'Being sick is against the law here?' asked Ethan in startlement.
'No, but lodging a false report of a disease vector definitely is. When you see all the machinery it sets in motion you'll realize why they discourage practical jokers. But I'd rather face criminal charges than plasma fire any day. I'll put the fine on my expense account.'
Cee's face bore awed delight. 'Will Admiral Naismith approve?'
'He may give me a medal.' Quinn winked at him, cheerful again. 'Now. Ecobranch may get more resistance from their new patient than they expect. Best they get a little low-profile back-up, eh? Can you handle a stunner, Mr. Cee?'
'Yes, Commander.'
Ethan waved a hesitant hand. 'I had Athosian Army basic training,' he heard himself volunteering insanely.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
In the event, it was Ethan and not Cee whom Quinn chose to accompany her person on what she dubbed 'the second wave of this assault.' She left the telepath stationed by the lift tubes at the end of Millisor's transient hostel corridor, arming him with the second stunner of her matching pair.
'Stay out of sight and pick off anybody who bolts,' she instructed him, 'and don't be shy about firing. With a stunner you can always apologize for mistakes later.'
Ethan lifted an eyebrow at this as he turned to pace her down the corridor.
'All right, almost always,' she muttered, glancing back over her shoulder to check Cee's concealment in the confusion of potted plants, mirrors, and angled conversation niches that formed the decor of the lift tube foyer. Millisor's chosen hostel was clearly meant for a class of traveler beyond Ethan's budget.
About this time Ethan realized a fatal flaw in the attack plan. 'You didn't give me a stunner,' he whispered urgently to Quinn.
'I only had two,' she murmured back impatiently. 'Here. Take my medkit. You can be the medic.'
'What am I supposed to do, hit Rau over the head with it?'
She grinned briefly. 'If you get the chance, sure. Meantime Teki's going to be needing an antidote to whatever they've pumped him full of. You'll probably be wanting the fast-penta antagonist. It's right in there next to the fast-penta. Unless things have gone really ugly, in which case I leave it up to your medical expertise.'
'Oh,' said Ethan, mollified. It almost made sense.
He was just opening his mouth with a newly-marshalled objection when Quinn bundled him into the limited and inadequate concealment of a door niche. Coming down the corridor from the opposite end, toward the bulk freight lift, were three silhouettes leading a sealed passenger pallet with the Ecobranch logo of a stylized fern and water blazoned on the front. Passing into the soft, luxurious light—Ethan sensed someone had done some careful psychological studies of the response of the human brain to selected optical wavelengths—the three figures resolved into a burly Station Security man and two ecotechs, one male, one female.
One bony, angular female whose very walk—stalk—radiated all the personal warmth and charm of a hatchet…
'God the Father,' squeaked Ethan, 'It's Horrible Helda—'
'Don't panic,' Quinn hissed at him, pushing him back into the niche. It was scarcely 20 centimeters deep, not enough to hide one person, let alone two. 'Just turn your back and pretend to be doing something normal and they'll scarcely notice you. Here, turn around, put your hand on the wall beside my head,' she arranged him hastily, 'lean in, keep your voice down—'
'What am I pretending to be doing?'
'Cuddling. Now shut up and let me listen. And don't look at me like that or I'll start giggling. Though a few well-placed giggles might add conviction…'
Doing something normal? Ethan had never felt more abnormal in his life. His shoulder blades crawled in expectation of some lethal outburst from Millisor's room, just across the hall. It didn't help that he couldn't see what was coming. Quinn, of course, had a fine view, with the added bonus that her face was partly concealed by Ethan's arm and her body shielded from stray shots by his.
'Only one Security troop for their back-up?' Quinn muttered, eyes glinting between fluttering eyelashes. 'Glad we came.'
A muffled peeping sound broke from her jacket. Her hand dove to wring it to silence. She lifted her beeper just far enough out to eye the numeric readout. Her lip curled.
'What is it?' whispered Ethan in her ear.
'That bastard Millisor's room comconsole number,' she murmured back sweetly, curling her other hand realistically around the back of Ethan's neck. 'So, he squeezed my code out of Teki. Probably wants me to call him up so he can make threats at me. Let him sweat.'
Ethan, growing desperate, pressed artistically close to her, oozing around to one side and winning himself a better view.
Ecotech Helda stabbed the door buzzer to Millisor's room and checked a report panel in her hand. 'Ghem- lord Harman Dal? Transient Dal?'
There was no response.
'Is he home?' asked the other ecotech.
For answer Helda pointed to a sealed panel in the wall. Ethan guessed its colored lights must encode some sort of life-support usage reading, for the other ecotech said, 'Ah. And with company, too. Maybe this is for real.'
Helda buzzed again. 'Transient Dal, this is Kline Station Biocontrol Warden Helda. I require you to open this door at once or find yourself in violation of Biocontrol Regulations 176b and 2a.'
'At least give him time to get his pants on,' the other ecotech said. 'I mean, this has gotta be embarrassing.'
'Let him be embarrassed,' said Helda shortly. 'The dirtsucker deserves it, bringing his filthy—' she struck the buzzer again.
At the third no-response she pulled a device from her jacket and held it over the door locking mechanism. The device's lights twinkled; nothing happened.
'Gods,' said the other ecotech, startled, 'they've blocked the emergency override circuits!'
'Now that's a violation of fire-safety regulations,' said the burly Security man happily, and tapped out a quick note on his report panel. At a look of inquiry from the other ecotech he explained his sudden good cheer. 'You Biocontrol guys may be able to barge over every Transient civil rights guarantee on hearsay evidence but I gotta have documented justification or my tail goes on the line.' He sighed envy.
'Dal, unblock this door at once!' Helda yelled furiously into the intercom.
'We could cut off his food service from down below,' suggested the other ecotech. 'He'd have to come out eventually.'
Helda ground her teeth. 'I'm not waiting that long for some infected dirt-sucker to decide to get cooperative with me.' She moved to a sealed locked panel a little farther down the wall marked FIRE CONTROL: AUTHORIZED PERSONNEL ONLY and stuck her ID card in its read-slot. Its transparent doors hissed obediently apart. They wouldn't have dared do otherwise, Ethan thought. She pressed a complex series of bright keypads.
A muffled hissing roar, and faint cries, penetrated from the sealed door to Millisor's room. Helda smiled satisfaction.
'What's she doing?' Ethan whispered in Quinn's shell-like ear.
Quinn was grinning ferociously. 'Fire control. Downside, you have automatic sprinkler systems that fling water on fires. Very inefficient. Here we seal the room and pump out the air. Real fast. No oxygen, no oxidation. Millisor either wasn't smart enough or wasn't stupid enough to sabotage the fire control vents…'
'Er… isn't that rather hard on anyone trapped inside?'
'Normally there's an alarm to evacuate the room first. Helda overrode it.'
The unlocking device pressed over the door mechanism by the other ecotech twinkled and beeped. Frantic
