Then I tilted my head and stretched my neck. Being a tall man, I was able to see the deck despite the angle. Was that…? Yes. A pair of blue coveralls were sprawled on the stained floor—and there was a body inside them.
“He killed the bio-people,” I told Galina in a whisper.
“What?”
“You heard me. He killed them. Armel is tricky that way, you know.”
She backed away from the door in alarm, but I waved her closer.
“Open this—you must have the clearance.”
She did as I asked, then she hopped away when the door swung wide.
A crazed figure rushed us. It was Armel all right, wild-eyed and buck-naked. He had a scalpel in one hand and what looked like a bloody scalp in the other.
-25-
Galina squealed and stumbled back, but I set myself and aimed my pistol at his head. His charge faltered. He stopped. His sides were heaving and his freshly revived eyes squinted at me.
“McGill?”
“That’s right, you ungrateful prick. Why’d you kill our bio-techs?”
He glanced over his shoulder, then cast aside the scalpel. “I… I must apologize.”
“He’s a bad grow, McGill,” Turov said from behind my elbow. “Put him down.”
“Is that…? Ah, yes. Of course. I almost didn’t recognize your characteristic squeak, Tribune Turov.”
Galina stepped half-way out from behind me. Her tail was already swishing. Armel could piss people off faster than anyone—with the possible exception of myself. He had a knack for it.
“I was an idiot to let you talk me into reviving him, James. Now those bios will demand extra cash for dying.”
I glanced down at Turov. “Really? It was pretty expensive already. Way more than this Frenchman is worth. You shouldn’t give them a tip or anything.”
Armel was frowning now, looking for clothes. I kept my pistol trained on his mustache, but he didn’t even seem to notice or care. “So, this revive is off the books? Excellent. I commend you, McGill. When I awoke to find myself in the hands of two hogs inside Central, I assumed the worst. You have surprised me yet again.”
“How so?”
Armel shrugged into the clothes he’d found—it looked like something a bio orderly would wear—then he stood tall. The clothes stretched to fit his frame, and he sighed comfortably. “If you had meant to torment me in the depths of Central, you would hardly have paid for an expensive illegal revive.”
“Oh… yeah, right.” I thought, of course, of Galina’s ideas. Off the books or no, she didn’t have nice intentions toward Armel. There was no point in telling him that, however. A man tended to clam-up if you told him torture might be coming his way. “I told you I’d bring you home, and here you are.”
“How do you wish to proceed?” he asked, gazing at us.
“Huh?”
“I mean, am I to pretend I’m your prisoner? Or a guest? Or perhaps a bio orderly who happens to be heading to lunch with two Varus officers?”
“You’re a prisoner,” Galina said, and she tossed him a pair of gravity-cuffs.
Armel made clucking sounds of disappointment, but he put them on without a fuss. After all, he knew we had all the cards now that he was on our turf. We could kill him and tell any tale we wanted. Everyone would believe us.
Galina led the way, with Armel in the middle and me bringing up the rear with my pistol aimed at his spine. Once he had the cuffs on, Galina was all brassy and swaggering.
“I’ve got half a mind to turn you in to Hegemony. That alone would be worth the credits I wasted on you.”
“Ah, but then how would you explain the illegal revive? Or the dead bio people?”
Galina gave him a bitter glance over her shoulder. “I’d think of something.”
Armel laughed. “I bet you would. There’s no act of deceit I’d put past you, Tribune. But if you did that, you’d never hear my offer.”
“What offer?”
“I wish to help you with a small problem you’ve been having.”
Galina stopped and faced him, putting her hands on her hips. “Seriously? You think after an expensive ship blows up, you can waltz back to Earth with some lame explanation about the sabotage?”
“I wouldn’t put it quite that way, but yes, I can explain it, and I can help you exact your revenge. Better yet, I can help you ensure worse things don’t happen very soon.”
She wagged a finger in his face. “Oh no, you don’t. You caused that explosion—or at the very least, you were in on it. Getting back into Earth’s good graces will not be so easy.”
“Hmm… I reject your premise out of hand, of course. I didn’t blow up the Sea Empress. McGill did that by exposing the smuggling system. Once that happened, the rebels felt they had to erase all evidence so that Earth wouldn’t suspect the great danger they’re in.”
“If these rebels are so powerful, why aren’t you working for them still?”
Galina had my attention now. That was exactly what I was wondering.
“As I told McGill, I think they will lose their gambit. I don’t wish to be on the losing side. It is a weak position for any mercenary to be in.”
She huffed and spun back around on her heel. We boarded an elevator and she talked to the panel. “Detention level minus five.”
The elevator began a quick descent, and Armel looked kind of glum. “McGill? Aren’t you even going to object to this? We had a deal, man.”
I shrugged. “I told you I’d get a revive, and I did. The rest of this game is up to you. I’m not in charge around here, you know.”
“One would never suspect this truth.” He turned back to Galina, who wasn’t looking at him. He looked speculative. “It would seem I need
