Judgment at Proteus

I took it from him, an eerie feeling creeping up my back. The Viper was a power source, just as I’d told Riijkhan.

What I hadn’t told him was that under the proper circumstances it could also explode violently. Circumstances that included an injured, pain-racked, or highly stressed Modhri.

Which meant that I held the final solution in my hands.

It wasn’t a pleasant solution. Certainly not the one I would have chosen. But it was the best we were going to get. Normally, a Viper explosion was reasonably contained, but here inside a tunnel system I guessed it had a fair chance of bringing the whole wall of rock down on top of the working Shonkla-raa. If it managed to also take out the command-tone transmission station, Hardin’s team back in the compound would suddenly be freed from Shonkla-raa control. If they were able to take out the remaining Fillies fast enough, and if Riijkhan was telling the truth about the entire Shonkla-raa contingent being here, we could eliminate the threat right here and now.

All it would cost would be Morse, McMicking, Bayta, and me. Heavy collateral damage, indeed.

But the only other choice was capitulation.

I braced myself. “Okay,” I said to Riijkhan. “I need you to release the Modhri.”

Riijkhan’s blaze darkened. “Why?”

“Because this gadget was apparently designed and intended for Modhran use,” I told him. “It therefore needs the Modhri to telepathically activate it.”

“Very well,” Riijkhan said. “I will give the order.”

I locked eyes with Morse and gave a little nod. He couldn’t nod back, but in his eyes I could see that he and the Modhri understood. He took the Viper and slid its irregular end into the opening that matched its shape. Stepping close to Bayta, I surreptitiously took her hand.

And with a grinding like sand in teeth, the door began to move, backing away ponderously into the hull. It receded about a meter, until the inner edge of the hull itself was visible. Then, just as ponderously, the door moved sideways, sliding into a pocket to the side and revealing a faintly lit corridor beyond. For a moment there was a small breeze as the air pressures between the ship and the tunnel equalized, and I caught the scent of dust and lubricants and old metal.

The door stopped, the breeze faded away, and Morse pulled the Viper from the receptacle.

And we were still alive. All of us.

I looked at Morse. Surely he’d understood what I’d been telling him to do with the Viper. He gazed back, his eyes trapped inside a body that was no longer his.

And with a sinking feeling, I understood.

Riijkhan had called it, way back on the super-express. The Modhri wasn’t on my side. Not anymore.

I took a deep breath. “There you go,” I murmured to Riijkhan, gesturing to the opening. “Help yourself.”

Riijkhan drew himself up, murmuring something under his breath in Fili, and beckoned to one of the Shonkla-raa who’d come running up at the sound of the door’s opening. {Inform the herders to gather the slaves and bring them here,} he ordered.

{The Humans only?} the other Shonkla-raa asked.

{Humans and Bellidos both,} Riijkhan said. {And bring all the Psika sculptures that have been found, as well. We may require them for power.}

{I obey.} The Shonkla-raa stepped back and pulled out his comm.

Riijkhan turned back to me. “Help ourselves, you say?” he said. “No, Compton, I’m not so selfish. Your people will have the honor of walking before us down the path that leads to our final victory.”

I felt my stomach tighten. “Before they die?”

“Yes,” he said softly. “Before they die.”

THIRTY-TWO

I’d suspected Riijkhan’s grandiose offer hadn’t been driven by magnanimity, or even by some strange nod toward future history. But it wasn’t until the line of Humans and Bellidos began to file through the hatchway under Shonkla-raa supervision that I realized just how low Riijkhan’s motivations really were.

No matter how good the ship looked, it was very, very old. Old electronics and power sources had a tendency to decay over time, and depending on how much power was running through a given system such decay could be lethal.

So the slaves would go first. They would be the ones to turn on lights and power systems, and along the way to also trigger any faults or short-circuits or pressurized chemical tank failures. They would take the risks and die so their masters could live.

Riijkhan went in on the third wave, taking Bayta, McMicking, Morse, and me with him. We didn’t go far, ending up in what looked like a control/monitor room about twenty meters in from the hatchway. The leading edge of Humans and Shonkla-raa had already come by, and had used one of the Vipers to power up the banks of monitors arranged across two of the walls. Most of the screens showed large rooms, though their details could only be vaguely made out in the dim lighting that was still the norm across most of the ship. A couple of the screens also showed wide corridors, and one of them showed the hatchway through which Humans, Bellidos, and Fillies were still streaming. Four of the Shonkla-raa had seated themselves in the chairs at the control board and were gazing intently at the rows of controls or cautiously manipulating dials and keys.

“Probably a security office,” McMicking said, nodding toward the board. “You see those holsters on each of the chairs? Just about the right size for extra sidearms.”

“Looks like a rifle rack over there, too,” I agreed, nodding toward an empty rack behind the desks.

“Shouldn’t a security office also have a set of floor plans?” Bayta asked. “I don’t see anything like that.”

“It’s probably all computerized,” I said. “Or else it’s supposed to be displayed over there,” I added, pointing to the blank side wall.

The words were barely out of my mouth when one of the Shonkla-raa did something to his controls, and the deck plans popped up right where I was pointing. I got a glimpse of a maze of corridors and rooms before the view shifted to another deck with an entirely different maze. That one lasted a couple of seconds and was replaced by another, then by another, and another. Most of the decks, I noted, had one or two bright red spots in various places, usually in one of the larger rooms. About the time the tenth deck came along, I tentatively concluded the dots were the locations of the monitor cameras.

Finally, the series ended. {Excellent,} Riijkhan said. While I’d been busy gawking at the deck plans, I saw now, he’d been recording the whole sequence on his reader. {The monitor locations will indicate the most important rooms. We’ll begin with those.}

{There are sixty of them,} one of the Shonkla-raa at the board reported. {Approximately one for each six of us. How do you wish to proceed?}

{You four will remain here,} Riijkhan ordered. {Divide the rest into sixty search teams, one for each location.}

{And the slaves?}

{Distribute them among the teams,} Riijkhan said. {Instruct each team to make certain one or more of their slaves travels at the front. The slaves will also take the lead in all activation procedures, especially those involving the Psika sculptures.}

{I obey.} The Shonkla-raa pulled out a comm and began speaking into it.

Riijkhan turned back to me. “It won’t be long now,” he said. “Are you hungry? I could send for food if you’d like.”

“I’m fine, thanks,” I said.

“I’d like something,” Bayta said suddenly. “And something to drink, too.”

“Of course,” Riijkhan said. Now that he was about to get everything his evil little heart desired, he was all courtesy and goodwill. He pulled out his comm and gave the order.

I looked at Bayta. She couldn’t really be wanting to eat, not under these circumstances. She held my eyes for a moment, and then nodded her head microscopically across the room toward Morse. Frowning, I looked casually over at him.