Part 13 (1/2)

K'Tran held up a hand as John started to speak. ”Time is precious, Harrison. I cannot extricate my force from this deadly place unless I help D'Trelna rescue you and recover the commwand sent by Pocsym.”

John gestured toward the forcefield. ”The commwand's on the bridge.”

”What else is on the bridge?” asked K'Tran, carefully inspecting the forcefield.

”T'Lan.”

K'Tran hissed softly. ”Not good. We know what he did on Implacable. Implacable. Can anything stop him?” Can anything stop him?”

”Not blaster fire,” said the Terran. ”He's immune.”

”What's his relations.h.i.+p to the R'Actolians?” said A'Tir.

”One of command. He appears to have taken control of this slaver,” said John. ”Some of the key equipment was evidently manufactured by the AIs, recovered by the Empire and installed by R'Actol when she built this s.h.i.+p.”

”Can't be,” said K'Tran, shaking his head. ”R'Actol and her biofabs were Late High Empire-twilight's advent. The AIs predated her by thousands of years. All we have of that time, Harrison, are a few legends, like the AI War and the Nameless Emperor. T'Lan must have been lying.”

”Fine, K'Tran,” said John. ”You explain it. Better yet”-he jerked his head toward the bridge-”go debate it with T'Lan.”

”We'd like to meet T'Lan, actually,” said the corsair. ”a.s.suming he commands here, perhaps we can be of some a.s.sistance in return for our freedom-and the elimination of Implacable.'' Implacable.''

John wanted to bash the smirk from K'Tran's face-an impulse restrained by the large bore of A'Tir's blaster holding steady on his belt buckle. ”You're a real foul slime, K'Tran,” said the Terran.

”Loyalty's not one of my few virtues,” said K'Tran. ”Unless you can get us past that s.h.i.+eld, Harrison, you're of no further use to this mission.”

It must have been a cue A'Tir had taken many times. Her safety clicked off before K'Tran had finished speaking.

John held out a hand. ”I'll need my weapon back,” he said.

”Such a sense of humor,” said K'Tran. Reaching out, he plucked the weapon from A'Tir's belt. ”If this will get us through the s.h.i.+eld, I'll use it. First, a small test.” He pointed the diminutive pistol at John.

”Go ahead,” said the Terran. ”It'll kill you-I'd enjoy that.”

John fell to his knees clutching his head at a sudden, searing pain.

”A'Tir!” said K'Tran sharply as she raised the blaster barrel to strike again. ”Enough.”

Lowering the pistol, she pulled John to his feet, a hand to his arm.

”Why and how will this kill me?” asked the corsair.

”No idea,” said John, wincing as he touched the welt behind his right ear. ”Use it and find out.”

Busy examining the weapon, K'Tran seemed to only half hear the Terran. He was frowning at the heraldic device on the grips. ”I believe you,” he said, looking up. He handed the weapon to John. Puzzled, the Terran took it.

”You can put your blaster away, A'Tir,” said K'Tran quietly.

She looked at him, startled. ”But ...”

”Use it, Harrison,” said the corsair. With a strange sense of serenity, John turned, aimed and fired.

No crash of blaster fire, no explosion of bullets. But the bottom half of the bridge s.h.i.+eld was gone. Seemingly unaffected, the top portion hung there, severed but s.h.i.+mmering.

”Impossible,” said A'Tir, staring.

”Possible,” said John.

”Let's go!” K'Tran called. From around the corner, the rest of the corsairs came on the run, rifles at the ready.

K'Tran drew his side arm. ”After you, Harrison.”

John stepped under the s.h.i.+eld, turning as K'Tran called ”Forward!”

The s.h.i.+eld restored itself with a faint hum, stopping K'Tran and his crew inches from the s.h.i.+mmering barrier.

A few meters from John, K'Tran fired, face twisting in anger.

The s.h.i.+eld devoured the blaster bolts, dissipating them in sudden splotches of red.

With a jaunty wave of his hand, middle finger upraised, John turned and set off briskly down the corridor.

R'Gal stirred, opened his eyes and sat up very slowly, legs swinging over the edge of the medcot. ”Where am I?” he said to the tall, thin man attentively watching him.

”Sick Bay,” said the other. ”I'm Q'Nil, Senior Medtech.

”How do you feel, Colonel?” Q'Nil glanced at a lifescan, set in the foot of the cot.

”Like I took a missile salvo in the head,” said R'Gal, rubbing his temples. ”What happened?”

”The S'Cotar found you before you found it,” said K'Raoda, stepping forward. He'd been standing unseen in a corner.

The colonel shook his head, then stopped, eyes closed in pain. ”Occupational hazard,” he said, opening his eyes. ”The last thing I remember, I was on the lifepod deck with the Terran woman ...”

”Tal?” said K'Raoda sharply.

”Tal,” said the colonel. ”I had reason to believe . . . no, that's not right. I sensed S'Cotar traces up among the lifepods. We were checking the lifepods out. Then I woke up here.”

”Take this,” said Q'Nil, handing R'Gal a cup of chalk-colored liquid. ”It'll help.”

”We lost a lifepod about the time you must have been searching,” said K'Raoda. ”And Tal is missing. Were you searching the same lifepod?”

”No,” said R'Gal, handing the empty cup to Q'Nil. ”She was checking the even numbers, I was checking the odd. Anything from D'Trelna?” he added.

”Nothing,” said K'Raoda.

”Are you aware, Colonel,” he continued, ”that s.h.i.+p's computer is being subverted by a stasis algorithm?” R'Gal frowned. ”Supposedly, there's no such thing.”

”You've heard of it, then?” said K'Raoda. ”Yes.”

”And do you believe it?” asked K'Raoda.