Alien Honor (A Fenris Novel) (15 page)

Cyrus propelled the prone and secured NKV giant down a passageway, pushing him ahead of them.

Colonel Konev brought up the rear. The needler was in his waistband. Just like Cyrus, he used the hand rungs as they free-floated toward the brig.

“We’re marines, lad. That means something.”

“Okay…” Cyrus said.

Konev chuckled. “I know you’re nervous, son. But let me tell you that you’re doing fine. Maybe I shouldn’t tell you this, but we’re Neptunian Space Marines.”

“I don’t get it.”

“You’re from Earth and probably don’t know the history of Outer Planets. Knowing we’re Neptunians would have meant something to our NKV friend here, but he and the chief monitor didn’t. This is our greatest coup against Premier Lang and it took extraordinary pains to accomplish it.”

That didn’t ring right to Cyrus. Lang and his NKV had gone to extraordinary lengths vetting the crew. Had Jasper tweaked the marines, getting them to believe they were Neptunians? If true… Jasper must have been very busy indeed.

“I thought this was about us helping Sol against the aliens,” Cyrus said.

“Son, I’ve been watching you these past weeks, and I like what I’ve seen. That knife fight the other day decided it for me. You’re one of us, if you’ll stick it through to the end.”

“Sure,” Cyrus said.

“No,” Konev said. “Go the other way.”

Cyrus had begun maneuvering the bound monitor into the left fork of the passageway. He grabbed a handhold and one of the giant’s feet, stopping the forward momentum.

“The brig is this way,” Cyrus said, pointing down the steel corridor where he’d planned to go.

“Understood, but we’re not taking him to the brig.”

Cyrus pulled the tall monitor back and maneuvered him in the other direction. He pushed, slowly building up momentum. By going this way, they would pass near the sealed armory where the marines stored their combat armor and weapons. Interestingly, it was far from their quarters. He’d never thought about that until now.

The colonel checked the corridor they’d come from and the one leading to the brig. Then he hurried after Cyrus. For a moment, Konev looked nervous, with worry in his eyes. He caught Cyrus studying him, and grinned, nodding.

“Have you ever heard of Plato?” Konev asked.

“No,” Cyrus said. What were the other marines doing now? They had to be attacking the monitors. At least one NKV officer would be at his post and gassing them otherwise. This entire operation had taken precision planning and balls.
Is that what Konev meant when he said they were marines?

“Plato was a brilliant teacher, a philosopher,” Konev was saying.

“Sure.”

“A philosopher is a deep thinker about important issues,” Konev explained. “Plato came from an ancient land called Greece. He lived in the city of Athens.”

“Got it,” Cyrus said.

“Plato devised a society where the wisest would rule. The most spirited would become the protectors or soldiers. The common people—those who could only think about sex and filling their bellies—they would become the workers. In time, brilliant Earth colonists set up that structure in the Jupiter System. A
hundred years ago, the cyborgs destroyed it, but the germ of the idea lived on. We’re those people’s descendants. We outwitted the NKV by placing our best and brightest aboard as marines.”

“Sounds too good to be true,” Cyrus said.

“We had some help of course,” Konev said, “but most of it was through shrewd maneuvering on our part.”

“Did Jasper help you fool the NKV?”

They floated in silence then, and Cyrus decided it was time to free the monitor.

Before Cyrus started the process, Konev said, “Son. That was a brilliant piece of thinking just now. How did you figure out Jasper helped us?”

“I make lucky guesses sometimes.”

Konev gave him a measuring glance. The eyes were cold like dark marble and there was something
flat
about them. “No. You’re psi-able. That means something important. You
belong
in New Eden with us.”

“You’re a dupe, Colonel,” the monitor suddenly spoke.

“So you’ve decided to quit faking sleep,” Konev said.

“Don’t you understand that Jasper has broken through his inhibitor?” the monitor said. “He’s been using you, altering your thoughts. The telepath has gone rogue and is trying to take over. I can feel him trying to break me down. He must be nearby and I’m sure he wants the codes to the armory.”

Jasper was nearby? Cyrus hesitated to act to free the monitor and cause the needler to malfunction. Jasper would immediately sense if he tried something psionic.

“Let me tell you how it’s going to go,” Konev told the monitor. “We can drug you and tamper with your brain, or you can give me the locker codes.”

“I’m conditioned against doing as you suggest,” the monitor said.

“Hmm, I thought it might be like that.”

“If you attempt to drug me,” the monitor said, “I will die.”

“The chief monitor didn’t die when Nagasaki drugged him,” Konev said.

“Premier Lang’s psychologists must have removed Argon’s conditioning before the voyage. The same is not true for me.”

“You’re lucky Jasper told me the same thing,” Konev said. “Otherwise, you would be near death about now. As it is, pain can bring down your concentration. Am I right?”

The monitor licked his lips in what might have been nervousness. He glanced at Cyrus. “Are you party to this treason?”

“Don’t talk to the lad,” Konev said.

“You don’t trust him?” the monitor asked.

“Of course I trust him.”

“You’ve lied to him,” the monitor said.

“There you’re wrong.”

“You will never attempt to return to Sol. This sedition has nothing to do with cyborgs or aliens at New Eden.”

“If you don’t quit talking…” Konev warned.

“I’ve been listening to everything everyone has said,” the monitor told Cyrus. “I have rationally deduced the likeliest situation.”

“I’m not going to warn you a second time,” Konev said.

“From the evidence, it’s clear the telepath has orchestrated everything,” the monitor said. “There are no aliens in New Eden, certainly none that can reach our ship with psi-abilities across twenty-five light years.”

“I warned you.” Konev drew a stunner-rod from his holster, one he’d taken off a monitor earlier. By clicking a ring-switch, he raised the setting so the rod hummed with power. He floated near the prone monitor, who twisted his bound wrists, the ones behind his back.

Cyrus concentrated, and he shorted out the stunner-rod.

Konev must not have noticed right away. In a deft and rather delicate move, the colonel stroked the rod across the monitor’s left check. Nothing happened: there was no sizzle. Konev drew back and twisted the rod’s setting switch. He tried again, but again, it didn’t work. He whirled around and pointed the stunner-rod at Cyrus.

“You did this,” the colonel said.

“Jasper has tampered with your mind,” Cyrus said. The colonel was big and strong, and even with an ordinary baton he would be dangerous. If Cyrus had a knife, it would be different, but he didn’t have one now.

“You must not listen to the monitor’s lies,” Konev said. “They are masters of verbal manipulation and know how to trick people.”

“Truth cuts through lies,” the monitor said. “Listen to the Special. He knows the truth. How do you think he caused the stunner to malfunction? His inhibitor no longer works either. It means Jasper has been free to tamper with
everyone’s mind. We of the NKV are conditioned against mind control. It is the reason for this farce.”

“No,” Konev snarled. He pointed the rod at Cyrus. “It’s time for a lesson.”

“Hold it!” a new voice commanded.

Cyrus spun around. Jasper stood behind them on the deck plates. He hadn’t heard the telepath walk up.

“I have it,” Jasper told the colonel. “I have the armory’s code sequences.”

“Excellent,” Konev said. “The monitor’s arrogance has begun to grate on me.” The colonel holstered the stunner-rod and drew the needler from his waistband.

Cyrus reached out with his power and attempted to short it. Jasper struck then with a mind bolt. Cyrus winced as he defended himself.

Konev, meanwhile, put the tiny needler near the monitor’s left temple and pulled the trigger. A stitching sound occurred as needles slid into the monitor’s brain, killing him instantly.

“Why did you allow that?” Cyrus asked Jasper.

“Will you lower your mind shield and open yourself to me so I know I can trust you?” Jasper asked.

Cyrus floated in the passageway with the dead monitor, globules of drifting blood and Colonel Konev behind him. Jasper stood before him on the weave on the deck plates, anchored in his shoes. Cyrus knew if he flew at Jasper to attack him, the marine could easily shoot him in the back with the needler.

“I’m not going to become one of your zombies,” Cyrus said.

“He’s stubborn,” Konev said. “Should I kill him?”

“Don’t be absurd,” Jasper said. “Leave the monitor’s corpse. We’ll clean that up later. Secure the Special’s wrists behind his back with one of your ties. Then take him with you and leave him among your marines.”

Konev pulled Cyrus’s hands behind his back, binding his wrists tightly. “Come with me,” he said, using one arm to propel Cyrus past the floating corpse and toward the waiting armory.

“If you lower your mind shield, it doesn’t have to be this way,” Jasper said.

Cyrus didn’t have a good answer. Thus, he kept silent. He needed time to think.

15

The demons struck without warning as the Tash-Toi marched to the Wild Rocks.

Klane strode beside the seeker. They were in the middle of the clan, surrounded by the hetman’s wives and children. Around the hetman’s many wives were the other clan members’ wives. The women carried the tents and pots and dragged the fire, while the older children carried tent poles.

The warriors ranged farther out, each man carrying his weapons. They searched for game and protected the clan from a sudden raid. Large black boulders stuck out of the ground at the oddest intervals. In the distance were the teeth of the Wild Rocks. In them were dangerous predators, but it was a good place to hide from the demons.

A woman shrieked, and she pointed toward the sun.

Klane squinted, looking up and shading his eyes.

“What do you see?” the seeker asked in a grave voice.

“Four air-cars,” Klane said.

“They come for revenge,” the old man said in a sad voice. “They come for you, Klane.”

Klane’s features hardened, and he thrust a hand into his secret place, withdrawing his black junction-stone.

“I made one air-car malfunction,” Klane said. “I can do it to four.”

“No. These are larger vehicles. Your TK will prove ineffectual against them. They wish to study you. But I can never allow that. It is too late to transfer. Yes, I’ve been a fool to wait this long.”

Women and children dropped their possessions and scattered in all directions. Several warriors ran toward the air-cars, challenging the demons. The other warriors bolted.

“We have no more time,” Klane said.

“This is a disaster,” the seeker said. “I should have transferred when I had the chance. But I wasn’t ready. It was my fault and I may have doomed humanity because of it.”

Klane hardly heard the old man. He psyched himself up for the effort of his life.

“I’m sorry, Klane,” the seeker said from behind him, putting a hand on his shoulder.

Klane heard something odd there. He turned, and took the full brunt of a club against his forehead. He toppled backward, striking the ground with the back of his head. Someone pried at his fingers.

The junction-stone! Klane tightened his fingers, but the stone was gone. Groggily, he turned over as the front of his head thudded. With watery eyes, he saw the seeker walking toward the descending sky vehicles.

“Here!” the seeker shouted, holding aloft Klane’s junction-stone. “I’m the one you want.”

As if the demons heard the old man’s words, dark clots blew out of the sky vehicles. The clots moved fast, expanding as they descended toward the seeker.

Klane tried to push up, but his arms failed him and he thudded back onto the ground.

One of the clots struck the seeker, and sticky strands wrapped around him. The demons had netted the old man, and he fell onto the sand.

Milky beams shot out of the sky vehicles, hitting several courageous warriors. They too toppled, with greasy smoke billowing from them. Afterward, blood poured from the death wounds.

“No,” Klane whispered. “No.”

A sky vehicle sank toward the bound seeker. Doors opened in the bottom of the floating vehicle. A claw reached down, clutching the old man and hauling him up into the great vehicle.

In horror, Klane watched the seeker disappear into the demons’ air-car. The bay doors closed, sealing the old man in the evil machine. The four sky vehicles lifted and headed back in the direction they had come.

He gave himself to the demons
, Klane realized.
They came for me, and they took him because he carried my junction-stone
.

Tears leaked from Klane’s eyes. The demons had stolen his only friend in the world.

16

Cyrus wore a blue slick-suit in the tele-chamber. He was beside the cylinder with its blue solution. The shift crew was at their stations, and one nurse held the induction helmet while the other waited with the breathing mask.

The last two weeks had been difficult. Day and night, he’d kept up his mind shield. Three times, he’d felt Jasper attempt to break into his thoughts.

The first week he’d spent with the marines. The last week Jasper had confined him to his room. During the two weeks, Jasper had shifted three times, bringing them 6.3 light years closer to New Eden. They were 1.95 light years away now, practically knocking on the door in shifting terms, though years away in normal space.

Cyrus fit the induction helmet over his head. The inside was soft, with wireless connections linking him to AI Socrates and the outer tele-ring circling
Discovery
. The helmet was one of the most important parts of the shifting equipment.