Part 11 (1/2)
”You've been here before, I believe,” said N'Trol as the car settled to the deck.
A'Tir nodded. ”Alpha Prime's ”Alpha Prime's bridge. Last place time I saw K'Tran, that forcefield”-her eyes traced the curtain of energy to the archway's distant top-”had just closed behind him. b.l.o.o.d.y fool was going to take over the s.h.i.+p.” bridge. Last place time I saw K'Tran, that forcefield”-her eyes traced the curtain of energy to the archway's distant top-”had just closed behind him. b.l.o.o.d.y fool was going to take over the s.h.i.+p.”
”You're no less a fool to think this ancient evil will go quietly, corsair.”
Something in his tone turned her toward him, a question on her lips.
”Follow me, please,” said the component, having seen to the s.h.i.+p car.
As the trio approached, the force field lifted, then lowered behind as they advanced down a wide corridor-a corridor lined by what had been Imperial Marines.
Every third component fell in behind, blastrifles at port arms, twelve soldiers of R'Actol forming a column of twos that marched in perfect step into the mult.i.tiered bridge, following the two humans and their officer up the ramp to the command tier. Halting just before the railing, the components took station and waited along the ramp, expressionless acolytes to That Which Waited.
Seven thick, black flight chairs fronted the curving console that filled Alpha Prime's Alpha Prime's topmost command tier-seven chairs with an un.o.bstructed view of s.p.a.ce through the armorgla.s.s bubble capping the great bridge. N'Trol found his eyes following the seemingly endless sweep of the slaver's hull to where it merged into a single point, miles and miles away. topmost command tier-seven chairs with an un.o.bstructed view of s.p.a.ce through the armorgla.s.s bubble capping the great bridge. N'Trol found his eyes following the seemingly endless sweep of the slaver's hull to where it merged into a single point, miles and miles away.
”The Seven hope you're impressed,” said a pleasant voice.
”And what are you, and where?” asked A'Tir, walking to the center chair, from which the voice had apparently come. With a quick motion, she spun the flight chair around. Empty.
”I'm the overmind of this s.h.i.+p,” continued the voice.
”Are you a R'Actolian?” asked N'Trol, now trying to understand the purpose of the console. Lights winked on and off, but the language was as alien as the engineering.
”Please,” said the overmind, ”sit down.” The center chair and the one to its immediate left swung silently out to face the two humans. They hesitated, exchanging glances.
”You can be killed as quickly there as in the chairs,” said the voice.
They sat.
”What happened to the dead, whispering promises of doom?” asked N'Trol.
”We wanted very much to talk with you, in as unintimidating a way as possible, so the Seven have elected to have a mind with much of its original humanity intact serve as spokesman. Be a.s.sured, though,” it said flatly, ”I speak for R'Actol.”
”And will R'Actol keep its pledge?” asked the engineer. ”To stand against the AIs in return for my Commodore's bearing the specifics of your request to . . .”
”Pardon me,” said the overmind, ”but the time for alliance has pa.s.sed. The Fleet of the One is even now penetrating the Rift. Your pitiful Confederation is in disarray, paralyzed by Combine T'Lan and the aftershocks of the Biofab War. It has no power to grant concessions, and nothing to give us we couldn't now take.”
”Then why are you here, in harm's way?” said N'Trol. ”The AIs aren't going to bother to distinguish between cyborgs and humans- any human-related life form will be wiped.”
”Correct,” said the overmind. ”And here comes the instrument of our mutual destruction.” The s.p.a.ce view dimmed, replaced by a swirling ocher eye flecked with silver.
”The Rift,” said overmind. ”Now at its widest dilation-a perfect tunnel from the AIs'-and star faring man's-home universe.”
”How near?” asked N'Trol, leaning forward.
”About eight light-years,” said the overmind. ”The scan is from the forward pickets set by the Imperial Cyborg Pocsym Six, millennia ago. The silver bits you see are AI battleglobes. Clearing the Rift, they'll regroup and jump-here. We stand between them and a number of juicy Confederation targets.”
”We?” said A'Tir.
The pickup s.h.i.+fted to a tacscan-nineteen red blips fronting an oncoming tide of silver ones.
”You can't possibly stop them,” said N'Trol. ”What are they, a hundred thousand battleglobes?”
”Merely the vanguard of their main fleet,” said the overmind.
”And your strategy?” asked N'Trol.
”Enough.” A'Tir stood. ”You will rea.s.semble Captain K'Tran, mind and body restored to the condition he was in when you took him. You will let him and me leave this s.h.i.+p and withdraw from this sector aboard Implacable.” Implacable.”
There was a brief silence, N'Trol watching A'Tir as he might watch an interesting bug.
”Why?” asked the overmind. ”K'Tran's a tactical genius, corsair. It's unlikely we'd ever let him go. Certainly not at this time of need.”
”You will do as I say,” said A'Tir.
”Really,” said the overmind. ”Is this where you threaten us?”
”Or I will take command of this s.h.i.+p,” she said.
”That's about where we left off with Captain K'Tran,” said the overmind. ”The genius that designed, built and crewed this s.h.i.+p would never have been so stupid as to place in it the tool of their own undoing.” would never have been so stupid as to place in it the tool of their own undoing.”
”J'Yay k'antal a'ktay,” said A'Tir defiantly, hand to her sidearm. said A'Tir defiantly, hand to her sidearm.
The overmind laughed-a faintly hysterical, high-pitched laugh. N'Trol buried his head in his hands.
”What?” said a confused A'Tir, looking at N'Trol as the laughter died.
The engineer raised his head. ”You just ordered a vegetable, extinct, creamed-in a very old, very dead language. Where in all the h.e.l.ls did you get that?”
”I bribed an archivist on K'Ronar,” she said, turning to look at the rampway and the components. Too many, her eyes said.
”I hope you all enjoyed that,” said N'Trol.
”We did,” chuckled the overmind. ”We certainly did.”
”Good. Now, how about answering my question?”
”Our strategy?”
”Yes.”
”Quite simple,” said the overmind. ”Two s.h.i.+ps will be left to engage the AIs. The rest will jump through the Rift and make ourselves at home in the AI universe.”
”I see,” said the engineer softly. ”And how will you prevent the Fleet of the One from coming back and blowing you into noxious vapors?”
”The Rift can be sealed from the AI side -we have the means. The AIs and humanity can battle here till the stars die, while we convert the AIs' home worlds to our needs.”