Part 42 (1/2)

Justin explained again about the spy collar. ”Um,” Telek grunted when he'd finished. ”You think they've planted a bomb or something on one of them,

Joshua?”

”I don't know,” Joshua said slowly. ”But I suddenly don't like this.”

”Me, neither.” Telek hesitated, then picked up the mike and punched for the outside speakers. ”Yuri, Marck? Hold it there a second, would you?”

The two men came to a hesitant looking halt about twenty meters from the hatch.

”Governor? What's wrong?” Cerenkov called.

”I want you both to strip to your underwear,” she told them. ”Safety precaution.”

Rynstadt glanced back over his shoulder at the silent Qasamans. ”Can't we skip that?” he called, his voice almost breaking with strain. ”They didn't put anything in our clothes-I'm sure of that. Please-let us get aboard.”

”Something's wrong,” Christopher muttered. Grabbing the mike from Telek, he punched a new b.u.t.ton. ”Dorjay, signal them to tell you-quietly-what's going on.”

Without waiting for an acknowledgment he switched back to the outside speaker.

”Come on, guys-you heard the governor. Strip.”

Flicking off the speaker, he handed the mike silently back to Telek, who accepted it the same way. On the screen, the two men were pulling off their tunics; and because he knew to watch for it, Justin could see Rynstadt's lips moving. They were working on their boots when Link's voice came quietly into the circuit. ”Marck says they've both been poisoned-some sort of toxin on a meal tray that the server wore gloves to avoid touching.”

”No wonder they were so willing to let them go,” Nnamdi growled. ”We've got to get them aboard right away and into the a.n.a.lyzer, Governor.”

But Telek was staring through the screen, her face frozen into a mask of horror,

”They're not poisoned,” she whispered. ”They're infected. They've dosed them with something to kill all of us.”

For a long moment shock hung thickly in the air. Telek recovered first. ”Almo, get back in here-use the cargo hatch you went out by. Dorjay... come inside and seal the outer door. Now.”

”What?” Christopher and Joshua yelped in unison.

”No choice,” Telek snapped back. Her hand was white-knuckled where she clutched the mike, and her face looked very old. ”We haven't got isolation facilities aboard-you all know that.”

”The medical a.n.a.lyzer-”

”Has an even chance of not even figuring out what they've been given,” she cut

Christopher off, ”let alone knowing how to cure it.”

Beneath his feet, Justin felt the deck vibrate slightly as Pyre closed the cargo hatch; an instant later it was echoed as Link sealed the main hatchway.

And on the outer display, Rynstadt and Cerenkov froze in horrified disbelief.

”Hey!” Cerenkov yelled.

”I'm sorry,” Telek said, the words almost a sigh. She seemed to remember the mike, lifted it to her lips. ”I'm sorry,” she repeated. ”You've been infected.

We can't risk taking you aboard.”