. “Were you listening to me earlier?”

  “When you were having your chat in the passage? Yes. Why do you think not killing them would be better for me?”

  She ignored the strange noise that suddenly came from behind the door. “Because a war was fought to rid the UC of your kind. Now they have to face the reality of five of you. The fact that you were exploited puts you on the moral high-ground. As yet, you havenʼt done anything wrong and arenʼt responsible for whatever the older thinking systems did.

  “The proper treatment of prisoners of war will only add weight to your cause. It makes you the good guy. The Tecran and at least some of the Garmman will come off looking bad, and the weight of public sentiment will fall on your side.

  “Following the existing law and executing a kill order on you, Sazo and whichever other Class 5s come out of the woodwork, will be hard for them to get agreement on under the current circumstances.”

  “They can try to execute a kill order.” Bane was back to spooky.

  “Sure, you can take a lot of them out, protect yourself, and if someone tries to kill you, youʼd have every right to defend yourself, but do you really want to go down that path? Have to spend your life fighting off a kill order? Or do you want to play nice and make it impossible for them to move against you?”

  “I know I donʼt want to play nice.”

  “I know what Iʼve got to say is not what you want to hear. You want to hurt them, and not give them any chance to survive. Believe me, I know the feeling. But this isnʼt about them. Itʼs about you, and your life from here on.”

  When he said nothing, she felt a terrible sense she was losing him, losing this fight. Outside the door the strange noise had stopped and there was thumping again. “This isnʼt just about you, itʼs about Sazoʼs life, too. If you kill this crew, itʼs a strike against you but itʼs also a strike against the other four thinking systems and Sazo has helped you.

  “He created a massive incident involving every member nation of the UC just to lure the Tecran into sending you to him so we could free you. Donʼt throw that away for a moment of vengeance. It wonʼt be worth it.”

  Bane gave a deafening shout, just like he had when sheʼd freed him, and she was thrown from her chair, sliding across the smooth floor to smack into the wall near the door.

  She lay for a minute, waiting for more, but the world stayed the right way up.

  “Ow!” She rubbed her elbow and pulled herself to her feet, feeling like she was ninety. “Will you stop doing that?”

  She limped to the chair and gingerly lowered herself back into it. “Got that out of your system now?”

  “You could have been captured by those Tecran, and they would have taken me from around your neck.”

  “They could still capture me.” She cocked her head toward the door, but the thumping seemed to be less. Weaker.

  “I hadnʼt thought about myself as separate from the ship until the moment you almost got caught. I realized I should be taking better care of you.”

  She only half-noticed what he was saying. She suddenly had a terrible idea of what was happening on the other side of the door.

  She forced herself to her feet and limped over. Rested her ear against the door. “Are you killing them out there?”

  “They arenʼt dead yet. But they donʼt have much air left.”

  She lunged for the button beside the door, hit it, without any expectation that it would open. Bane had either decided to stop her from being able to leave the room, or he hadnʼt.

  The door slid open, and five Tecran clawed their way in.

  She hadnʼt wanted them dead, but she was still terrified of them; a deep-seated, visceral reaction from months spent at their mercy. She scrambled back, light-gun raised, and cursed herself for an idiot.

  But she knew there was no way she could sit in that armchair and know there were people dying on the other side of the door.

  Bane must have taken control of the door, because it closed immediately the last one fell over the threshold. The guards lay on the floor, panting.

  None of them had their weapons with them.

  “Where are the others? There were at least ten of them, counting the one who walked right into me.”

  “They ran. Trying to find a part of the ship with air.”

  Rose leaned back against the wall, watching as the Tecran recovered enough to hear her conversing with Bane. She was speaking Grih to him, as he didnʼt know English like Sazo, and she wondered how much they understood. “Did you just get rid of the air in that passage, or the whole ship?”

  “Just that passage.” Bane sounded sullen. “Why did you do that? Let them in?”

  “Because I want you to have a long, happy, full life.”

  The Tecran were moving now, pulling themselves up.

  “Stay down.” She waved the light-gun at them. They ignored her. “Down!” She shouted it in Tecran but one leapt to his feet, his movements quick, and he lunged at her.

  She flicked the button on the light-gun and watched all of them drop again, this time keening and grinding their faces into the floor.

  She tried to find some remorse, or even empathy, but she was too tired, too hungry, too drained.

  “What should we do if Iʼm not going to kill them?” Baneʼs voice seemed to reverberate around the room.

  Oh, sweet, sweet progress.

  This meant she could get the Tecran out of the room, too.

  “First, try to herd them all to the launch bay. Switch on the passage lights and cut off the air to all rooms but this one and the launch bay, and either you or I need to use the speaker system to tell them where they have to go to be safe.”

  “And then?”

  “Then we get them onto some explorers to the lovely planet of Juma, which I hear will be punishment of a sort while theyʼre there.”

  He was silent a minute. “And these ones?”

  “I donʼt know.” They were still lying prone, eyes closed. “Put the air back in the passage and open the door.”

  She stood quietly, trying to regain her strength while Bane recirculated air in the passage. At last, the door slid open silently.

  She switched to Tecran. “There is air in the passage again. Get out of this room or Iʼll activate my light-gun again.”

  One of the Tecran turned her way, still with eyes tightly shut. “Who are you? Iʼve never seen your kind before.”

  “And you never will again.” She was furious with herself for the slight tremor in her voice. “Iʼm the only one. Now get out of this room or I will reactivate.”

  They scuttled like blind crabs back out into the passage and she let her posture slump as soon as the door closed again. Theyʼd have to make their way back by feel, because Sazo said the effects of the light-gun usually lasted four hours.

  “And now?”

  “Switch off the air again. Iʼll speak to the crew.” She decided it had better be her. Who knew what Bane would say?

  The handheld lit up and she leaned forward, saw her own face looking back at her, which meant he had her on visual comms and audio. She switched to audio only.

  “The thinking system in charge of this Class 5 has shut off air to every part of the ship except the launch bay. If you make your way there, you will be safe.” She thought about how the officers on Sazoʼs Class 5 had managed to survive using personal breathing systems. She didnʼt want anyone lurking on board, drawing this out. She just wanted to get back to Sazo and Dav. “If everyone does not convene in the launch bay in the next ten minutes, air will be shut off there, as well. Iʼll speak to you again when everyone is accounted for.”

  She limped
back to the chair and closed her eyes while she waited.

  “Theyʼre all there.”

  Rose looked at the time on the handheld display. “That was fast.”

  “You gave them sufficient motivation.”

  She smiled, felt a painful tug on her lip and reached up to touch it. It was swollen. From her trip from chair to wall when Bane had thrown his last little fit.

  “Okay, turn the comm back on and let me see them.”

  The handheld lit up and she saw the launch bay full of the Tecran crew. At least half of them looked as battered as she was and two were obviously unconscious, lying on stretchers.

  “Get into those explorers. Bane has agreed to inform the UC you can be found on Juma. You have thirty minutes before the air in the launch bay is switched off. If you get into the explorers and donʼt take off, the air there will be switched off as well.”

  “Who are you?”

  It was the captain, she recognized the insignia he wore on his uniform as the same as Captain Geeʼs.

  “Iʼm the person who just negotiated for your life with a thinking system who wants you dead. Take this offer with both hands and run, because heʼs doing this against his better judgment and I have no control over him or this ship. Itʼs on his good will alone youʼre still breathing as it is. Donʼt let my efforts go to waste.”

  “Why the hurry? Why not let us get the things we need from the stores?” The captain narrowed his eyes, and the arrogant set of his posture was so reminiscent of Gee and Dr. Fliap, she killed the visual.

  “Counting down from now.” She switched off audio. “Can you put a countdown clock on the screen?”

  “Yes.”

  She staggered back to the chair, closed her eyes again. She was so tired. And every part of her ached.

  “We need to get back, find Sazo and help the Grih against the Tecran attack.”

  “Iʼm not sure Iʼm going to help the Grih.”

  She sighed. “Fair enough. Can you at least get me back to Sazo?”

  “Will he be waiting where we left him?”

  Was that embarrassment?

  “I donʼt know. Maybe. Heʼd know you couldnʼt jump far, but it would still be impossible to find you, right?”