by Jake Elwood
She reconnected the egg to the cube, watched light flash around her, and felt the grip of the metal relax. She edged forward a few centimeters and pulled the egg loose. With another whole-body tingle the floor of the hovercar was pushed back farther. In took her a minute or so, but she managed to clamber up out of the hole.
The opening in the floor looked utterly bizarre. She could see the top of the pyramid through a couple of elongated leg-holes. Shaking her head in bemusement, she stepped over the hole and palmed the door control for the little room at the back.
"Cassie!" Lark uncurled herself and vaulted from the seat in one lithe motion, crashing into Cassie and wrapping her arms around Cassie's ribs. She squeezed, making Cassie grunt in protest. Jerry rose, grinning, and gave her a mock salute.
"We're getting out of here," Cassie said when Lark released her. "Stand close. Oh, and get ready to drop a meter or so." She set the backpack down on the floor, plugged the sphere into the matching indentation, and gave it a clockwise twist. "I'm not sure how big the gateway will be," she said. "Stand closer." She reached for the egg.
Metal clattered on metal behind her. She turned. There was a shaft of sunlight coming down from the ceiling, disappearing as the hatch to the gun turret swung shut. And there, bouncing across the floor, a grenade. It came maddeningly close to the hole in the floor, but it spun away from the edge. Cassie stood, wrapped her arms around Lark, and shoved her back into the corner of the doorway.
And the universe exploded in a burst of white light.
CHAPTER 26
She didn't lose consciousness. Not quite. The impact as she hit the floor was distant, painless. She lay crumpled in a heap, staring at her own knees, trying to blink and failing. Stun grenade, she thought. Thank God. We're alive, then.
Of course, we're still screwed.
Feet thumped on the floor somewhere behind her, and a man spoke, his voice gruff. "There's three of them. All three are down." There was a burst of static, then the man said, "Yes. It's here. Yes, it's her."
He must have stepped closer, because Cassie was able to hear a woman's voice, faint and tinny, coming from whatever communication gear he was using. "I'm sick and tired of this shit," the woman said. "No more chasing after these idiots. I want you to cripple them. All three. Burn their feet off. Just make sure they can still talk."
"Roger." If he was bothered by the order, it didn't show in his voice. He stepped over Cassie, a tall figure in baggy black pants with armor pads on the thighs, a silver pistol in his fist. More boots thumped onto the floor behind her. She couldn't see his face, but the gun loomed huge in her peripheral vision. He lined up the weapon on her legs.
Something moved at the top of Cassie's field of vision. It was Lark, her actions clumsy and stiff. The stun blast had hit her, but not as hard as it hit Cassie. Beyond her, Jerry managed to turn his head and glare up at the mercenary. That seemed to be all he could manage.
The gun swung toward Lark. Cassie tried to throw herself at the man, tried to lash out, tried to do anything at all. Her body ignored the frantic commands of her brain.
Lark plunged her hands into Cassie's backpack. The gun lined up on her head. And a white flash filled the room.
Cassie fell. She plunged through the floor of the car, her body limp even as her brain filled with terror. She slammed into the pyramid and saw stars as her skull thumped on the stone-like surface.
When the stars cleared she saw the soldier, his gun clenched in both hands, looking around wildly. He kept spinning, as if he thought something was creeping up behind him. He looked like a man on the verge of panic. She could hear him panting in ragged gasps. He batted at the ghostly walls of the hovercar, then staggered back until he was outside of the vehicle. He stared out over the semi-transparent jungle, then whirled, pointing his gun at Cassie, then up at the next tier of the pyramid.
When he spun around again and stared out over the desert, Lark sprang to her feet. Five running steps brought her to him. She leaped, hitting him in mid-air, tucking in her head and slamming shoulder-first into the small of his back.
The soldier took a single stumbling step, then fought for balance. He was right at the edge of the platform. Lark landed at his feet, then reached out and wrapped her arms around his ankles.
For an awful moment the man stood, waving his arms, struggling to stay on his feet. Then he fell outward, and Lark gave a yell as she tumbled over the edge with him.
Cassie lay on her side, staring, unable to help, unable to move. It was ten or twelve meters to the ground below. Far enough to break bones, but not far enough to kill a person. Not if she was lucky. And the kid might have landed on sand.
Of course, she was trapped with a soldier who'd been ordered to cut off her feet.
Jerry sat up, wobbled for a moment, then flopped back down.
"Oh, Lark." Her voice was a whisper, the words slurred by her tingling facial muscles. "Oh, kid, I'm sorry."
A scuffling sound came to her, and she imagined Lark, her arms and legs broken, flailing on the sand. But the sound came from somewhere closer. Then her eyes caught a flicker of motion. With a supreme effort she managed to blink and focus her eyes.
There, right at the edge of the platform, she could make out a small, pale hand. No, two of them. Lark was clinging to the edge of the tier, and as Cassie watched, the girl got one arm over the top. She hung for a moment, panting audibly, then scrabbled and strained. When she had both arms and her chin on the top surface it seemed to go faster. Lark grunted with effort, her face turned bright red, and she squirmed forward, over the edge, and onto the platform.
"Oh, thank God." It was a whisper, but it was heartfelt.
A moment later Lark was standing over her, the red fading from her cheeks, looking worried. "Cassie. Are you alive?"
"Yeah." She nodded, which sent tingles through her neck and shoulders. "I'll be all right."
Lark glanced to one side, and stiffened. Cassie had seen her in mortal peril, had seen her facing overwhelming odds. Now for the first time Lark looked utterly defeated. Hope seemed to drain out of her as Cassie watched. Her shoulders slumped, and she seemed to shrink into herself.
Cassie twisted her head around, trying to see what had Lark's attention. At first she could see nothing but the pale structure of the hovercar. Then a man's torso rose into view as he sat up.
It was Carmody. He looked haggard, his teeth clenched against the pain of fighting a stun shot. He stared around, looking through his daughter as if she wasn't there, then scrabbled on the pyramid's surface beside him with his hands.
He came up with the little black pistol.
Cassie held herself still as Carmody rolled himself onto hands and knees and started to crawl. From time to time he reached a hand up, trying to use the hovercar for support. Finally he gave up and kept crawling.
In short order he reached the wall of the pyramid. He had most of his muscle control back by that time, and he worked his way to his feet, leaned on the wall for a moment, then straightened up.
Here it comes, Cassie thought. Here's where he gets his revenge.
But Carmody seemed oblivious to the three of them. He stumbled along the wall of the pyramid until he found the little entrance tunnel, then stooped and walked inside.
Lark moved to where Jerry was struggling to sit up. She got him sitting upright, then supported him until he could sit unaided. Before long he was lurching to his feet, one hand on Lark's shoulder.
It took longer for Cassie to stand, but at last she was able to totter over and peer down where the soldier had fallen. The man was still there, sitting with his back against the pyramid, one leg bent at a strange angle. He spotted Cassie and lifted his gun, and she ducked back as a laser scorched the air near her.
I am sorry, but you cannot use the weapon. The voice in her head was faint, as if the walls of the pyramid muffled it.
"Get out of my way!" Carmody's voice was barely audible. "I'm warning you!"
I am sorry, but you—
A boom came rolling and echoing from the tunnel entrance, quickly followed by a scream. Then silence.
Jerry looked at Cassie. "What was that?"
"That idiot just tried to shoot a hologram. Come on. Let's go see what happened."
She led the way through the tunnel, pistol in hand. The Ancient was nowhere in sight. She found Carmody lying just outside of the glowing circle of floor. He was on his back, staring sightlessly at the dark ceiling above. He looked as if every scrap of moisture had been sucked from his body, leaving nothing but skin stretched tight over bone. He was barely recognizable.
Lark took one look at her father and turned away, edging past him with her eyes carefully fixed on the floor. Cassie led them back to the ground-level entrance.
They emerged into sunshine. The soldier was around the corner of the pyramid, but they could hear him calling plaintively for help. A team of soldiers and scientists was setting up a giant laser in front of the door. Cassie went through a ghostly woman with a clipboard and kept walking, heading for the jungle.
They hiked deep into the trees, then stood close together while Cassie detached the egg. They dug their feet out of the dirt and climbed up onto the grass. "Roger?" she said. "You out there?"
"I'm here, Cassie."
"Can you get a fix on my location? I'm trying to find you."
"Direction only. You're between me and the pyramid."
She broke the connection, put her back to the pyramid, and started walking. From time to time she checked in with Roger and made minor course changes. No part of the jungle was recognizable. It was all a blur of vegetation to her. Once she was under the canopy and the sun was hidden her sense of direction was completely gone.
Jerry and Lark trailed behind her, trusting her. She trudged along, hoping she deserved it. When the bulk of the ship loomed through the trees she was the only one who seemed relieved. The other two had assumed she'd come through.
Roger assured them no one was nearby, but Cassie still scouted around the ship before she approached it. Finally she walked up to the hull and said, "All right, let's get to work. There aren't too many other places for them to look for us. They'll come out here sooner or later."
It didn't take long. The hull was all patched. Cassie and Lark stood by, handing Jerry tools and parts as he finished replacing the power conduit. In a short time the AI announced that everything seemed to be functional.
"We won't pass any stringent safety inspections," Roger told them, "but we can get off-planet and into N-Space. I'm almost certain we can get out of N-Space and into a friendly port."
"That's good enough for me," Cassie said. "All aboard. Let's get off this rock and never come back."
The others needed no encouragement. They boarded the ship, and Cassie started cranking the hatch shut while Jerry walked over to the helm controls. He stared helplessly at the sideways seat, then said, "Roger? You better handle liftoff."
Modern starships had multiple modes that used overlapping technologies. Hover mode allowed for smooth landings and controlled flight at low speeds. Roger activated hover mode and the ship trembled, then rose sluggishly into the air. It tilted slowly as they rose, until everyone was able to scramble into a seat and strap in.
"Let's get out of here," Cassie said, "but I need you to keep the planet between us and that moon."
"Very well," said Roger, and they rose above the canopy of trees. The ship surged forward, and they raced along just over the jungle. Cassie fought the urge to fidget, knowing the mercenaries had likely spotted them. They had to be gone before the mercenaries could react.
She found a window with a view aft and stared at the ominous bulk of two moons in the sky behind them. The pyramid was already gone from sight, and there was no sign of pursuing ships. She wouldn't see a particle beam if it fired from the moon, but she stared anyway.
The jungle ended and they flew over open ocean. Roger dropped the ship until they were barely above the waves, making them harder to spot, putting as much atmosphere as possible between the ship and that lunar battery. She told him to make random course adjustments, in case they were being tracked.
And at last the moons sank below the horizon behind them.
"Goodbye, Liman Three. Next stop, N-Space," she said. Roger increased altitude, and the blue sky deepened and darkened until it turned black and the stars appeared.
Roger kept the planet between the ship and the moon with its laser battery. Unfortunately this meant flying closer to the local sun instead of away from it, which meant a longer flight before they could clear the system and jump into N-Space. That wouldn't matter, though, so long as there was no pursuit.
A bell chimed, and Roger said, "There's a ship approaching from aft."
"Of course there is." She made a "What now?" gesture and checked the display panel. The Argo was at maximum speed. "What's their speed?"
"Gaining on us," Roger announced. "They'll overtake us in eleven minutes."
"Great." She lowered herself into the helm station seat and brought up an aft scan. She couldn't tell much about the pursuing ship, except that it was bigger than the Argo. Triple the mass, she guessed. She turned to Jerry. "Has this ship got any guns? Shields? Something to deflect radar?"
He gave her a helpless shrug. "Sorry. I just use it to go from place to place."
"Okay." She swiveled around in her seat. Lark was strapped into a seat along the starboard bulkhead. "Suit up," she said to Lark. "Just in case."
Lark opened an emergency cabinet at the back of the cabin and pulled out a flimsy emergency spacesuit. Designed for short-term survival, the suit was without water or food or plumbing attachments. She passed a suit and helmet to Jerry, then set about wriggling into her own suit.
Cassie reluctantly left her seat. The danger of bumping something while worming her way into a spacesuit was considerable. She waited until Lark had arms and legs in her own suit, then held out a hand. Lark passed her a suit and Cassie sighed and set about getting into it.
The helmets had simple radios and faceplates that retracted automatically in the presence of breathable air. Cassie checked that the rest of the suit was sealed and settled back in a seat to await developments. If the pursuing ship wasn't armed, the Argo ought to be able to just fly away. That didn't seem to be the way that Greta Armstrong did things, though. Cassie fully expected ship-to-ship weapons and magnetic grapples. Maybe even a tractor beam.
The sun grew and grew before her, and the cockpit windows darkened to compensate. If they'd had more time, she would have suggested a tight orbit around the star, then breaking away for the edge of the system while the star hid them. The pursuing ship would reach them before they got to the star, though.
She looked at the backpack between her feet and thought about the artifacts inside. The hint of an idea came to her. Not an idea she liked, but….
"Outmaneuvered, outnumbered, and outgunned again," she mumbled.
"What's that?" said Jerry.
"I said, they might be bluffing. If they're not, though, I have a plan. Not a great plan, but a plan nevertheless."
"Don't over-sell it," Jerry said.
"If they're armed," she said, "I'm going to negotiate a surrender. I'll volunteer to bring them the artifacts."
"No, Cassie!" Lark cried. "They'll kill you!"
"They'll kill me anyways, kid," Cassie said. "They'll kill you too, after they have what they want. But I'm going to pretend I don't realize that. I'll go over to their ship with the backpack, and I have a chore for you three while I'm gone. Listen carefully."
She was right. They didn't like it. However, in the absence of a better idea, they agreed.
CHAPTER 27
By the time the pursuing ship reached them, Cassie knew they were in trouble. It wasn't a warship as such, more of an armed freighter, but she could make out gun turrets on the top and bottom in the Argo's scanners.
The dash speakers crackled. "Fleeing ship. Surrender or be destroyed." It was a man's voice,
sounding bored. He knew how this would end. To emphasize the threat, the top turret fired and a laser beam sliced the very tip from what remained of the Argo's port wing.
Cassie immediately shut down the drive. Ballistic energy would keep them moving forward, but they were no longer accelerating.
"Prepare to be boarded," the voice said. "Resistance would be pointless and fatal."
Cassie activated the radio. "Hang on," she said. "I have your artifact here in my left hand. I've got a laser pistol in my right hand, and I'm going to destroy it unless you discuss terms."
There was a moment of silence. Then a different voice spoke, a woman's voice. She sounded cold, severe, and accustomed to obedience. "I doubt you can damage it with a laser pistol," she said, "but I'm willing to talk."
"I'll bring you your little toy," Cassie said, trying to sound defeated. "Space knows, it's brought me nothing but trouble. Just let Lark and Jerry go."
"Fine," said the woman. "All I care about is the key. You bring it to me, and your friends can leave. You have my word."
And I'm pretty sure I know how much that's worth. "All right," Cassie said. "I'm coming over."
The armed freighter came drifting up beside the Argo and matched velocities. Cassie closed the faceplate on her helmet and watched as Jerry and Lark did the same. The port hatch, it turned out, still functioned. Jerry hit a button and the hatch slid open. The air was gone in an instant. Cassie undid her shoulder straps, put the backpack on, and nodded to Jerry.
He touched another button, and the ship's artificial gravity switched off. Cassie pushed off from her seat, caught the edge of the hatch, and paused there. The freighter was a dark bulk ahead of her at a range of forty meters or so. She could see an airlock, a rectangular shape surrounded by yellow lights, and she lined herself up, then kicked off. The suit had a couple of tiny thrusters with very little fuel, and she managed not to use any, flying in to within a couple of meters of the lock and grabbing a handle mounted on the hull. She pulled herself inside and the lock closed.
