Infinite Day (60 page)

“Lloyd and Vero. . . . Slee . . . Slee's dead.”

“Sorry.”

Merral looked at the door in the hope of seeing a weakness, but everything about it spoke of a massive and unyielding construction.

“Lloyd, any ideas?”

“Sir, I have a rocket left. But it will damage the ship on the other side.”

Vero tapped him on the shoulder. “My friend, tell Laura to undock and stand clear. We'll blow the door and jump across.”

“Vero, it's a vacuum.”

“Th-these armor suits still have enough air for at least five minutes.”

Merral checked the status. “Seven minutes here.”

He called the
Sacrifice
. “Laura, can you undock?”

“They froze the release bolts for a bit, but after that explosion they lost control. So yes.”

“Good. Undock and then go above or below the door. We're going to blast it open. When that's done move the ship back and open the door. We are going to jump across.”

“Okay. But let's do it quickly. We need to get out of here.
Fast
.” Her voice revealed a new urgency.

What's up?

He heard a series of heavy thuds and the walls vibrated.
Undocking.

He and Vero walked behind and to the side of Lloyd, who had taken up position behind a solid buttress and was sighting the doorway with the last of his rockets.

Lloyd turned to them. “Better brace yourselves in case you get pulled out. Don't wanna be like the baziliarch.”

A moment later, Merral heard Laura's voice. “Holding position twenty meters away. And above you.”

“Firing now.”

Lloyd sighted down the tube. “Here we go.”

There was a flash, and a second later the doorway disintegrated into a cloud of fragments. After a brief and short-lived roar of sound, a silent wind swept down the corridor, tugging things into the star-filled void where the door had been.

On his visor, red warnings appeared with flashing numbers, counting down.

Carefully, Merral moved toward the fragmented door.

“We're ready, Laura.”

“No time to lose, Commander. I'm moving back into place. Don't jump too hard. There's no gravity or atmosphere to brake you. Just jump soon.”
What else is happening?

Her words had barely finished when the matte-gray bulk of the
Sacrifice
slowly dropped down. In a few moments an open air lock doorway was opposite.

Merral stepped out to the middle of the corridor, took a strangely silent run forward, and jumped through the blasted doorway.

It's like flying
. He was aware of stars and space all around him, and then he was through the door of the
Sacrifice
. He tried to stop himself but began tumbling and hit the side wall heavily, bounced, and violently careered to a halt against the far side of the air lock.

Vero was next and crashed clumsily into Merral. Lloyd jumped last, and as he did they saw that he was towing a length of cable. He bounced around the air lock in a bruising manner and then began pulling the suited corpse of Slee over. The still form slid into the chamber with a horrible rigidity and Merral wanted to look away. Another death!
Lorrin Venn at Fallambet, the many at Tezekal, Istana the pilot and Balancal at Ynysmant.

“Welcome aboard.” Laura's voice was urgent. The doors closed and the air vents opened. The ship was moving now.

“Commander, can you get up to the bridge quickly? We have a problem.”

20

M
erral ran up to the bridge. As he pounded along the corridor, he realized that he felt exhausted by the events of the past hour—had it been merely that?
I want to get out of this armor. I want, too, to know that everyone else is safe and that Slee was the only fatality. I want . . .

But then he was at the bridge, and the image through the glass port told its own story. It should have been sky and stars; instead, it was something large, gray, and metallic and made up of turrets, missile bays, and weapons ports.

“That's incredibly close,” he said, transfixed by the sight.

“It's barely two kilometers away,” Laura said. She gestured to a screen, and Merral was suddenly aware of the sound of a statement, in slow Communal, coming from a speaker.

“Do not move, go to offensive mode, or begin preparations for Nether-Realm insertion. We will be boarding you shortly. Resistance will bring retribution. We repeat: Do not move, go to offensive mode, or begin preparations . . .”

Some sort of destroyer.
On the ship, he saw bay doors slide open and smaller ships emerge.

“Tethercraft.” It was a familiar voice, and Merral turned round.

“Luke!” He was still in armor, and Merral noticed that it was smeared with drying blood. “Are you okay?” He saw there were others in the room.

The sad face looked down. “I'm fine. I'm afraid . . . Ilyas was killed.”

“No!”

“Another guard was hiding at the end. As he walked past . . .” He gave a weary shrug.

That was the later shooting I heard.

Luke gazed at the port. “We thought we might be able to save him, but he died as we got him on board. And Slee, too?”

“Yes. Is that it? Two dead?”

“And some wounds. Not life threatening, I gather. The hostages—”

“Do we have them all?”

“Yes. The hostages need checkups but seem to be okay. A certain very scared lady made it through just before the air lock door closed. She—”

“Commander, can you give me some advice?” Laura interrupted, her voice agitated. “That ship is the
Twisted Spear.
It's an older ship than this, but it is fully crewed and armed. Those tethercraft will be on the hull in ten minutes.”

“Can we outrun it?”

“No. Betafor says their weapons systems are online.” Merral saw Betafor staring at him, but as ever, he found it impossible to read any expression in her face.

“So can we drop into Below-Space?”

“It would take five minutes. They'd spot it.”

“Not good.” Merral gave a sigh. “Just after we escaped a baziliarch, too. Luke, do me a favor. Can you break a rule and pray for us?”

Luke did just that.

“Amen,” said Merral, and as he looked up, it came to him with some force how much he needed Luke. He stared out the window. “Well, it's still there, Luke. I was hoping it might have just vanished.”

The dark eyes flashed, but not in an unkindly way. “Sometimes, Commander, I think you don't just want me to be your tame prophet and priest, you also want me to be your magician.”

“Sorry.” Merral sighed again. “I see little option but to order all those who are able to prepare to fight any boarding party.”

The silence that followed clearly said that no other option presented itself.

“Very well. I—”

“Commander,” Betafor interrupted, “I have an odd signal coming in. It is faint. Let me display it on the starboard screen.”

The image was of a man. Azeras.

“Commander?”

“Azeras! Nice to hear from you.”
I may as well be polite
. “Where are you?”

Merral looked at Betafor. “How far away is he?” he whispered. “He can't be too distant based on the speed of the response.”

Laura, glancing up at a screen, said, “Twenty thousand kilometers.”

Betafor raised a hand with a thumb extended upward in a very human gesture of agreement.

Azeras spoke again. “I apologize for the signal. It's a tight-focused beam, and the
Star
is moving rapidly. I have been watching your progress. Was your mission at the Blade a success?”

“We have all the hostages, but we had two men killed. Slee and Ilyas.”

He gave a sad nod. “I am sorry. I really am. War is like that; often worse. I hope my absence didn't contribute in any way.”

“No. I don't think it did. But now we have other problems. You've seen this ship—the
Twisted Spear
? The first boarding parties from it will be on board in eight minutes. We may have to end this conversation very soon. But do you have any advice?”

The man grunted. “Yes. Listen carefully. I'm in shallow Below-Space heading your way. My intention is to emerge just behind the
Twisted Spear
on . . . what will appear to be a ramming course. In such cases, standard Dominion tactics—I doubt they have changed—are to launch defensive fire at the attacker while simultaneously rolling to port or starboard and diving into the Nether-Realms. With the Blade so close, he will have to go starboard. Do you follow?”

Merral caught Laura's nod. “Yes. So what do we do?”

“Keep the engines warm. As soon as he picks me up and starts defensive maneuvers, fire the engines and head port and up as fast as you can. That'll have the plus point of putting you at a tough angle for any lasers or particle weapons to hit. And don't forget, they can see the Blade behind you; that will deter them from launching any missiles. Stay as close to the Blade as you can as you accelerate—less than a kilometer––and then hit the Nether-Realms and get out of the system in case they try to pursue you.”

Merral turned to Laura. “Captain, prepare to carry that out.”

Laura gave an “Aye aye,” but she didn't look up; she was already tapping at the screen.

“But, Sarudar, what about you?”

Azeras stared at a console and made some adjustments before looking up. “Ah . . .
sarudar
. You know, I have decided it is time to bury that title. An office in an extinct military? I'm afraid the True Freeborn forces are history.”

Merral was aware of Luke standing by his side, staring at the screen.

Azeras raised his left hand and, with an abrupt gesture, pulled the bronze circlet off his wrist. “You may read into that what you will,” he said as he tossed it carelessly to one side.

“Then you are joining us?”

“I suppose so,” Azeras said. “I'm an old enough soldier to recognize when I am beaten. I was genuinely going to flee, but . . .” He shrugged. “Well, never mind.”

“So what's your plan?”

“I'll get as close as I dare and then pull away. That ought to buy you enough time. I shall try to meet you at Farholme or Bannermene. I think I can handle the Assembly.”

“We
do
have nice beaches. I look forward to it.”

Azeras gave a weak smile. “But, Commander . . . if I do not make it, I would ask this of you. You carry the flag of the True Freeborn in my cabin. I failed to take it with me. Take it to Earth and present it wherever you present such things.”

“The Chamber of the Great King,” Luke murmured.

“I will do that.”

“Good. Now listen. When the account of these events is written, be fair. Judge the True Freeborn with mercy. We were not the worst of men. It is undeniable that we groveled before idols; that we were fearful of spirits; that we feared the hand of Fate on us. And true, we toyed with powers and technologies that we might better have left alone. But remember, I beg you, that we hadn't your privileges. We had only a little light, and we walked by such as we had. Most of us did what we could against evil: we did not consult the deeper powers; we did not sacrifice our children. We resented the powers, and we did what we did out of fear, not love. Remember us this way, I beg you. And if you think of us, think kindly of us.”

“We will,” Merral replied. He felt strangely overwhelmed. “I plan to talk more of these things.”

“Perhaps. The signal goes, and I have some delicate flying to do. Have a safe journey back.”

“Godspeed, Azeras,” Luke added.

“Ah, Chaplain; I thank you, too.
Especially
, perhaps. Yes, Godspeed. Both.”

Amid a flare of static, the screen went blank.

“So he returned,” Merral said slowly. “That sounded like a final message.”

“It was. I do not anticipate seeing him again in this life.”

“And in the next?”

“Ah, of that, I now have a much greater confidence.”

Merral caught Laura's urgent look. “Sorry to interrupt such a fascinating discussion,” she said with what was evidently a forced smile. “But the
Rahllman's Star
has just emerged from Below-Space. I think things are about to get interesting.”