Authors: Michael Berlyn
“I'm not asking you to go,” Markos said.
“I didn't offer my services,” Straka said.
“Course is prepared,” Kominski said.
“Lay it in, Kominski.”
“You want to go with me, Wilhelm?” Straka asked.
“Sure,” Wilhelm said. “Sounds like tons of fun.”
“No,” Markos said. “I'm going.”
“No way, man,” Wilhelm said. “Every time some lousy job comes up, you volunteer for it, and you get all the fun. You've got to learn to let others enjoy themselves too.”
Markos flashed red. “All right. You two can take H-one. And don't forget the virus.”
“I wouldn't go anywhere without my virus,” Wilhelm said.
Straka sat in the control seat of H-l studying the startank before her. It was studded with stars; the one closest to the center had to be Pi Hydra. She saw the dot that represented H-l and the small moving dot that represented the Hydran ship. It wouldn't be too hard to match its course and run parallel to it, catch up to it, then slowly close the distance between them. After a systems check they broke off from the mother ship and angled in toward the Hydran ship.
Straka watched the screens with Wilhelm. They could see the Hydran ship clearly now, though it was still a tiny speck of light.
“What do you think?” she asked Wilhelm.
“About what?”
“About what we're doing.”
“What's to think? We take our chances. We get in close enough so that their weapons can be effective and then we pray a lot.”
“Really,” Straka commented.
“You take care of the weapons, and I'll pilot the ship. At the first sign of trouble, blow the suckers right out of existence. Show them everything they ever wanted to know about the afterlife.”
Straka continued to stare at the screens.
“Look,” Wilhelm said, “Markos can get pretty heavy sometimes. He gets a little carried away. You should know that about him by now. He wants us to dock with the ship, do all that viral infection, take care of things. Sure. I'm all for it. Only if things look bad, I'm not about to get fried. You take your best shots, and I'll get us the hell out of range.”
“You're right,” Straka said. “Let's stop at a point where their weapons should still be ineffective.”
“I don't know where that point is. I don't even know what they've got for weapons.”
“True. I don't either.” She turned and smiled at Wilhelm. “No one does.”
“Okay, then, make yourself hard and we'll do a little dance going in. I'll zigzag a random course, alter speed, do everything I can to present our cute little friends a terrible target.”
“Now
that
I like.”
“See? Everything's cool, amigo. Stick with me. We'll make it.”
They closed in on the ship in an insane course no computer or sentient creature could predict. There was no possible way any weapons system could be aimed and fired before Wilhelm made another zag. Wilhelm had the skill and was piloting a ship capable of responding to his masterful piloting.
“We're getting to the point where maneuvers won't make much difference,” Wilhelm said.
“How big you think their ship is?”
“From what I can tell, it looks like it's about twice our size.”
So much for that idea, Straka thought. She'd hoped they could open the bay door and swallow the ship. But now they had no other choice but to dock with it. “It is Hydran, isn't it?”
“Without doubt,” Wilhelm said. “I've seen these babies in the crystals. This is the same type of landing craft they use to colonize. No question about it.”
Straka glanced at the screen before her. Indeed it was the exact same configuration.
“Funny, it's not armed,” Straka said.
“Yeah, I know.”
“Let's dock.”
“Okay. Hold on.”
Wilhelm maneuvered H-l to within a few meters of the larger Hydran ship. It was a slow operation and demanded his intense concentration. Straka was curious as to how they were doing but didn't ask for fear of breaking Wilhelm's concentration. They would know soon enough.
At last Straka heard a dull clang as the ships touched. Wilhelm kept a minute amount of pressure to the starboard side of H-l to keep the two ships locked side by side.
“Let's move,” Straka said.
“Be sure you attach the hulls before you slice through,” Wilhelm said. “The engine pressure should hold us, but I don't want to rely on it totally.”
“Right,” Straka said. She barely heard what Wilhelm had told her. She was in a daze, removed from the insanity and fear by a defense mechanism she had developed years ago: detachment. As she walked to the section of the hull where they would create a semipermanent docking and breach the hulls, she walked in slow motion, through water, her mind floating, her eyes taking in everything and nothing.
“You okay?” Wilhelm asked.
“Huh?”
“Snap out of it! Come on.”
Straka shook her head, trying to clear it. She covered her multiple eyes with her hands and took several deep breaths. “I'm okay now. Where's my lasetube?”
“It's attached to your waist! For God's sake, if you don't shape up I'm going to get us the hell out of here. We don't know what's on the other side of their hull, and I'm not opening up any holes with you like this.”
“Give me a few seconds and I'll be okay.”
But she could see the line of Hydrans waiting there, lasers pointed at her chest, the two of them running through the muddy ground, the ship sitting in the distance, Kominski's insane laugh.â¦
“Straka!”
“Huh?”
“Jesus. I'm getting us gone. That's it.”
“No, wait! Give me a few more seconds.”
What's wrong with me? she wondered. She rubbed her hands on the bulkhead, seeking the reassuring touch of something she knew was real, was solid. It felt as it should have felt; she took a few more deep breaths, then turned to Wilhelm.
“I'm okay, now. Sorry. Let's attach the hulls, okay?”
Wilhelm was half a meter away, looking at her with grave concern. “It'll wait another minute or two. You back in control? I mean really in control?”
“Pretty much so. It just came on like a wave. It's leaving, though. I'll be okay in another minute.”
Wilhelm flashed red and waited. A few minutes passed before Straka felt the dissociation dissolve in her mind as she returned to full awareness and control.
“Okay. I'm fine,” Straka said.
“You sure?”
She flashed a deep red.
“Okay,” Wilhelm said.
They touched the bulkhead together, sending their probes through to the Hydran hull. The Hydran hull was made of a three-metal alloy, nothing extremely complex, and they bonded the two hulls together over several meters. When they were done, they removed their hands, looked at each other for a moment, then drew their lasetubes.
“Let's make ourselves hard, then start with a small hole,” Straka said.
“You got it.”
They began burning their way through the hulls.
They activated their defense belts once they were about to pierce the Hydran ship's hull. “If they're standing there with weapons, don't waste any time,” Straka ordered. “Just lase them.”
“Right,” Wilhelm said.
But when their lasers burned through the Hydran hull, there were no screaming Hydrans on the other side. A small amount of air from the Hydran ship leaked in, bringing with it a strange odor, faintly recognizable. With their bodies hard, recognizing strange odors was difficult at best.
“What
is
that smell?” Wilhelm asked.
“I can't place it; but I know I've smelled it before,” Straka said.
“It's really familiar,” Wilhelm said.
“It's probably from lasing through the metal. Let's open up a larger hole,” she said.
“Right.”
It took them just a few more minutes, and after they had removed the charred hull sections, they peered into the Hydran ship.
It was dark and murky inside the cabin. Straka and Wilhelm could barely see a thing. A chill ran up Straka's spine. She poked her head through the hole, then quickly withdrew it. The smell, the one she couldn't recognize, was stronger than ever.
“What is it?” she asked. “What's that smell? It reminds me of NASA 2.”
She had seen vague shapes through the hole, like large cases or crates, probably filled with supplies or weapons, spread out over the deck of the cabin. Each case was several meters long, a meter high and a meter wide.
She absorbed some of the electrons from her outer covering, making her nostrils permeable and her ear openings fully receptive. The scent was stronger. All she could hear was her own and Wilhelm's bodily functionsânothing stirred within the Hydran ship. Her skin was still slightly toughened, though not rock hard.
“I'm going in there,” she said.
“Not without me, you're not,” Wilhelm said.
She peered through the opening again, then looked into Wilhelm's multiple eyes. They were throbbing with dull light, showing his tension and excitement. “Wait here for me. If I run into trouble, I'll yell. Don't hesitate to jump through and don't spare the fire power.”
Wilhelm flashed a weak red.
She climbed through the opening.
As her feet touched the Hydran deck, her lasetube was in her hand, ready, and her skin was once again rock hard. She listened with all her attention and heard only the dull humming of the ship's automatic systems. She was afraid to move, afraid of setting off some chain reaction. She braced herself and took a single step forward, silent and cautious, hoping that movement wouldn't unleash a screaming wave of violent Hydrans.
Nothing happened.
She took another step.
Still nothing.
But she felt anything but safe. She bent down and placed a palm on the deck for stability. The deck vibrated with steadiness, with the ship's life-support systems. She glanced back at the opening, at Wilhelm, and as she turned her head back, caught the glint of something shiny. A surge of fear raced through her body, freezing her for a moment, until she realized that her own eyes were glowing, had probably been reflected off some shiny surface
She stood up. She felt a need to stabilize herself, calm herself down, and placed her free hand on top of one of the shiny crates. Her hand plunged through its top, touched liquid, and she yanked back her hand.
“What?” she whispered.
Her voice was shaky. She leaned over the top of the crate and stared at its surface. It shimmered in the light reflected from her eyes and her fear returned, doubled in intensity as she recognized the medicinal smell. She wanted to run back and get Wilhelm.
She reached down again, deliberately this time, and let a finger break the surface of the liquid, then added another finger. She rubbed the liquid between her fingers.
The reflection of her face was distorted by the ripples of the surface. She was sure she knew what it was. Her knees felt weak. She forced herself to calm down and touch the liquid again. She plunged her hand down deep and felt the cold hard exoskeleton of a Hydran.
She withdrew her hand as if the liquid burned. She turned to the opening, to Wilhelm, to what little sanity was left. She looked toward her friend, and opened her mouth to tell him what she had found. No words came out at first.
“What?” Wilhelm asked. “What is it? What's wrong?” He stepped through the opening and walked quickly to Straka's side. He looked down, saw the shimmering surface, and pierced it with a hand.
“Gel?”
Straka flashed red.
“Geltanks?” Wilhelm said.
26
The
Paladin,
continued to parallel the Hydran ship's course. Markatens was left alone on the bridge to monitor the systems and instruments from the command chair, to make sure the Hydran ship did nothing unexpected. Markos had promised to send someone up to relieve him as soon as the debriefing was over. Straka and Wilhelm had returned in H-l and said nothing about what they found.
Markos had asked what had happened once and they'd refused to answer. He hadn't pushed the issue. They had offered to link up with everyone, open their minds to the entire crew, and let them live the experience as if they had all been there themselves. Both Straka and Wilhelm felt it was important for the crew to experience what they had experienced and that a verbal debriefing just wouldn't ac complish that. Markos hadn't objected to the idea. In fact he appreciated it.
He did have some trouble restraining himself. He wanted to ask questions, to find out what had happened as soon as possible. His curiosity was overpowering, and though he knew that he would have all the information soon enough, he found it hard to wait.
As Markos accompanied Straka and Wilhelm to the rec room, some of the noise subsided. The rest of the crew were there, busily speculating on what might have been found on the Hydran ship. Their moods were transparent as each set of eyes radiated a dull yellow around their outer edges. Even when McGowen flashed a welcoming green, the outer edges of his eyes stayed yellow.
Straka and Wilhelm flashed green to the crew.
The few crewmembers who had been sitting rose to their feet.
“Well? What did you find?” Katawba asked.
“You'll see for yourself soon enough,” Straka said. There was an edge to her voice that spoke a warning, that altered the mood in the room.
She and Wilhelm held out their hands to start the linkup. One by one the crew joined hands until the circle of ten was complete. Markos stared at the deck and waited for the scene to unfold in his mind, for Straka and Wilhelm's experience to become accessible. His lower back tightened and he tasted metal.
In a sudden rush he was aboard H-l, the docking completed, looking at Straka through Wilhelm's eyes. He immediately switched into Straka's mind, felt the strange dissociation, experienced the slaughter on the planet around Epsilon Scorpio, heard Kominski's insane laughter ring through his ears.