“Greeting, sir,” Troxell called in English. His bass echoed the least bit between bare panels. “Everything in order?”
“Aye,” Brodersen said.
“Come on down.”
“Wait a minute. I want a man at my back.”
“Huh?”
“Can’t be too cautious, can we? Very well, Sergei.”
Zarubayev appeared, bearing a tommy gun. He sprang to join his captain.
The agents showed surprise. Bearded, long-haired, dressed like them, the Russian jarred on their expectations.
Here we go. Brodersen whipped forth his pistol. Zarubayev’s gun swept downward. “Not a move!” Brodersen shouted. “Hands up before we shoot!”
“What the hell-” Troxell’s roar cut off when Zarubayev’s weapon chattered. The warning burst whanged nastily off the opposite bulkhead. The warders froze.
Side 79
Anderson, Poul – Avatar, The
“Hands on heads,” Brodersen commanded. “Quick!-Okay, boys, come on through.”
Weisenberg and Leino joined him. They bore automatic rifles, and bundled on their backs were more firearms.
“Stay as you are and nobody will get hurt,” Brodersen said. “But whoever acts funny will die. Is that clear? He will die.”
Inwardly he begged that that not happen. Those fellows were doing naught but their job. He’d encountered some like them, though, when he truly wore the uniform of the Union, whom he’d helped kill. The commitments on either side had been irreconcilable.
His glance flicked right and left. Zarubayev was smiling, as if he enjoyed this. Maybe he did. Weisenberg stood tense, his mouth stretched out of shape, though his piece never wavered. Leino’s face was wet and strained, helmeted in dank hair, and he breathed hard, but he didn’t seem frightened either. And me, well, they used to call me the Great Stone Phiz, Brodersen remembered.
Back at the airlock, Dozsa and Caitlin were his reserves, guarding a line of retreat. He wondered how they looked. It was no picnic carrying out a paramilitary operation with amateurs. He’d assigned posts as thoughtfully as might be. Zarubayev, though Demeter born, had grown restless and spent a few years in the PC, interplanetary corps, before he went to work for Chehalis; he’d seen no fighting but had gotten plenty of drill and maneuver. Leino, raised in the wilderness, was a champion marksman. Weisenberg could make any tool a part of his body, and a weapon is a tool. All three had ample space experience. Dozsa did too, but not with arms and seldom outside a ship. Pegeen-Yes, I did what I could in the time that I had. Whether I gauged well, we’re about to learn.
Rage racked Troxell’s visage. “Are you crazy?” he yelled. “What is this piracy? Do you imagine you can get away clear, you sons o’ bitches, you-” He choked.
“Take it easy,” Brodersen answered. “I told you we mean no harm unless you force us. Listen. Our aim is to free the Emissary crew. They’re being detained under false pretenses. You’ve been hoodwinked. Ira Quick is a crook, and you’ll see him on trial before long.”
“Prove it!” an agent challenged.
Brodersen shook his head. “As Antony told Cleopatra, I am not prone to argue. The newscasts will inform you. Today you’ll follow orders.
“More over there, by that door marked 14.” He pointed. It was well clear of the spoke entrance. “Bunch together. I want you in easy range of this guy.”
He jerked a thumb at Zarubayev. “He’ll watch you while the rest of us go spring the prisoners. Then we’ll disarm you and lock you up. We’ll leave you a hand drill or a hammer and a chisel or whatever we figure you can use to break free in an hour to two, after we’re gone. Do you understand? We’d hate to harm anybody. We’re not bandits, we’re trying to set right a terrible wrong that threatens the Union. Consider yourselves under citizen’s arrest, obey us, and everything will be fine. But I repeat, we’ll shoot if we must.
“Move! Keep those hands on your scalps. Move!”
They shuffled from him. He was aware of the scuff, of panting and trembling and muttered maledictions, of sweat and glares, “Stop,” he cried. To Leino and Weisenberg: “Proceed.”
They ignored the ladder and jumped, falling like autumn leaves. He followed. The impact was light in feet and knees. The hatch was two bounds off.