He found not only the tech but also the Captain, who looked up with a harried face and snapped, “Colonel! What do you think of this?”
Aufors followed his pointing finger across the tech’s shoulder to the console before him, an enigmatic box covered with blotchy screens.
“What are they?” Aufors asked, confused both by the equipment and by the shadows he saw moving there.
“The devices are off-world detectors, I’m told the shadows are men,” grated the Captain, “and they’re all around us. Every pile of sand out there has a clutch of Mahahmbi hiding behind it. Men don’t hide unless they’ve got something truculent in mind!”
Aufors made no argument. It was unlikely the Captain had gained his position by being hysterical.
“We already know they don’t like us,” Aufors mused. “They’ve made their displeasure clear as ice. Up until yesterday when we supposed a thaw occurred.”
“I would judge it was no thaw,” said the Captain. “Only a minor melt, to get us off guard.”
“Have your men stand by the ropes,” said Aufors. “You may need to get off quickly.”
“Oh, that was done the moment I saw them,” murmured the Captain. Quietly, so as not to stir things up. Also the cannon are readied and the gunners are standing by.”
“How many cannon?”
“All four. Bow, stern, and midships, both sides. The bastards have us surrounded.”
Aufors looked at the bottle he was holding. “I need your analyzer.”
“Hardly the time for intellectual inquiry,” snapped the captain.
“Exactly the time for this inquiry,” Aufors replied. “As it may well confirm evil intent.”
“If you need confirmation, you must be a hard man to convince!” the Captain snapped at Aufors’s back as he stepped into the cubby where the device was housed.
He had seen the tech use it to test their drinking water, after the well was opened, and he followed the routine he had observed then, pouring his sample into a clean vial, inserting it, pressing a button, and waiting while the mechanism hummed and chuckled to itself for quite some time. Murmurs came from the control room, together with several muffled curses from the captain. At last the results came up on a screen, a meaningless clutter of letters and numbers. “How do I translate the results?” he called.
“Tell it you need lay language,” barked the tech, without looking up.
— Aufors told it, somewhat self-consciously, and the screen changed its message:Substance is proprietary to Galaxo-pharm, trademark Unforz. Purpose is euphoric, sedative, relaxant. Effective on most mammalian life forms. Typical uses: by surgeon to allay apprehension in patient; by zookeeper, to handle deadly or delicate creatures during transport or prolonged handling, by wardens transporting dangerous criminals.
“Out here, Colonel!” snapped the Captain. “Here they come.”
Aufors emerged from the cubicle in time to see the screens erupt with dark blotches. Loosing his own light weapon in its holster, he made for the ramp to see what he had been too distracted to see when he came in. Halfway up the ramp stood a crewman, a line leading from his hand to a latch at the base of the nearest anchor rope, a latch which had replaced the knotted tie he had seen there previously. It took only a glance to confirm that all the latches were connected to the single line.
The man at the rope cast a glance in Aufors’s direction, then knelt behind the railing, out of sight of the robed men pouring over the dunes, blades glittering, voices raised in wild ululations. Without warning, the cannoneers in the nacelle began shooting: soundless, invisible blasts that exploded into sequin showers, like sparks from a poked campfire, though where these sparks fell they were followed by cries of fury or pain.
From inside, the doctor cried, “Colonel. A message from the town. Your wife, she’s fled from assassins. The Shah has her father!”
Aufors ran up the ramp. The doctor stood just inside the door, chewing his lips and combing his hair into disarray with unsteady hands. Aufors demanded, “Genevieve fled where? Is she coming here?” The doctor shook his head, eyes widely fixed on the battle outside. “Don’t know. That’s the message the com-man just got from the residence. He’s trying to find out . . .”