Kinsolving found that his imagination didn’t extend this far. All he could think of was getting free of Gamma Tertius 4 and trying to warn others of the genocides planned by those working for IM.
And Ala Markken. What of Ala? Her part in the Plan seemed innocuous. Or could anyone taking part in such mass slaughter be innocent? What had become of her after she left Deepdig?
Kinsolving held in his emotions when he realized that a spark still burned for the woman, in spite of what she had done on Deepdig, in spite of her part in sending him to the alien prison world.
“Docking … now!” came the pilot’s command. A tremor passed through the shuttle as the hulls came into contact. A deep humming filled the shuttle passenger area; the magnetic grapples held their air lock to that of the starship.
“Do you think I should say good-bye to the others?” asked Lark.
The worry on Kinsolving’s face made her abandon such a notion. “I’ll see them soon enough. There’s always an interesting party or festival where we can talk later.”
Kinsolving had barely started the von Neumann’s air lock cycling shut when the shuttle cut free. The pilot wanted nothing more to do with them. He might not know exactly what had happened at the Landing Authority but it had to mean trouble — and Kinsolving wondered briefly what encouragement Lark had offered the pilot for such a swift and unquestioned flight.
“Can you do something with all this?” asked Rani. She ran her fingers through Kinsolving’s hair as he settled into the acceleration couch. Kinsolving looked up when he felt more fingers threading their way across his head. Lark hung suspended on the other side.
“This toggle is the safety override,” he said. With a quick movement of the wrist, he freed the ship of the need for a lengthy countdown. His hands worked over the control console until Kinsolving felt as if he played some giant musical instrument.
“We’re almost there. We’re not supposed to go directly into a shift from such a low orbit, but this is an emergency. We — ”
Kinsolving squinted. The forward vidscreen flared twice. Tiny yellow and blue dots danced in front of his eyes.
“What happened? The safety switch? You broke my ship!” complained Rani.
“That was in space,” said Lark. Realization dawned on her. She settled down into a couch, hand over her mouth.
“What’s wrong?” asked Rani.
“The shuttle,” Kinsolving said grimly. “They lasered it. The first flare was the hull vaporizing. The second was the steering rocket fuel exploding.”
“But Dinky and … ” Rani fell silent when she understood that those on the planet below had ordered the shuttle and all aboard murdered.
“Time to leave.” Kinsolving didn’t check to see if Rani and Lark were secured. He toggled the stardrive. The compact ship shifted into hyperspace.
Through the vidscreen Barton Kinsolving got one last look at Gamma Tertius 4. He was leaving behind those who would make themselves masters of all space by brutal murder. They could not be allowed to succeed.
They would not!
“Ala,” he said softly, then gave himself over to the senses-twisting effect of the stardrive.
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The Stellar Death Plan (Masters of Space Book 1) Page 19
