Worlds Apart (ThreeCon)

by Carmen Webster Buxton

  “Like anyone’s going to be here,” he said. “We just checked the perimeter and everything’s fine. Besides, the systems are fine-tuned so well, there’d be alarms up and down the security wing if anyone tried to get in.”

  “On the other hand,” Prax said, “if the chief wasn’t so cautious, Mistress Trahn wouldn’t need so many staff.”

  That shut Wolly up for a while. They finished their second rounds and went back to the common room. Tinibu and Ogilvy were having coffee and yawning; they were due on early watch.

  Tinibu smiled as he noticed Prax watching the time display. “Going somewhere, Prax?”

  Prax decided to take the offensive. “Yes. I thought I’d wake up Nakamura.”

  Tinibu grinned and slapped Prax on the back. “You’re learning!”

  Prax decided to quit while he was ahead and said nothing more.

  As soon as the clock clicked to the end of his shift, Prax headed through the kitchen to Rishi’s side of the house. He was just coming down the hallway near her office when the door opened. Prax stopped in his tracks. It was hours before the office staff would report. He waited to see who would come out.

  A figure in black stepped cautiously into the hallway with his back to Prax. A strange shimmer hung about him. Prax couldn’t see the exact outlines of the figure; the shimmer hurt his eyes and made it difficult for him to look straight at the man.

  Instantly, Prax dropped to a crouch and drew his stun gun, exactly as he had been taught. He fired before the intruder even saw him, but the man didn’t drop as Prax expected. Instead, the shimmer changed to a glow for a second, and the man spun around and saw Prax. He lifted a weapon. Prax dove into a forward roll. He could smell something burning on the wall behind him.

  Prax slid one hand into his boot and found the small knife his father had given him long ago. The intruder was in a crouch now, too, moving his weapon to take another shot. Prax rolled sideways this time, and as he came up out of the roll, he threw the knife, exactly as his father had taught him, straight for the heart, with all the force of his arm and shoulder behind it.

  The knife went in, and the stranger dropped with a cry. He pitched forward and fell face down, which Prax knew would drive the knife farther into his chest.

  Prax stood up. His first thought was to get help since there might be more of them. He slid his thumb inside his belt and found the loop for the alarm. Prax tugged firmly on the loop until he heard it snap. If the systems were working, an alarm was sounding in every room in the security wing, plus one in Hari’s house. The monitors in Hari’s office and in the common room would give a location for the alarm.

  Prax approached the man on the floor. A puddle of blood had formed underneath him, and his feet twitched convulsively. Prax reached down to feel for a pulse, but he couldn’t find a way to remove the web-like material that covered his head as well as his neck. Prax rolled the body over and retrieved his boot knife. No more blood flowed when he pulled out the knife; Prax decided the intruder must be dead.

  The door to Rishi’s office had closed. Prax slid one hand under his stun gun to slide the lever that changed the firing mode. The barrel glowed blue when the lever clicked into place. Whatever had made the intruder shimmer seemed to make the stun gun not work, while a knife was unaffected. Darts might not penetrate any better than the stun setting, but if there was more than one other intruder, he needed a backup for his throwing knife.

  Prax put his hand on the panel and the door slid open. He advanced on the door cautiously. He had just gone through when a second figure in black, also radiating the same strange shimmer, jumped from behind Merschachh’s desk and fired at him. Prax threw his knife just as the effect of the intruder’s weapon hit him. He felt a searing pain down the length of his right arm, and in his chest. The knife left his fingers, but he knew it wouldn’t have enough force to kill, even if it reached its target.

  Prax cried out and fell to the floor as the second intruder went past him. The last thing he saw was a pair of feet running through the door to the hallway.

  Chapter Fourteen

  From far away, a chiming noise sounded. Rishi stirred, fragments of a dream sifting past her consciousness. The chiming repeated insistently. She sat up, aware first of being alone in bed. Secondly, she realized the door was still chiming. Was Praxiteles somehow locked out? “Come in,” she said.

  When the door slid open, two men in gray uniforms burst through, stun guns drawn. Rishi recognized one of them as a guard called Wolly. The other one was the new guard whose name she could never remember.

  “Are you okay, Mistress?” Wolly asked, glancing around her suite.

  The new man strode through her suite, looking into the dressing room and bathroom.

  “I’m fine,” Rishi said, looking around for a robe. “What’s wrong?”

  “Intruders,” Wolly said succinctly. “We need to check things out.”

  “Intruders?” Rishi fought an urge to clutch the bedclothes. “How many?”

  “We don’t know for sure,” Wolly said. “Looks like two at least—the one Prax killed and the one that got him.”

  Rishi felt all the blood drain from her head. “Praxiteles?”

  The other man gave Wolly a disgusted look. “Prax isn’t dead, Mistress. He’s hurt, but Chio called a med team.”

  Rishi jumped out of bed, heedless of the skimpy nature of her nightgown. “Where is he?”

  Wolly just stared at her. It was the new guard who nodded. “We’ll show you, Mistress.”

  RISHI fought panic. The body on the floor in front of the door to her outer office lay in the middle of a sizable pool of blood. She let out a breath. It wasn’t Praxiteles. The dead man’s sightless dark eyes stared at the ceiling from a totally unfamiliar face.

  Rishi could see the web-like veins of an energy shield over the black skin-tight suit the unknown intruder had worn. Someone must have deactivated the shield because there was no shimmer.

  Nakamura knelt next to the body. Her blonde hair hung loose to her shoulders, and she wore a slinky black nightdress, the hem of which was soaked with blood. She had removed part of the energy shield and seemed to be checking for a pulse.

  The door to Rishi’s outer office had been set to stay open, and Rishi could see Tinibu, in full uniform, crouched on the floor. Chio, his bare legs sticking out from his bright blue bathrobe, sat in front of the com set on Merschachh’s desk while Hari stood looking down at the floor. Hari wore a robe, too, and, incongruously, boots on his feet.

  “How does he look?” Hari asked.

  “I can’t tell, chief,” Tinibu said. “The laser drilled one hell of a hole through most of his arm and into his chest. He must have had his arm up when the perp fired. It looks like that saved him; his arm took the worst of it. Still, I think a lung might have been hit. I can hear air escaping when I put my ear to his chest. He’s lost some blood, too.”

  Feeling as if she were dreaming, Rishi moved to the doorway.

  Hari looked up and saw her. “Rishi!”

  She stepped into the room, and at last she could see Praxiteles. He lay on his back, stretched out on the floor near Tinibu. He wore his uniform. His face looked very pale, and his eyes were closed. The puddle of blood under him was much smaller than the one in the hall. Rishi took in a breath and let it out. He wasn’t dead. He wasn’t dead. Keep breathing. Get control.

  She threw herself onto the floor beside Praxiteles. He didn’t move, but his chest rose and fell in shallow, rapid movements. “He’s not going to die, is he, Hari?”

  “No,” Hari said, crouching beside her. “There’s a medical team on the way. You keep out of the way, girl, or I’ll send you back to your room.”

  She nodded, too afraid to argue. She moved back a little, and crouched on the floor with her arms around her knees, watching what was happening.

  Another security guard cam
e running up with a medical kit. Tinibu took it and ripped it open. He applied pressure bandages to the wound on Praxiteles’ chest and down the length of his right arm and then switched them on.

  Tinibu searched the medical kit and found a chemical stimulant. When he held it under Praxiteles’ nose, the Elliniká stirred and moaned. Tinibu called his name. Praxiteles cried out and tried to grab his right arm with his left hand.

  Rishi bit her lip and made herself stay still.

  Tinibu took Praxiteles’ left hand and forced it gently to the floor. “Don’t touch your arm, Prax.”

  “It hurts,” Praxiteles said.

  “I know it does.” Tinibu sounded like he was talking to a child. “You’ve been wounded. We’re getting you some help, but meanwhile, don’t touch where it hurts.”

  Praxiteles rolled on the floor, as if the pain made it difficult for him to keep still. Tinibu held Praxiteles down, severely limiting his movement. Rishi fought the urge to offer help. Tinibu seemed in control, and she didn’t want to make things worse.

  Hari bent over Praxiteles. “What happened, Prax?”

  “There was a man.” Praxiteles panted with the effort of speaking. “A man in black who shimmered like sand on a hot day. He came out of the door, and I fired at him, but it did nothing. He tried to shoot at me with something, so I killed him with my boot knife.”

  Hari looked at Tinibu who shook his head. “There was no knife in the perp when we found the body.”

  “I took the knife,” Praxiteles said. He was gasping, breathing in small puffs. “I pulled my belt alarm, and then I went to see if there were more of them.”

  Hari swore in Miloran. “Don’t the Elliniká understand the concept of waiting for backup?”

  Praxiteles twisted in Tinibu’s grip. “I couldn’t wait. They might have gotten away.”

  “So what happened?” Hari said.

  “He was hiding behind the desk,” Praxiteles said. “I threw my knife again, but he was quicker than the first one. He fired something at me that hurt. I don’t know if I hit him or not, but it couldn’t have been enough to kill. There was no force in my throw.”

  “If you could see your arm, you’d know why,” Hari said. “Next time, wait for help before going in, you idiot.”

  Praxiteles had been holding his head up to talk. He laid it back on the floor as if he were tired. Rishi chewed her lip. “It hurts,” Praxiteles said. “It hurts even when I breathe.”

  “He got you in the chest a little, too,” Tinibu said. “Don’t worry; the medical team will be here in a minute.”

  “If I die, you must tell Rishi that I loved her.”

  Rishi’s heart contracted. Praxiteles had never told her that. Unable to stay still a minute longer, she pushed herself forward and took Praxiteles’ good hand. “I’m here, Praxiteles,” she said in a firm tone. “And you’re not going to die.”

  Praxiteles managed a weak smile and lifted his head. “Lady.”

  She gripped his hand. “Don’t worry. Everything will be fine.” He squeezed her hand back, then let his head drop to the floor and closed his eyes. Rishi couldn’t tell if he was conscious or not. She told herself he must have gone to sleep. Please, she prayed mentally, please let him live.

  Hari stood up. “Stay with him, Tinibu,” he said. “I have to find out what happened to the second man.”

  A loud noise sounded from the corridor, and the new guard who had awakened Rishi stuck his head in the open doorway.

  “Chief! They got the other guy!”

  Rishi kept her hold on Praxiteles’ hand but shifted her position so she could see into the hall.

  Hari was halfway to the doorway when Qualhuan dragged a slight figure in black into the outer office. The Miloran wore only a pair of trousers and a weapon belt. He lifted the prisoner until the man’s feet left the floor and shook him.

  “You got him!” Hari cried.

  Qualhuan grinned. “Yes, sir. Except he’s a she, but we got her.”

  Rishi studied Praxiteles’ assailant, suppressing the urge to assault the woman. From up close, the intruder was clearly Terran and female. She wore a black body suit and an energy shield, just like the dead man had worn, with an empty holster on her right thigh.

  Qualhuan shook her again. “She must have got out the same hole she came in. There’s a one-meter gap in the outside wall of the house, right by the terrace.”

  Hari pointed to the laser pistol stuck in Qualhuan’s belt. “Did you take that off of her?”

  “Yes, sir,” the Miloran said. “She tried to use it on me, but she had a hard time because someone had obligingly stabbed her in the shoulder. You can see where she’s bleeding a little.”

  “That was Prax,” Hari said.

  Qualhuan looked over Hari’s shoulder. “Is he okay, chief?”

  “He took a bad hit to his arm and chest. Looks like a laser did it,” Hari said. “We’ll know more when the medical team gets here.”

  “They’re here,” Chio said from behind Rishi. She turned to see him rising from the com set. “Rurhahn just let them through the force field.”

  “Good,” Hari said. He turned to the new guard. “Ogilvy, go and meet them and get them in here quick.”

  “Yes, sir,” Ogilvy said, and he took off running.

  Hari turned back to his prisoner. “Hold her in the common room until the Shembor authorities get here, Qualhuan. Put her in restraints first, then get someone to put a bandage on her shoulder. And make sure there are at least two people with her at all times.”

  Qualhuan nodded and led the woman away. She began to curse—harsh, guttural sounds in an angry voice—but the Miloran showed no sign that he recognized the language, let alone the words.

  Hari left to check with Rurhahn on the status of the force field. Rishi stroked Praxiteles’ hand, while Tinibu checked the bandages. Praxiteles still had his eyes closed when two men and a woman, all Terrans, and all wearing medical tunics, rushed into the room carrying assorted emergency equipment.

  The shorter man immediately started giving orders. He pointed at Tinibu. “You stay. Everyone else out.”

  The woman started to set up equipment while the other man enforced his colleague’s order. The shorter man bent over Praxiteles.

  Rishi found herself pushed gently but firmly into the corridor. She waited anxiously, trying to see through the doorway. All three of them were working on Praxiteles now; he seemed to be awake again, but moaning. Tinibu crouched beside him.

  “It’ll be okay, Mistress.”

  Rishi turned to see who had spoken. Ogilvy, the new guard, stood beside her.

  He nodded at the cluster of people around Praxiteles. “They know what they’re doing. And I don’t think he’s hit that bad.”

  “Thank you.” Rishi turned back to watching the med team. It looked as if they were hooking Praxiteles up to a life support system.

  A few minutes later, Nakamura returned to the corridor. Her hair still looked untidy, but she had changed into a uniform. “What’s going on?”

  “The med team is with Prax,” Ogilvy said. “Tinibu’s there, too. The chief is checking out the—”

  Before Ogilvy could finish, Rurhahn came striding up the hallway with several strangers behind him. One of them, a tiny Shuratanian woman in a brown business suit, looked around her with sapphire-bright eyes.

  “Mistress, this is Captain Arnuchh shu Drehl of the Shembor municipal police,” the Miloran said, indicating the Shuratanian woman.

  Rishi nodded and murmured a greeting, her mind not up to performing social niceties. The Shuratanian glanced at Rishi’s skimpy nightgown, but said nothing as she offered her hand.

  Just as Rishi shook hands, Rurhahn’s wrist com crackled.

  He lifted it to speak. “Yeah, chief?”

  “Are the munis here yet?” Hari’s voice said.r />
  “Yeah, chief. They’re here now, talking to Mistress Trahn.”

  “I’ll be right there,” Hari said.

  Captain Arnuchh was looking at the body by the door. She waved a hand, and the two Terrans with her dropped to the floor and began looking over the corpse. Another Shuratanian set up some holographic equipment, and a Miloran opened a case and took out assorted containers. “Has anything been moved?” the captain asked.

  “I took off part of the energy suit so I could see if the guy was dead,” Nakamura volunteered. “And I think Jomo might have moved him out of the way so he could get in the door.”

  “Who is Jomo?” Arnuchh asked.

  Nakamura pointed through the doorway. “Jomo Tinibu. He’s in there with the med team and Prax. He’s the big one.”

  Arnuchh pursed her lips. “Where is the other suspect you mentioned?”

  “In our staff common room,” Rurhahn said. “I’ll take you there now, if you like.”

  She nodded, and Rurhahn left with her, leaving her minions going over the crime scene with brisk efficiency.

  “Maybe we should get out of the way, Mistress,” Ogilvy said.

  Just as he said it, they had to back up as the med team came through the doorway, with Praxiteles strapped onto a float gurney.

  Rishi rushed over to the shorter man, who seemed to be in charge. “What’s happening? Is he going to be all right?”

  “He should be fine, once we get him to the hospital,” the medtech said. “But he needs surgery to fix the tissue damage.”

  Rishi looked at Praxiteles. His eyes were closed again. “Did he pass out from loss of blood?”

  The medtech frowned. “No. We had to put him under because he wouldn’t cooperate when we needed to put him on life support. He has a hole in one lung, but he’s too damn stubborn to know what’s good for him.”

  “I could have told you that.”

  Rishi turned at the sound of Hari’s voice. He stood behind her, fully dressed in a clean uniform, with Anika beside him in pajamas and a robe. “Hari!