He felt depleted but not as bad as he might have.
The elation of discovery seemed to have buffered him. Though that dwindled away as he thought of facing the anger and resentment of his shipmates.
And Malice was in the boarding party. That was an unfortunate circumstance. But that was the goad that stimulated Thian to action now. If Malice got here first, before the commander – He pushed off the deck and floated beyond the target tunnel, catching a thin pipe and halting his drift, slowly pulling his body slightly into the next tube opening.
That was all that saved him.
GOTCHA! That was all the warning he had.
Out of nowhere, for no helmet lights heralded the approach, the shock wave of a stunner blast shoved him with crushing force against the back curve of the tube.
That single mental shout, with its ferociously triumphant tone, gave him the nanosecond required for him to tap reserves he didn’t know he had.
Reflexes he had never had to use were triggered to form a shield, not as strong as it would have been if he hadn’t lost energy calling his grandfather.
Even so, he blocked the worst of the blast effect and struggled to retain the consciousness needed to keep the protection in force in case Malice came to inspect his victim. He tried very, very hard to project a Mayday, and was mildly amused that his attempt came out in `Dini. He felt himself slipping.
Here goes the captain’s bright plan to evacuate his chosen few, he thought, amused that he could be amused as he wilted completely.
A buzzing in his ear was irritating but it could not be ignored.
It was a warning. Why did every nerve in his body scream? He tried for mental control of pain synapses but his head was indulging in a monumental ache. His brain lining felt far too full to be contained by his skull. He was panting with effort. He opened his aching eyes a slit, coughed in the foul air he was breathing and vaguely realized he was wearing a helmet. The buzzing continued.
He tried to focus his eyes. His vision was blurred but he seemed to be inside an escape pod.
There had been an emergency, hadn’t there? The buzzing meant it was over. Good! He could get out of the space suit. He fumbled strengthless gloved fingers on the helmet release and knew he’d succeeded only because he felt cooler air brushing across his sweaty throat. He couldn’t do more than twist the helmet once but more fresh air relieved the necessity to pant. He lay where he was and willed himself away from the pain of his body.
`HE IS HERE! I’VE FOUND HIM!’ The glad cry came through Thian’s mind physically and mentally. It was the mental identification that reassured him and he opened his eyes, smiling weakly up at Gravy’s anxious, tear-streaked face.
`Oh, however did you get here, Thian? Oh, thank all the gods that you’re safe! If you knew..
I have an enemy, Gravy. Guard me! he said.
Her eyes bugged out. `I heard that,’ she said, sensibly whispering. An enemy? she added with reasonable telepathic strength.
Who’d want to hurt you? You’re a Prime.
Tell only the captain but guard me.
Even that brief exchange took what energy he had.
`Stungun. Bolt. Got me. Hurt,’ he whispered, too weak to writhe with the pulsing agony still throbbing along nerves and blood.
`Stungun? On you?’ He couldn’t have missed the outrage, horror and fury she broadcast had he been a 12. Returning consciousness reminded him that there was something much more important he had to know and he struggled with words to form the question.
`This is only standard, but it might help,’ Gravy was saying and her hands were pulling at the neck closures of his suit: it hurt even to be moved about.
He was relieved that he’d still been out when she’d removed the helmet. Then he felt the blessed coolness of a hypospray and tried to speed its dose through his system. He couldn’t manage much on that front either. `Who did this?’ she demanded.
He managed a helpless grunt in answer. Even that sent a spasm of pain through him. `Larvae? Safe?’ `Oh, Thian love,’ she cried and bent to kiss his forehead, a loving gesture which Thian knew oughtn’t to hurt as much as that one did, `you’re amazing! Worrying about those damned things when you’re in bits. .