“As you command.”
Xur stood nodding nearby. He was watching the main viewscreen. It showed the starfield forward. In the center was the slowly enlarging sphere of Rylos.
“That is more like what I expected from the Ko-Dan.”
“I am glad you are pleased with my tactical decisions.” Kril was careful to keep his tone neutral.
Grig fretted over the gunstar’s instrumentation, checking and rechecking every function. Alex could only wait, excited, nervous, but secure in the knowledge that he’d made the decision to fight. He let his fingers flutter over the fire controls, coming so close he could almost feel the smooth surfaces without actually touching them. His seat responded to the slightest movement of his body, always keeping him comfortable and in position.
They waited motionless within the throat of the old volcano, all power off except for sensors and life support.
“Here they come,” Grig finally announced.
“How many?” Alex’s fingertips tingled as if they were asleep.
“Twenty to thirty. Small fighters. Indications of more following. Many more.”
“You’re not doing a lot for my confidence.”
“Sorry. Should I lie to you, Alex? I’ve already told you what we’re up against. Remember, surprise will be worth a great deal.”
“If we can pull it off.”
“Yes. If we can pull it off.”
They were on Alex’s screen now. He was counting the number of deadly shapes when something buzzed loudly on Grig’s console, making both of them start.
“Snash!” Grig growled in frustration, banging one hand down on a panel. The buzzing and the flashing light that had accompanied it vanished.
“What was that?”
“Automatic engine check. Sounds periodically when the main drive is off. I forgot to shut it down.” He went quiet, then whispered (even though there was no reason to whisper), “One of them’s breaking off. I think it’s coming in for a closer look.”
“Surely they didn’t pick up on anything as weak as that buzzing?” Alex found he was sweating.
“Ko-Dan detectors are extremely sensitive. I’m sure they have orders to investigate the slightest disturbance.”
“Why don’t we move back deeper inside?”
Grig made a gesture of negativity and stared at his instruments. “Can’t now. Not without sending up an energy card announcing our presence to the whole armada.” He added hopefully, “Still, as you say, it lasted but an instant.”
The curious Ko-Dan ship cruised low over the broken surface of the planetoid, the pilot watching his instruments intently. He had detected the barest flicker of energy. It had hardly been sufficient to activate his detectors. Now there was nothing. The little airless world below seemed as dead as the ages.
He still conducted his survey with care, employ ing visual as well as electronic aids. Then his squadron commander called him, wanting to know what he was wasting his time with and why he was still out of formation. The pilot muttered a curse and accelerated to catch up. It would not do to be caught out of formation during the approach to Rylos. Orders were to put on the most impressive display possible to overwhelm the already half-beaten Rylans.
“He’s gone,” Grig said softly. Alex let out a deep breath. “Good thing there’s not much gravity here or he might have spotted the debris from those Xurian ships you blasted. As it is, everything’s had time to drift off in a dozen different directions.” He smiled, a human gesture his stiff skin was not quite able to imitate properly.
“There’s going to be a lot of debris floating around this sector before too long.”
The police car ripped through brush with wild disregard for the large trees in its path. Finally it encountered one tree that refused to bend. The car banged to a halt in a rising ball of dust and dead leaves and was abandoned by its driver.
The assassin dashed into a small clearing that was shaded from above by several much larger trees, running toward another parked vehicle. There were no wheels on this one and its range was considerably greater than that of the police cruiser. Distorted feet pounded the earth as their owner raced for his ship.
Once safely inside, it let itself relax. The craft was small, but more than capable of resisting the minor projectile weapons utilized by the locals, and it had no intention of waiting around until the local military could be informed of its presence.
Now it had ample time to compose a suitable message for its employers. The signal would be reduced to code and sent off to the nearest Ko-Dan relay. From there it would travel from relay to deep-space relay until it was picked up and decoded by the armada. That would put an end to its work here. It would leave for home, its assignment frustrated but its contract fulfilled by the explanatory message.
Maggie clung to the overhead handle as the driver sent the careening pickup hurtling across the rough desert road with complete disregard for maintaining the integrity of the truck’s underbody. Or their own.
“You’re a robot?”
“A robot.” He searched Alex’s memory for additional references. “Like in the stories by Asimov. Like in the GM factory in Detroit. Like in the song by Styx. More complicated than any of those.”
“A duplicate of Alex … I can see that, of course. Then . . . where’s Alex?”
The Beta jerked a thumb upwards. “Out there.”
Maggie looked ceilingward. “Out where? Up in a plane somewhere?”
The Beta shook his head. “Considerably farther than that. Considerably farther than you can imagine.”
“Alex . . . out in space. Is this for real?”
“Yes! I’ve been trying to tell you, it’s all for real. Very real. Lethally real. Lethal to Alex if I can’t stop that assassin before he tells his superiors what I’ve just told you.”
“Why would anyone want to assassinate Alex?”
“Because he may be the key to saving galactic civilization as we know it.”
Maggie thought a long while. “Alex? My Alex? Alex Rogan who has a hard time fixing a broken septic tank valve?”
“The same,” the Beta told her. “Actually, that’s not such a bad analogy for the job he’s doing now.”
“Then don’t talk, drive!”
The Beta did not reply, though it wanted to. What did the young female think he was doing?
“First attack wave closing on Rylos, Commander,” the communications officer announced.
“Any signs of opposition?”
“Nothing, Commander. Monitoring of surface transmissions indicates that the first wave has been detected by the Rylan authorities.”
“Any reaction as yet?”
The communications officer made some inquiries, waited, then replied with barely concealed delight. “Indications of general panic among the populace despite government assurances that all is under control. Also ultimatums directing us to turn back or be destroyed.”
“They are down to their final bluff.” Kril permitted himself to relax. It was all but over.
“You see?” Xur said triumphantly from nearby. “I told you. It’s been so long since the League has actually had to fight anyone that they’ve forgotten how to do it. That hidden base was their only source of resistance. All other weaponry is localized.” He sniffed disdainfully. “Police functionaries. Government security. Weaklings and cowards.”
“I am pleased nothing has materialized to dispute the correctness of your information,” Kril said smoothly, “though I would still like to know what happened to your own ships.”
Xur turned to stare hungrily at the screen. “When the time is right they’ll show themselves, you’ll see. Haven’t I been right about everything else so far? You worry too much, Kril.”
“I am aware of that, Xur,” the Ko-Dan replied. “That is why I was made Commander.”
Off to one side of the spacious command chamber the officer in charge of monitoring fleet communications was staring in confusion at his instruments. He ran the coded message back through the computer, assured himself of its accuracy, and decided it had to be turned over immediately. His superior accepted the transcription with the’equivalent of a frown and reluctantly determined to present it to the Commander.
He skirted the Rylan renegade and made his presence known.
Kril turned to face him. “Yes, what is it?”
“I would not interrupt your triumph if it were not a matter of some …”
“Get to the point,” Kril said impatiently.
“Yes, Commander.” The officer studied the message one last time. “We’ve picked up a signal on an emergency frequency. It’s been relayed quite a distance from a primitive world outside League and Ko-Dan boundaries. It comes from one of our ZZ-Designates.”
They were interrupted. “I know what it concerns,” said Xur. “Remember that single small ship that jumped in supralight just before we destroyed the base on Rylos?”
“Of course I remember.” Kril was furious at being treated like some green junior officer. One time this Rylan upstart was going to go too far, Imperial orders or no Imperial orders. “We put a lock on it and estimated its course, then sent Designates to check for activity indicating the presence of League technology at work on any inhabited worlds in line with that estimated course and the jump capability of a vessel that size. As you wished.” He faced the officer. “What of the message’s contents?”