Greenaura’s spear came again—and the host struck. Jaws slicing through, twisting, severing, KILL, KILL. The spearhead was cut off, trapped inside Melody’s shield. DIE, DIE!
Greenaura screamed, oooooooooo, a single spasm of current, the sheer agony of amputation—and the Knyfh touched his shield and drew off twice the charge Melody had lost. The predator had poked the supposedly helpless body of his prey, and been caught by the counterstroke. Now the advantage had been reversed.
Gnejh of Knyfh, insane but victorious, went for the kill. Melody let her. The host launched a devastating bolt through Greenaura’s weakened shield…
And it aborted! Bluefield of oo, the Andromedan Melody had displaced, had flung herself into the charge and thwarted it as it passed between the two shields. Bluefield herself was destroyed by that interception, but she had accomplished her aim. Melody and her mad host were helpless again.
Greenaura, weakened, still had more strength than Melody did. He rolled into contact, the currents of his shield battering at hers. When that shell collapsed, Melody’s host would die. Slowly, surely, her last reserves waned, as they were drawn off to augment the thrust of the Andromedan’s shell. The broken electron orbit, Melody thought. So like the Tarot symbol for Aura, of plasmic matter. Was this a fitting end for her?
She suffered a terrible shock. Energy buffeted her shield, hurling her across the room. She had—
No! Greenaura had fissioned! Her enemy was no more. And abruptly Melody knew why: The hostage Knyfh that Greenaura had suppressed had chosen this moment of distraction to strike, just as Gnejh had struck before. The Knyfh had fissioned, destroying himself and his captor.
Melody rolled slowly around the room, gathering in some of the ambient energy released by the explosion of her rival, regaining her strength. She was half dazed by the violence of the battle; these Knyfhs and oos were savage warriors, giving no quarter! She didn’t want any more encounters like that!
No wonder Segment Knyfh was regarded by the Andromedans as a major galactic target. Not only were they technologically sophisticated, they were resolute opponents. A Mintakan might yield when he saw that the issue was hopeless; a Knyfh would fight harder. Which perhaps explained why Mintaka was now a satellite sphere, while Knyfh was a segment.
Two hostages down, seven to go. Did the other hostages know about her? Probably not, because Greenaura had not been certain of her nature until the encounter—and the hostages had to hide themselves from the legitimate officers. Greenaura had investigated privately—and now would make no report. However, soon Greenaura’s demise would become known…
“Private audience with the Captain; urgent,” Melody signaled into the network again. Then, as an afterthought: “Matter of crew discipline.” That would justify her request, gaining the Captain’s prompt attention, while reassuring the other hostages. Crew discipline was not a matter to worry about; it was the Captain’s concern.
Sure enough: “Audience granted,” the net responded. “Immediate.”
This meant that Melody was immediately freed from her duties in order to visit the Captain. She hurled herself through the energy network of the ship, maneuvering around magnetic stops as though solving a giant maze. This ship seemed to have no solid walls, but a magnetic baffle was every bit as effective, as she knew from her experience with Slammer on the flagship.
She came into the Captain’s presence. He dispensed with protocol, moving in to touch his shell to hers to facilitate private dialogue. “What an aura!” his surface current exclaimed.
“Sir, I am Melody of Sphere Mintaka, Segment Etamin,” she pulsed. “I come to inform you that your ship has been infiltrated by Andromedans of Sphere oo. They—”
“I am aware of the oo intrusion,” Captain Mnuhl of Knyfh replied tersely.
“You are… aware?”
“I have reserved taking any action until I knew more of their strategy,” he explained. “I do not know how many other hostages exist in your fleet, or when they intend to strike. To eliminate the nine Andromedans aboard my ship without that knowledge is futile.”
“There are about four hundred in the fleet,” Melody said. “We have eliminated perhaps thirty. They wait for the signal ‘Six of Scepters’ from their hostage-captain on the Ace of Swords—a signal that will never come, because we have dealt with that command-entity.”
“I note you have tapped the minds of the hostages themselves,” Mnuhl signaled. “This I was unable to do.”
“It requires a four-to-one aural superiority, and adaptation of a transfer unit to orient on hostage-hosts,” she explained. “Even then, it is by no means certain, as the hostages resist strongly. I can show you how to set your transfer unit.”
“What of my original officers? I do not wish to do them harm.”
“The harm has already been done. The Andromedans destroy the minds of their involuntary hosts. Do you wish to speak with Gnejh, my host to verify this?”
“I do.”
Melody allowed her host-mind to communicate with the Captain. After a moment he drew back. “You are correct, Melody of Etamin. Her personality will no longer integrate with our society, and to permit her to fission reproductively would be merely to spread the malaise.”
“Yes,” Melody agreed regretfully. “Andromeda is no gentle maiden. She must be chained.” Then she gave a pulse of innovation. “Reproductive fissioning… would that destroy the hostages?”
“Not if the host-minds are defunct. It probably would only spread the hostages.”
“Not worth the risk,” Melody agreed.
“So I shall act,” Mnuhl pulsed with decision. He moved over to the net input and ran a current through it. “They are now gone.”
“Already?”
“The applicable code current will fission any entity of our species,” he signaled. “I made arrangements when I identified the hostages. The matter could not be left to chance.”
Again, Melody experienced an internal flux of horror. These military entities, of whatever Sphere, operated with a savage efficiency that dispensed with sapient lives as though they were unimportant. She could never be that way!
“Let me show you what is necessary,” she signaled. “Then you can transfer me to another hostage ship.”
“Agreed. My technicians will—”
He was interrupted by an incoming message. It was only three symbols, but their import chilled Melody to her nucleus.
SIX OF SCEPTERS
Some hostage had caught on, and given the action signal. Now all the hostages would proceed openly to take over their ships. The battle was on.
14. Heart of Spica
/action hour message all field commands: strike as suitable for individual situations/
The human host was in pain. Yael and Skot sat at a table in the control room, watching Llume the Undulant operate the fleet communications net. The magnets were hovering idly.
“Melody!” Yael cried internally, gladly. “How did you—?”
“Segment Knyfh has transfer units aboard their Atoms,” Melody explained. “What is going on here?”
“Llume—she—the pain-box…”
Now Melody recognized the sensation. It was a low setting on a Canopian discipline-unit, the device that inflicted pain in the entity to which it was oriented. She had had recent experience with this aboard the Deuce of Scepters, but hadn’t known any of these deadly boxes were on board the Ace of Swords.