she was smarter than I was—let her do it.
Gildron hummed a strange song. Willard dozed in his arms, exhausted. We were all tired. I pressed the edge of the knife against the heel of my thumb and gently sliced downwards. The skin split and a thin line of blood appeared. I could barely feel it. It was sharp, all right.
I put the knife down. Our three E's were beside me, along with our remaining contac and psybloc grenades. I had checked out all three E's—they were functioning perfectly. What could go wrong? There were no moving parts. Perfect, unholy tools. Just what we needed for our unholy trade.
It was cold. Too cold for humans, this far from home. I could not take my eyes off the viewport. Strange dark stars and an evil, dead world, rolling past below us. No human had ever seen this before. The Omega Spiral— Deadman! It was cold inside the O ship, but it was colder yet in my heart. I had never asked for this—but I certainly deserved it. I had stepped through the Legion gate—what a fool! I deserved everything I got. I should have known —I should have known! We were all going to die in this alien ship, on the far side of the galaxy. We were not going to get home—not ever!
'It's done,' Tara said. 'They're all marked. I'm certain you're right—and Tess confirms it. There's a lot more to do, but this much is done.'
'I'm not right,' I said. 'I'm wrong. It can't possibly be that simple. If it was, Willard could pilot this ship.'
'Yes—what simple beauty! Just follow the colors, and you're there. Why should things be so complicated? This is where science is leading us—to simplicity.'
'You're going to blow us all to hell.'
'Would you rather stay here?' Tara turned her lovely face to mine, blinking Assidic eyes. I had always been able to float away under her gaze. Even after I lost her, on our home world, Galgos, she had always been with me in the back of my mind.
'Maybe it wouldn't be so bad,' I said. I picked up the knife again and resumed honing it. 'We'd have ourselves. Plenty of food and water—we could live here forever, in our own world. We even have a kid to raise. And if you get tired of me, there's always Gildron.'
She turned back to the controls. 'You forget the O probably want their ship back.'
I did not respond. She was certainly right. I had gone for a walk into the dark heart of the ship when Tara was working on the controls. I had come back quickly. The place gave me the creeps. I certainly didn't want the bloody ship.
But the Legion did—and anybody else, including the O's, would have to kill me to get it back.
'You're bleeding,' Tara observed.
'Sorry.' I continued honing the knife. The damned thing was beautiful—like a woman.
'You'd better calm down, Wester.'
'I'm calm.'
'No you're not—your mind is very tense. Please try to relax. We'll be out of here shortly.'
'Out of here…right. Where shall we go?'
'Anyplace on the other side of the galaxy would be an improvement. I can set the nav function for anywhere.'
I held up the knife to examine the edge. There was blood on the blade. 'I'll tell you exactly where we're going,' I said.
A harsh buzzing. A light popped to life on an overhead control panel, flashing on and off. The buzzing continued.
'Now what?' I put the knife down again.
'There's no way of knowing,' Tara said calmly.
'Wonderful,' I said. 'That's just great! We're getting set to do a blind star hop on an alien ship, with no idea what we're doing, and now something else is wrong. That's just terrific!' I stood up. Something snapped past the viewport, outside. I froze.
'Calm down, Wester. Please! I'm starting to worry about you.'
I reached for an E and picked it up.
'What are you doing, Wester?'
'There's something out there!'
'What?'
'There's something out there!' I strained to see out the viewport—nothing. Only the stars, and the dead world we were orbiting.
'What do you mean?' Tara watched me warily.
'Something flashed past the viewport, Tara. I'm not imagining it. Something small and dark—and fast.'
'Are you sure?'
'I'm sure!'
'What did it look like?'
'I don't know! It was too fast!'
Gildron was with us now, picking up his E. Willard was awake and not happy about it.
'Tess!' Tara commanded her Persist. 'Scan near and far space. What's out there?'
'No life detected. The exterior configuration of the ship has recently changed.'
'What? Show us the change.' I picked up my tacmod. The changes were highlighted—five little protrusions, scattered randomly on the hull.
'Analysis, Tess.'
'First object examined is ninety-seven percent iridium mixed with silver, rhodium, palladium, gold, traces of other metals. Objects are bonded to the ship. Origin unknown. Further information required.'
'What does that mean?' I asked.
'It means someone's going to have to go out there,' Tara said, 'and see what it is. Iridium…hmm. According to Tess, it's a natural metal, found mostly in asteroids. But Tess says it shouldn't be ninety-seven percent—that's much too high. I don't know what this could be.'
'I'll suit up,' I said. Under siege—we were under siege. The bastards just wouldn't leave us alone. When was it going to end? And how?
'No, Wester. I'll go. You…stay here. Just stay here.'
'I'm all right.'
'I know you are.'
'All right, I'm not all right. But I'm going out there anyway—no arguments! Help me suit up.'
'Wester, please—let me go.'
'I'll go. We can't afford to lose you, Tara. I can't pilot this damned ship. I'll be all right! Quit worrying!'
###
Outside in the vac, I chewed on mags. I was ice cold, but I felt just fine. I walked the skin of the Omni ship like an intruding insect. The ship was a massive, triangular wedge of blackened cenite with a long nose boom.
I had come out an airlock topsides, but I was well back of the front viewport—I was alone. Cold stars burnt overhead, a magnificent panorama of alien constellations, strange nebulae of silver dust and a faint glowing road in the sky.
Atom's Road, I thought. It was the nucleus of our own galaxy, seen from the wrong side. And all we had to do was follow the stars to the other edge.
'Play me the stars, Sweety.' The music of the stars, crawling over my skin. Sweety knew—she knew me better than anyone. I snapped the safeties off my E. The right leg of the A-suit was dead, but it was all right—I could still walk.
'Turn off that music, Wester. Can you hear me?' Tara, right in my ears.
'I hear you fine, Tara. You see everything?'
'The monitor's clear, Wester. The first one is right up ahead—be careful!'
I had a great view of the dead world we were orbiting. This was surely the last stop, the last world, on the very edge of our galaxy. After this there was nothing. After this, you would die from the distance. It was a massive, cold, dark rock pitted with the scars of the dust of the cosmos. Last stop, I thought. Omega Spiral, Null Six Sector, a dead world with no name. Last stop, for the Legion. I looked into the pocked face of that nameless rock and saw
