"Sure." Kolchin lobbed them across to him. "The second bola's ready."
"Start poking holes in those floater pads," Bronski ordered. "Make sure the outer mattress cover doesn't touch the liquid that comes out-they're usually treated with catalytic sealer coagulant. Cavanagh, go stand there in the corner away from the door and be ready to run. And don't get any of the floater liquid on your boots-it's slippery as hell."
Silently, Cavanagh complied. Bronski wrapped the loose end of his wire around the bolt and secured it with the nut, then took up position off to one side of the room with Kolchin's slingshot. Kolchin was busily puncturing the floater pads, releasing the dark, faintly noxious-smelling fluid inside. By the time he'd finished and collected his two bolas, the pool had spread out to cover a good half of the floor. "Ready?" he asked Bronski, stepping over to the door.
Bronski set his wire-wrapped projectile against the elastic and pulled it back. "Ready."
Kolchin nodded. Keeping clear of the door itself, he eased the end of his stiffener into the gap he'd opened earlier in the edge of the lock cover. For a moment he probed around; then, with a distinctivesnick, the lock tripped.
As the one Bhurt had earlier, the two Bhurtala outside must have been just waiting for their opportunity. With a horrendous crash the door was flung open and both of the big aliens charged into the room, eager for trouble.
They got it, but not the kind they were expecting. The first Bhurt was no more than a long pace into the room when Kolchin's bola caught him squarely at the knees, the spinning weighted cords wrapping themselves instantly around his legs. He bellowed in rage, his forward momentum faltering as he flailed for balance.
With Bhurtist muscle behind it, it took only half a second for him to snap the cords. But even as he did so, his fellow guard, already crowding too close behind him, caught the second bola around his legs and slammed into him.
They hit the floor together, hard enough for Cavanagh to feel the vibration right through the stone, splattering the walls with a splash of floater-pad fluid. The enraged bellows took on a slight gurgling as their forward momentum sent them surfing helplessly through the slippery liquid to collide with the cot frame across the room.
And as it came crashing down on top of them, Bronski fired his weighted wire directly into the overhead light fixture. There was a spatter of sparks as the wire made its connection to the power line-another spatter where the Bhurtala touched the cot frame-
And then Bronski's hand was on Cavanagh's shoulder, shoving him around the still-quivering door and out of the room. Kolchin was already outside, looking back and forth along the corridor. "Clear," he said.
"Won't be for long," Bronski grunted, pulling the door closed behind them and locking it. "Didn't get as good a contact as I'd hoped-they'll be up and making faces at the spy-eyes in a minute or two."
"Then we'd better get going," Kolchin said. "Back out the way we came in?"
"Probably our best bet," Bronski agreed. "You take point; let's go."
"This is insane, Thrr-gilag," Second Commander Klnn-vavgi said, his voice tight, his tail spinning hard. "Tell him that. It's insane."
"He won't listen to me," Thrr-gilag said mechanically, his full attention on Pheylan Cavanagh and the catastrophic situation the Human's actions had now put them all in. Whatever Mnov-korthe had hoped to gain politically from his discovery of the illegal cutting, it would have been blown away like dust by the fact that they'd succeeded in rescuing Prr't-zevisti.
But Pheylan Cavanagh hadn't understood that... and in his attempt to protect the cutting, he'd now sliced to shreds any hope of dealing with this matter quietly.
"This is your fault, Searcher," Mnov-korthe said softly. The Human arm across his neck made his voice sound a little odd, but the rage beneath it came through with no trouble at all. "You're the one who took the illegal cutting; you're the one who brought this female Human-Conqueror here; you're the one who let this male Human-Conqueror escape from you in the first place. You're finished, Thrr-gilag; Kee'rr. You and your entire family."
"You're not exactly helping the matter, either," Thrr-gilag told him, glancing at Klnn-dawan-a and Klnn-vavgi. Whatever happened, he had to keep both of them as far out of this as possible. There were probably legal limits as to what an agent of the Dhaa'rr could do to a Kee'rr. He doubted such limits existed for members of his own clan. "You're the one who ordered the warriors to shoot Melinda Cavanagh-"
"She attacked me," Mnov-korthe snapped.
"Andyou could probably resolve this right now by pledging not to harm either of them," Thrr-gilag snapped back.
Mnov-korthe flicked the tip of his tongue in contempt. "I will make no such pledge," he said. "Not to enemies of the Zhirrzh."
"Why, because Pheylan Cavanagh was able to grab you?" Thrr-gilag said with some contempt of his own. "Get it through your head, Mnov-korthe, that there are bigger things at risk here than your pride. Maybe even an end of the war."
Mnov-korthe smiled thinly. "The war will end soon enough," he said with quiet assurance. "With a victory for the Zhirrzh."
Thrr-gilag felt his midlight pupils narrow. What did he mean by that-?
"Second Commander!" a thin Elder voice broke into his thoughts. "The Human-Conquerors are launching an attack!"
"Where are they?" Klnn-vavgi demanded.
"Still in flight, coming from the east," a second Elder reported. "Coming in force. One of their spacecraft appears to be attempting to leave the planet-"
"Second Commander, the other Human-Conqueror prisoner has escaped!" a third Elder shouted. "Those explosions-they tore an opening in his holding room. He has disabled both warriors guarding him and has taken one of their laser rifles."
"Things seem to be falling apart around you, Second Commander," Mnov-korthe suggested, his voice smooth with menace. "You'd better get outside and deal with them. Just leave me those two warriors and some Elders I can give orders to."
"You can't do that, Klnn-vavgi," Klnn-dawan-a said urgently. "He'll kill the Human-Conquerors if you leave. You can't let that happen."
"I'm in command on Dorcas, Second Commander," Mnov-korthe reminded him. "You will obey my orders."
Klnn-vavgi grimaced... and then, even as Thrr-gilag watched, he seemed to straighten up to a decision. "Communicator, go to the warriors at the base of the Human-Conqueror aircraft," he ordered. "Tell them that Commander Thrr-mezaz is to be released immediately and returned to command."
"I absolutely forbid that," Mnov-korthe snapped before the Elder could reply. "I'm in command here-I have a document so stating from the Overclan Seating."
Prr't-zevisti reappeared. "A message from the Overclan Prime, Second Commander: 'I concur with your decision to reinstate Commander Thrr-mezaz-' "
"You will keep silence, traitor to the Dhaa'rr," Mnov-korthe said, his voice a vicious snarl that sent a twitch along Thrr-gilag's tail. "I reject your claim that you're in contact with the Overclan Prime. It's utterly impossible. You are speaking criminal lies."
"But I can prove it," Prr't-zevisti insisted. "Ask any question you wish-"
"And even if you were, the significance and importance of this particular Overclan Prime will very shortly fade into the mists of history," Mnov-korthe added, his eyes flicking back and forth now between Klnn-vavgi and the two warriors. "When the Speaker for Dhaa'rr has exposed his treason, those who have stood by him will fall along with him."
Thrr-gilag exchanged startled glances with Klnn-dawan-a. "What treason?" he demanded. "There's been no treason here."
"Keep silence, Kee'rr." Mnov-korthe flicked his tongue at the two warriors still flanking the doorway. "You two are Dhaa'rr, sworn to obey Warrior Command and the Overclan Seating. Will you stand with me, with my proved authority from the Seating? Or will you stand with criminal liars and traitors to the Zhirrzh?"
The warriors glanced at each other. "We stand by our oath," one of them said cautiously. "But-"
"Wisely spoken," Mnov-korthe said. "And there will thus be no need afterward for your families to be destroyed. Elder?"
"Yes?"
"Inform my brother Mnov-dornt that he is to assume command of the battle preparations," Mnov-korthe ordered. "Tell him I'll be joining him soon. Warriors, you will escort Second Commander Klnn-vavgi to the Human-Conqueror aircraft to join with Commander Thrr-mezaz."
"You can't do that," Thrr-gilag said, taking a step forward.
"But before you do," Mnov-korthe amended, "you will carry out one other task." His tongue flicked out toward Thrr-gilag. "This Kee'rr is a traitor to the Zhirrzh and, through his contacts with the Human-Conquerors, is a clear danger to this warrior force. I therefore order him raised to Eldership.
"Now."
"They won't listen to me," Prr't-zevisti said, his voice trembling with fear and frustration. "That Dhaa'rr-Mnov-korthe-refuses to believe I'm delivering messages from you. He's denouncing me as a criminal liar; and he's saying thatyou're a traitor."
The Prime flicked his tongue savagely. He would have expected an agent of Speaker Cvv-panav to be ruthless, but not to be so audacious as to cry treason. What in the eighteen worlds did Cvv-panav have poised that he could even think of taking such a stupendous risk? "Go to Commander Thrr-mezaz," he bit out. "Tell him that I order him to resume command."
"I can't reach him," Prr't-zevisti said. "He's inside the Human's metal aircraft."
"What about the warriors guarding him?"
"Both are Dhaa'rr," Prr't-zevisti said, his voice sounding distracted. Listening to what was happening on Dorcas. "Mnov-korthe is ordering his brother Mnov-dornt to be put in command. Ordering Second Commander Klnn-vavgi to be put in detention with Commander Thrr-mezaz-"
He jerked suddenly. "He's ordering the warriors to raise Thrr-gilag to Eldership!"
"Get back there," the Prime snapped. "Order them not to obey."
Prr't-zevisti was already gone. "Overclan Prime," Thrr't-rokik breathed. "My son-will he-?"
The Prime looked at him. For perhaps the first time reallylooked at him. At that pale Elder face, echoing a lifetime of simple honest labor. A face that had no doubt been filled with shame for his wife when thefsss theft he'd helped to organize had branded her a criminal. A face now filled with anxiety for the danger his son was in.
Back when all of this had started, the previous Primes had insisted that it was sometimes necessary for individuals to be sacrificed for the greater political good. Distantly, the Prime wondered if any of them had ever had to face the individuals they had so sacrificed.
"ETA, twelve minutes," Takara reported. "We'll be in range of those outer laser installations in ten."
"Understood," Holloway said. "Stand by."
"Yes, sir."
He gazed out the canopy at the scattering of lights ahead marking the Zhirrzh encampment, a small voice in the back of his mind reminding him that Melinda Cavanagh was not going to approve of this at all. Considering her feelings toward the Zhirrzh in general and Prr't-zevisti in particular, in fact, she might well decide to hate him for what he was about to do.
But, ultimately, that didn't matter. It was her life that was at stake here, and her brother's life, and the lives of a lot of good Peacekeepers. And if the loss of her respect was the price he had to pay to protect those lives, then so be it.
"Activate," he ordered.
Slowly, almost reluctantly, the two Zhirrzh warriors turned their weapons away from Pheylan. Melinda sighed with relief-
And gasped as the muzzles turned to line up instead on Thrr-gilag. "Wait!" she shouted. "No. Stop!"
"It is too late, Melinda Cavanagh," Thrr-gilag said. He drew himself up, his corkscrewing tail slowing down as he apparently accepted the inevitable.
"Wait," Melinda pleaded, twisting her head around to look at him more fully. "Tell him we'll make a deal. If Pheylan lets him go-"
And then, to her horror, Thrr-gilag suddenly gasped, a violent convulsion running through his body. Twisting at the waist, he bent over to one side and toppled to the floor.
"No!" Melinda gasped. She wrenched her head back around toward the other Zhirrzh-
To an incredible sight. Klnn-dawan-a was on her knees, only Klnn-vavgi's slack grip on her arm keeping her from collapsing completely. Klnn-vavgi himself was gripping the edge of the table with his other hand, swaying back and forth as if suddenly gone drunk. The two warriors were similarly staggering, leaning on their laser rifles for balance.
And then Prr't-zevisti screamed, a bizarre, unearthly sound... and abruptly Melinda understood.
"Pheylan, get their weapons," she called. "Quickly."
Mnov-korthe was twisting dizzily in his grip; shoving him aside, Pheylan hobbled across to the warriors. Wrenching one of the weapons away, he touched something on the barrel, and suddenly Melinda was free of the grip pinioning her arms and legs. She scrambled to her feet as Pheylan relieved the second warrior of his weapon. "What the hell's going on?" he demanded.
"Holloway put a white-noise radio transmitter in the vital-signs monitor," she said, taking one of the rifles from him. "He didn't bother to tell me that he'd set up a remote trigger for it."
"I guess that pretty well proves this Elderdeath-weapon theory," Pheylan said, the beads of sweat on his face evidence of what his trek across the room had cost him. "What now?"
"We shut the thing off, that's what," Melinda said, studying the laser rifle in her hands. She'd seen Holloway's techs demonstrating how it worked....
"No, Melinda Cavanagh. You must not."
Melinda looked up, a shiver running through her. It had been Prr't-zevisti's voice, but so distorted by pain as to be almost unrecognizable. "Prr't-zevisti, I have to shut it down."
"No," Prr't-zevisti said, his transparent face as agonized as his voice. "You must... let it continue. It is the... only way for... you to stop... the attack."
"But I can't let you suffer like this," she protested.
"You have to," Pheylan said, taking the rifle from her hand. "He's right-you've got to get out there and stop Holloway before he wrecks everything. The radio's all that's keeping the Zhirrzh off balance-you won't get ten meters without it."
Melinda bit hard at her lip. But it was hurting them all so horribly-But it's not killing them, she told herself sternly.Neither the Elders nor the warriors. You're a surgeon; start thinking surgical priorities. "All right," she said. "How do I do it?"
"First get out of that obedience suit," Pheylan told her, reaching over to unfasten the suit's neck. "They'll have another trigger for it out there somewhere. Then get over to that aircar parked at the south end of the landing field, the one you said Janovetz came here in. There should be a laser comm built in. You know how to use one?"