Escape (77 page)

The automaton in charge of drawing blood looked up from his current patient. “But the blood tests
—
”

“Will have to be finished once this crisis has passed.”

The cruiser's crew memebers hurried by at a brisk pace, descending the steps to the crew deck by leaps and bounds.

“Javax, please restart the reactor.”

“I cannot. The reactor door was improperly closed. To start the reactor would flood the ship with radiation.”

Gallian gritted his teeth. “Then shut the emergency bulkheads! Get that reactor started.”

“Yes, your puissance.”

Gallian ignored the AI's sarcasm and called down to his crew. “Sensors, be on the lookout for any new contacts on a trajectory consistent with a launch from our hangar bay.”

“Contact!” the sensors officer called back. “Dreadclaw Shuttle. It's not far away, must have just launched. Shall I feed target data to fire control?”

Gallian considered that briefly, then shook his head. “No, if we fire on that shuttle, the Acasians will think we're trying to shoot down one of theirs. Get me a comm to their commander. We'll have to let them track it down.”

* * *

As soon as the shuttle jetted out the ragged hole he'd blown in the hangar, Kieran opened a comm channel to broadcast on all frequencies, no encryption.

“Attention all vessels, the crew of the patroller cruiser is infected with a nano virus. Do not be fooled by blood tests; they can fabricate clean results. Do not open comminications with them, they have a powerful ability to influence the human mind. Do not, repeat do
not
allow them to come in contact with human populations. They are the advance scouts in an armada of now cybernetic survivors of the plague. You are advised to evacuate Acasia to an undisclosed location with all possible speed. You will be lucky if you have a week before they arrive in force to infect, enslave, and feed upon your population. You have been warned.”

Kieran guided the shuttle on a long, arcing trajectory away from the Acasian fleet, and deeper into the Whirlpool.

“We don't know that an armada is coming,” Jilly pointed out.

“It is.”

“Regardless, they have no reason to believe you.”

“No, but I'm hoping it will be enough to make them suspicious. Hopefully they'll test for nano viruses and discover the truth for themselves. If they do, they'll take the rest of my warning more seriously.”

The comm light buzzed, indicating an incoming transmission, and Jilly hit transmit. “This is Commander Jan Clu Ressau of the Acasian Defense Fleet. Please idenfity yourself and bring your ship about immediately. You are in unauthorized possession of an Acasian vessel.”

“I'm sorry, commander, but I cannot comply with either of your requests. My identity doesn't matter, and to return your vessel would be to subject you and your crew to infection. May the Ethereals smile upon you, and give you wisdom enough to weather the coming storm.”

The commander's voice turned angry: “Who is this? Identify yourself immediately or we will have no choice but to open fire.”

“A friend. Mind my warnings, commander.” And with that, Kieran ended the transmission.

He had barely a second to catch his breath before the missile lock alarm sounded and Jilly cried, “Incoming! They're launching missiles.”

“ETA?”

“Twenty seconds.”

Kieran's hands flew over the controls, throwing switches and checking readouts. A deep, reverbrating rumble filled the cockpit which Jilly instantly recognized.

“You're jumping to TLS?”

“No choice.”

“Kieran, we're in the middle of a blackhole cluster! If you jump here there's no telling where we'll end up, and twenty seconds is
not
enough to calculate a safe path!”

The rumbling sound grew to a stead
thrummmmm
and Kieran merely shook his head. He eyed the nearest missile on the sensors display and watched the numbers on the range finder scroll rapidly closer to 0.

“Kieran! Listen to me! Take evasive action, deploy countermeasures. We'll stand a better chance than jumping blind into that!” Jilly gestured wildly out the canopy to the swirling malestrom of red and gray gasses.

“May the Elementals smile upon our fates,” Kieran said, and he pulled the lever to engage the TLS drive.

Streaking gasses stretched into long, squiggling lines of color, and with a brilliant white flash their fates were sealed.

* * *

The lights swelled to life on the bridge, indicating that Javax had successfully restarted the reactor. Now under full power again, Gallian brought the ship around on an intercept course with the fleeing shuttle. It was still well within weapons range. Gallian rapped his knuckles anxiously on the armrest, knowing he couldn't do anything until the commander of the Acasian fleet gave him permission. But he burned to get revenge. Jilly had seemed so reasonable, so throroughly swayed to their cause. It had seemed illogical for her to bide her time for a better opportunity to betray them, for what better opportunity could there be? Clearly he had placed too many limits upon his imagination to accurately predict their behavior.

“Have you managed to open a comm to the Acasian fleet yet?” Gallan called down impatiently.

“No, wait
—
we're recieving something. It's from the shuttle.”

A spike of dread crept into Gallian's throat. “Put it on speakers.”

Kieran's voice boomed across the bridge: “Attention all vessels, the crew of the patroller cruiser is infected with a nano virus. Do not be fooled by blood tests; they can fabricate clean results. Do not open comminications with them, they have a powerful ability to influence the human mind. Do not, repeat do
not
allow them to come in contact with human populations. They are the advance scouts in an armada of now cybernetic survivors of the plague. You are advised to evacuate Acasia to an undisclosed location with all possible speed. You will be lucky if you have a week before they arrive in force to infect, enslave, and feed upon your population. You have been warned.”

Gallian's mouth dropped open, and a deep abiding silence descended on the bridge. At last he found his voice: “Open a channel to the Acasian fleet!”

After a second's hesitation the comm officer called back, “I can't, they're jamming us! Wait
—
I'm recieving something again. It's a one way comm transmission. It reads:
You are hereby ordered to cease pursuing the rogue shuttle, and power down your vessel. Do not attempt to reply to this message. Our medical inspectors will give you further insructions.
”

“I don't believe this!” Gallian roared. He spun his chair around to face the automatons. “Well, what further instructions would you give us?”

The nearest automaton plodded forward, padded alloy feet slapping the deck plates noisly, its optic lenses winking ominously. The automaton extended a gripping claw of three wickedly glinting digits toward Gallian, who frowned curiously at the gesture.

Once the automaton was within reach, the claw snapped out and sliced out a chunk of flesh from Gallian's arm. He gaped wordlessly at the bloodless gash, and gazed up at the automaton, who was likewise staring at the wound. The machine's lenses seemed to blink once in astonishment, then it spoke, but the voice which emanated from its speakers was that of the portly human male who had initially adressed them.

“It would seem our mysterious informant was correct. Whatever you are, it certainly isn't human.”

“Wait!” Gallian all but screamed. “Let me explain!”

“The time for explanations was when you came to us seeking refuge. Now your own lies condemn you. May Deus carry whatever is left of your souls to be with the Elementals in the life to come.”

Gallian shot to his feet, his face a hideous mask of rage. He spun on his heel to face the crew deck below. “Bring us about! Take evasive action, and power up the TLS drive. Prepare to jump away from the Whirlpool on my ma-r-k.” Gallian stuttered out the last word as he felt a searing pain shooting through his back and out his belly. When he looked down to see what it was, he saw three gleaming digits protruding from his abdomen. As he watched, they withdrew, leaving ragged holes behind, but no blood. Then the pain stabbed him again, and again, in rapid succession. Gallian blinked against the endless lance of bright, hot agony spearing through his torso from every possible angle. He collapsed to his knees, his vision growing black around the edges, and watched as the nearest member of his crew rushed to his side, snarling and spitting in fury.

Just before he lost all consciousness, Gallian heard the distinctive shriek of a missle lock alarm. And then the same shriek, over and over again, until his ears were ringing, and he couldn't be sure if the sounds were merely an echo of the first. As he lay staring up at the ceiling, biding his time for his body to repair itself, Gallian heard the first impact shudder through the deck, and then he felt the next five in quick succession, and the final one launched him across the room as the intertial dampeners failed.

Gallian hit a protruding bulkhead and finally, he knew no more.

Chapter 57

B
are seconds after pulling the lever to engage the TLS drive, Kieran pushed it forward again, and the ship reverted to normal space in a blinding flash of white. The constant whine of the TLS drive ceased, replaced by the more reasonable hum of subspace engines.

“I can't believe we're still alive,” Jilly breathed.

Kieran shook his head. “Don't relax just yet. We could be past the event horizon of a black hole, or hurtling through a dense asteroid field, or
 
.
 
.
 
.
” Kieran trailed off, studying the sensors with a bemused frown.

“Well?” Jilly prompted.

“Or we could have stumbled across an unidentified space station.”

“What?”

“Hold on, we're being hailed.”

The comm crackled to life, and the female voice which spoke was multiply distorted by electromagnetic interference from the nebula, and if Kieran had to guess, the confines of a helmet or a small cockpit. “This surely isn't your day, Acasian. Save your prayers, because you're about to deliver them in person.”

An alarm went off in the cockpit, indicating a weapons lock, and Kieran threw the flightstick to the side, simultaneously depressing the left and then the right rudder pedals, throwing them into a corkscrewing barrel roll. A flicker of bright yellow plasma burned past the canopy with only micró-astoms to spare. With his free hand Kieran punched the comm.

“Cease fire, cease fire! We have no affiliation with Acasia, repeat no affiliation! We came to them looking for refuge, and were nearly destroyed along with our ship for daring to challenge their quarantine. We were lucky enough to steal one of their shuttles, but we barely escaped with our lives.”

The female voice returned: “Truly? Then you won't mind surrendering your ship as a sign of good faith.”

Another plasma bolt flashed by, and Kieran gritted his teeth, but he knew better than to scorn an opportunity when it was offered to him. “Certainly. If you'll grant us refuge from the Acasians, we'd be more than happy to lend ourselves and our vessel to your service.”

The comm hissed with a burst of static which could have been a chuckle. “Glad to hear it. Power down at once, and we'll guide you into a docking pattern.”

“Acknowledged.” Kieran flicked the comm switch, and sent Jilly a quick glance to see if she'd caught on to his impromptu plan. She was staring aghast at him. “We didn't have a choice,” he explained.

“Kieran, they're pirates. They'd rather kill us and take our ship than allow us to keep it and join their group.”

He shrugged. “There's only one way to find out, isn't there?”

* * *

Kieran powered down the shuttle as requested and waited in the dark, eery silence of the cockpit. The ship went on slicing quietly through the swirling red and green nebulous clouds on a course which would take it past the pirate base he'd seen on the sensors. Kieran was just starting to wonder why they hadn't allowed him to navigate to the station under the shuttle's own power, and furthermore, how they would bring him in on a more appropriate heading, when a medium-sized fighter/bomber faded out of the nebula before them. Kieran watched it turn 180 degrees on the spot and continue floating toward them with its momentum. The pilot matched trajectories and velocities until the ship was looming over them like a beast guarding its young.

There came a resounding clank through the hull which jolted them violently, and Kieran was reminded about the dangers of powering down a ship completely. He quickly restarted the intertial dampeners from emergency power, and restarted the reactor to better supply them with power.

“I detect you powering up. It's too late to make a run for it now that we're docked.”