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him. Keff staggered, and aimed a slam of his own for the man's gut. Bisman took about half of it, but he slid sideways in the direction of the airlock. Keff closed the distance, and had to dodge back from a dirty kick. He couldn't let Bisman go, not now. "They'll have backups in a minute," Carialle said. "The rest of the crew is coming. They're armed, and something on that ship is building up energy." Keff nodded but didn't reply. He was concentrating on disabling Bisman without killing him. Minna and her brother stood beside the table, staring. "He's CW?" Zonzalo asked, gaping. "You lied!" Mirina shouted at Keff. She started toward the airlock, but the combatants blocked her way. "Luring us in here, pretending to be stupid traders," Bisman panted. He evaded a roundhouse kick Keff aimed at him, grabbed Keffs leg, and propelled him backward over the stack of crates toward the image of the third console. Keff fell helplessly among the boxes. The other humans gasped as he disappeared from view into the holographic illusion. Bisman, with a snarl, dove in after him. "Cari, I can't see!" Keff cried, as a punch came out (|jf nowhere and knocked his head painfully against the deck. The time for subterfuge was over. Keffs life could be in danger. At once, Carialle file:///G|/eMule/Incoming/Nye_Jody_Lynn_-_Ship_06_-...006]%20-%20Ship%20Errant ,%20The%20(EDGv1,html).html (304 of 329)15-7-2004 1:12:50 JODY LYNN NYE - [The Ship Who Sang Series - 06] The Ship Errant dropped the illusion, revealing wall, pillar, and the two men grappling on the floor. The effect on Mirina Don was electric. Her eyes widened, and her mouth fell open. "Aldon!" she shrieked at the top of her voice. "She's a brainship!" "Central Worlds!" Bisman growled. With a sudden burst of strength, he yanked a hand free, chopped the smaller man in the throat, and scrambled to his feet. He spun and grabbed Thunderstorm, who had been trying to creep unobtrusively toward the airlock. "You damned traitor," the pirate snarled. "You were in on this." He yanked the Thelerie back on his haunches and drew his sidearm, shoving it under Thunderstorms throat. "Help them," Carialle said to Tall Eyebrow and the listening Cridi, activating the door of the spare cabin. "Now!" Lake a barrage of soap-bubbles, the Cridi poured out of the spare room, and surrounded the pirates. "Slime!" Zonzalo gasped, flattening himself against the wall as Gap Tooth and Small Spot confronted him. Sunset, the young Thelerie clutched Mirina around the waist, and hid behind her, his golden eyes all pupil, while Big Voice, Wide Foot, and Big Eyes edged them backward. Page 201 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html "Stand back," Bisman said, looking up steadily at the floating globes. "I want out of here, now! I want my people out, too. One by one. If we don't, this damned traitor dies. Now!" "We freeze him!" Small Spot cried, flinging himself forward to save his friend. "No!" Carialle saw the tiny movement of Bisman's finger closing just as Small Spot's whammy took effect She sensed the power buildup, an inexorable burst only temporarily halted. "Small motor control reaction," she said, over all her speakers. The hologram of the Lady vanished, making the human pirates jump. "He's pulled the trigger. If we don't let him go, the gun will fire anyhow in a moment. If we don't try to contain the blast using Core power, it will explode right here in the cabin. If we do, both Bisman and Thunderstorm will die. Sooner or later I will run out of fuel, then the Core won't be able to contain the blast to just the two of them." "Can he hear us?" Keff asked. file:///G|/eMule/Incoming/Nye_Jody_Lynn_-_Ship_06_-...006]%20-%20Ship%20Errant ,%20The%20(EDGv1,html).html (305 of 329)15-7-2004 1:12:50 JODY LYNN NYE - [The Ship Who Sang Series - 06] The Ship Errant "Yes," said Narrow Leg, hovering in front of the pirate leaders face, watching his pupils. "Bisman, we'll let you go," Keff said, edging into Bisman's view with his hands out from his sides. "I'm unarmed, and the Cridi will do what I say. Just let Thunderstorm go. You and your people are free." He jerked his head toward the airlock. Carialle slid open both doors, and lowered the ramp. Zonzalo and the other crew dashed out of the door without hesitation. "You're free to go. No one will stop you. TE, ready to pull his hand back?" "I am ready," the Frog Prince said, his face grim. "Okay," Keff said to Small Spot. "Let him go!" The burst of power released five milliseconds after Tall Eyebrow jerked the human's hand back and away from Thunderstorm's neck. Carialle winced as the bolt burned through her ceiling plates and into a fiberoptic conduit. She set a small part of her consciousness to rerouting the functions the severed fibers controlled. She'd have time to repair the ducting later. The Thelerie stood, dazed, the fact that he was alive and unharmed not yet registering in his mind. Like lightning, Bisman ran a few steps, turned, put a bolt straight into Thunderstorm's chest. Sunset fell beside the body of his mentor, crying out shrilly at the black, burned / streak in the center of the golden fur. Bisman loosed a few more shots into the cabin, scattering the Cridi, and rilling the room with smoke as lights, screens, and upholstery burst and caught fire. Keff dove underneath the crash couch, pulling Minna down with him. Carialle dropped her airlock door, intending to trap the pirate inside. Bisman saw the lights activate, and scowled, but he didn't stop running. He raised the energy weapon again, and shot the controls, freezing the doors. She struggled to find another servo that could pull down the door, but the mechanism reacted too slowly. He was able to roll underneath the door. He ran out and down the ramp and out across the field with deliberate, long, heavy steps that ate up the distance. Their rhythm suddenly matched with something Carialle would never, never forget. "Keff!" she cried. "Its him . It's his footsteps!" Keff scrambled out from his hiding place. "Whose?" "Bisman!" Carialle said, opening all screens to show the pirate leader running across file:///G|/eMule/Incoming/Nye_Jody_Lynn_-_Ship_06_-...006]%20-%20Ship%20Errant ,%20The%20(EDGv1,html).html (306 of 329)15-7-2004 1:12:50 Page 202 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html JODY LYNN NYE - [The Ship Who Sang Series - 06] The Ship Errant to his own ship. "He was the one, the one who walked on me ." "You're sure?" Keff demanded. "I couldn't forget it as long as I live. Keff, stop him!" Carialle said desperately. "We have to get him back here. He's the one. He can clear my record, Keff. He can't get away." Keff dashed for the airlock. He waited impatiently until Carialle had raised it high enough for him to scramble underneath, then dashed down the ramp after Bisman. "Do something about Thunderstorm, for pity's sake," he shouted. Carialle tried to pull herself together. For once in her life she wished she could go about on two feet, or four, or wings! That man must not get away from her. He held the answers she had been seeking for twenty years. It meant the vindication of her sanity. But her life was not in danger, and Thunderstorms was. She pulled herself together and located the nearest transmission tower. With a broad-band sweep, she broke into the thousands and thousands of "phone calls" going on across Thelerie. "Attention," she said, through the shell of the IT program, wishing that it was up to fluent medical Thelerie. 'There is an emergency medical situation on the Melanges plain. Will any healer in the area please come at once?" Hubbub erupted on the open lines as thousands of Thelerie broke into speech all at once, wanting to know more. She repeated her message, shut down the transmission and returned her attention to the inside of her cabin. "And thus is mass communication born," she said, ironically. "His heart beats," Big Voice said. He sat on the Thelerie's left, his globe in [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |