It had all happened in the space of a minute. The people around Paul stared upward, stunned into silence.
The black craft looped back and dropped toward the temple. It hovered erratically, its stasis engines stuttering. Then Paul saw something that gave him another jolt: the five-circle UNSA logo was emblazoned behind its stubby wings.
'It must have taken a hit,' Selmer said. Suddenly the combat car churned back into
motion and roared down the side of the temple building. The big gun on the top lifted. Something streaked toward the black streamship. Part of a stubby wing sheared free, and the craft's stasis engines roared. A narrow beam lanced down into the cockpit of the combat car. The front of the car lifted momentarily; then it crashed to the ground and the engine roar died.
The streamship slid sideways and dropped another few meters. Someone in the crowd yelled, and a new panic set in as people pushed back to clear a place for the craft. It came down on its struts with a hard thump, bringing up a pall of dust. The canopy swung open and a man in black fatigues jumped to the ground, followed by a faint wisp of smoke. He barely had time to regain his balance before one of the deacons near the wall fired a dart that narrowly missed him. The man stopped and stared at the white-robed deacon, then had to duck as two more darts flew toward him. He dived for cover behind one of bis craft's landing struts.
Paul craned his neck to look over the crowd and saw Jacque and Karyn still huddled against the back wall with Sabastian.
'Let's get out of here!' Selmer hissed in his ear, tugging at his arm.
'Wait.' Paul looked toward the grounded streamship. The deacons and several uniformed boys were converging on the man behind the landing strut.
'C'mon,' Paul said, and began pushing his way through the crowd.
'•Wait!' Selmer caught up with him. 'What are you doing?'
'He saved our lives. We can't leave him there.' He and Selmer had nearly passed the grounded combat car when one of the deacons saw them. He yelled, and several of them began running toward Paul and Selmer. Paul pulled Selmer around behind the combat car. The idling engine rumbled faintly.
'Now what?' Selmer yelled. 'Lord, we've had it—'
With the deacons' attention on Paul and Selmer, the man behind the landing strut broke from cover and zigzagged across the courtyard toward them. The deacons and Sons were having trouble pushing their way through the panicky crowd, and Paul knew they would reach the car a few paces behind the man in the black fatigues.
The man was yelling something as he approached, and when he got closer, Paul recognized him. Erich Frakes.
'Get in!' Frakes yelled, already pulling himself up over the car's fan skirts. Paul followed and fell into the cockpit beside Frakes. The driver was a husk of carbon. Frakes grasped the charred body and threw it over the side, then slid into the driver's seat. Paul managed to pull himself into the seat beside him, gagging at the stink of blood and hot William Greenleaf
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metal. Selmer crowded onto the narrow rear bench, cursing loudly.
Frakes worked the hand controls and the fans roared. The car vibrated, then lifted with a jerk. A comer touched down with a shrill grinding and rocks flew out from under the skirts. Frakes gunned the engine and the fans roared again. The car shuddered, then slammed unexpectedly sideways into the temple, ripping off a corner of the building.
'Back there!' Paul yelled, pointing. 'The three people at the wall—'
The car's vidscreens were out. Frakes half lifted himself to see through the hatchway. Fighting the controls, he brought the car around and headed it toward the back wall. He slammed through the corner of a dormitory, then grounded the car beside the wall. Jacque climbed up over the skirts, half carrying Sabastian. Paul stood and reached out to take Sabastian's arms and helped him into the back. Jacque climbed inside, and Karyn fell into the seat beside him, breathing hard, eyes flaring.
'Get us out of here!' she rasped. The fans screamed again as the car lifted and swung around. It plowed into the wall and wallowed briefly as Frakes fed more power to the forward fans, lifting the front of the car up over the debris. Then the car was careening wildly across the wide expanse of lawn behind the temple.
Chapter Sixteen
'WATCH OUT!' PAUL YELLED.
