are my enemies. If they don't see me, they will follow the comset.'
'If they go down into Stonehall, they will not return,' Deadeye vowed.
'Do not fight them, Deadeye! You cannot win, and I want no Taka blood spilled. When they do not find me, they will go away.'
'If they are your enemies, we will fight them!'
'No! I want no fighting! We can outwit…'
'Manbird!' The shouted warning electrified us all—an aircar! The torches went out in a shower of sparks.
'It's them!' I told Deadeye. 'Scatter! Hide! Moontouch…' She snatched up our son. Taka warriors suddenly surrounded them, a bristling fence of spears and tridents hustling her off into the dark. I knew they'd be safe.
I went to ground in a rotting pile of leaves behind the exposed roots of a great flowertree, snapping my E to xmax auto. I could hear the aircar now, a faint whining. The diversion with the comset was not going to work— they'd spot me for sure, this close. There had not been time to get away. I hadn't even had time to put on the comtop. Damn it!
The aircar appeared, slowing, gliding cautiously through the dead city, stirring up a blizzard of dusty leaves. I raised my E. I knew the car would be armored so I was not going to fire until they discharged the troopers. A wave of sadness washed over me. They would be Legion troopers, fighting for ConFree—just as we had always done. I had served the Legion and ConFree my whole young life. I knew that once I fired at Legion troopers, everything would change, forever.
A gleaming white aircar settling down to land, the jets cutting off. White? Cutting the jets? What in the world?
The assault door snapped open. I centered it in my sights.
A single trooper, unarmored—it was a girl with short wispy blonde hair, looking around into the darkness, puzzled.
'Beta Three!' she called out. 'It's Whit! Cinta sent us to pick it up! Damn it! Where is it?'
'What's the story, Sweety?' I whispered to my tacmod. My laser sight lazily roamed over Whit's chest.
'The aircar is now empty, Thinker—she was the only occupant.'
'Whit!' I stepped out of the dark. 'What's the sit?'
'Beta Three! Thank God!' She appeared giddy with relief. 'Cinta would have killed us if we hadn't found it! Get on board! We've got to move right now! Cinta ordered it!'
I turned, looking into the darkness. 'Moontouch!' I called out.
It took a few marks for the word to be relayed and Whit was dancing from foot to foot in impatience.
'The Legion will be here in a frac!' she insisted. 'They've got to be tracking our every move!'
Moontouch's guard suddenly appeared out of the dark, all shields and spears and tridents. Then the wall of warriors parted and Moontouch was there, clutching Stormdawn to her breast. I reached out and embraced them. A prickly wave of emotions rippled over my flesh as I inhaled her scent, for probably the last time. We kissed, feverishly. She cried silently, tears rolling down her cheeks. I kissed the child, my own lovely son. I prayed for them both.
I had given them eternal life, but it was not enough—it was certainly not enough.
'Come on, Three—let's go!' Whit, in the aircar. I tore myself away. Deadeye stood by the car, his fierce eyes gleaming. We embraced.
'Take care of her, Deadeye!'
'My life, Slayer—my life!'
I leaped into the aircar blinking, and the door slammed shut and we were off, max power, low and fast. I found my way to the cockpit and took the number two seat beside Whit. Trees flashed past us.
'This is crazy,' Whit said.
'Why are you doing it?' I asked.
'We owe it,' she reminded me.
'All right, what's the sit?'
'We have no idea,' she said, 'except people are starting to shoot at each other and Cinta asked us to get it on the Maiden.'
'Shooting at each other! Where's Tara—I mean Cinta?'
'It's downside. We're going after Cinta once it's safely on board.'
'The hell you are! We get her first!'
'No, we don't—we've got our orders!'
'Don't be stupid! It'll be a miracle if we get through once! It'll never happen twice!'
'But Cinta told us…'
'Where's your loyalty? Can't you see she's sacrificing herself so I can escape? They want us both! We'll have only one chance to make it to the Maiden.'
'Sacrificing itself?'
'With the help of your blind obedience! Damn it, she's more important than I am!'
'No…we can't leave Cinta behind!'
'Then we get her first!'
'All right!'
'Where is she?'
'It's in Alpha Station.'
'Wonderful! Right into the mouth of the beast! Well, then that's where we're going. Who controls the Maiden?'
'The Legion. But Cinta seems to think that bunch can be trusted.'
'Any contact with her?'
'It ordered a comdown.' A forested hill flashed by on our right. The aircar's comcenter was crackling with transmissions. I paused to listen.
'Seven, One. I want a tacstar on that target—now!'
'Scut! Who are these guys?'
'Shut down and do it!'
'Tenners! Scut!'
'Tacair, I've got a hot flight of incoming fighters from the Armageddon! They don't answer!'
'Shoot 'em down!'
'Alpha Station is to be held at all costs! Fire at all resistance!'
'Alpha Command, Armageddon! You will cease resistance immediately or we will antimat the station! Repeat…'
'Alpha, Armageddon! That was an unauthorized transmission! Armageddon will support you! Fire at any hostile targets!'
'Get those bastards!'
'Don't believe anybody!'
'Uniden troopers, identify yourselves immediately or we will fire!'
'God damn it, it's us—Delta of CAT Four One! The hostiles are in C corridor!'
'Well, shoot 'em!'
'Armageddon fighters, if you enter our DZ we will fire on you!'
'Negative Alpha, those are friendlies!'
'They're going to be dead friendlies if they don't turn aside!'
'That was an anti!' The sky lit up, flickering an eerie electric green.
'Tenners, we need a…'
'I want autofire on all unidentified air traffic, repeat…'
'Scut!' Whit exclaimed. 'That's us!'
'Land!' I shouted. 'Now!'
###
We glided to a stop in a blizzard of dead flowers and leaves in an ancient forest of incredibly tall flowertrees. We popped the door and got out fast.
