The retro-rockets fired, jarring the library…
The time was coming swiftly…
XVI
“You sir over there,” Corgi said, pointing across the room full of Muties to an empty chair next to Mayna.
“Next to her?”
“Why not?”
“She hates my every cell.”
Corgi smiled sarcastically. “Sure.”
“She does. Please seat me elsewhere.”
“You really believe—”
“Listen, Corgi, she will claw me to pieces if I go near her.”
“You fool.”
“Look, don't call me that. Everyone has had a turn now, so shut up.”
Corgi grabbed his arm. “No. You are a fool. You are a fool not to see when someone is in love with you. Surely, your Tarnilee never looked at you the way Mayna does.”
Tohm wrinkled his brow in uncertainty. “I—”
“You're a fool. I'll say it again: you're a fool.”
“No. Look, she said I didn't understand—”
“And you didn't. You didn't understand that she had been taught to fight normals, to consider herself better, and she fell, instead, in love with one. All of her values and mores were upset. She fought you to bolster herself, her own beliefs that were being shattered by your presence. She fell in love — well, on first sight. But all you could think of was finding Tarnilee. Did you ever tell Mayna you loved her?”
“No!”
“But you do, don't you?”
He tried to deny it, but he could not find the words.
“She wanted to be sure that you understood us, for, if you really did, it would justify her love. Now go sit next to her. The time has come.”
He hesitated a moment, then struck off across the room. There were Muties in every chamber of Triggy Gop's belly. Two thousand of them. The remainder of their numbers were hooked electronically to the Old Man. The moment had come. He slumped into the chair, looked at her. “Good luck,” he said at last.
“Thank you, Hero Tohm.”
“For God's sake—”
But he was interrupted by Triggy. “Okay, let us prepare ourselves. We may not have time, but we can try. And if we succeed today, let us not forget that it was Hunk, a brave and intelligent man, who died for us and gave us this plan. Now, first stage.”
Tohm looked about at the weird conglomeration, the two-headed men, the graceful nymphets with eyes that constantly changed colors, the winged people. They were a wonderful phantasmagoria. As a single entity, they slipped into a trance.
The last word Mayna spoke was this: “Tohm.”
He looked to her full lips as they closed into sleep. Perhaps Corgi had been right. Perhaps he was the greatest fool to come down the space lanes in a thousand years. He put a hand on her shoulder, though she could not feel it, and waited. “Stage two,” Triggy Gop said. There was no noticeable outward change in the Muties, but Tohm thought he sensed a spiritual drawing away.
“Tohm!” Triggy snapped through his wire mouth.
He sat erect. “What?”
“The Romaghins. Good heavens, ten of their Jumbos are closing in on Columbiad. They'll find us before we can act.”
“I could lead them on a wild goose chase with Jumbo Ten.”
“Take her with you,” Triggy said.
“But—”
“She wouldn't want you to go without her. She didn't have to save you back on Basa II. The others were leaving early. They would have been gone before you were tortured, before you could have spilled their location to the police.”
His mouth fell open involuntarily. “Everyone knew but me.”
“You were a particular fool. Now move.”
He lifted the slight catgirl and carried her into the room with the waiting Jumbo. If this were death, and that seemed likely, it would not be lonely.
“Stage three,” Triggy said behind.
They were drifting like deadly seeds above Columbiad, scanning the planet below. Tohm brought J-10 up from the horizon and in behind them. They were too busy searching for the Mutie congregation on Columbiad to scan space too. He opened his corn-system to listen in on whatever they said. If they were not manned by Romaghins and were organic brain directed, he would not be as fast as they in battle. But he had the advantage of surprise. He joined their formation at the rear and armed all seven nuclear rockets. He would have to cut the odds swiftly.
“I HAVE THEM. MERICIVE CITY. I THINK ITS A FLOATING LIBRARY.”
“FEDERATION CONSPIRACY!” another said.
“WE WILL CLOSE—”
There was no sense in waiting. Every second would bring them closer to Triggy, and that was just what he had to stop. He set each rocket to home in on a different point of the formation, snapped the All Go button, and rocked with the concussion. There was an intensely brilliant flash as the seven nuclears exploded. But it was gone just as quickly as it had appeared. Seven Jumbos had been pulverized by direct hits, and one more had been crushed when caught between two blasts. The other two were still stunned by the change of events.
“WHO'S LEFT! WHO'S LEFT!” the command Jumbo barked. “WHO ARE YOU TWO?”
“THIS IS SANGELITH,” the second machine reported.
He could waste no time. He didn't know what name to report in under, so he blasted Sangelith with his laser cannon, boring a hole through the tough hide into the power area.
“RENEGADE. MY GOD, RENEGADE!” the command machine was screaming.
A beam lanced out at Tohm, missed, wild as all Hell.
Mayna moaned in the seat next to him.
He pulled back on the dive stick, took the Jumbo down. But not fast enough. A beam caught the visor cameras, blew them out, blinding the ship. He would have to rely on radar alone. And, suddenly, that was going to be bad, for a dozen new blips appeared, moving in from deep space. The lone Romaghin was getting aid. And if these newcomers had been watching the battle via radar, they knew the guilty party.
He put a hand out and stroked the silken hair of the beautiful creature next to him.
The distant blips were growing larger. He could not fight them with a laser cannon, not when they had seven missiles each. As he thought of the missiles, three smaller blips snapped into view on the screen, closing fast. There would now be only seconds.
He unsnapped her safety belt and drew her into his lap. He only wished she could be conscious now to tell him he had been a fool. He looked back to the screen just as the missiles and Jumbos disappeared completely…
