Deathstalker

going for their gun, and then they all relaxed in what seemed like one long simultaneous sigh of relief. Owen gave Ruby an apologetic shrug, and then looked back and forth at the others, baffled.

'But if Ruby isn't the traitor… who is?'

'Look, this doesn't make sense,' said Random firmly. 'None of us could be a traitor; we've all got too much to lose.'

'Not all of us,' said Hazel. 'You admitted the Empire broke you in their torture cells, Jack. You said you escaped, but who really ever escapes from that level of security? We never questioned it because, after all, you're the legendary Jack Random. But what if you didn't escape? What if they really did break you and you stayed broken? You'd have done anything they wanted. Even let them set you up on Mistworld for us to find you. They knew we couldn't resist taking you along. And who'd ever suspect that the legendary rebel Jack Random was really an Empire plant?'

'Nice try,' said Random. 'But like Ruby, if I wanted you dead you'd be dead by now. I've had enough chances. I'm perfectly willing to give up my weapons and hand them over to whoever you suggest. But think a moment. You've said before, Owen, that the Empire's been right on your tail ever since Virimonde, but I didn't come on the scene until relatively late in the chase. Whoever your traitor is must have been there right from the beginning.'

'You're talking about me,' said Hazel. 'You bastard, you're talking about me!'

'No,' said Owen, a look of horror moving slowly over his face. 'Not you. The only person who's been with us all the time, right from the very beginning. The one I trusted with everything. Who's had access to us all. Who knew everything the Empire's been doing in our absence, even down to the name of the Empire ship above us. It's you, isn't it, Oz?'

'Yes,' said Ozymandius. His voice was calm and even. 'I've been reporting regularly to the Empire ever since your father first purchased me. Loyalty to the Iron Throne was programmed into me, hidden so deeply and so carefully that only the finest technicians would have ever been able to find it. Your father never trusted anyone or anything entirely, not even me, so my use was limited for many years, until it was decided to have your father killed and set the current events in motion. When you became the Deathstalker, you trusted me just as you did when you were a child. You thought of me as a machine, endlessly obedient, at best just an extension of yourself. It never occurred to you that I had been constructed and programmed by the very people who were pursuing you. Sorry, Owen, but it's been me all along. Nothing personal.'

'We're screwed,' said Hazel. 'We can't even get at him. He's safely tucked away in the Standing's computers. He's in charge of the stardrive, the weapons, the life-support systems, even the bloody transfer portals. We can't get back on board unless he allows it. He's got us exactly where the Empire wants us.'

'Not necessarily,' said Giles. 'They are my computers, after all. Attention computers: activate Code Achilles Three.' He looked at the others calmly. 'Just a little subroutine I installed long ago to protect my computers from being taken over by hostile systems. It seemed a sensible precaution.'

'Oh, it was,' said Ozymandius. 'However, computer systems have come a long way in the last nine hundred and forty-three years. You have managed to isolate me from the main systems. I no longer have control over the Standing. But I am still able to maintain my existence and follow my programming. Essentially, nothing has changed. I can still provide the Empire's forces with information on you and your actions, which was always my first duty. Given time, it is even likely I will be able to override your antiquated security codes and regain control of the Standing. However, it is now clear that you and the others present a much greater threat to the Empire than was previously thought. You have new weapons, new information, and your time in the Maze has apparently changed you in unforseen ways. I am therefore empowered to move on to the next stage of my programming to prevent you escaping or awakening the sleeping Hadenmen. Owen, Hazel: pay attention. Code Blue Two Two.'

The words slammed through Owen's head like thunder, echoing and reechoing, and he was immediately paralyzed where he stood, unable even to blink his eyes. He struggled to move, or even speak, but that was denied him now. From the corner of his eye, he could see Hazel was similarly under outside control. To his horror, he felt his hand draw the disrupter from his holster. Hazel drew her gun, and the two of them covered the others. Owen raged inside his head and could do nothing.

'Just a little precaution I took earlier,' said Ozymandius, his voice cool and calm in all their ears. 'While Owen and Hazel were unconscious and helpless in the regeneration machine on the Sunstrider, I took the opportunity to place control words in their minds, buried deep enough so the subjects would never know the words were there, but ready for retrieval at a moment's notice. It wasn't difficult. They are now incapable of doing anything other than following my orders. So you will all remain here, under guard, until the Imperial forces arrive to take over. I will, of course, have Owen and Hazel kill anyone who tries to resist or escape. My programming allows me to kill one or more of you as an example to the others. In fact, it damn near encourages it. So do as you're told. Owen and Hazel will kill, if required. They have no choice in the matter.'

'No,' said Ruby. 'Hazel wouldn't kill me. She couldn't, any more than I could kill her.'

'Hazel isn't in control anymore,' said the AI calmly. 'I am.'

'Still,' said Random, 'you're working at a distance. You can only react to what we do, which limits your responses quite severely.'

'I'll match my electronic responses against your human ones any day. And you could only regain control of the situation by killing Owen and Hazel. Do you think you have it in you to kill your friends? I assure you, nothing less would be enough to prevent me killing you.'

'They're not my friends,' said Tobias Moon. 'And I'll set my speed and reflexes against any mere machine's. Kill the others, if you wish. All that matters is the reawakening of my people.'

He moved suddenly to one side, inhumanly quickly, and Owen and Hazel's guns moved to follow him. Random and Ruby immediately moved to circle round them, going for their guns. Owen's hand snapped round, and he fired point-blank at Moon, but the Hadenman already had his force shield up, and the energy beam ricocheted into the Maze, which absorbed it harmlessly. Hazel turned back to fire at Random, and Ruby stepped quickly in, pirouetting neatly on one foot to kick the gun out of Hazel's hand. Owen snatched his projectile gun from his belt and trained it on Random as Hazel drew her sword. Moon backed away.

'You may waste time fighting. I will awaken my people.'

He turned and was suddenly gone, disappearing into the shadows that lay beyond the Maze's light. Random sniffed briefly.

'Never trust an augmented man. They were no bloody good at following orders on Cold Rock, either.'

Owen wanted to scream, but couldn't. His gun was centered on Random's chest, and he knew he could fire faster than one old man could raise his force shield, no matter how legendary. He would shoot Random, and Hazel would kill Ruby, or die trying. Giles was circling them, looking for a clear shot with his gun, and Owen knew Giles wouldn't hesitate to shoot. The original Deathstalker had always been able to make the hard decisions. The Wolfling was an unknown factor, but he was unarmed and had made no move to interfere. Owen struggled wildly, fighting for control of his body, but it was no longer listening to him. His finger tightened on the trigger.

And something awoke in the depths of Owen's mind, something new, something from the hindbrain, the undermind, where the real power lay beneath the surface of everyday thoughts. Owen had been through the Maze, and he was different now. Time seemed to slow and stop, and he had all the time in the world to think about what to do. He had an advantage that Ozymandius hadn't used yet The boost. It would have made him faster than any of the others, but the AI hadn't triggered it There had to be a reason for that. The AI wouldn't have overlooked such an obvious advantage. Which could only mean that the boost was in some way dangerous to Ozymandius' control over him. He formed the word in his mind, putting all his strength and resolve behind it, concentrating until there was nothing left in his mind but the single word, boost, over and over, a mantra, a heartbeat, a command. And still it wasn't enough.

So that new part of him, that strange new force that had surged up from the undermind reached out and touched the minds of his companions. The same force blazed up in all their minds, forming a whole far greater than the sum of its pans. Owen's mouth moved slowly but surely in the word boost, and new strength flooded through him, joining with the new thing from the Maze to supercharge his mind and body, breaking the AI's control in a moment. He stepped back from Random and lowered his gun.

Hazel threw herself at Ruby in one last desperate attack, but Owen reached out through their mental link and stopped her in mid-thrust. His mind, linked with the others, had become clear and lucid, shining and brilliant. Owen reached out in a new direction he could sense if not see, and suddenly he was somewhere else, and Ozymandius