very eager to make use of genetic screening, when the alternative is a forty percent chance of some mental or physical defect.”
Donalt Trace sat in silence for a long moment as he considered that. His one virtue was that he was indeed an honest man. But fairness and honesty were by no means the same thing; he knew that he was not always fair, and he was less fair than he believed himself to be. He proved just that.
“You are right on one thing,” he agreed. “That is a simpler, more effective idea. I’m sure our planners thought of that and rejected it. Your mistake must be in thinking that we are too backward and shortsighted to know better. You and I both know that we intend to eventually breed whole races of workers designed for specific tasks.
“I know all about this great democracy that your Republic values so highly. Wonderful theory, but it works only on paper. It is a shaky, effectual form of government at best. Man was barely able to govern himself at his height; he certainly cannot now, in the days of his decline. The fact remains that there is an inherent flaw in any system that tries to reciprocate political power back into society at large. Power is used effectively when it is concentrated into the hands of those who have been trained to use it. And do not think that the sector families look upon our civilization as a society of slaves to serve us. We are not the masters. We serve just as anyone else, and we have bred ourselves thousands of years to be what we are.”
Velmeran sighed at the hopelessness of the situation. “Donalt Trace, I did not come all this way to discuss philosophy with a tyrant. But I will tell you this. I am in control of this situation. I will escape, and I will destroy this ship in the process. And if you want to escape with your own life, you will abandon this ship within the next half hour.”
Trace only laughed. “You sound so sure of yourself, you almost have me worried. Unfortunately for you, I do know the value of a good bluff.”
He paused as his communicator beeped imperiously, and held the small device to his ear for private listening.
“Right away,” he responded tersely before putting away the device. He turned back to his prisoner. “I have to go up to the bridge for a while. I know that you won’t mind me leaving you in such fine company.”
“Not at all.”
He turned to the sentries. “If he so much as gets off the stool, you are to shoot to kill. Is that understood?”
“Understood,” the sentries agreed in a ragged chorus, including the one still lying on the floor. Trace left, locking them inside the room.
Nearly three-quarters of an hour later, Lenna Makayen was concluding her sixth act of judicious sabotage. She would have liked to have done more, but she was running out of time. Lieutenant Skerri stood well to one side, watching her closely. His obvious concern told her that she must be doing something very right. He had been very reluctant to cooperate, but he also had shown very little tolerance for the minor beating he had received at her hands. Bill, the sentry, stood at the door leading into the weapons chamber, watching his prisoner while he listened down the hall. His electronic patience was inexhaustible.
“There’s the last one, all set,” she said to herself with satisfaction.
“Damn it, don’t you appreciate the seriousness of what you’re doing?” Skerri demanded, resuming their previous argument. “Sabotage of a Union warship is a very serious crime. You would do well to give yourself up now.”
“I would, now? And why is that?”
“Because what you’ve done is more than illegal, it’s treasonous!” he declared. “You’re obviously not a Starwolf, but you are in league with them. Your crime is punishable by death. You should surrender yourself immediately and accept your punishment.”
Lenna set down her socket wrench to stare at him. “That has to be the most damned foolish, illogical argument I’ve ever heard. ‘Give yourself up, and we’ll thank you before we kill you.’ You’re in no position to make threats, boy.”
She turned back to her work of securing the inner access plates, hurrying now because she was afraid that it might be getting late. She had a long trip back to her fighter yet. She had no desire to be inside this ship when the Methryn attacked, especially after her own tampering.
“Where are you from?” Skerri asked almost politely.
“Scotland,” she snapped.
“Sounds like a frontier planet.”
“It is. Named after Sir Walter Scott, the first colonist.”
“How did you happen to fall in with Starwolves?”
“Answered an advertisement in the paper, just like everyone,” she replied absently.
“But why?”
She afforded him another of those impatient stares. “Because I think your Union sucks rotten eggs. At least my new friends don’t pitch nuclear missiles at defenseless planets just to get your attention.”
Skerri remained silent, lacking a ready answer for that. His arguments were not going very well, so he finally admitted to himself that he was not going to convince this girl to surrender. Instead he now thought it best to allow her to conclude her business so that she would let him go in time to warn the ship about the damage she had done. He really was a trusting soul, and not particularly bright.
“You will be leaving when you finish here?” he asked guardedly.
“Of course. And you…” She paused to look at him. “I can’t take you with me, and I certainly can’t just let you go. I really cannot risk your getting free if I left you tied up somewhere, and you’ll be dead soon enough anyway.”
She looked over at Bill, and Skerri knew that she meant to have the renegade sentry shoot him. Lenna turned back to her work unconcerned, but he watched the motionless sentry. After a moment the machine moved for the first time since they had arrived, turning its head to look out the door.
“The lift door just opened,” Bill reported. “I also hear a sentry approaching from the other direction.”
“Check it out, Bill,” Lenna told him. “I can keep an eye on Captain Dauntless. I’ll blow his head off if he makes a sound.”
Although she had been addressing the sentry, Lieutenant Skerri was quite aware that her final statement had been for his benefit. Nor did he doubt that she meant it, and he had nothing to lose except a couple of minutes off a severely limited life expectancy. As soon as Lenna returned to her work of securing the outer access panel, he launched himself directly at her. She saw him coming at the very last moment and threw herself well to one side, unfortunately in the opposite direction of the gun that she had laid handy on top of the launch tube. Skerri knocked the gun off the top of the tube as he landed against it, and it disappeared into the shadows beyond.
The two combatants came off the floor at the same time, ready for battle. Lenna had three distinct advantages: she was much stronger, quicker, and Skerri was under the mistaken impression that both of those advantages were his. She was more than a match for him, at least until he snatched up the long-handled socket wrench. That put her on the defensive from the start.
Skerri advanced menacingly, swinging the wrench in a wide horizontal sweep as if it were a club or battleax. Lenna avoided it easily, but his tactic was simple; each swing drove her half a meter toward the wall at her back. After the second attempt she followed his swings with a quick rabbit punch to the jaw. Skerri endured three of these dizzying punches before changing his tactics, lifting his swing high enough to make her duck. While bent over, she delivered one more vicious punch to his stomach, ducked under his arm, and followed with a joint-snapping two-fisted thump in the middle of his back. The combination so thoroughly knocked the wind out of him that he nearly passed out and was forced to retreat.
Skerri returned to the battle with a little more respect for his opponent. He held the wrench in one hand, leaving him freer to hit and kick. That helped a bit; he did not score any hits on Lenna, but at least she was scoring fewer hits on him. But Skerri was clearly on the defensive, and Lenna knew that she only had to bide her time until Bill returned.
After a minute of this a sentry ambled into the chamber and paused just inside the door. Lenna glanced over her shoulder and realized that this was not Bill. There was no heavy rifle strapped over his left shoulder. While Bill had been checking the lift, the second sentry had heard the sounds of the fight and hurried to investigate. She was
