knew what they were getting into.'
'Do you think the children knew?' said Silence. 'Do you think they knew why they were being driven through the streets like cattle and then slaughtered?'
'Their parents brought that on them,' said Frost. 'They bear the blame. We have to be strong, Captain. You used to know that. You gave the order to scorch the planet Unseeli.'
'And I'm still haunted by what I did there,' said Silence. 'I thought that there was no other way. And in the end it didn't solve anything, remember? Maybe we should be looking harder for other ways.'
'That's not our business,' said Frost. 'We don't make policy. We can't see the big picture.'
'When did we ever try?' said Silence.
David Deathstalker and Kit SummerIsle, along with Alice and Jenny, made a dash for the Standing on their flyer. It wasn't the safest of places to head for, with the Steward probably in charge there, but they were short on options. Besides, when David first came to Virimonde, he'd taken the precaution of salting the Standing's Security forces with men specifically loyal to him. Just in case. The Steward had already betrayed Owen, after all. Right now, David was hoping his people would have taken control by the time he got there.
They flew high above the clouds, at the fastest speed the flyer's straining engines could produce. Kit sat at the controls, leaving David to comfort Alice. She hadn't said a dozen words since the flyer took off. She'd seen her family die and her home destroyed, and her face had set in harsh, broken lines. David and Jenny took turns talking to her, trying to reach her, but she didn't seem to hear them. Something inside her had broken, and might never be put back together again. David gave her his gun to hold, and she seemed to find that comforting. In the end he left her with Jenny and went forward to stand beside Kit.
'How are we doing?'
'As well as can be expected,' the SummerIsle said calmly, not looking round. 'Our security codes probably no longer protect us from attack, but at this height and speed most of the machines on the ground shouldn't be able to track us. Our real problem is the flyer's energy crystals. According to the onboard computers, we don't have enough power left to get us all the way back to the Standing, and still maintain full shields.'
'Then drop the shields,' said David. 'Our only hope is to reach the Standing.'
'My thoughts exactly. How are the girls doing?'
'As well as can be expected. I still can't believe everything went wrong so fast. You've seen what's going on below. All the towns are in flames, and there are war machines and ground troops everywhere. This isn't a strike force, it's an invasion.'
'Look on the bright side,' said Kit. 'At least they're not scorching the planet.'
'I don't even want to think about that. I've never seen anything like this, Kit. They're butchering these people. My people. And it's all happening because of me.'
'No it isn't. It's happening because the peasants were stupid enough to fool around with democracy. They were just asking for trouble.'
'I let them do it. I could have said no. Could have cracked down hard, with my Security people. I'd have had to execute a few ringleaders, burn out some farms, but everyone else would have been safe. I failed them, Kit. It was my duty to protect these people, keep them from harm. My duty as a Deathstalker.'
'David, can we concentrate on the matter at hand, please? Like, what are we going to do if we get to the Standing and it's under the Steward's control?'
'Improvise. There are secret ways and hidden booby traps that only I and my people know about. Owen told me about them. If the Steward has got the Standing, I'll take it back from him. And then I'll cut off his treacherous head and use it as a footstool.'
'Cute. Assume we can take back the Standing. Then what? It won't hold out long against war machines, and we don't have anything there that would get us offplanet. Unless that's another of your little secrets?'
'Unfortunately not,' said David. 'But I wouldn't leave now, even if I could. My people are dying. I won't abandon them.'
'But what can you
'I'll think of something! I'm a Deathstalker!'
'That,' said Kit, 'is what got us into trouble in the first place.'
David thought about that, and then looked at Kit. 'They're after me. It's still not too late for you to split off on your own. Take the girls and head for cover. You used to be Lionstone's favorite. She might well take you back, if you publicly disowned me.'
'Not a chance,' said Kit. 'You're stuck with me. Forget the altruism and keep thinking. You're the brains in this partnership. Find us a way out of this.'
'Let me take the controls,' said David. 'I know this area better than you.'
They switched places, and Kit went back to check on the girls, to try and comfort them. He wasn't very good at things like that, but he supposed he ought to try. The attack ships came out of nowhere, disrupter fire raking the side of the unshielded flyer. Explosions rocked the small craft, and flames erupted in the cabin. David fought the controls as the ship plunged toward the earth. Kit grabbed a fire extinguisher and played the foam over the nearest flames. Smoke filled the cabin. Jenny hugged Alice to her. The flyer's engines cut off, and the ship dropped like a stone.
David kicked in the reserves, cursing in an endless quiet monotone. The ship's plunge slowed, but it was still going down. The attack ships struck again, and the whole rear of the flyer blew apart. Air rushed out the great hole in the rear, sucking the smoke out with it. The flames roared up, and Kit was forced back by the sheer intensity of the heat. David yelled for everyone to brace themselves, and frantically searched his sensor screens for somewhere reasonably flat to land. There was a field next to some open woodland, and David decided he'd settle for that. He took the flyer in, the controls fighting him all the way. The ground leaped up to meet them.
The ship hit hard, bouncing across the field and digging a great trench through the grass before finally skidding to a halt just a few yards short of the tree line. The cabin was full of smoke again. Flames roared as they took hold. David sat slumped forward in his chair, only his safety straps holding him upright. Blood ran down his face from a cut on his forehead, and he was hazily aware he'd cracked his head against something hard and unyielding on the way down. Smoke caught in his throat, and he came suddenly awake as he coughed and almost choked. Kit was suddenly there at his side, undoing his straps. David tried to help, but his hands were numb and awkward. Kit threw back the last of the straps, and David forced himself out of the chair and onto his feet. He felt like shit, but his head was clearing. He coughed again, and glared into the smoke.
'Alice! Where's Alice, and Jenny?'
'I'm sorry,' said Kit. 'David, I'm so sorry.'
David stared at him for a moment, and then pushed him aside and fought his way through the smoke and the rising flames to where Alice lay still next to a breach in the cabin wall. A disrupter blast had punched right through the metal hull, splaying the jagged steel edges inward. Blood dripped slowly from the sharp edges. Alice had been torn open all down her left side. Broken ribs showed clearly in the red meat, and half her guts were falling out her side. Her eyes were mercifully closed. David made himself look away to where Jenny lay trapped under the splayed-in metal, not far away. She was dazed, but still struggling feebly. David picked Alice up in his arms, and yelled back to Kit.
'I'm taking Alice! You get Jenny out!'
Kit loomed out of the smoke, and grabbed David's arm. 'David, she's…'
'I'm getting her out! You see to Jenny.'
Kit looked at Alice, and the red-and-purple guts hanging down from her side, and then nodded, and went over to kneel beside Jenny. David staggered over to the escape hatch, kicked open the door, and dropped down to the ground outside. Kit tugged at the jagged metal pinning Jenny to the floor. It was wide and heavy, and the sharp edges cut at his hands. He strained with all his strength, but couldn't budge the metal an inch. Jenny had shaken off her daze, and was looking up at him with desperate eyes. She couldn't help him. The metal had pinned her arms at her sides. Sweat was running down both their faces now, flushed from the raw heat of the approaching flames. Kit stopped pulling at the unresponsive metal and thought hard. The fire was getting closer, the flames leaping up as they consumed more and more of the cabin. If he didn't get Jenny out soon, the flames would cut him off from the only exit. Jenny saw his thoughts in his face.
'Kit! Don't leave me! Please, don't leave me to the fire!'
'No,' said Kit. 'That would be cruel.'
