Deathstalker

'Come, kinsman; it is a good day for someone else to die.'

Hazel d'Ark and Ruby Journey had pulled up chairs around the kitchen table and were passing a second bottle of wine back and forth between them. They leaned well back, their heels up on the edge of the table, and rocked themselves gently. Hazel didn't much care for the wine, but she determinedly drank her share, hoping it would quiet the growing tension within her. She always got jumpy when there was action coming up. She was okay once things got started, because then she was too busy to be scared. She just hated the waiting. She looked across at Ruby's calm, impassive features and felt like throwing something heavy at her. Nothing ever bothered Ruby.

'So,' said Ruby. 'Are you sleeping with him?'

Hazel blinked. 'With who?'

'The aristo, of course. I've seen the way he looks at you. He's pretty enough, and looks like he might know a few things.'

'Not my type,' said Hazel briskly.

'You've never been choosy before. Some of the creeps you've shacked up with would have had to take a gene test to prove they were human. You always were a sucker for a nice smile and a cute little ass. Personally, I quite fancy Moon.'

'The Hadenman? You've got to be kidding! I'm not even sure how much of him is human. He probably only does it with vending machines.'

'Still, I bet I could make him crack a smile, if I put my mind to it. Besides, I'm told Hadenmen have all kinds of… special augmentations. And there's always Jack Random. A bit older and more battered than I usually go for, but he was always something of a hero of mine.'

Hazel raised an eyebrow. 'I didn't think you had any heroes.'

'You don't know everything about me. And don't you dare tell him.'

'Don't worry, your sick little secrets are safe with me. Ruby, why are you still here?'

'You promised me a good fight, and all the loot I could carry.'

'The odds are there isn't going to be any loot, Ruby. Odds are we're going to die down there. The Empire could turn up here anytime, and you can bet they'll come in force. I've been in my share of tight corners, but never anything like this. There's no back door this time. Just a rock and a hard place.'

'Stop hogging the bottle,' said Ruby. She took it from Hazel and hefted its weight disappointedly. 'Going to need a new one soon. Look, it's not as if we had anywhere to run. Our only way out of here is on the Standing, and since Giles is the only one who can pilot it, and he's determined to check out the Wolfling World first… we're stuck, girl. Look on the bright side.'

'What bright side?'

'Give me time, I'll think of something. Look, it's just another fight. Win or die, we'll have a good time.'

'But its not just us anymore. If we really can get our hands on the Darkvoid Device, and wake the Hadenmen, we'd be in a position to tell the whole damned Empire to go to hell and make it stick. We could change everything, put everything to rights. If we die, that chance dies with us. That's what's getting me so jumpy.'

'Things happen as they happen,' said Ruby. 'And once things get this big, people like you and me don't matter anymore. If we ever did. All we can do is play our part, not take any stupid risks, and try and keep from getting our heads blown off. Leave it to the heroes like Random and the Deathstalkers. We'll just keep to the sidelines, fight when we have to and keep our eyes open for the main chance. There's got to be something down there worth stealing.'

Hazel grinned. 'Don't ever change, Ruby. Stay as mercenary, self-centered and downright vicious as you always have. The universe would seem so boring without people like you in it.'

Ruby looked at her calmly. 'I don't know what you're talking about. Sometimes I think I'm the only sane person on this ship.'

The rebels all ended up together again in front of the main viewscreen on what passed for a bridge on the Last Standing. It was a large open area, with no visible control panels, and absolutely nowhere to sit down. Not for the first time Owen felt more than a little superfluous. Giles lectured them in his dry, sardonic way, and all listened with varying amounts of politeness. Even so, none of them seemed in any hurry for the briefing to be over.

'The castle's sensors show extensive workings deep below the surface of the planet,' said Giles. A map appeared on the viewscreen before them. It was intimidatingly detailed. Just looking at it made Owen's head ache. 'Most of the workings weren't here the last time I made planetfall. They form the city built by the Hadenmen. It's situated beyond the Madness Maze, and since the transfer portal I left behind is located on the opposite edge of the Maze, we have no option but to pass through the Maze to reach the city. Unfortunately.'

'And what does that mean, exactly?' said Owen. 'You've never actually explained what the Madness Maze is.'

Giles pursed his lips thoughtfully. 'It's an enigmatic structure, built by the Wolflings, not long before they were all wiped out. Well, all but one. He guards the Maze. Sometimes I think he does it not to keep people out but to make sure the Maze doesn't escape. And whatever he knows about the Maze, he has always kept to himself. The Maze… is hard to describe; you'll have to see it for yourselves. I have never passed through it myself, but its function is no secret. The Maze affects the mind and body, shaping them in new, different ways. I believed it was originally intended to raise the Wolflings to the next step up on the evolutionary scale. Fortunately, and I use the word advisedly, they never got a chance to use it. I'm not sure Humanity could have survived what the Wolflings might have become.'

'Hold everything,' said Hazel. 'If the Hadenman built their city beyond the Maze, does that mean they've all been through it?'

'I believe not,' said Moon. 'The original scientists excavated down through the frozen planet to a position of their own choosing: a set of huge natural caverns. They collapsed the tunnel after them, at the end, to cover their traces and prevent anyone from following them. And at the end, I mink they saw the Maze as just another defense for when they were sleeping in their Tomb. I feel that I should point out that there are bound to be other defenses protecting the city. Theoretically, my presence should be enough to disarm them.'

'But you're not sure,' said Ruby Journey.

'No,' said Moon. 'I have never been here before.'

'This just gets better all the time,' said Jack Random. 'If the Maze doesn't get us, the city might. And that's not counting whatever the Empire finally sends after us.'

'If rebellion was simple, everyone would be doing it,' said Giles.

Random just looked at him.

They passed through the transfer portal one after the other, bristling with weapons, and found themselves on a shimmering silver plain. It stretched away around them in a vast circle, surrounded on all sides by darkness. The only structure was a tall metal door, some twelve feet tall and six feet wide, standing apparently unsupported in the exact center of the circle. The metal was a dark bronze in color, gleaming dully in the shimmering light from the floor. It was carved in rows of deeply-etched markings from an unfamiliar language. Owen moved forward to examine the markings, and the others let him do it. Owen shot them a scornful look as they hung back, and stood as close to the door as he could without actually touching it. The etched figures teased his eyes with hints of meaning, but remained stubbornly enigmatic. He heard a faint hum emanating from the door: a low, throbbing sound that seemed almost to echo in his bones. There was a feeling of imminence in the air, of something about to happen. Owen shifted his holster on his hip so that his disrupter hung a little more readily to his hand, and brought his face right up to the markings. A dim shadowy reflection scowled back at him with cold eyes.

'Can you translate any of those scratchings?' Hazel said finally.

'Show a little respect,' said Owen, without looking away from the door. 'I've seen similar symbols on some extremely obscure records from nine centuries ago, but I think this is some kind of variant or dialect. It's got absolutely nothing at all in common with standard Imperial characters. I doubt there are a dozen scholars in the Empire apart from me who would even recognize it.'

'All right, aristo, we're impressed,' said Ruby Journey. 'But can you read it? What does it say?'

'Essentially: Go away. Do not pass through this door or something extremely nasty will happen to you. Only it's not a threat. I think it's a warning… You're being very quiet, Giles. Anything you'd like to volunteer about this door?'

'Well, I can tell you one interesting thing about it. It wasn't here the last time I was here. None of this was. It was just an ordinary cavern, hacked out of the solid rock by the Wolflings.'