Gren shifted the weapons to the pallet, along with the boxes of needle ammo. “Remember? Boris lost his down that gestator chute in the fight, and the other got fried. Why are you taking out the Gemers?”
Moire smiled grimly. “The energy pulse won’t be as effective in vacuum, but not completely useless. I’ll give 'em to the kids. They aren’t ready for projectile weapons yet.”
“Them! What about us? They’re dangerous enough without weapons. Always getting into things, messing with my equipment…we should have left them with the others. They’d be bored, but safer.” Gren shoved the float–pallet out into the corridor. Moire keyed the weapons locker shut.
“You’re forgetting the only way we convinced Harvey to stay with the others is if we took these three with us,” Moire pointed out.
“Ash isn’t that bad. Why’d she get on the list?”
“She’s quiet, but she’s real smart. She was the one who figured out how to defeat the safety lock on your hull borer.” Moire grinned as Gren paled in horror. “Good thing we found out before they actually used it.”
He shook his head sadly. “Still…it seems wrong to give them weapons. They are too young for this.”
She tried not to think about it herself, since she agreed with him. “This will give them something to do. Everybody who isn’t working on the repairs gets guard duty, so nobody will be free to watch them. Commander Ennis has done a good job training them. I think they can handle this.”
Gren thought for a while as they walked back to the bridge. “Don’t think we can do shifts. Not enough people.”
“How much more work do you have?” It was getting close to when they would have to leave to get to the rendezvous point in time. If they didn’t, they’d have to wait here for Kilberton to show up.
“If we’re lucky, it won’t be much longer. Less than two days.”
Alan bounded to his feet as soon as he saw them enter the bridge. When he grabbed a weapon, Gren held up a hand to stop him.
“I need you working on the hull, Alan.”
“But…” Alan glanced at Ennis, scowling. “Does he get one?”
Oh boy. This could get difficult. “Everybody who isn’t working on the ship gets one. They need to guard us.”
“Why can’t I have one, then?”
“I don’t know how to fix ships,” Ennis said. He hesitated, then looked at Moire. “What will you be doing?”
“Keeping an eye on the comm, running supplies and equipment back and forth with the scout, and making sure we don’t get unexpected visitors,” she replied, feeling a surge of gratitude for his diplomatic question. “I won’t be on that ship much. I can’t fix it either.”
“Oh.” Alan’s face screwed up with thought, and his hands clenched the gun. What was she going to do if he refused? She hadn’t had to get tough with him yet. “I’ll go with you, then.”
She shook her head. “Gren needs your help. We need everybody who can do the work on the repair team, and the rest of the crew is counting on you to join in. Besides, I’d like you to help watch the other kids. They don’t have your experience, and I’d feel better about leaving them alone if you are there too.” Alan didn’t look convinced. “Commander Ennis knows how to fight crabs, and what to watch for. Even if he’d rather do something else, that’s what would be most useful to us now.”
Alan glanced at Ennis for a long moment, then back at her. He held the weapon out. “He can have it.” It was said grudgingly, but Moire was astonished he’d said it at all. She quietly let out the breath she had been holding.
“Why don’t you keep it until we get there?” Ennis suggested, and Alan nodded silently.
Feeling like she’d just survived a battle, Moire led the way off the bridge. Alan’s face was still troubled. “Don’t worry. I’ll be on the comm to let you know I’m OK,” she said to him quietly.
“You aren’t mad at us?”
The question puzzled her, but she answered anyway. “I’m not mad at anybody. You’re doing good.”
He looked at her searchingly. “I’ll fix the ship really fast. Then we can go away and the crabs can’t get us.” He seemed satisfied with his plan.
“There’s one thing I still don’t understand,” Gren said as they boarded the scout.
“What’s that?”
“They went to the bother of rigging the door, so they probably went there more than once. Why would a crab want to get to a human ship?”
¤ ¤ ¤
Kolpe knew he had to be cautious. The temptation was to infiltrate the construction firm or plant some devices, especially when he discovered that a different crewmember, Yolanda Menehune, had shown up mere hours before he made his discovery. He had a better idea of who he was dealing with now, and it was too dangerous to risk Cameron discovering his existence.
He had not been able to find the ship. Raven had not docked at Jessack since the officer escaped; as he expected. Cameron would know better than that. This Menehune must have come on a different ship. She had visited several different dock hatches, perhaps looking for transport back to a rendezvous. Either she knew the tricks to hide from the security vids or the stills he had were incomplete—he was not able to trace her with the same ease as Gren Forrest. He had not found out where she had gone.
The construction firm had yielded some data; enough for him to suspect Cameron would be dealing with them again. No crew or equipment had moved. That would be the best way to find her. When they did leave, he would follow them.
The bounceback data was trickling in. Already he had a node of intersecting data at Kulvar, famous for its criminal underworld. A dangerous place if you didn’t know the rules, but an excellent location for someone like Cameron to hide out. If the construction firm didn’t work out, he’d try that next.
The door to his workspace opened and Plymson came in, the suggestion of a swagger in her walk. Kolpe studiously ignored her.
“You haven’t been out of this place since we got here,” she said, swinging a chair over and sitting down, ostensibly to watch what he was doing on his datapad. He changed the screen.
“I have been out three times,” Kolpe answered curtly.
“Yeah, but that was for work. You even eat here.” Plymson stretched, looking slyly at him from the corner of her eye. “Had a real good one last night,” she said, grinning.
Kolpe grimaced despite his determination not to show any reaction. He knew she did it just to annoy him, to get a response. It still made him feel physically ill to listen to her sexual exploits. She knew that too. “Then go back for more.”
Plymson laughed. “Oh, I think I will, when I’m off duty. One or two things I haven’t tried on him. But for now, I’m all yours.”
She started in on a lurid description of her activities. Kolpe shuddered, tasting bile at the back of his throat. It was impossible to think, to concentrate on his work. Why had Toren thought Plymson would be helpful? He was in more danger of detection because of her, not less. They had made it very clear, however, that she was a nonnegotiable requirement for his continued employment so he could not demand her removal.
Now he had to share space with her and listen to her describe her disgusting, animal behavior. Why did she do it? Was it possible she was thinking of doing such things with him?
A wave of fury swept over him. His hands lifted from the datapad as he suddenly rose from his seat, every muscle taut. “Be…silent!” he said through clenched teeth.
Plymson stared at him for a moment, then gave an uncertain laugh. Kolpe sat down and arranged his datapad so the screen was not visible from her location, annoyed with himself. He had shown too much. She would be more alert and cautious around him now.
He smiled inwardly. He would have to appear calm from now on, no matter what she said or did, to lull her suspicions. But not for long. At the earliest opportunity, he was going to get rid of Plymson.
¤ ¤ ¤
Moire yawned and brought the scout in to dock, her mot
ions automatic by now. One more quick glance at the comm, scanning away for anything unusual, but it was blank. Gren’s estimate had been too optimistic. By the second day they had managed to get the environmental gravity working, but the hull still wasn’t sealed and more work needed to be done on the drive gravitics.
“Hey Gren. It’s me, got the gear.”
His voice on the commlink sounded as tired as she felt. “OK, just a minute. Nobody’s here to move equipment.”
“I’m coming down to take a look.”
“Right. Bring the box of high–field components, willya?”
“Sure thing.”
Moire rummaged through the supplies and found the box he wanted and hefted it on her shoulder. Gravity all the way now, and the box was heavy. She pulled down the faceplate on her helmet and tapped it to make sure the seal was good, and cycled through the airlock.
At least they’d cleared out all the remains of the former crew. That was the part everybody hated. Ennis had suggested they sweep the ship bow to stern before starting again, to make sure there weren’t any surprises, and she had agreed.
She took the stairs down to the engineering level. A suited figure spun and leveled a weapon. Moire stopped in her tracks, feeling stupid. She’d forgotten to do a general broadcast. Fatigue was making her sloppy.
“Oh, it’s you!” The voice and face belonged to Ash, the quietest of the Created. The hand holding the weapon was shaking, from exhaustion or fear.
Gren’s bulky form emerged from Engineering. “Dammit, Ash, don’t shoot the captain! I’ll take that,” he said, reaching for the box of components. “Why don’t you go get some sleep, child? You’re about to fall over.”
“If I sleep, something could come,” Ash said softly. “Nobody else is here to watch, they are all at the engines or guarding other places.”
“I’ll watch for you,” Moire said, changing her comm settings before she forgot again. “Why don’t you go back to the scout? You can take your helmet off, and there’s food in the locker—”
“No!” Ash shook her head violently. “I want to stay here with you.”
Moire sighed. “All right, rack out here if you can. It won’t be comfortable, though. Give me your gun. I’ll stand watch until the others come back.”
Ash complied, and promptly curled up in a heap on the floor. Gren looked down at her sadly, shook his head, and stomped back into Engineering.
“I thought you were staying on the scout.” Ennis’s voice sounded in her ear. She looked at her suit’s comm panel, on her wrist. A single line channel, not broadcast. She set her comm to single line too.
“Gren needed some components, and Ash was about ready to collapse. Where are you?”
“Down with the heavy–mechs. They’re shifting a beam for the drive node support. See anything?”
“Nope. I’m wondering if those survivors died. How recent was that repair job?”
He sighed. “I have no idea. Could have been years ago.”
A pause grew and lengthened. “From what Gren was telling me earlier, we could be ready to go in a few days.”
“Yes.”
Moire took a deep breath. Why was she having to do all the work with this conversation? “Figured out where you want to go?”
Another long silence.
“What’s near here?” he asked finally.
“Nothing. Closest Fleet station I know of is on Fivemoons.”
He whistled softly. “That’s a long way from anything else. How about—”
An attention signal interrupted, followed by a voice. “Something is outside the ship. I’m picking up hull vibration from the outside detectors.” Another idea from Ennis, after they’d swept the ship. If anything was going to get them, it would be from outside. They didn’t have enough people to watch all the hatches.
Moire slapped her comm to general broadcast. “Where are you? Can you locate it?”
“It’s up, and I think…it’s near the airlock on three!”
The airlock on Level 3 was the one they’d used to go to the gravity ship. It was the level above where she was now.
“Everybody move!” she yelled into the comm. “Drop what you’re doing and go! Get to the scout, and check your ammo!” She yanked Ash to her feet and started running. If the crabs got between them and the scout, they would have to shoot their way out.
Moire pounded up the stairs, hastily checking her weapon. Not one of the magnetics, of course. She made sure that the toggle was still set to energy blast and did a quick scan of the corridor at the top of the stairs. Nothing so far.
Now she could feel vibration on the stairs. Ash, followed by Gren. From the comm, she could tell the others were not far behind.
“Keep behind me. We have to get past that airlock to get to the scout. Ready?”
“Yes,” Gren said, breathing heavily. Ash just gulped and nodded.
Moire moved sideways along the wall as quickly as she could, weapon in front.
“Lights on the airlock controls—they’re coming in!” Gren shouted.
CHAPTER 10
FRIENDS AND ENEMIES
“Get down the stairs!” Moire said, jerking her head back. The door mechanism was starting to move. She pulled herself into a cross–corridor and took aim at the door. Maybe there was only one. Maybe she could hit it.
The door was opening. More people were behind her and in the corridor, weapons up and ready.
Something grimy and ragged emerged. Just as someone shouted “Hey, they’re human!” an energy burst flashed beside her.
The door slammed shut. A minute later it opened again, slowly, and two empty, gauntleted hands emerged from the crack. They were shaking.
Moire slung her weapon and started cycling through frequencies on her comm.
“Oh god, oh god…you came, after so long—please, don’t shoot me, just…please!” A man’s voice, cracked and agonized. Moire patched the frequency in with theirs, so the others could hear without changing their comms.
“Who are you?”
“I’m…I’m Jim. Jim Perwaty. Support systems engineer on Helios. At least I was, and what’s left of her….”
He sounded human, anyway. “Come out slow, and keep your hands in sight, OK? We weren’t expecting you.”
“I know, I thought nobody would ever…” The door opened farther, and he stepped out into the corridor. “Hey, the gravity is back!”
The man’s suit was filthy and patched in several places. He was tall and thin, and from what she could see through the faceplate, had pale eyes and light tan skin. He wasn’t carrying any weapons.
“Stay there, please.” Moire switched to her team’s frequency. “Do we have any more hull vibration readings?”
“All quiet.”
She glanced beside her. Ennis was standing there, his eyes steady on Perwaty. “What do you think?”
Ennis shrugged. “Not a crab, obviously. He was as surprised to see us as we were to see him.”
“Good point.” Moire changed the frequency back. “Sorry about the blast there,” she said. “Are you hurt?”
Perwaty shook his head. “No, not even singed. Door got most of it, I think. How did you…are you….”
“We came here to salvage. We’ll be going home soon.”
He sagged in relief, and almost fell. “I almost gave up, so many times…” He smiled a little. “I’ve been salvaging too. This ship showed up after mine did, and it had parts I needed.”
Gren popped his head out of the stairwell. “So that was you taking the displays!”
“Seen any sign of other survivors?” Ennis asked, lowering his weapon.
“Only from my ship, and Bethalis died soon after we got here. At least she lived long enough to get the reactor going again, or I wouldn’t be here now.”
“How long have you been here?” Moire asked.
“Oh, I think it must be around three years now. Yes, that’s right.” He nodded. “Three y
ears. I can’t wait to see the last of this death trap.”
Moire looked over her crew, thinking. They were tired before, and now they would be tired and twitchy. “OK, everybody. We’re going back to Raven for some rest. Perwaty, you want to get anything from your ship?”
Perwaty froze, his eyes wide. He shook his head sharply. “Nah, nothing worth the trouble of getting. Don’t have any reason to go back now.”
Gren wandered up. “You said your reactor was working. Helios is the one in the center of the cluster?”
Perwaty gave him a quick glance. “Yep, that’s the one.”
“Like to take a quick look at it.”
“What for? Got a lot of damage. Too much work to salvage,” Perwaty said. “It’s almost split in half.”
“It is not that bad,” protested Ulrike, who had come up to join the conversation. “The superstructure is mostly there.”
“Yeah, well, you haven’t been inside. It’s a mess. You don’t have to go there, I can tell you all about it.”
It probably would look impossible to someone who didn’t have experience in salvage. “We’d like to see for ourselves. Ulrike, take the first group back to the ship. Who else wants to take a look?”
Alan didn’t say anything, he just shouldered his way through the crowd. He had a magnetic in his hands. She wondered if he’d taken it from someone, or if they’d handed it to him at the first sign of trouble.
“Gren, I know you’re coming. Montero, will you make sure Perwaty gets settled on board?”
“I’ll come with you, if you insist on going,” Perwaty said grudgingly. “Least I can show you where the dangerous parts are so you can keep away.”
Moire nodded. In the bustle and confusion of the corridor, she felt a tap at her wrist. Ennis was looking at her, holding up one finger close to his chest, where it could not be seen by anybody else.
She glanced down at her wrist and casually switched to single channel, turning her head away from the others. “What is it?”
“He doesn’t want us on that ship, and he hasn’t said anything about crabs.”
“True. If he’s been here that long and not seen them, then they’re long gone. It sounds like he’s been scrounging the entire cluster. He’s suspicious, but then he doesn’t know who we are. Lots of nasty people in the Fringe and we could be some of them.”
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