'Yes, and they saw you coming. If we survive this, you could always ask for your money back. Or claim it on the insurance.'
'It isn't bloody insured!'
Jack Random looked at the Hadenman. 'Didn't you just know he was going to say that?'
'Owen,' said Hazel, 'shut the hell up and let the AI get on with it. He's in the best position to know what's necessary.'
'All right,' said Owen, sulkily. 'Assuming by some miracle we survive the landing, what's waiting for us down there? Will the planet support human life?'
'Air and gravity are within acceptable limits,' said the AI briskly. 'Nothing you can't cope with. It's pretty damn hot down there, though.'
'It doesn't matter,' said Random. 'It's not as if we had any choice in the matter. Description of land masses, please.'
'Did you hear that?' said Ozymandius. 'He said please! I'm glad there's someone on this ship with a few manners. Land masses: just the one, stretching from pole to pole, with a handful of inland seas. Unusual. The land mass is covered with varying degrees of jungle. Life signs all over the place, big and small, but no indications of intelligent life. No starport, no cities, no gatherings of artificial structures. In fact, no structures at all that I can see. However, I do have a location for one structure in my memory files, courtesy of your father, Owen. Exact coordinates for the Last Standing of the original Deathstalker. However, I have to say I see nothing at all where it's supposed to be. I can only assume it's shielded in some way.'
'The Last Standing,' said Owen softly. 'This is where he came and made his stand against the Shadow Men. It's been a legend in my Family for generations.'
'What happened when they finally met?' said Hazel.
'No one knows. None of them were ever seen again. Head for the coordinates, Oz. Put us down as close to it as you can.'
The ship shook again, and then steadied itself. 'That was the last remnants of the outer hull, Owen,' said the AI. 'All we've got left now is the basic shell. I've managed to steer us into a glide path that has steadied our descent, but unfortunately we now have a new problem.'
'Hit me with it,' said Owen resignedly.
'I cannot continue to hold this ship together and pilot us in for a safe landing. The moment I release my hold on the ship's systems to compute a landing, they'll fall apart so fast it'll make your head spin. But if I don't work out an exact plan for our landing, we are going to end up scattered over a hell of a lot of jungle. I'm open to suggestions, including prayer.'
Owen realized everyone was looking at him and shook his head quickly. 'Sorry, people, I just bought the ship. I haven't a clue on how to fly it. That's what I put Oz in for. Hazel, you're a pilot. Why don't you take over?'
'Because I'm not qualified to handle anything this complex. And in a situation like this, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Ruby?'
The bounty hunter shook her head. 'Same as you. You need an expert.'
'Then I guess it's down to me,' said Random. 'As always. I've flown everything else in my time, I don't see why this should be any different. So here I come again, to save the day.'
'That won't be necessary,' said Tobias Moon in his inhuman buzzing voice. 'I'm a Hadenman. I have experience as a pilot, and I can interface directly with the ship's computers. You haven't flown a ship in years. Random, and you are not what you used to be. Logically, I have to be the better bet.'
'I'm supposed to trust my life to a Hadenman who thinks he can talk to computers?' said Hazel. 'Great. Wonderful. Why don't I just shoot myself now and get it over with?'
'Stop complaining, or I'll help you,' said Owen. 'Moon, we're in your hands.'
The Hadenman nodded briefly, his face impassive. He closed his glowing golden eyes, and his breathing slowed until it was barely perceptible. Owen watched him closely. He was desperate to do something, but all he could do was watch and hope. The Hadenman's voice suddenly sounded through all their comm implants.
'I'm patched into the flight computers through my implant. Hang on to something. The ride's about to get a bit bumpy.'
The ship rolled sickly from one side to the other as the engines suddenly roared with new life and purpose. The lights flickered and grew dim, and a side door blew open. Flames burst into the lounge from the inferno in the next compartment Owen threw himself aside, and the heat of the flames passing scorched his bare face and hands. Jack Random tried to close the door, but the heat drove him back. Hazel and Ruby Journey picked up the drinks cabinet between them and advanced on the flames, using it as a shield. They pushed back the flames, but couldn't let go of the cabinet long enough to make a grab for the door. Owen plunged forward, put his shoulder to the door and slammed it shut. Hazel and Ruby wedged the cabinet against the door to keep it closed, and then all three collapsed on the shaking floor.
Owen studied his hands carefully. They were red and smarting, but didn't seem to be actually burned. He'd been lucky. He looked up sharply as the roar of the engines faltered and then cut out. The ship dropped like a stone. Owen's stomach lurched, and he looked round for something to grab onto. The sudden quiet was deafening, and the fall seemed to go on forever. And then the engines roared to life again, slowing the descent like a kick in the pants. The
His head ached, but he could hear the crackle of flames nearby, and he knew that was important. He opened his eyes, wasted some breath on a few curses, and then forced himself back to his feet. The floor was steady again, though at something of an angle, but his legs weren't. He stamped his feet and shook his head to clear it. He'd be weak later, when there was time. He looked around him, coughing painfully as the thickening smoke irritated his lungs. The fire in the next compartment had blown away the door and what was left of the drinks cabinet and had taken a firm hold on one wall of the lounge.
'Oz, talk to me! Status report!'
There was only quiet, and the rising roar of the flames. He heard someone coughing close at hand and stumbled forward through the smoke to find Hazel trying to drag a semiconscious Ruby Journey toward the far door. He grabbed hold of Ruby's leathers, helped haul her over to the door and kicked it open. There was only a flickering light in the corridor beyond it, but the air seemed clearer.
'Head straight on, and you'll get to the main airlock,' said Owen, fighting to control his cough. 'You get your friend out; I'll bring the others. Move it!'
Hazel snarled something in return, but he'd already turned away. He raised his cloak up over his mouth and nose and plunged back into the smoke. It was already so thick he couldn't see more than a foot or so ahead of him. He found Jack Random by almost falling over him. The old rebel was crawling along the floor, down where the smoke was thinnest, but he'd lost all sense of direction. Owen helped him up and got him to the far door. He sent Jack after Hazel and Ruby and then hesitated in the doorway. Tobias Moon was still in there, but Owen didn't know if he had it in him to go hack into the smoke again. His lungs were aching and his head was swimming. If he went back into the lounge again, there was a good chance he might not be able to make it out again. And Moon was a Hadenman, after all. Just as Owen was only an outlaw. He swore dispassionately and went back into the smoke.
Finding the Hadenman was easier than finding the others; he was still where Owen had last seen him, sitting wedged in his corner. Owen tried to pick him up and was startled at the man's weight. He could barely move him. Augmentations, no doubt. He tried again, and still couldn't lift him. Owen struggled with the unmoving form and cursed it between coughs. Air was getting scarce, but he hadn't come this far to leave the Hadenman behind and run for the door. He boosted, and new strength flooded through his muscles. He pulled Moon to his feet, draped an arm over his shoulder and headed to where he thought the far door was. The smoke was everywhere now, thick and smothering. It was like walking at the bottom of a great gray sea. He could feel the heat of flames on both sides of him. And then Hazel was suddenly there with him, adding her strength to his, and between them they got the Hadenman out the far door and down the narrow corridor beyond, and finally out into the clearer air of the main airlock. The door slammed shut behind them.
Owen leaned back against it as he dropped out of boost, and the last of the strength went out of his legs. He dumped Moon unceremoniously on the floor and sat there beside him tor a while, coughing foul stuff up out of his
