Chaining the Lady (28 page)

“I am aware of the % intrusion,” Captain Mnuhl of Knyfh replied tersely.

“You are—
aware
?”

“I have reserved taking any action until I know more of their strategy,” he explained. “I do not know how many other hostages exist in your fleet, or when they intend to strike. To eliminate nine Andromedans aboard my ship without that knowledge is futile.”

“There are about four hundred in the fleet,” Melody said. “We have eliminated perhaps thirty. They wait for the signal 'Six of Scepters' from their hostage-captain on the
Ace of Swords—
a signal that will never come, because we have dealt with that command-entity.”

“I note you have tapped the minds of the hostages themselves,” Mnuhl signaled. “This I was unable to do.”

“It requires a four-to-one aural superiority, and adaptation of a transfer unit to orient on hostage-hosts,” she explained. “Even then, it is by no means certain, as the hostages resist strongly. I can show you how to set your transfer unit.”

“What of my original officers? I do not wish to do them harm.”

“The harm has already been done. The Andromedans destroy the minds of their involuntary hosts. Do you wish to speak with Gnejh, my host, to verify this?”

“I do.”

Melody allowed her host-mind to communicate with the Captain. After a moment he drew back. “You are correct, Melody of Etamin. Her personality will no longer integrate with our society, and to permit her to fission reproductively would be merely to spread the malaise.”

“Yes,” Melody agreed regretfully “Andromeda is no gentle maiden. She must be chained.” Then she gave a pulse of innovation. “Reproductive fissioning—would that destroy the hostages?”

“Not if the host-minds are defunct. It probably would only spread the hostages.”

“Not worth the risk,” Melody agreed.

“So I shall act.” Mnuhl pulsed with decision. He moved over to the net input and ran a current through it. “They are now gone.”

“Already?”

“The applicable code current will fission an entity of our species,” he signaled. “I made arrangements when I identified the hostages. The matter could not be left to chance.”

Again, Melody experienced an internal flux of horror. These military entities, of whatever sphere, operated with a savage efficiency that dispensed with sapient lives as though they were unimportant. She could never be that way!

“Let me show you what is necessary,” she signaled. ”Then you can transfer me to another hostage ship.”

“Agreed. My technicians will–”

He was interrupted by an incoming message. It was only tree symbols, but their import chilled Melody to her nucleus.

SIX OF SCEPTERS

Some hostage had caught on, and given the action signal. Now all the hostages would proceed openly to take over their ships. The battle was on.

Chapter 14:

Heart of Spica

/action hour message all field commands: strike as suitable for individual situations/

* * *

The human head was in pain. Yael and Skot sat at a table in the control room, watching Llume the Undulant operate the fleet communications net. The magnets were hovering idly.

“Melody!” Yael cried internally, gladly. “How did you–?”

“Segment Knyfh has transfer units aboard their Atoms,” Melody explained. “What's going on here?”

“Llume—she–the pain box–”

Now Melody recognized the sensation. It was a low setting on a Canopian discipline-unit, the device that inflicted pain in the entity to which it was oriented. She had had recent experience with this aboard the
Deuce of Scepters
but hadn't known any of the deadly boxes were on board the
Ace of Swords
.

“Llume put you and Skot on the boxes? Why?”

“She came to talk with you, and found us with the transfer unit. She asked me questions I couldn't answer, and felt my aura, and knew you were gone. I tried to hide it–” Yael started crying.

“Dear, you could not hide your lack of a two hundred-plus aura from one possessed of a one hundred-plus aura, once she was suspicious. It was just bad luck she checked, not your fault.”

“She went away, but then she came back with the pain boxes. We didn't know what they were until—Skot tried to fight the one fixed on him, but–”

“You can't fight one of those discipline-boxes. The Canopian Masters who make them are expert at handling humanoid slaves. Once the unit is oriented on a specific person, even his thought of trying to get away from the box triggers–” She broke off as the wave of pain swept through her host. “Yes, precisely,” she finished as it subsided. “It is turned to your bodily reactions, tensions, so just don't think about–” The pain started rising again. “
Anything
,” she finished hurriedly.

“Skot wouldn't answer her questions.”

“He wouldn't.”

“So she turned up the—Melody, I just don't understand! Why would a close friend do that?”

Melody had forgotten that Yael had not had the same insights she did; in fact Melody had not really believed it until now. Better to get the painful truth out, though. “Because Llume is another Andromedan agent. A most sophisticated one. That was what Tiala would not tell me in the Lot of *.”

Yael was confused. “I knew there was something funny there, but you didn't—
why
didn't you take over her mind, if you thought that?”

“Because making certain of that fact would have killed me, and maybe you. Tiala knew that I should be told about Llume, but she also knew that Llume would kill me the moment I learned. Tiala must have known about the discipline-boxes, and that Llume would use them. Llume could not act against me directly because of the magnet, but Slammer doesn't understand the discipline-box. He would not have known what was going on, and I would not have been able to tell hem. So Tiala would have violated the Lot of * by answering accurately, because an answer that destroys the querent is not valid, by the definition of that code. Tiala had integrity.”

Yael mulled that over, not fully comprehending it. “But if you had taken over Tiala's mind–”

“That would have been outside the Lot of *. She would no longer be bound to tell me anything responsively, or to protect me, once the Lot had been invalidated. So she had to submit in silence, let she betray her honor or her galaxy.”

“Then why didn't you–”

“Because Llume would have acted against me the moment I overwhelmed Tiala's aura. Only by remaining ignorant could I save myself, if what I suspected was true. I didn't want it to be true, but it seems it was.”

“Your mind is so complex! Why didn't she use the box on you anyway, and why did you let her keep working? You could have told Slammer to bash her! By now she must have told the whole fleet how you got rid of he hostages here!”

“Worse than that. She broadcast the 'Six of Scepters'–tho Andromedan signal for the overt takeover. Now, all over the fleet, ships are running up the Andromedan flag, figuratively. The battle is on, and we aren't ready for it.”

“But–”

Melody realized she hadn't yet answered Yael's question. “She had no reason to act against me, as long as I didn't know what she was. And I—needed a hostage to reassure the other hostages of the fleet that things were under control despite the setback at the
Ace of Swords
. So we—tacitly–agreed to let each other alone. For a while.”

Yael was amazed. “I don't understand that at all!”

“Well, I'm not sure I understand it either. It seemed the expedient thing to do at the time, since I wasn't
sure
, and couldn't afford to
be
sure. Her aura is so much like mine, I just couldn't believe she was Andromedan, though of course aura is no respecter of galaxies. One of my own ancestors was a / of Andromeda. I was pretty foolish.”

“And now we're trapped,” Yael said bitterly. “Just when we thought were were winning. Llume used the box on me, and I—oh, I told her everything I knew. The pain–”

“I understand. I saw to it that you didn't really know much. It was lucky that I wasn't here, or she would have had it all.”

“But she's watching for you now!” Yael said with sudden new alarm. “The moment you come back in a shuttle to retransfer, she'll—” She stopped “But you transferred back! She doesn't know.”

“Precisely. So we may have a certain subtle advantage. I knew something was wrong when that 'Six of Scepters' signal was broadcast, so I didn't take any chance.” Melody sighed. “But I am still helpless; I can't fight the box either.”

Then Melody lifted her hand casually and set it on Skot's hand on the table. She could do this without any reaction from the box because she had no intention of attacking Llume or turning off the device. She just wanted to put Skot's mind somewhat at ease.

Skot looked up, startled at the contact. He felt the intense aura and looked at her, wide-eyed. Melody slowly nodded.

“Why didn't you catch Llume the first time, with the Tarot cards, the way you did the others?” Yael persisted. “And why did she
help
you catch the others?”

“Because she's a very special agent,” Melody said. “She doesn't work with the others. In fact, probably only Dash and Tiala knew she was a hostage. She was their backup. It was her job to protect her secret until the time came for her to act. She was extremely well trained, so that she really thought like the entity she represented—a Spican transferee. Any little slips she might have made would be covered by the confusion between her Spican/Polarian identities. She is an expert in cultural nuances, and knows more about them than I do. She well knew what I was doing with the cards. There was no way I could expose her. All her actions were consistent with her role; where a true Spican would have helped me, Llume helped me, even against other hostages. Of course Dash knew what I was doing all along, and he was expert in Tarot too. They were just letting me play my game, keeping myself busy, while Dash tried to convert me to his cause.” She sighed again. “It was a beautiful setup, and it came closer to success than I like to admit. Had I not happened to be an old Mintakan neuter...”

She looked sadly at Llume. “It was a most sophisticated operation, ruthless yet effective. All the other hostages of this ship were not worth as much to Andromeda as Llume, which was why Dash accepted defeat and exile without betraying her. He put his duty first.”

“I liked Llume,” Yael said. “Is that wrong?”

“I liked her myself,” Melody said. “Very much. I suppose that was the main reason I didn't want to believe what I suspected. We are undone by our foolish foibles.”

The ship's large viewglobe showed a holographic image of the fleet with image enhancement to make the picture clear. Bright motes shone: little swords, cups, wands, disks, and Atoms representing the ships of the segment. The flagship was marked in red in the very center, surrounded by the other sphere command ships. Farther out, but still in the nucleus, were sphere contingents, grouped like protons. Then, beyond the battleship cluster, the rings of smaller ships began. These were not so readily identifiable by shape; they depended on thrust instead of spin for their internal gravity, and did not collect light. A Polarian scout looked much like a Solarian scout, both being needleships.

“This is Llume of /,” Llume announced to the fleet. “I am in charge of the flagship,
Ace of Swords
having assumed command in the absence of the scheduled command, Bird of Dash of Andromeda, who was lost in the course of ship takeover. I received the Action Hour notice and issued the 'Six of Scepters' alarm; I now coordinate this mission. Hostages have now had time to assume command of their ships as programmed. Vessels will now cluster about me, that we may know our strength. Any ship that approaches without demonstrating its Andromedan nature will be fired on by my lasers. I repeat: I am of Sphere Slash, and Sphere Slash now coordinates the entire galactic project.”

“Very bold bluff,” Melody remarked to Yael. “The lasers have the longest range in the fleet. As this ship has the most powerful laser cannon of all the Swords, it can act against any other ship before that ship can bring its own weapons to bear. She reminded us that she is a slash entity; the slash are natural laser-users, so they really know how to handle such armament. So unfriendly ships will probably keep their distance.

“Then it's no bluff,” Yael said.

“But neither the Andromedans nor the Milky Wayans know that Llume is operating the ship alone. She has no drive technician, no laser cannoneer. So she can neither maneuver nor fire. Not while she's operating the communications net. Any ship could come up and blast her out of space. So it's merely a nice ploy, and she has a lot of nerve.”

“You still like her, don't you,” Yael observed.

“The Andromedans are entities like us. They do have their redeeming qualities. Llume may be my enemy, but she is still a lot like me.”

“
You
never betrayed your friends!”

“I fear I have betrayed my entire galaxy by misjudging Llume,” Melody replied sadly. “The hints were there, so obvious in retrospect, but I refused to pay attention because I liked her too much. I did not take proper steps to nullify her. This is the result.”

Yael was silent.

Llume rolled away from the console and came to the captives. “I will turn the pain to zero intensity,” she said, “if the two of you will give me your pledges as Solarians to cooperate with me. The boxes will remain set to your frequencies but will not affect you unless you attempt to renege.”

She oriented first on Skot, placing her tail before him on the table. “You will operate the laser cannon controls, firing only on my order.”

Skot stared at her with obvious hostility. “No.”

Llume's ball moved to Melody. “You will handle maneuvers, moving the ship on my order or in emergency defense of this vessel. It is more complex than you can readily handle, Yael of Dragon, but I will give you specific directions.”