“Give… me… antidote,” Argon slurred.
From the corner of the ceiling, Nagasaki panted. He’d known ahead of time that it was going to be a hard fight, but he hadn’t expected this. Had the chief monitor crippled him?
“… fool…” Argon whispered, with his eyelids fluttering.
Nagasaki watched the chief monitor pass into unconsciousness. The telepath could be a problem. But Colonel Konev already had an answer for that. Now, it was time to search and find the illegal needler, the one Argon had used to kill Venice. They were going to need the weapon in order to subdue the other monitors.
13
Cyrus waited in the officer’s lounge with the others. It was a spacious room as such things went aboard Discovery.
There was a long table in the center of the chamber, with various consoles embedded in the plastic top. Screens lined the walls, each showing a bright, recorded day on Earth. Cyrus focused on a rolling plain. A flock of crows flew in the sky toward a lone tree.
Two monitors in the chamber flanked the closed hatch. Like giant sentinels, they stood at each side, alert and waiting for orders.
Jasper sat across the table from Cyrus. The telepath wore a shiny suit, fiddling with an oblong object, twisting colored pieces on it. The thing was a game of some sort. Something clicked on it.
The sound or something about the object drew Cyrus’s gaze from the rolling plain to it. He crunched his brows together, wondering what Jasper was trying to achieve with the toy.
“They’ve been gone too long,” Colonel Konev announced.
The marine wasn’t in his seat, but floated near the head of the table. He wore his dress uniform, with one of his big hands in a pocket.
Cyrus noticed because whatever Konev held in his pocket he rolled around nervously. That was odd. Why would Konev be nervous?
Frowning, Cyrus glanced at Jasper. The man was absorbed with his toy, clicking a colored piece, clicking another…
Cyrus noticed the telepath’s eyes, the giveaway. They’d turned a faint metallic color. Was he wrong to do nothing?
Doctor Wexx stood up. She wore Velcro-soled shoes. Making a rip-rip sound, she approached the portal and the two monitors.
Both NKV officers were big, towering at six-ten and six-eleven. They wore the black uniform, with stunner-rods holstered at their sides. The wide faces, the intense eyes: These two had Highborn blood like the chief monitor.
“I need to use the restroom,” Wexx said.
The taller monitor shook his head. “You will await the chief monitor’s return.”
Wexx laughed. “But I need to go.”
Go? Cyrus wondered. Doctor Wexx was much too formal to say it like that. He turned to Jasper. The telepath had his head down, and he no longer fingered his oblong toy or game.
“Doctor,” Cyrus said.
Doctor Wexx wasn’t listening. She charged the door. “I insist you let me pass!” she shouted, grappling with the nearest monitor.
The monitor frowned as he easily held her off. “You will remain here until the—”
The portal opened. The second monitor glanced outside into the passageway, and he moved fast toward the hatch.
The soft sound of a firing needler froze Cyrus, as everything seemed to happen in slow motion. The taller monitor reversed his grip on Dr. Wexx, spinning her around and immobilizing her—but it also immobilized him for the moment. The other monitor continued to twist toward the portal, but now he contorted sharply as if in pain. Deadly needles exited his back, stitching through his garment. Squirts of blood followed.
“Don’t move!” Colonel Konev roared, aiming his words at the remaining monitor.
The NKV officer kept hold of Wexx and turned his head toward the hatch.
Cyrus saw the same thing the monitor must have seen. Captain Nagasaki stood in the portal, holding the needler, pointing it at the monitor’s face.
The live monitor relaxed his muscles, releasing Dr. Wexx. She jerked loose and hurried back against a wall, staring at the scene in shock and rearranging her disheveled clothes.
“If you move,” Konev crisply told the monitor, “the captain will kill you.”
“Where is Argon?” the giant asked.
“That is no concern of yours,” Konev said. “You must ask yourself: Do I want to live?”
The giant regarded the colonel. “This—all this—is your doing?”
“It is,” Konev admitted. With his large sideburns and stance, the marine seemed like a lion.
Cyrus glanced at Jasper. The telepath had put away his oblong object and sat there with a half smile on his chubby face. Cyrus wanted to charge him and put his knife under his throat. He was certain the captain would shoot him if he tried. So Cyrus did the next best thing. He waited for his chance.
“What are your plans?” the monitor asked Konev.
“That isn’t your concern either,” the marine said. “Do you want to live or should we kill you and eliminate any future problems?”
The monitor seemed to calculate swiftly.
He’s like a beast, Cyrus realized. The captain is mad if he thinks he’s safe holding a needler so near the monitor. Cyrus knew some monitors had taken mind shield training. Is that why Premier Lang had put Highborn echoes aboard the Teleship? Highborn would have potent mind shields. Were they another of Lang’s endless redundancies regarding Specials?
“Captain,” Konev said, “if you would make your way to me, please. But be careful. The monitor is deadly and can strike like a whiplash.”
The monitor glanced at Jasper. A moment later, the monitor said, “I will submit to you.” He put his back to Nagasaki and slowly moved to the nearest wall, putting his hands and body against it in the arrest position.
“Should I kill him?” Nagasaki asked Jasper.
“No!” Konev said. “We need the monitors. They know many important things about the ship the rest of us don’t. There are only twelve of them. We can keep them in the brig.”
Cyrus finally saw what Konev had kept in his pocket: binding ties.
The monitor saw the same thing and put his hands behind his back. Konev attached the ties to the wrists and others to the ankles, binding the giant. Once finished, he turned to Nagasaki.
“Give me the weapon,” he said.
Nagasaki scowled.
“I need the weapon so I can insure the freeing and arming of my marines,” Konev said. “Once we’re combat armed, there’s nothing the monitors can do even if they were all free.”
Nagasaki cocked his head.
Cyrus noticed Jasper with his head bent. Sweat appeared on the telepath’s face.
A moment later, Nagasaki reversed his grip and handed the needler to Konev.
The colonel checked the gleaming weapon. “Hmm,” he muttered. “The magazine is almost spent. How many did you fire into the monitor?”
Nagasaki shook his head.
“It doesn’t matter,” Konev said. “Cyrus you’ll push the monitor for me.”
Cyrus rubbed his jaw. Jasper wanted him out of here for a reason. So one way or another, he’d better go. “Sure,” he said.
14
“Why hadn’t the other monitors in their stations gassed us?” Cyrus asked Konev.
Cyrus propelled the prone and secured NKV giant down a passageway, pushing him ahead of them.
Colonel Konev brought up the rear. The needler was in his waistband. Just like Cyrus, he used the hand rungs as they free-floated toward the brig.
“We’re marines, lad. That means something.”
“Okay…” Cyrus said.
Konev chuckled. “I know you’re nervous, son. But let me tell you that you’re doing fine. Maybe I shouldn’t tell you this, but we’re Neptunian Space Marines.”
“I don’t get it.”
“You’re from Earth and probably don’t know the history of Outer Planets. Knowing we’re Neptunians would have meant something to our NKV friend here, but he and the chief monitor didn’t. This is our greatest cou
p against Premier Lang and it took extraordinary pains to accomplish it.”
That didn’t ring right to Cyrus. Lang and his NKV had gone to extraordinary lengths vetting the crew. Had Jasper tweaked the marines, getting them to believe they were Neptunians? If true… Jasper must have been very busy indeed.
“I thought this was about us helping Sol against the aliens,” Cyrus said.
“Son, I’ve been watching you these past weeks, and I like what I’ve seen. That knife fight the other day decided it for me. You’re one of us, if you’ll stick it through to the end.”
“Sure,” Cyrus said.
“No,” Konev said. “Go the other way.”
Cyrus had begun maneuvering the bound monitor into the left fork of the passageway. He grabbed a handhold and one of the giant’s feet, stopping the forward momentum.
“The brig is this way,” Cyrus said, pointing down the steel corridor where he’d planned to go.
“Understood, but we’re not taking him to the brig.”
Cyrus pulled the tall monitor back and maneuvered him in the other direction. He pushed, slowly building up momentum. By going this way, they would pass near the sealed armory where the marines stored their combat armor and weapons. Interestingly, it was far from their quarters. He’d never thought about that until now.
The colonel checked the corridor they’d come from and the one leading to the brig. Then he hurried after Cyrus. For a moment, Konev looked nervous, with worry in his eyes. He caught Cyrus studying him, and grinned, nodding.
“Have you ever heard of Plato?” Konev asked.
“No,” Cyrus said. What were the other marines doing now? They had to be attacking the monitors. At least one NKV officer would be at his post and gassing them otherwise. This entire operation had taken precision planning and balls. Is that what Konev meant when he said they were marines?
“Plato was a brilliant teacher, a philosopher,” Konev was saying.
“Sure.”
“A philosopher is a deep thinker about important issues,” Konev explained. “Plato came from an ancient land called Greece. He lived in the city of Athens.”
“Got it,” Cyrus said.
“Plato devised a society where the wisest would rule. The most spirited would become the protectors or soldiers. The common people—those who could only think about sex and filling their bellies—they would become the workers. In time, brilliant Earth colonists set up that structure in the Jupiter System. A hundred years ago, the cyborgs destroyed it, but the germ of the idea lived on. We’re those people’s descendants. We outwitted the NKV by placing our best and brightest aboard as marines.”
“Sounds too good to be true,” Cyrus said.
“We had some help of course,” Konev said, “but most of it was through shrewd maneuvering on our part.”
“Did Jasper help you fool the NKV?”
They floated in silence then, and Cyrus decided it was time to free the monitor.
Before Cyrus started the process, Konev said, “Son. That was a brilliant piece of thinking just now. How did you figure out Jasper helped us?”
“I make lucky guesses sometimes.”
Konev gave him a measuring glance. The eyes were cold like dark marble and there was something flat about them. “No. You’re psi-able. That means something important. You belong in New Eden with us.”
“You’re a dupe, Colonel,” the monitor suddenly spoke.
“So you’ve decided to quit faking sleep,” Konev said.
“Don’t you understand that Jasper has broken through his inhibitor?” the monitor said. “He’s been using you, altering your thoughts. The telepath has gone rogue and is trying to take over. I can feel him trying to break me down. He must be nearby and I’m sure he wants the codes to the armory.”
Jasper was nearby? Cyrus hesitated to act to free the monitor and cause the needler to malfunction. Jasper would immediately sense if he tried something psionic.
“Let me tell you how it’s going to go,” Konev told the monitor. “We can drug you and tamper with your brain, or you can give me the locker codes.”
“I’m conditioned against doing as you suggest,” the monitor said.
“Hmm, I thought it might be like that.”
“If you attempt to drug me,” the monitor said, “I will die.”
“The chief monitor didn’t die when Nagasaki drugged him,” Konev said.
“Premier Lang’s psychologists must have removed Argon’s conditioning before the voyage. The same is not true for me.”
“You’re lucky Jasper told me the same thing,” Konev said. “Otherwise, you would be near death about now. As it is, pain can bring down your concentration. Am I right?”
The monitor licked his lips in what might have been nervousness. He glanced at Cyrus. “Are you party to this treason?”
“Don’t talk to the lad,” Konev said.
“You don’t trust him?” the monitor asked.
“Of course I trust him.”
“You’ve lied to him,” the monitor said.
“There you’re wrong.”
“You will never attempt to return to Sol. This sedition has nothing to do with cyborgs or aliens at New Eden.”
“If you don’t quit talking…” Konev warned.
“I’ve been listening to everything everyone has said,” the monitor told Cyrus. “I have rationally deduced the likeliest situation.”
“I’m not going to warn you a second time,” Konev said.
“From the evidence, it’s clear the telepath has orchestrated everything,” the monitor said. “There are no aliens in New Eden, certainly none that can reach our ship with psi-abilities across twenty-five light years.”
“I warned you.” Konev drew a stunner-rod from his holster, one he’d taken off a monitor earlier. By clicking a ring-switch, he raised the setting so the rod hummed with power. He floated near the prone monitor, who twisted his bound wrists, the ones behind his back.
Cyrus concentrated, and he shorted out the stunner-rod.
Konev must not have noticed right away. In a deft and rather delicate move, the colonel stroked the rod across the monitor’s left check. Nothing happened: there was no sizzle. Konev drew back and twisted the rod’s setting switch. He tried again, but again, it didn’t work. He whirled around and pointed the stunner-rod at Cyrus.
“You did this,” the colonel said.
“Jasper has tampered with your mind,” Cyrus said. The colonel was big and strong, and even with an ordinary baton he would be dangerous. If Cyrus had a knife, it would be different, but he didn’t have one now.
“You must not listen to the monitor’s lies,” Konev said. “They are masters of verbal manipulation and know how to trick people.”
“Truth cuts through lies,” the monitor said. “Listen to the Special. He knows the truth. How do you think he caused the stunner to malfunction? His inhibitor no longer works either. It means Jasper has been free to tamper with everyone’s mind. We of the NKV are conditioned against mind control. It is the reason for this farce.”
“No,” Konev snarled. He pointed the rod at Cyrus. “It’s time for a lesson.”
“Hold it!” a new voice commanded.
Cyrus spun around. Jasper stood behind them on the deck plates. He hadn’t heard the telepath walk up.
“I have it,” Jasper told the colonel. “I have the armory’s code sequences.”
“Excellent,” Konev said. “The monitor’s arrogance has begun to grate on me.” The colonel holstered the stunner-rod and drew the needler from his waistband.
Cyrus reached out with his power and attempted to short it. Jasper struck then with a mind bolt. Cyrus winced as he defended himself.
Konev, meanwhile, put the tiny needler near the monitor’s left temple and pulled the trigger. A stitching sound occurred as needles slid into the monitor’s brain, killing him instantly.
“Why did you allow that?” Cyrus asked Jasper.
“Will you lower your mind
shield and open yourself to me so I know I can trust you?” Jasper asked.
Cyrus floated in the passageway with the dead monitor, globules of drifting blood and Colonel Konev behind him. Jasper stood before him on the weave on the deck plates, anchored in his shoes. Cyrus knew if he flew at Jasper to attack him, the marine could easily shoot him in the back with the needler.
“I’m not going to become one of your zombies,” Cyrus said.
“He’s stubborn,” Konev said. “Should I kill him?”
“Don’t be absurd,” Jasper said. “Leave the monitor’s corpse. We’ll clean that up later. Secure the Special’s wrists behind his back with one of your ties. Then take him with you and leave him among your marines.”
Konev pulled Cyrus’s hands behind his back, binding his wrists tightly. “Come with me,” he said, using one arm to propel Cyrus past the floating corpse and toward the waiting armory.
“If you lower your mind shield, it doesn’t have to be this way,” Jasper said.
Cyrus didn’t have a good answer. Thus, he kept silent. He needed time to think.
15
The demons struck without warning as the Tash-Toi marched to the Wild Rocks.
Klane strode beside the seeker. They were in the middle of the clan, surrounded by the hetman’s wives and children. Around the hetman’s many wives were the other clan members’ wives. The women carried the tents and pots and dragged the fire, while the older children carried tent poles.
The warriors ranged farther out, each man carrying his weapons. They searched for game and protected the clan from a sudden raid. Large black boulders stuck out of the ground at the oddest intervals. In the distance were the teeth of the Wild Rocks. In them were dangerous predators, but it was a good place to hide from the demons.
A woman shrieked, and she pointed toward the sun.
Klane squinted, looking up and shading his eyes.
“What do you see?” the seeker asked in a grave voice.
“Four air-cars,” Klane said.
Alien Honor (A Fenris Novel) Page 11
