Quest for the Well of Souls

way across that bridge. When I’ve gone as long as I can stall, I’ll charge them.”

“And what happens to us while you’re doing all this?” the Bozog prompted.

“Bozog, you’ll take the wire and go along the outside of the bridge. Ghiskind, you’ll lead him. Renard, keep that energy pistol firm and stay slightly back, out of sight. Yulin might see the wire but not figure out he’s been had. Even if he does, he’ll have a job getting at it. As soon as the wire is in place, tug three times. That will tell Renard to give it all he’s got. Get clear after you tug, and make it back up if you can. All hell will break loose when that goes.”

“And you?” Renard asked, concerned.

“If I get inside, I’ll try and raise as much hell as possible,” she replied. “No matter what, Yulin’s attention will be on me, I think. You should have several minutes—more than enough time. If they do catch on, Renard, use your energy pistol on anybody and everybody. There’s no way Ben Yulin can neutralize the effects of that on a living body!”

“But it might be Wooley, or Vistaru!” he objected.

“Even if it’s me!” she snapped. “Renard, save as many of the living as you can, kill who you must. It’s that or good-bye to us all! This plan’s got enough holes in it, that it’ll probably fail anyway!”

“There is no better that I can devise, not at this late stage,” the Bozog added. “Shall we go?”

She nodded. “Renard, call the elevator and hold that pistol ready.”

There was no one on the elevator.

“A good sign,” the Bozog said, approvingly. “I think Mr. Yulin may yet be in for a shock. He does not know how fast a Bozog can run!”

Underside

They waited anxiously in the corridor next to the elevator car for the Ghiskind to return, Renard’s pistol at the ready. The Yugash had already been out once and verified that no living creatures were to be seen anywhere.

A tense fifteen minutes passed before the Yugash returned a second time and merged with the Bozog.

“I have located the explosive module,” it told them. “Rather primitive, really. A thermal device. However, it will cause massive disruption of circuitry if it goes—including some in the involuntary sections that affect life support. Be warned of this.”

“It’ll do,” she responded. “Those sections are the weakest point in Obie’s construction. Through that tunnel runs the junction with its power supply and much of its operational circuitry. That’s why the charge is there—it doesn’t have to be big, it just has to go off.”

“It will,” Renard said grimly. He rolled the wire coil out in front of him. Although it wasn’t copper, it was conductive enough.

“We shall have to run the wire a bit farther for insurance,” the Ghiskind warned. “I should like to have it directly on the main junction, very near the explosives. That way, if triggering fails, the voltage generated might set the charge off directly. This will also give friend Bozog a better place to attach it, and perhaps a little additional time to get clear.”

Mavra took a deep breath. “All right then. I guess there’s nothing left to do but go and do it.”

“I still don’t like you being in the clutches of that bastard,” Renard muttered.

“For the last time, Renard, forget about me! I’m not important. Remember, it’s up to you to get everybody away, to blow this place to hell. And,” she added, “do you remember that string of symbols and numbers I recorded on the ship’s recolog?”

He nodded.

“A gift from Obie, Renard, twenty-two years delayed. It’s the arresting agent for sponge. It will free millions and break the back of the syndicate. You of all people must understand what that means. You must get that to the Council! Remember your responsibilities, Renard!”

The Agitar nodded. He didn’t like the order, but she was right. If only he could get out, then it was his duty to do so.

Mavra walked slowly, deliberately down the hall and they followed. Just ahead was the opening to the first platform, then the bridge over the great shaft that led to the big dish. Once they were framed in that archway, Obie would be able to detect them and would be forced to warn Ben Yulin and his love-slaves.

Renard ran out a few meters of wire, then sat on the floor, just out of view of the open area, his thin goatlike legs splayed in front of him.

The orange liquid inside the Bozog’s forward hump swirled, then exuded a serpentine tendril that grabbed the wire and twisted around it.

Mavra scanned the area. Renard was in position, hands on his energy pistol—it was not on stun. His face was grim, and he was perspiring, but he nodded.

“Here we go,” Mavra said tensely, and stepped out through the archway.

Ben Yulin was exceptionally pleased with his girls’ catch on their first attempt. Wooley’s unconscious form had been hardest to move, particularly to get down the stairs and onto the disk, but they’d managed, and the transformation was swift and complete. The tiny form of Vistaru was next; the transformation equally swift. Since they had names, he let them keep them, but he observed no other restrictions regarding them: he wiped their memories clean, reprogramming them as two more loving slaves, horse tails and all, only slight variants of the others.

And, after, he joined them and initiated them into his hareem as he had the others.

He was holding them both to him, patting one on the head, when Obie suddenly broke the mood. “Intruder on the far bridge,” it announced.

Yulin immediately abandoned the two new recruits and bounded up to the control console. “Who is it, Obie?” he asked.

“One life form, very large,” the computer replied. “It appears for all the world to be a horse!”

Yuh’n’s eyes blazed. “Mavra Chang!” he grunted under his breath—the one person he still considered a threat to his dreams, for she had some sort.of rapport with Obie.

And she was the only other pilot.

“What does she appear to be doing?” he asked the computer.

“Standing just in front of the bridge,” Obie replied.

He frowned. Now why the hell would she expose herself like that? “You sure there are no other life forms on that bridge?” he asked, puzzled.

“No other,” the computer assured him. “Unless the Yugash is with her. That one would have to be a lot closer for me to detect unless it was inside her body—then it would be undetectable.”

Yulin nodded. That must be it. She was setting herself up as bait, and when he got her in, the ruse would also get the Yugash in.

“Obie,” he asked, mind racing, “could the Yugash communicate with you?”

“Yes, Ben. Of course it could.”

“But nobody in this room could be taken over by it.”

“No, Ben.”

He considered that. “Obie, basic programming line establishment.” He tapped out a long string of numbers on his keyboard.

“Running,” the computer responded.

“You are not to take orders of any sort from a Yugash, whether on its own or in someone else’s body,” he said flatly. “Further, you are to ignore all Yugash-generated information.”

“Clear and locked,” the computer came back.

The minotaur nodded in satisfaction. All right, he told himself. Let the Yugash get in. Without a body, and powerless to communicate with Obie, it would just have to compromise with him or float