afford to accommodate the medical emergency.
But that was it, though . .. The technical issues had been resolved, the twins were ready, and so was the armada. More than ready, it was eager, which made the attack that much more imperative. To turn away now, to show the slightest hesitation, would be political suicide. Andragna looked up at the screens, saw the transport enter the bay, and gave the preparatory orders.
“Message the fleet: ‘Prepare to attack—May the gods be with us.’ Ready the twins. Remove all safeties. Launch on my command.”
A digital countdown appeared in the upper lefthand comer of every screen. All eyes went there, ears lay flat against skulls, and the seconds leaked away.
Jepp had detected something of a sea change and, in keeping with his somewhat elastic standards of behavior, was already seeking to accommodate it. Somehow, against all logic, the balance of power had started to shift. That being the case, it made sense to put something into the Confederate bank. And why not? The attack on Long Jump could be blamed on the Sheen, the attempt to assassinate him would generate some sympathy, and the whole thing could turn around.
The exprospector saw the shimmery blue force field that blocked the corridor and waved ChienChu forward. “Come on! It’s meant for robots ... we can pass through.”
The industrialist took Jepp at his word, charged forward, and staggered as what felt like a thousand volts of electricity blasted his electronic nervous system.
Veera saw the cyborg convulse, grabbed his tunic, and pulled him back. The industrialist collapsed on the deck. His limbs twitched as his overloaded system sought to rid itself of excess electricity. ChienChu found it difficult to speak. “Go—Veera. It’s—up—to—you.”
Veera wanted to help the human but knew she lacked the necessary skills. There was something about ChienChu that reminded the teenager of her father. She turned to find that Jepp blocked her path. The human wore a sneer. “Hold it right there—I’m in charge now. Nobody messes with the Hoon unless I say so.”
Veera considered her options. Jepp was larger than she was, much larger, which pretty much settled the issue. Unless .. Veera issued a short burst of staccato song. Sam was in the air and halfway to Jepp’s throat before the exprospector knew what was happening.
The Thraki robot landed, sank alloy hooks into the human’s chest muscles, and transformed itself into a configuration Jepp had never seen before. He brought his hands up, grabbed the machine’s torso, and tried to pull it off. But the robot’s steel claws had an excellent grip. The machine was literally in his face. A heavily serrated blade appeared, started to spin, and produced a mindnumbing whine. Something pushed it forward, the human felt something press against his throat, and saw blood jet left to right. That’s when Jepp tried to speak, tried to countermand Veera’s orders, but couldn’t produce the necessary air. There was time to think, however—to process one last thought: It wasn‘t fair. Darkness closed around him.
Veera averted her eyes, bypassed the body, and made for the end of the corridor. Her body had been designed for flight rather than speedy travel along the ground, but the Prithian did the best she could and approached the final hatch. There was no reason to think that it would open, and no way that she could force it, but the teen was determined to try. Because ChienChu wanted her too, because he reminded the Prithian of her father, because there was nothing else to do.
The Hoon observed the first soft body’s death with the same dispassionate neutrality that it applied to its own imminent demise. Time had passed, a need had been fulfilled, and programming had been triggered. The AI issued a command. The hatch hissed open. Veera stepped through. Booly entered the Friendship’s bridge, heard someone yell, “Attention on deck!” and waved them off.
“As you were.”
Admiral Chang, Admiral Tyspin, and Captain Boone stood in a tightly clustered group. They waved him over. He nodded to each in turn. “Thanks for the page ... The Turr ambassador had me trapped. What’s up?”
“Something pretty damned big,” Chang answered. “Listen to this.” She nodded to a tech. The rating touched a button, and ChienChu’s voice flooded the bridge. There was static, lots of it, plus some dropouts: “ChienChu here— unintelligible—relay to General Booly, Admiral Chang, or...” The words were buried by an avalanche of static.
Booly raised both of his eyebrows. “He’s alive! That’s wonderful but...”
Tyspin raised a hand. “Hold on, sir. There’s more.”
The static cleared, and the voice reemerged. “What that means is that the Hoon has been deactivated, repeat deactivated, so the rest of its fleet ..”
The voice faded as a trim looking lieutenant approached Admiral Chang. “You were correct, ma’am . . . The entire Sheen fleet appears to have powered down.”
The Hoon was dead! And, without its intelligence to guide them, the less autonomous computers were switching to standby. That changed everything. Booly’s mind started to race. “Get Andragna on the horn—tell him the news. Where’s that transport?”
