On his belly, the hidden one slithered toward the edge of the grass where the small body lay.
Becker had definitely had better days. The pain in his leg was intense. Kisla’s kicking reminded him of the time he had dropped one of those Myrathenian morning stars on himself while trying to store the damned thing. Lots of little sharp pains. Speaking of which, it looked like Kisia and her gang had lots of little sharp pains themselves. RK had apparently come back; their faces definitely bore his signature. But where was the little demon anyway? Becker raised his head to look around. The eye that wasn’t busy swelling shut saw the small furry body by the edgeof the-moving -rock.
Kisla’s boot aimed at his jaw. Becker caught her leg in one hand and jerked. She fell on her butt. Somewhat to his surprise, though her crew showed him their weapons, they did not intervene. Come to think of it, he wasn’t all that surprised that they didn’t. These were humans, not androids. Working for Kisia probably had a few uncomfortable side effects.
“Shoot him!” Kisia screamed.
“Calm down, princess. What did I ever do to you?” he asked. His voice was a little slurred. Apparently one or more kicks had done more damage than he thought.
“You cheated me is what! You destroyed my droids—” “You poet, you,” he said.
“And you lied about the horns! You said there was only the one! You lied! I found another horn. Where are the others?”
He sighed painfully. He really had to get rid of her and go see about the cat. “They’re right here-all around. I just took a sample or two.”
“He’s lying,” one of the crewmen said. “There’s nothing here. I’ve been looking.”
Kisia kicked herself free of him and stood up, but she stood back. “Okay, time to make him tell! Let’s take him back to the i lf ship.
“Before we go through all that, why don’t I check his computer banks and see where he found the horns, and if this is the place? Meanwhile, you can keep him on ice while we make a more thorough search for the horns.” This was proposed by a sane-sounding man, a high-ranking member of Kisla’s new crew, judging by the decorations on his uniform.
“I give the orders here,” Kisia said.
“Yes, ma’am. I’m just trying to suggest a fast way to check on what the man’s told us.”
Kisia liked to give orders but she wasn’t stupid. The guy was making sense. She hesitated.
“With your permission then,” the man said, not making it a question, and turned to go.
Becker sat up again, unhooking the remote from his belt. “Here, buddy, you’ll need this. Red green blue red.” He could cooperate with sane people. It wouldn’t do to get Kisia excited again.
It was a good move. The other two crewmen tied Becker up-well, taped him up, having apparently brought along a roll of silver tape just for the occasion. They only let Kisia get in two more kicks before they distracted her by rooting around, looking for horns. During the time they were doing this, Becker noticed that RK was no longer lying where he had been. That was interesting. Could the little guy fake being hurt? Nah, surely not!
After a while-Becker didn’t know how long as his consciousness seemed to fade in and out, along with Kisla’s dainty little foot-the crewman who had gone up into the ConSor returned. He was carrying the sack that contained the horns. Becker groaned. He’d gotten used to a sweet-smelling spaceship and had been sort of hoping Kisia wouldn’t find the horns so he could heal himself. “Well?” she demanded.
“This is the place all right. Not on any of our maps but the coordinates are the same ones he marked before. Here are the horns. This all there were, buddy?”
“I didn’t think so,” Becker said truthfully. “That’s why I came back. But the light’s not that good. Maybe we took them all the first time.” He tried to shrug but his shoulder had stiffened up too badly.
“Your droid is a mess,” the crewman continued his report to Kisia. He brought out the mess of wires and syn-tissue that Becker had extracted from the droid. “Here’s the homing beacon. You know, your uncle-I mean you-figured Becker here would make a beeline back for where he found the horns. This very likely is the place.”