Lyon's Pride (5 page)

“
COME
,” Prtglm said curtly to Rojer as soon as it had its back legs on the deck. Rojer scrambled out to see Prtglm making its way to an opening that led to the interior of the 'Dini ship, not to the bridge as Rojer had expected.

It was as well Prtglm made its way without a backward glance for Gil and Kat suddenly clung onto Rojer's hands.

“
WHAT'S WRONG
?” he asked, but each made the sudden quick head movement that told him to keep quiet. He could feel their digits trembling despite the strength with which they held on to him.

They were alone as they followed Prtglm down the corridor, which was just wide enough to accommodate the massive body of the captain. Then a hatch slid back and Prtglm entered, pausing to gesture to them to hurry. Rojer obeyed despite the fact that both Gil and Kat seemed to impede his forward progress.

“What's wrong?” he muttered, bending down to their ear holes.

Kat managed a quavery noise and, taking a breath as if steeling itself, stepped over the hatch and into the big hangar facility. Rojer and Gil followed. Rojer knew his dear friends were awed by any proximity to Prtglm, but there was some new quality in their manner now that began to infect him with doubt and anxiety.

The hangar was dark, but Rojer could make out racks of long slim shapes that had a metallic shine: many of them.
Light came up and Rojer blinked to adjust to the glare. Gil and Kat audibly moaned.

These were not probes, Rojer instantly noted: they had a deadly precision of line that made their purpose unmistakable even before his horrified stare took in the deadly bulb of a warhead on the pointed end. And there were an awful lot of them.

Prtglm's digits flashed over a terminal and the multiple screens above it flicked on, each with a different view. Three depicted the orbiting sphere ships, another the flat surface of the space field, and the rest were split, sometimes in three separate scenes, showing the largest of the square buildings his probes had found.

The sick feeling in Rojer's guts developed rapidly into a certainty that was no precog. If he had not been so immobilized by fear and shock, he would have 'ported himself and his friends out of the hangar. But he couldn't move. He couldn't
believe
that Prtglm would make such a devastating unilateral decision. Somehow he had to stop it from happening.

“
TALENT
!” Prtglm turned and it had never appeared so massive or forbidding in aspect.

“
GREAT ONE
,” Rojer managed to say before he had to swallow convulsively to wet his dry mouth and throat.

“
YOU SEND MANY THINGS TO WORLD BELOW. YOU SEND THESE. TO THESE PLACES! THEN SQUADRON TAKES SPHERE AND RETURNS WITH TRUE HONOR
.”

“Sir, these are bombs?” Rojer forgot all 'Dini.

“
OF COURSE
,” and the captain's body made the massive surge from bottom to top that was an angry reaction to the question: indeed, to any questioning.

“I am not permitted to destroy, sir.” Rojer concentrated on speaking clearly and firmly.

“
YOU 'PORT MANY THINGS. BOMBS ARE BEST
!” Most 'Dini
voices expressed little emotion but Prtglm's intonations were rich with satisfaction and righteous vengeance.

“
I AM NOT PERMITTED TO DESTROY, SIR. MY ORDERS ARE STRICT
.” Rojer fell back into 'Dini, hoping he could make his point better in that language. “
YOUR ORDERS ARE TO WATCH, NOT DESTROY. ORDERS WHICH CAME FROM COORDINATOR GKTMGLNT AND ADMIRAL TOHL MEKTURIAN. THIS LOW PERSON CANNOT DISOBEY ORDERS
.”

“
LOW PERSON RJR OBEYS THE ORDER OF PRTGLM NOW! OBEY
.” Prtglm began to pulse and expand, a frightening aspect that rooted Rojer to the deck but did not alter his determination to disobey.

“I am not permitted, Great One,” he repeated, dropping to one knee in an attitude of respectful subservience.

“
GREAT ONE PRTGLM, RJR IS FORBIDDEN BY HUMAN GREAT ONES TO DESTROY ANYTHING
,” Gil said, inching forward with the greatest respect it could display.

“
THE HUMAN IS TO OBEY OR HUMAN WILL BE ON THE LINE
.” Rojer could not believe what he heard.

“
I CANNOT OBEY CAPTAIN PRTGLM
!”

Fury engorged the captain now and, in a movement so swift Rojer could have done nothing to intervene, Prtglm's top arms descended on Gil's poll eye and smashed its immature body to the deck.

“
OBEY
!” roared Prtglm and, lifting its great gory forearms, began the downward swing that would have also killed Rojer.

“'
PORT
,” Kat cried, shoving Rojer to one side and taking the blow meant for him, which crumbled it beside the mangled body of Gil.

'Port Rojer did, out of the
KTTS
, and to the one place automatic reflexes could take him without conscious thought!

“W
HERE the hell could he get to?” Captain Osullivan said, scowling with annoyance. “He knows the time he's due here for the daily report.”

“Sir?” Doplas said from his com station, “Ensign Menburia says that Rojer 'ported Captain Prtglm back to the
KTTS
at 1130. She logged that and saw them depart.”

“'Porting doesn't take Rojer more than thirty seconds. Where'd he go then? Did the ensign see?”

“Sir, log says that Rojer accompanied the captain. At its request evidently. He had his 'Dinis with him.”

“So?”

“Com officer of the
KTTS
says that neither the Human Rojer nor his 'Dinis are on board.”

“Is there a record of when Rojer 'ported back here?”

“According to their records, the captain's pod is still in place and the Human Rojer has not approached anyone on the
KTTS.
The big pod did not return here.”

“Aw, now wait a bleeding minute…” Metrios began in
total disgust. “If the pod is over there, on the
KTTS
, Rojer has to be there. Talents don't generally 'port themselves about in a space vacuum. Dangerous. And what's he been doing there for over eight hours anyway?”

“I should very much like to know,” the captain said in a tight controlled voice.

“This isn't like Rojer,” Anis Langio said.

“Dammit, Anis, I know that,” Osullivan said, shifting about in his command chair, his face grim. “Metrios, any power use consistent with a long-distance 'port?”

“No, sir,” the engineering officer said with only the briefest of glances at his station printout. “And there's no way Rojer could 'port all the way back to Aurigae, or even Clarf, which is spatially nearer.”

Osullivan stared grimly at the digital time display as the seconds and hundreds turned over rapidly. His fingers rattled an agitated tattoo on his hand rest.

“Sound a yellow alert. Ship's crew to locate Mr. Lyon. This ship is to be searched stem to stern. Alert Captain Quacho. Doplas, I want to speak to Captain Prtglm.”

“It hasn't been available, sir,” Doplas said in a semiapologetic tone.

“It'll be available to me, Doplas!” Osullivan's icy tone made Doplas's fingers skip over the touchplates.

“Prtglm is not available for speech,” the 'Dini com officer said. “
PRTGLM IS NOT AVAILABLE
,” it repeated in its own language to be sure the information was understood.

“We search for Rojer Lyon,” Doplas said.

“
RJR LN REPORT IMMEDIATELY TO THIS SHIP
,” Osullivan added to be sure the 'Dini officer also understood.

This time the 'Dini officer shook its upper body and then directed its poll eye fully at the screen. “
NO HUMAN ON THE
KTTS
.” The screen went blank.

“What's all this about young Lyon disappearing?” demanded
Captain Quacho, his image illuminating the main screen. “We've supplies to come in and I've two crew needing to go back on the carrier. I've been waiting for Rojer's signal to bring them over.”

“A full ship search is under way, Quacho. I understand Lyon's disappearance no better than you do. And he's not on the 'Dini ship!” Osullivan grimaced and he rubbed his jaw. If the boy had gone to the 'Dini ship, why hadn't he come back aboard the
Genesee
?

“Sir?” an excited voice immediately captured his attention. “Sir, one of the escape pods is gone.”

“Which?” Osullivan snapped the query out in such a hard voice that even Doplas recoiled.

“One-oh-eight, starboard, sir. And the controls were altered to make it appear to still be in place.”

No one on the bridge needed to remark that the one-oh-eight pod was the one assigned to Rojer Lyon.

“Has there been
any
activity
towards
the planet?” Osullivan demanded. When he received a negative reply, “Or toward that damned empty hull?”

“No, sir. And I'm scanning for a recent ion trail.”

“The boy wouldn't have had to use the escape pod engine, Metrios,” Osullivan said, puzzled, angry and half-despairing. He had grown quite fond of young Lyon. The boy had conducted himself extremely well and been as helpful as he could, way beyond the scope of his original assignment.

“Something happened while he was on board the
KTTS
,” Metrios said in a quiet, intense tone of voice.

“His 'Dinis went with him?” Osullivan knew that they had but he grasped at that one possibility of finding out what happened.

“Yes, sir, Ensign Menburia now reports that they slipped on board the probe before Prtglm or Lyon did.”

“They often went with him,” Anis said softly.

Osullivan waved his hand to cut off discussion. The boy had used an escape pod after a trip to the
KTTS
in Prtglm's company. The 'Dini was determined to return home in honor. Suddenly, Osullivan jumped to a conclusion he did not like, not any aspect of it and not for any reason.

“Let us hope he can reach his family safely.”

Everyone on the bridge turned to stare at their captain and then began to exchange shocked glances. Metrios propped his head in his hands and stared down at the lights running their normal patterns on his board. Just then, they gave him little consolation.

*   *   *

Captain Osullivan, this is Jeff Raven. Why is my grandson not in touch with us?

Etienne Osullivan had been expecting some form of contact from the FT&T Prime ever since the time for the usual daily call had passed, and still more seconds ticked by.

“Earth Prime, he is no longer on board the
Genesee.
We had hopes that he has made his way back to you, or his homeworld.” Osullivan spoke aloud so that the bridge crew would understand that he was communicating with the Prime.

Surely you realize, Captain, that Rojer is not able to make such a long distance 'portation without assistance. What has happened to my grandson?

“We do not know, sir, and we are extremely worried.” The captain then detailed the known sequence of events leading up to the discovery of the missing escape pod. Then he cleared his throat. “Prime Raven, it is my belief, unsupported though it is, that Captain Prtglm may know either where Rojer is or why he left so abruptly. But the captain is unavailable. I request formal permission from Gktmglnt to board the
KTTS
and investigate.”

That will be unnecessary, Captain, though the offer is certainly appreciated. I am informing the High Council of Prime Lyon's disappearance. You may expect assistance shortly. Have the courtesy to await it
.

“Of course, Prime Raven.” Captain Osullivan inclined his head in obedience to that directive and then sighed.

Ask your medic for an analgesic, Captain. A direct send to a non-empath will produce an intense headache.
Raven's advice was kindly, and something unknotted in Osullivan's midriff.

“Someone's coming,” he added, remembering no one else on the bridge had heard the message.

“Soon?” asked Anis, her pretty face flushed with concern.

“Can't
be
soon enough,” Metrios said in a growl.

“Aye!” The single word of accord came from many directions around the bridge.

The sound reverberated with acutely felt echoes and Osullivan retired briefly to his ready room to find a painkiller before his brain burst through his skull.

*   *   *

Precisely three-quarters of a very long hour passed before a glad message was relayed from the cargo deck.

“Passenger pod aboard, sir.”

“Escort the passenger to the bridge immediately, Ms. Menburia.”

“No need, Captain,” said a curt feminine voice, and the Rowan, a large dark grey 'Dini beside her, and Afra Lyon with a smaller 'Dini pair flanking him appeared on the bridge upper level.

Osullivan shot to his feet and was halfway to the Rowan when she held up her hand to restrain his impulse. Once again he felt a mental touch and almost recoiled from a second experience.