by Timothy Zahn
“A few got stuck behind,” Nicole said. “My fault, really. Now they think I’m—well, I don’t know what they think. Just tell them I’ll see them soon. If you see them.”
“I understand,” Wesowee said, and in the subtle tones of his birdsong Nicole could tell that he genuinely did. “I’ll be back with Jeff as soon as I can.”
“Only if he’s willing to come,” Nicole said. “He doesn’t like me sounding like I’m ordering him around,” she added to Bungie.
“I understand,” Wesowee said, some doubt creeping back into his voice. “Are you sure…?” He pointed a big finger at Bungie.
“I’ll be fine,” Nicole assured him. “He’s not going to hurt me. Are you, Bungie?”
“Course not,” Bungie said. He snorted. “Hey, you can call Wisps and make them do what you want. I’m sure as hell not going to start something with them around.”
Except that the Wisps in Q3 weren’t under her full authority, and Nicole was pretty sure Bungie knew that. But it was a gamble she had to take.
Besides, she wasn’t the same helpless girl who’d been snatched from the streets of Philadelphia all those months ago. Presumably, Bungie knew that, too.
“All right,” Wesowee said, giving Bungie a long, cool stare. The Ghorf equivalent, maybe, of the look Trake used to give people who’d made what he called his crapadoodle list.
Or what he’d called it to her, anyway. He’d liked to pretend she was hopelessly naïve.
“I’ll be back as soon as I can,” Wesowee said. He left the room, pausing first for a careful look in the corridor outside, and then for one final look at Bungie.
The door closed behind him. “He doesn’t like me any better than Kahkitah does,” Bungie grumbled.
“Do you blame him?” Nicole asked. “All he knows about you is what he might have heard from his work crew or some of the other Ghorfs. And all they know about you has come from Kahkitah.”
“Or you.”
Nicole shrugged. “I may have mentioned that you and I don’t always get along.”
“Yeah,” Bungie said, standing up. “No, this is a bad idea. Tell you what: you talk to Jeff and get back to me.”
“No, wait,” Nicole said quickly, standing up and touching his forearm. “Please don’t go.”
“Why not?” Bungie retorted. “Jeff’s just gonna pick a fight when he gets here. You know that.”
“But this is our best chance,” Nicole said, hearing the pleading in her voice. The intensity of the emotion startled her a little. “If you go, we’ll never be able to stop the Shipmasters.”
“Lover boy doesn’t think he needs me,” Bungie bit out. “Neither do you.”
“That’s not true,” Nicole protested. “I—we need you. Please. Just stay and talk this out. If it goes south, you can always leave.”
For a long moment he stared at her. Then, slowly, he sat back down.
But not before Nicole caught a hint of a brief smile, quickly smoothed out. Bungie, in full manipulation mode.
She’d always hated when he did that. Usually it didn’t work.
Sometimes it did.
“So what do we talk about?” he asked as she also sat back down. For a moment he reached toward her as she withdrew her touch, apparently decided he didn’t need to push it. “You know anything about this plan of his?”
“I was…” Nicole lowered her eyes. “I was thinking we could talk about … I’ve been thinking a lot about Philly lately. The first time I met Trake. You were there, weren’t you?”
“Yeah,” Bungie said, studying her face. “You were with Clinks then, weren’t you?”
“Sort of,” Nicole hedged. “I was never really with anyone. Or, you know … tried not to be. Sometimes…” She shook her head. “It was kind of funny. I’d been to a couple of parties with Clinks, but it wasn’t until the fourth one that Trake actually noticed me.”
“Not sure any of us noticed you,” Bungie said. “You were pretty invisible.”
“I think that’s why Trake let me start working as a lookout,” she said. “I think he figured that if I was that invisible to him I’d be just as invisible to everyone else.”
“That wasn’t the only reason,” Bungie said. “It was that thing with Brook and Piddle. Remember?”
Nicole frowned. “Brook and Piddle?”
“Yeah,” Bungie said. “They were doing a deal with old Wolf Face when a couple of cops wandered in. You got them out without the cops ever seeing a thing.”
“Oh. Right.” Nicole had forgotten all about that. “Yeah, I saw them getting close and walked straight up to them. They asked me what I was doing out so late, and I told them my cat had gotten out and I was looking for her.”
“And they helped you look?”
“Was that the story Brook told everyone?” Nicole shook her head. “It was even better than that. I’d seen posters out for a missing boy cat and asked the cops if they might be hiding together. One of them said he didn’t think they would be hiding, exactly. So I asked what he meant.”
“And he told you?”
“No, he really didn’t want to.” Nicole shrugged. “I always looked young for my age, you know, and he figured I was … well, you know. A kid. He sort of fumbled around the question while I just looked at him wide-eyed and kept asking.”
“I’ll bet his partner was dying.”
“Yes, she was,” Nicole said, smiling as the images from that night came back to mind. “She sort of hustled him out of there, trying not to laugh out loud. I trailed after them for another half block, still trying to get him to answer, just to make sure they were gone.”
“And next thing you knew you were Trake’s chief lookout.”
Nicole frowned. “Chief lookout? He never told me that.”
“He wasn’t much for patting people on the head,” Bungie said. He smiled slyly. “Least, not the girls. He liked patting them other places.”
“What about you?” Nicole asked. Definitely time to change the subject. “How did you join up? You were there a year before I was, right?”
“Year and a half.” Bungie shrugged. “Trake was having some trouble with a guy. I was having the same trouble with the same guy, and I made the trouble go away. Trake was grateful, invited me in, and that was that.”
“Sounds pretty straightforward,” Nicole said, a shiver running through her. It wasn’t hard to guess what made the trouble go away meant.
“Straightforward? Whoa,” Bungie said. “Pretty big word for a street rat. This place is getting to you.”
“I suppose,” Nicole said. “Do you know how Trake got Packer to join the group?”
“Packer?” Bungie echoed, frowning. “Who cares how Packer got in?”
“I was always curious,” Nicole said. “He must have had some medical training to do the stuff he did.”
“You just liked him because he always had booze on hand when you brought someone in to get fixed up,” Bungie scoffed.
“Well, that, too,” Nicole admitted. “But I still always wondered—” She broke off as the door opened.
Bungie was on his feet in an instant, his hands balling into fists. “Excuse me,” Wesowee said, shying back at the snarl on Bungie’s face. “I’m sorry, Nicole. I’m afraid—”
“What are you doing back here?” Bungie demanded. “You can’t have gotten to Q4 already.”
“I know,” Wesowee said. “I didn’t.” He turned to Nicole and lowered his eyes. “I’m afraid I got lost.”
Bungie rolled his eyes as he dropped back onto the bed. “Oh, for—”
“It’s okay,” Nicole said quickly. “It’s okay, Wesowee. I shouldn’t have … Here. Come over here and I’ll write you out some directions. You have your notepad?”
“Yes.” Wesowee walked over to Nicole, sidling nervously past the still glowering Bungie. “I’m sorry.”
“Not your fault,” Nicole assured him, taking the notepad and stylus from him. “Okay. Here’s what you need to do.”
; And as he leaned down to peer over her shoulder, she began to write.
I assume you found Nise and Iyulik? “You got this far, right?” she asked.
“Oh, yes,” Wesowee said eagerly.
I need them to follow Bungie when he leaves here. There’s a main horizontal air vent between this level and the one below us. There should be a way in from either the corridor or one of the air pump rooms. “This could be a little tricky,” she warned.
“Oh, no, I can do that,” Wesowee assured her.
I was in one of the main vents, and there are others that travel up and down. They should hopefully be able to fit through those. They need to follow Bungie and see where he goes.
“You don’t need to write him your life history,” Bungie said impatiently. “Just point him in the right direction and boot him.”
“I’m almost done,” Nicole promised.
I’ll try to eliminate the Q1 communications system so he has to go to the Shipmasters directly. If they find the armory or the teleport room, one of them can bring back news. Tell them I’ll meet him here in this room, the one we’re in right now.
“Is that clear now?” she asked, handing him the notepad.
“Yes, I can do that,” Wesowee said.
“Good,” Nicole said. “Good luck.”
Wesowee whistled a Ghorf farewell and hurried back to the door. Again he checked outside for trouble, then headed out.
“Idiot,” Bungie muttered.
“Not their fault,” Nicole said. “Anyway, Trake had some idiots in the group, too, and we got by okay. Hmm.”
“What?” Bungie asked.
“I was just thinking,” Nicole said slowly. “If we do get home, I wonder if Trake will even take us back. I mean, we’ve been gone a long time. Maybe he’ll think we ducked out on him, or went to the cops or something.”
“Not when we show him the guns we’ll be bringing back,” Bungie said.
“I thought you said you couldn’t get any guns.”
“Not to wave around here, no,” Bungie said. “But I’m betting we could pick up a few on our way out.”
“If we can get to the teleport room.”
“I already told you I know where it is,” Bungie reminded her. “But you’re thinking too small. We get a couple of tangler guns and we won’t need Trake anymore. We can start our own gang.”
“I don’t think the Shipmasters are stupid enough to leave the gun room unlocked,” Nicole warned. “But the Koffren are both walking around with them. We could probably take those.”
Bungie snorted. “If you’ve got a death wish.”
“Don’t be silly,” Nicole scoffed. “I understand the Koffren and how to fight them. I took them down once, you know. I can do it again if I have to.”
“You sucker-punched them last time,” Bungie countered. “You try it again, and they’ll be ready for you.”
“I’m not worried.” Nicole wrinkled her nose thoughtfully. “Sure wouldn’t hurt to have a few more allies. Someone like the Ghorfs, only smarter, would be perfect.”
“You know where to go hunting?” Bungie asked. “Because like I said, I can get you to the teleport room.”
“Not yet,” Nicole said. “But it’s something to think about. Anyway, right now Jeff’s the one with the plan. We’ll see how it works, and keep this in mind if it goes south.”
“If it goes south, we’re probably dead,” Bungie warned.
“I hope not,” Nicole said. She took a deep breath. “You know, maybe you’re right about not waiting for Jeff. If the Shipmasters are still looking for us—”
“Oh, you think?”
“—then I don’t want to be caught,” Nicole continued, standing up. “And you don’t want to be caught with me. Is there any way I can get hold of you if Jeff wants to talk?”
“Don’t worry about that,” Bungie said, standing up with her. “You go anywhere out of Q4 and there’ll be Shipmasters and Wisps and Koffren on your butt the whole time. I’ll be around them somewhere. Just whistle if you want me. If you haven’t already been caught.”
“I won’t be caught,” Nicole said. “I understand the Shipmasters and the Wisps, too. Matter of fact, I understand everyone and everything aboard. Comes from being the Fyrantha’s Protector.”
“Yeah, well, you didn’t do so well back there by the arena.”
Nicole shrugged. “I understood what they were doing just fine. Doesn’t mean I can’t get outnumbered. Anyway, thanks for getting us out of there. I hope this is where we can start working together like a team.”
“Me, too,” Bungie said.
And before Nicole could react, he threw his arms around her, pulled her close, and kissed her.
Her first instinct was to try to push him away. But the stakes were too high. She held her pose, enduring his touch, trying not to go so stiff that he’d become suspicious.
Finally, it was over, and he pulled back. “Yeah, I should have done that a long time ago,” he said, that small smirk on his face again. “See you, babe.”
Nicole waited until the door closed behind him, then wiped her mouth on her sleeve. She was still trying to purge her lips and mind of his touch when Wesowee slipped back into the room. “Are you all right?” he asked anxiously.
“I’m fine,” she assured him, still wincing at the memory. “Did you get Nise and Iyulik into the air vent?”
“Yes, we found the access and they’re inside,” Wesowee said. “I see now why you wanted Iyulik for this mission. As the youngest Thii, he’s also the smallest.”
“Exactly,” Nicole said. “Hopefully, neither will get stuck, but if they wind up in narrower vents Iyulik’s got the best chance of getting through.”
And now came the part she most dreaded. She pulled out her inhaler—
“Wait,” Wesowee said, hurrying toward her, his hand outstretched as if to snatch the inhaler from her hand. “You mustn’t do that. The Sibyl drug is a poison.”
“I know,” Nicole said with a sigh. “But I need information, and this is the only way to get it.” She squared her shoulders and focused on the ceiling. “Caretaker, I need to know if there’s a way to shut down the Q1 communications system—the radio boosters or whatever—from somewhere in Q3,” she called. “Please have the Fyrantha ready to give me the instructions when I use the inhaler.”
“Are you sure there is a booster system?” Wesowee asked.
“Jeff and Kahkitah think there is,” Nicole said. “The point is that Bungie’s going to want to tell the Shipmasters about our meeting. I need him to go to them himself, instead of just calling it in, so that the Thii can follow him.”
“To the armory or teleport room?”
“If we’re lucky,” Nicole agreed. “If we’re very lucky.” Bracing herself, she put the inhaler into her mouth and sent a blast of powder into her lungs.
The system you request is not properly part of the Fyrantha’s original equipment. It was added by the Lillilli after their acquisition from the—
I don’t care about the history, Nicole interrupted. Is there a system like that, or isn’t there?
There is.
Then tell me how to shut it down in Q1.
The four junction box … The voice faded away.
Cursing, Nicole gave herself another inhaler puff.
The four junction box in bahri-one-one-two-eight has two rectifiers connected by a modulator and twin simplex ellie sixes, the voice resumed. Apply four seconds of three-hundred volt and fifteen-amp current to the rectifiers to destabilize the communications relay system in Q1 and Q3.
The voice went silent. This time, it was clear that it had finished. “Thank you,” Nicole growled, scribbling the instructions on her notepad. “Okay. We need to find bahri-one-one-two-eight.”
“I can do that,” Wesowee said. “What do we need to do?”
“This,” Nicole said, holding up her notepad.
“I see,” Wesowee said. “Interesting.”
“Interesting how?”
“Maybe,” Nicole said. “Or maybe it just doesn’t want to be a warship again.”
“Which I would argue is essentially the same thing. Come.” Wesowee gave an amused-sounding trill. “Let us turn a small bit of order back into chaos.”
eight
The room the Fyrantha had specified turned out to be a three-minute walk away. Inside were a dozen junction boxes neatly arranged along the back wall. “Can you find me some high-voltage current?” she asked, stepping to the array and popping the lid on the fourth box in line.
“No problem,” Wesowee said, crossing to the side wall and a pair of power cubes.
“Thanks.” Nicole frowned into the junction box. “Okay, something’s wrong.”
“What is it?” Wesowee asked.
“This isn’t the box the ship described,” Nicole said. “Not even close.”
“Perhaps the box numbering system doesn’t follow the same pattern as the rooms,” Wesowee suggested.
“Or else the Fyrantha’s not being as cooperative as we’d thought,” Nicole said as she started opening the rest of the boxes.
“Interesting problem,” Wesowee said, turning back to his power cube. “Tell me, has the Fyrantha ever specified a specific junction box to your team? I don’t recall my team being so directed.”
“I don’t remember anything like that, either,” Nicole said. “But most of our jobs were in places where there was only one box, so there was never—ah; here it is,” she interrupted herself as she popped the seventh box lid. “Looks like it, anyway. I guess four now equals seven?”
Wesowee glanced over. “It’s the fourth-largest box,” he said.
Nicole peered at the boxes. He was right. “I’ll have to remember that one. You ready?”
“Yes.” He’d attached a coil of cable to one of the cube’s output slots and now walked over to her, uncoiling the cable as he walked. “You might want to step back a bit and shade your eyes.”
“Just watch yourself,” Nicole warned, stepping back out of his way.
