say you are?'
'Well,' said Storm, 'the fact that we haven't tried to kill you should be a point in our favor. Do you think you could lower that fearsome-looking bottle? I'm sure we'd all feel a lot safer.' He gave her a smile of unimpeachable charm, and she slowly lowered the broken bottle. Storm nodded approvingly. 'Allow me to present my two associates: Ruby Journey and Jack Random.'
Beatrice blinked at the last name and watched intently as the other two Jesuits pushed back their cowls. The woman she didn't know from a hole in the ground, except by reputation, but everyone knew of Jack Random. He looked a lot younger than she'd expected, but it was definitely him. She relaxed suddenly, her breath going out of her in a rush as she finally felt something like safe again. 'Dear Lord, it's really you. What the hell are you doing here?'
'Freeing the clones,' said Random equably. 'Would you care to help? I get the feeling you'd be a lot safer in our company.'
'Damn right,' said Beatrice. 'I've got a bloody Investigator snapping at my heels. Someone high up wants me dead. But I can't help you. The Sisters of Mercy must remain neutral.'
'If someone's sent an Investigator after you, I think we can safely assume your neutrality has already been compromised,' said Random. 'Besides, can you just stand by and let this horror continue?'
Beatrice looked at the watching clones in their pens, packed together like animals. 'No,' she said finally. 'I can't.'
'Good for you, Sister,' said Storm. 'And don't worry. We'll protect you.'
'Is that right?' said Investigator Shoal. 'Now, that I would like to see.' They all spun around, to find her standing right behind them, her sword in her hand. She looked very relaxed and utterly deadly. 'Good thing I tried to contact the Jesuits and smelled a rat when I couldn't get an answer. I started out after a rogue Sister of Mercy, and now I have three infamous rebels to kill as well, one of them the legendary Jack Random. God is good, sometimes, isn't he? Now, who wants to die first?'
Ruby looked at Random. 'Let me have her. I didn't have time to enjoy killing that Investigator before.'
'Sorry,' said Random, 'we haven't got the time now.' He already had his disrupter in his hand, pointing at Shoal. 'Say good night, Investigator.'
Ruby glared at him. 'Don't you dare, Jack Random. If you kill her, I'll never speak to you again. I've always wanted to go one on one with an Investigator.'
Random started to shake his head, and Shoal's sword whipped around, the flat of the blade slapping the gun out of his hand. Random shook his tingling fingers gingerly, looked at the coldly smiling Investigator, and nodded to Ruby. 'I never could refuse you anything, my dear. But make it quick. We've got work to do.'
Shoal laughed suddenly. 'I don't know what you people have been smoking, but I'm pretty sure it must be illegal. Nothing else could get you this far from reality. Let's do it, girl. Then, after I've killed you, I'll kill your friends, and take back Jack Random's head as a trophy.'
'In your dreams,' said Ruby. 'Let's do it.'
They slammed together, head-to-head, blades flying, no quarter asked or given. They stamped and lunged and their swords clashed together, sparks flying in the still air. They were both supremely talented, trained to great skill by harsh circumstances, and the speed at which they came together and sprang apart was exhilarating. Ruby laughed breathlessly, her sword everywhere at once. This was what she lived for, when she felt most alive. She could have boosted, but didn't. She could have called on unnatural strength and speed, but she chose not to. She wanted to beat the Investigator in a fair fight, to prove she was the best.
Shoal swung her sword double-handed in an arc that would have beheaded Ruby if it had connected, but Ruby ducked under it at the last moment. She took the fight to Shoal, pressing the attack as hard as she could, and Shoal just stood there and took it, not retreating a step. Their swords hammered together, drawing blood here and there from minor wounds, neither able to gain the upper hand for long. But Ruby was getting tired and just a little slower, and Shoal wasn't. Ruby was a bounty hunter, trained as a fighter in the hardest of schools, but Shoal, even with her illness, was an Investigator. And slowly, foot by foot, she began to push Ruby back. Shoal's blade drew blood again and again, and Ruby couldn't touch her. It slowly came to her that she'd finally found her better. And just maybe she was going to die if she didn't boost. The boost would give her the edge she needed.
She staggered back, trying to recover, and Shoal drew back her blade for a killing thrust. And Ruby's blade shot forward, driven by boosted strength and speed she hadn't called for, and punched through Shoal's chest and out her back. Blood gushed from the Investigator's mouth, and she sank to her knees with a look of utter surprise on her face. Ruby jerked her sword out, and Shoal fell forward and lay still.
'No!' said Ruby. 'No! I didn't want that!' She hacked at the body with her sword again and again, cursing and spitting. She hadn't called on the boost. It had come unbidden, unwanted. For better or worse, the Maze wouldn't let her be merely human anymore. She finally stopped herself and stood hunched over the mutilated body, panting for breath.
'Is she always like this?' said Beatrice.
'Not always,' said Random. 'Ruby? Are you all right?'
'No,' said Ruby. 'I don't think so.' She sheathed her sword without cleaning it; then stopped, raised her head, and looked about her. 'Hold everything. I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this place.'
Random looked at her thoughtfully. He took her feelings seriously. He had them himself, sometimes. 'You mean right here in the clone quarters?'
'No. More widely spread than that.'
Storm looked around nervously. 'Could there be guards on the way?'
'I don't know! Jack, join with me. We're stronger together.'
Their eyes met and their minds joined. Their faces became blank masks as they concentrated, their minds leaping up and out to test their surroundings. Beatrice looked at Storm. 'I didn't know they were espers.'
'They're not,' said Storm. 'But don't ask me what they are.'
Random and Ruby fell back into their heads and looked at each other incredulously. 'I don't believe it,' said Random.
'What?' said Storm. 'Don't believe what?'
'There are explosives everywhere,' said Ruby. 'All through the factory.'
'At least three main groupings,' said Random. 'Set to do maximum damage and timed to go off soon. Any one would have been enough to bring stardrive production to a halt, but God knows what this many will do. Right, that's it. We are out of here. Alex, use the codes we were given and get these pens open. We've got to get the clones out of here while there's still time.'
'Wait,' said Beatrice. 'You do know they're executing your people at the ceremony?'
'Sure,' said Random. 'Don't worry. We'll get to them next.'
'You won't have time. Their execution's been brought forward, to be sure of going out on prime time.'
'Damn,' said Random. 'You can't rely on anyone these days. Right; Sister Beatrice, you and Alex get the clones out of here. Since they're in clear danger from the explosives, you can do that without risking your Sisterhood's neutrality. Ruby and I will take care of the prisoners.'
'How?' said Alex.
'I'm working on it,' said Random.
'Thrills, chills, and last-minute rescues,' said Ruby. 'Don't you just love being an outlaw?'
In the beating heat outside the factory complex, the ceremony was going well. Everyone had remembered their lines, Kassar hadn't hit anybody yet, and Toby Shreck and Flynn were covering it all, transmitting live to audiences all across the Empire. Important people were watching, not least the Empress, and everyone else was watching in the hopes of a major cock-up or rebel attack, like before. Toby kept up a murmured running commentary during the slow bits and suffered through the longer speeches. If they didn't get to the executions soon, people might start losing interest. A new stardrive might be just what the Empire needed, but it didn't actually make great viewing in itself.
All in all, though, things were going better than Toby had expected. As requested, Half A Man was staying in plain view and not retreating into the background as usual. He wasn't actually doing or saying anything, but his public appearances were so rare these days that any new sighting was an event. Toby had put as much effort into
