John Maddox Roberts - Spacer: Window of Mind (26 page)

Kiril ran across the huge deck as shouts and sounds of battle came from within the room. By the time she reached the walkway, the two Vivers were back out on the deck. Each had a pair of pistols on their belts and a heavy-duty beamer in each hand. Their harnesses were crammed with small objects of various sizes. "What are those?" Kiril asked, pointing to the plates, cylinders, sticks, and other things.

"Explosives," K'Stin said. "Now, show us where we want to go."

"This way." She dashed onto the walkway and took the first door. It led into a passage ending at the corridor where she had first encountered the mere. It seemed like a long time ago. She waved them back and eased the door open. The corridor was empty, but the din from alarms and the flashing signs made it raucous. "Okay, let's go, and don't go around just killing people."

"We want Izquierda," K'Stin said. "And we want to trash this ship. We attack only those who shoot at us. The meres are fair game."

"Agreed," Kiril said. She darted out and began to run forward. K'Stin darted around her and B'Shant fell in behind. She found the lift and they crowded inside. As it began to drop, B'Shant heaved a packet of sticks back the way they had come. His throw was so powerful that the packet just skimmed the ceiling and then bounced along the deck until it almost reached the bulkhead between the hold area and the engine section. They were just below the level of the deck when they heard the shattering explosion. The Vivers shook and made chuckling sounds all the way down.

They became businesslike as soon as they were out of the lift. K'Stin fired his left-hand beamer, holding the big shoulder weapon at arm's length as if it had been no more than a pistol. He cut away a bulkhead, shearing through power lines, communication optic fibers, fuel pipes, and chemical conduits. Empty rooms beyond became visible, and he cut away portions of them, not pausing in his leisurely walk down the corridor. B'Shant did the same on the opposite side. Kiril could see that they were slicing away nearly everything between them and the outer skin of the ship. The air filled with a chemical reek and smoke began to billow, choking the ventilation systems. Fire-fighting systems cut in, spraying water and fire suppressants in all directions.

Kiril watched in wonderment as the two methodically dismantled the entire level of the Supernova. True to K'Stin's promise, the beams never quite reached the outer skin. From time to time one would toss an explosive at some supporting structure. The structure would be blown away and the deck above would begin to sag in. The Vivers each slung one heavy-duty beamer and drew a pistol. With quick, efficient shots, they knocked out sensors with one hand while they continued demolition operations with the other.

"There's people up there!" Kiril said. She was beginning to get choked up from the smoke and fumes. Inflatable emergency escape pods were bursting from the walls and respirators dropped from traps in the overhead. She grabbed a respirator and strapped it around her face.

They burst into a chamber full of construction workers. The workers were scrambling into escape pods, yanking on pressure suits and respirators, clearly expecting an abandon-ship order. It was understandable, since the cacophony of alarms sounded

like the end of the universe.

"Calm yourselves!" K'Stin bellowed. "You will not be harmed as long as you do not resist."

"Listen to him!" Kiril yelled, her voice muffled by the respirator. "Satsuma won't pay any bonuses or pensions if you die defending this ship. Just relax, get into the pods if it makes you feel safer. These two mean business!" The workers gaped at them. This was something outside the experience of even the combat veterans.

Nobody tried to slow them down as they passed through the housing area. Demolitions commenced once again on the other side. They continued in this fashion, bypassing occupied areas, turning everything else into a junkheap. It seemed to take a long time, but Kiril glanced at her watch and saw that they had been inside the Supernova only a few minutes.

The Vivers really hit their stride when they reached the mall area. There were no workers present, and they slashed in all directions with apparent abandon but using incredible precision. Each cut and explosion took out some crucial structural member, toppling structures and undercutting the support of the levels above. Within three minutes the mall level above began falling into the one they occupied.

"You gotta leave me a way up to the bridge!" Kiril yelled.

"We have not cut the lift," K'Stin said, not pausing in his work. "Its power supply is independent of the others, since it is an escape necessity. Go on up, we will give you a few minutes, then we come looking for you."

Kiril darted into the lift and hit the plate for the command level. From above the destruction wrought by the Vivers was even more appalling. The next level was nearly as devastated, with its supports cut away. Gaping holes had appeared in the deck and buildings sagged. She got olf on the command level, which was full of people running and shouting. Most of them had pressure suits on, and as she had expected, nobody paid her the slightest attention.

A voice was calling in an incongruously calm voice over the comm system:
"Please do not panic. The hull is intact. The interior damage is being contained. I repeat, please do not panic. The ship is under enemy attack. All who have not been assigned battle stations, return to your quarters and await

instructions. I repeat, please do not panic."

Kiril could see plenty of panic, which was all to the good. In the distance she could hear the rumble of explosions. Acting like any panicked passenger, she ran towards the bridge. Three times men running in the opposite direction knocked her down. Each time she picked herself up and ran on, trying not to think of who was on the bridge.

She found the bridge door wide open, with not even a security guard defending it. Probably running for the lifeboats like everybody else, she thought. So much for Satsuma's hiring standards. She darted inside and ducked behind a console. Here there was excitement, but people were staying at their instruments. Veteran officers were calmly giving orders and restoring confidence. Then she saw Izquierda.

The towering form was unmistakable. He stood on an upper terrace, yelling at someone whose image was projected in a full-length screen. Around him stood several officers, including Tomas Huerta. Kiril began to make her way towards him, keeping her eyes peeled for an unoccupied communication set. Everything seemed to be manned. Then she saw who it was Izquierda was yelling at over the set: Admiral Nagamitsu. This was too good to miss.

"Admiral!" Izquierda shouted. "This ship is under enemy attack! I demand that you render assistance!"

"We are on our way, Director," Nagamitsu said, "but I do not see how you can be under attack. Whatever holed your hull is gone and the breach is sealed. Are you trying to tell me that an assault force has boarded your ship?"

"That is exactly what I am saying! There must be hundreds of them, but we can't get a visual fix. They are taking out sensors as they go, cutting power and fuel lines, everything. They are destroying my ship!"

"Director," called an officer. "They've dropped all three mall levels to the keel. Construction personnel at upper-keel level report two Vivers inflicting damage, that is all."

Izquierda turned on the man, all pretense of humanity dropped. "There are no Vivers aboard, you fool!" He smashed the man to the deck with his fist. Kiril could hear the sickening sound of the jaw breaking. "The Vivers are dead! We killed them when we destroyed the
Space Angel]"

The moment of distraction was all Kiril needed. She darted before the screen, tore the box loose from her belt and hit the pressure plate. "There sure as hell are Vivers aboard this ship! I'm Kiril, from
Space Angel.
I've just sent you coordinates to find her on the planet. Take a look and get here quick, Admiral, this man wants to start a wa—" Iron fingers wrapped around her neck and slammed her into an instrument panel. When she was hauled to her feet, her face was an inch from Izquierda's.

"You!" he said, his rage turning to wonder. "How did you get here?"

"My friends and I came in a Dzuna ship," she managed to choke out. He lightened his grasp a little. "If you want to live and keep your ship, you better do some fast talking."

"Two Vivers?" he said. "Just two Vivers doing all this?"

"Well, I helped a little, but you better not harm me if you don't want to answer to them."

"What do you mean, answer to them?" The unreality of it all had put him into some kind of shock.

"I mean now they're just having fun, you maniac! Hurt me and you'll make them mad!"

He shoved her into Huerta's arms. "Take her to the secure rooms, Tomas. I'll join you later." He turned back to the screen and his mask was back in place.

"What is going on over there, Director?" Nagamitsu demanded.

"Just a distraught clerk, Admiral," Izquierda said. "I've had her taken to the infirmary."

"We'll be aboard in a few minutes, Director." That was the last Kiril heard as Huerta dragged her from the bridge. In all the confusion, had Nagamitsu even heard her?

Huerta hauled her out of the control area, and she could see the people at the consoles looking at her then at each other and jabbering questions. Whatever confidence Izquierda and his officers had restored was fast eroding. Huerta hit a panel and a portal opened. Then they were in a small lift.

In the lift Huerta did not relax his hold, but Kiril could still reach her knives. She decided not to try. Taking Huerta would be easy, but it probably wouldn't do her any good She could see that this lift had some kind of secure control that she couldn't operate. The lift stopped and the door slid open.

Huerta pulled her down a short hallway and worked the combination of a massive door. It swung open silently and they were inside a room full of instruments and racks of tools and weapons. She recognized a refrigeration unit and a fully equipped medical station. This was some kind of emergency retreat, in case the ship was damaged. Just big enough for a few picked officers, of course. Others didn't rate this kind of care.

Huerta pushed her into an adjacent room, where something hit the back of her knees and she sat heavily. Luckily, it was a low, padded settee. This room was rather bare, but she saw a small airlock hatch in one wall and the universal symbol meaning lifeboat.

Huerta was holding a small pistol on her. "Sure you fee! safe?" she taunted. "I'm real dangerous, you know."

"That's true," he said. "The way bacteria are dangerous. 1 find it hard to believe that my uncle really considered you as a potential member of the family. You're nothing but gutter trash."

So the old monster had really meant it. "That's because your uncle has a lot more brains than you, Tomas. You'd better do some fast thinking if you don't want to end up in the gutter right alongside me." .

"What do you mean?" he said. He tried to sound arrogant, but she could hear the weak uncertainty in his voice.

"You got any idea what's happening? It's not an enemy raid, just my two shipmates the Vivers. They'll be coming for me about now. Your uncle's finished, Huerta. His plot's blown wide open and he's facing execution. You better figure a way to escape the same fate."

"Nonsense," Huerta blustered. "The Izquierda wealth and power are immune to laws and courts. My uncle owns governments the way his line owns ships."

"That's what he's been telling you?" She leaned back on the settee, spreading her arms along the backrest. She had this little snake's measure now. "Maybe that's true back in human-controlled space. I hear the powers back there are old and corrupt and his kind helped make it that way. Here it's different.

"On this ship, and coming in this direction, are two Vivers who don't know what wealth is, and their idea of power is the beamers they've got in their hands. Down below is a planetful of warlike people called the Dzuna who never heard of Satsuma but who know, because we proved it to them, that your uncle, and he alone, staged the attack on them. They're fond of revenge. Coming along quick, and maybe here already, is Admiral Nagamitsu. Izquierda may have bought some of the navy people, but Nagamitsu has something against him that goes way back. This ship is sinking, Huerta, it's time to scramble off." She watched his expression crumble, as if all the stuffing was running out of him. "But," she went on brightly, "you just may be the luckiest man aboard this wreck."

"What do you mean?" he hissed. The pistol wavered and dropped to his side.

"If you move fast enough, you just might cut a deal with Nagamitsu. He's gonna be real anxious to know who the traitors are aboard his ship. I got a feeling you have that information, right?" Huerta nodded reluctantly. "Well, if you run along right now and start selling out as fast as you can, you just might make it before some other turncoat does."

Huerta stood for a moment, indecisive. Then he thrust the pistol into his belt, turned and ran out, slamming the hatch behind him. Kiril slumped back against the settee, her heart pounding. She'd done it! Well, part of it, anyway. She darted to the hatch and tried it. It was sealed. That wasn't good. All the weapons were in the antechamber. She tried the access to the lifeboat, but she didn't know how to open it. It was probably keyed for ship's officers anyway.

She returned to the settee. If she could make the next few minutes in one piece, she might just get out of this alive. It was a hope she'd already abandoned, and its return was painful. She turned her head towards the hatch as a hiss of hydraulic fluid reached her ear. It swung slowly open. Framed in the hatchway was Izquierda. So much for hope.