Market himself made for the main hatch, warily, laser cannon in hand, alert for any intruders who had remained behind. But none had. Nor had they left behind any of his other friends. The gas was even thicker outside the ship than it was inside. He closed the hatch behind him and went to search for the ventilation control of the docking bay. He didn’t locate it, but he did find the pressurized transparent control shed. This was not full of the gas. Once inside, he was able to remove his mask as he studied the controls, finding by trial and error the panel that opened the overhead portal that allowed ships to take off and to dock.
This he opened. The green gas was sucked into the vaccuum of space. When all tinge of green was gone, he closed the portal once more and adjusted the oxygen, pressurization, and ventilation fans. The air in the bay was soon breathable. He returned to the ship, opened the hatch, and allowed the bays vented fans to pull the gas from the interior of the Haven. Johnny Greene called softly from the open hatch. “Rocky used the healing horn to help Annella. She’ll be grand now.”
“Fine. Nobody’s tried to kill me for at least ten minutes. I don’t think much of anybody’s left here.”
“Good. Then maybe we should take advantage of that hospitality the general offered.”
With Johnny’s help, Markel raided the airlock adjoining the bay, and two of the adjacent, unattended rooms. With the general and his troops gone, the place was virtually deserted. Johnny found station security headquarters, and took out the guard. There was only one. He had been watching reruns of the Haven’s, capture. For a few mesmerizing moments, Johnny and Markel stood over the body of their unconscious captive and watched first Nadhari Kando, then their shipmates, being gassed and dragged or carried aboard the general s flagship, now painted to look like a Federation Forces vessel. So that’s what those footsteps had meant. Thoroughly angry now, Markel and company had disabled the monitors and raided the unattended areas of the base. They took all the weapons and food they could find, and-as an afterthought on Johnnys part-any uniforms they found lying around. They also removed all of the pressure suits from the lock. Johnny downloaded a copy of the flagship’s course from the computer in the security room. The security room guard was still unconscious, so they tied him up and took him along.
It had taken them three trips back and forth to the Haven and about forty-five minutes to accomplish all this, before Markel, loaded with the last of the booty, returned to the Haven. Johnny, wearing one of the purloined pressure suits, opened the canopy and boarded the Haven through the air lock. Once they were well away from the generals compound, Johnny adjusted their course to follow that of the general’s flagship.
B ecker had never felt awe for anyone except his dad in his whole life until he met Aari, but his respect for the maimed Linyaari grew on the journey from the old Linyaari home to the new one. Aari knew exactly how to get there. In spite of having endured tortures that “would drive anyone else insane, he had kept the memory of the Linyaari escape route, drummed into him since boyhood, not only intact, but also secret from the Khieevi. He tidied up the Condor, which was, thanks to Kisia Manjari, almost vacant. Becker still had the money she’d paid him back on Kezdet, money that had nearly emptied his ship. Come to think of it, Becker was almost willing to bet Kisla’s credits were somehow fraudulent. He didn’t trust anything about that venomous little psycho.
After cleaning the holds, Aari had reverently placed each Linyaari skeleton, from the most recent one of his brother, to the most ancient fragments, side by side throughout the ship. Becker helped him until Aari saw the android. Both men realized just how useful that android could be in the current situation. The horn would not work on its electronics, which Becker had already mostly repaired, but did a great job on shredded plastiskin. Soon the reprogrammed, aesthetically pleasing, and now very helpful KEN640 was back in business as official assistant keeper of the Condor’s charnel holds. With KEN640 s help, every skeleton was loaded aboard the Condor’s holds. Aari slept there every night among the bones of his ancestors.