Secret of the Legion (21 page)

"Sir…" I choked. "I can…"

"Shut down!" he snarled. "We don't need your input! Shut down or I'll toss you in there as well! Bobo isn't fussy, he'll take anyone!"

"Sir!" I insisted, "I can take you to the Star! I can find it! There's no need for this! I can give you the Star!"

He paused, torn, suspicious eyes glittering. "Where is it?"

"Gildron knows where it is!" I said. "I don't know if he has it with him or not, but you're not going to find him without me. I can lead you straight to Gildron, and I can get him to give me the Star!"

"Why should you do that?" he asked quietly, gazing at me with hooded eyes.

"She comes with me," I said. "I don't give a damn for the Star, I just want you to leave Andrion alone. And don't put her in that cage. If I give you the Star, you take it and leave. That's all I really want. I was planning to do it anyway. The Star is nothing but trouble. I'll lead you right to Gildron, you can stick a c-cell in my skull. I'll get the Star for you, I'll give it to you, you take it and leave, and leave the girl with me, and don't kill any more Taka!"

"Three…" Eleven moaned. She was in torment.

"Shut down, Eleven!" I snapped. "Just don't throw her in there, Sir. Please. She comes with me, unharmed—and you get the Star."

"Why should I agree?" he asked. "You tell me where Gildron is, and we'll find him. We don't need you!"

"Yes, you do! I can't find Gildron, I only know the general area, but he will find me, if you let us loose down there. He'll come to me! He'll never come to you. You'll never find him! You'll never find the Star without us! I'm it—we're it. The two of us, we're your Gildron magnet."

"Why should Gildron give you the Star?"

"Because I'll explain to him that we're taking it off-planet. He knows it's a threat to the survival of Andrion, he wants to give it to the LC. Then your guys show up and I hand over the Star to you."

"And he kills you, when he sees who we are."

"We'll worry about that! What do you say, Sir?"

"Fine idea. But I keep the girl. She amuses me. You go alone."

"It won't work! Gildron is smart, he knows we were captured, he won't buy it if I'm alone, he'll know it's a trap, he'll know Eleven is a hostage. If he sees the two of us together, he'll believe it."

"I wasn't aware Gildron was known for his intellect."

"He wasn't, before…but he's been with the Star for two years now. He's changed. Don't underestimate the power of the Star."

Bobo moaned and whimpered, stretching one long, hairy arm out for Eleven. Eleven remained against the wall, paralyzed with fear.

"You are in no position to bargain, Beta Three," Lowdrop declared. "I don't need you. We own Andrion now. We'll get the Star, sooner or later. We'll track down Gildron and get the Star."

"Sure you will…in six months, or a year. You don't know what those tunnels are like! It could take a year or longer…you might never find the Star! Gildron might destroy it! Or bury it so deep it'll never be uncovered. We can lead you to it immediately! Gildron wants to get rid of it, but he won't give it to you. He'll give it to us…willingly. Maybe today! It would save you a lot of time! KCA would like that! He won't be happy with a delay."

"Why should Gildron trust the two of you any more than he'd trust one? He knows you were both captured."

"Assuming your men aren't complete incompetents, they should be able to track us at a discreet distance without alerting the Taka. He may be suspicious, but he won't ignore us if we come looking for him. He'll figure we got away somehow. We can work it out with the handover of the Star; your people can pose as LC. We'll be on scope, if we don't show up on schedule you can kick in the door and come after us. Gildron will come to us, for sure. When you find us, you'll find Gildron."

"So I should release you both, is that it? You're really comical."

"You get the Star, in return. Guaranteed. What have you got to lose? Nothing! If it doesn't work, you do what you would have done anyway. You only lose a few hours. But if it does work…you've got the Star. Think about it, Sir."

"You're a fast-talking boy, Beta Three. Ever consider a career as a lawyer—or a confidence man? All right. Maybe I'll take a chance on you. You and the girl. It doesn't matter. We own the planet now! If you betray me, I'll get you back, and you'll both wind up in the cage with Bobo. Understand?"

"Yes, Sir!"

"Just one thing—this little bitch has insulted me. I don't take that from anyone. I'm going to teach her some manners before she leaves this room. She's going to remember me for a long time. And you're going to watch."

"Sir, uh, with all due respect, that might not be wise. She's a hot-headed, vengeful, suicidal psychotic. I know her well. If you…do that…she'll betray us in the end. I won't be able to control her. She'll go nuts. She could destroy the Star, or alert Gildron. Just…let her come with me. No punishment. She'll apologize! Please accept her apology! She's just a worthless little slut, Sir! Don't jeopardize the Star for her! I can keep her in line if you don't drive her over the edge."

"She's going to grovel!"

"Eleven! Apologize!" I shouted frantically. "Apologize to the man!" It was insane, I thought, but he was insane, the room was insane, the situation was insane.

Bobo howled again—he was foaming at the mouth, still reaching out of the cage toward Valkyrie's tantalizing body, just out of his reach. Valkyrie slid slowly down the wall to her knees, twitching in horror, never taking her eyes off the creature in the cage. Cold sweat was dripping off her nose. Her lips moved.

"Louder!" Lowdrop shouted, waving his vac gun. He was crazier than Bobo, I thought.

"Sir…I'm sorry, sir," Valkyrie gasped. "Please forgive me!" A wave of relief flooded over me at Valkyrie's words. I had been terrified she was not going to cooperate. Thank the dead! All I wanted from life at that point was for the two of us to get out of that room alive. And I suddenly realized that I was going to lead Lowdrop to the Star within the hour, just as Lowdrop had promised the Systie Ambassador.

***

When they released us, Valkyrie and I ran from the ConFree groundcar like two rats pursued by a pack of dogs. It was still dark, but dawn would break in a few hours. I knew where Gildron was headed but I didn't reveal that to them. I had them drop us off in a thickly forested area about 70 K east of the site of our capture. We crashed through the underbrush, ignoring the pain, anxious only to get away from the groundcar and all it represented. We were completely unarmed. They had drilled c-cells into our scalps to track us like animals. Valkyrie was wearing a new litesuit and it was a safe bet that the thing was a giant transmitter that would broadcast our every word back to Lowdrop. The two comsets clipped to our u-belts probably served the same purpose.

We ran to exhaustion and collapsed into a stand of spiky ground palms. We lay there gasping, hardly daring to look at each other. I felt dirty—not from the run, but from what had happened back on the ship. We hadn't said a word to each other since our release. I was mentally shot, rushing from event to event with no chance to even think. I stole a glance at Valkyrie. She was pale, drained, stunned, propped up against a palm, smeared with dirt and sweat. Looking at me with glazed eyes.

"Idiot," I said. She did not answer. "Did you have to spit on him? Do you know how close we came to dying?" I was angry—more at myself than her.

She stirred, struggling to her feet. She staggered over to me and collapsed, almost on top of me. She grabbed a piece of my tunic and pulled my face close to hers. She was still breathing hard from the run and her icy green eyes were not really focusing. I had loved this girl for years. She had been my first love in the Legion, and I had thought it would last forever.

"You were wonderful," she gasped. "I can hardly believe…he agreed."

I embraced her and we lay there, hot and sticky, cheek to cheek, heart to heart.

"I did just what he wanted," I said. "I'm not proud of it."

"You kept me out of that cage," she said. "That's all that's important. Now what do we do?"

I pointed to our heads, and the comsets, and the clothing. She nodded. "We do exactly what he wants," I said. "If we don't give him the Star, Andrion Two will be destroyed. I don't want that. We're going to give him the Star. I don't care about it. I never cared about it. Tara can burn in Hell. This is all her doing anyway."

We lapsed into silence in each other's arms, clutching each other like life jackets, listening to the night as our racing hearts gradually slowed down. Almost 0500 hours—it would be dawn soon. I was so sick of struggling. Was life supposed to be like this?

"Hot-headed, suicidal…what did you call me?" she asked. "A psycho?"

"I think I called you a hot-headed, vengeful, suicidal psychotic."

"Yeah! And a slut! A worthless slut!"

"Did I say that?"

"Did you mean it?"

"I think the part about the vengeful, suicidal psychotic was completely accurate. But not the slut part. I just kind of threw that in."

She looked up at the stars, grinning. "You really are a fine piece of work, Beta Three. I was amazed. All I could do was stare at that…thing, while you were hitting Lowdrop with all those terrific arguments for letting us go. You made it sound like letting us go was the only possible scenario any sane person could consider."

"It must have made sense to crazy people, too."

"I guess so. What's the next move?"

"We head for Gildron's tunnel. Might as well get going."

"You were right about the slut part, too," Valkyrie admitted, snuggling a little closer. "I'm feeling very slutty right now. I know this isn't the right time. But I'd like you to know…just in case anything happens to us…I forgive you for everything. For Priestess, for Moontouch. It doesn't matter, that's all in the past. I still love you, Thinker. If we get through this, I'm going to get you alone in a room at some point and you're not going to get away from me. That's a promise!"

"All right, Valkyrie. If we do get through this, that will be our celebration—our reward. But first, we sleep for about two days. Agreed?"

"Bet your ass! Let's go!"

***

"Keep climbing! We're almost there!" Redhawk shouted. I was right behind him—almost under him, actually. We were scrambling up a perilously steep stone staircase that spiralled up at a dizzying angle, deep inside the stone heart of a massive, ancient structure. It was pitch dark except for the light flashing from Redhawk's E. The stone walls were covered with black moss and the stone steps were slick and worn deeply by the footsteps of unknown generations of Taka. We kept going up and up. Valkyrie was right below me, and the three Taka warriors who had intercepted us in the forest were just below her. It was cold and we were exhausted, forcing ourselves on. The Taka had taken us to Redhawk and now Redhawk was taking us to Gildron. We had been marching for hours, through an elaborate maze of underground tunnels constructed during the Age of the Sword. But now we were going straight up.

"How can we still be going up?" I gasped. "We must be way above ground level by now."

"We are!" Redhawk shouted back. "We're inside Mount Light! Gildron's up near the top!"

Mount Light! It was a massive, forested peak, thrusting up inexplicably from a flat plain like the mighty fist of some underworld God reaching vainly up for Heaven. It was an ancient sacred site. It was also the evident source of the deceptor activity that had turned Taka Country into a restricted area for the Legion.

"Slow down!" Valkyrie gasped.

"Almost there!" Redhawk shouted. "How did you get away from ConFree, anyway?" There had not been time to discuss anything earlier.

"Tell you later! Any ConFree activity in this area?" I slipped, catching myself just in time to avoid crashing down onto Valkyrie.

"Careful!" Valkyrie warned me. I regained my balance, and resumed climbing. I was ready to collapse but the Legion kept me going.

"They're scattered all over the forest but they haven't reached the Mount yet," Redhawk replied. "They're still getting used to the fact they haven't got any functional aircars. Our guys are giving them hell. We're here!"

We surfaced in a small stone hall deep within the mountain, cold and dead, feebly lit by several ghostly candles set into the walls. Valkyrie staggered up the stairs and collapsed against a wall. The three Taka warriors followed, grinning, shouldering their stabbing spears. Redhawk was grinning, too. He was short of breath but he seized me by the shoulders.

"Welcome back, guys!" he said hoarsely. "Can we get the hell out of here now?"

"What time is it?" I asked.

"Thirteen plus two!" Redhawk replied.

"Is that my fieldpak you've got there?"

"That's a ten."

"Everything in it?"

"Everything!"

"Good. Where's Gildron?"

"Right here. You're not gonna believe this place!" Redhawk's eyes gleamed. He put his shoulder against a massive door of rusted steel and rotting wood. It creaked open. A bright light appeared around the edges of the door, and I was suddenly aware of a high-pitched humming and a deep vibration.

We stepped into a cavernous void, a gigantic cathedral of stone full of sunlight lancing down from a single, brilliant point high above. The towering walls were built of smooth, massive blocks of stone, fitting so closely that I could barely see the lines, and I knew in a glance that it had been done in ages lost to history, so long ago that the stone was all that remained of their past. We were inside the mountain—only it was not a mountain, I suddenly realized. It was a temple to the past, a gigantic tower of stone built by giants, a stairway to the Gods. I was getting dizzy, looking up at those sloping walls, at the sunlight blazing down like a star. It was a pyramid. The walls sloped up gently to form a pyramid, merging where the sunlight entered.

"It's lovely!" Valkyrie shouted. The air buzzed faintly. I could feel the pressure on my skin. We were on a slick, dirty metal floor. A great central structure of blackened stone and metal rose up before us. The sunshine shone straight down into it, a golden shower of light flickering gently, dazzling our eyes against that backdrop of blackened walls. A group of Taka clustered around a hulking giant. It was Gildron.