“This is Llume of /,” Llume announced to the fleet. “I am in charge of the flagship, Ace of Swords, having assumed command in the absence of the scheduled command, Bird of dash of Andromeda, who was lost in the course of ship takeover. I received the Action Hour notice and issued the ‘Six of Scepters’ alarm; I now coordinate this mission. Hostages have now had time to assume command of their ships as programmed. Vessels will now cluster about me, that we may know our strength. Any ship that approaches without demonstrating its Andromedan nature will be fired on by my lasers. I repeat: I am of Sphere slash, and Sphere slash now coordinates the entire galactic project.”
“Very bold bluff,” Melody remarked to Yael. “The lasers have the longest range in the fleet. As this ship has the most powerful laser cannon of all the Swords, it can act against any other ship before that ship can bring its own weapons to bear. And she reminded us that she is a slash entity; the slash are natural laser-users, so they really know how to handle such armament. So unfriendly ships will probably keep their distance.”
“Then it’s no bluff,” Yael said.
“But neither the Andromedans nor the Milky Wayans know that Llume is operating the ship alone. She has no drive technician, no laser cannoneer. So she can neither maneuver nor fire—not while she’s operating the communications net. Any ship could come up and blast her out of space. So it’s merely a nice ploy, and she has a lot of nerve.”
“You still like her, don’t you,” Yael observed.
“The Andromedans are entities like us. They do have their redeeming qualities. Llume may be my enemy, but she is still a lot like me.”
“You never betrayed your friends!”
“I fear I have betrayed my entire galaxy by misjudging Llume,” Melody replied sadly. “The hints were there, so obvious in retrospect, but I refused to pay attention because I liked her too much. I did not take proper steps to nullify her. And this is the result.”
Yael was silent.
Llume rolled away from the console and came to the captives. “I will turn the pain to zero intensity,” she said, “if the two of you will give me your pledges as Solarians to cooperate with me. The boxes will remain set to your frequencies but will not affect you unless you attempt to renege.”
She oriented first on Skot, placing her tail before him on the table. “You will operate the laser cannon controls, firing only on my order.”
Skot stared at her with obvious hostility. “No.”
Llume’s ball moved to Melody. “You will handle maneuvers, moving the ship on my order or in emergency defense of this vessel. It is more complex than you can readily handle, Yael of Dragon, but I will give you specific directions.”
Melody watched the Polarian ball. If it came much closer, Llume would pick up the strength of her aura and realize that Melody was back. As long as she thought Melody was somewhere else in the fleet, Llume would be uncertain. So the secret had to be protected; small as it was, it was all Galaxy Milky Way had.
“Yes,” Melody said.
Skot jerked up—then froze as the pain caught him. He couldn’t even call her traitor, but he didn’t need to.
The ball traveled back to Skot. “Yael has agreed. She is not as strong-willed as you, and she doesn’t like pain —but her direction is sensible. Will you now join her? I will not require you to do anything actually harmful to your allied ships; it will be a matter of firing warning shots.”
Skot’s only answer was to stiffen in agony.
“Then I set your box on two, while you consider,” Llume said.
Meanwhile, Melody’s pain had ceased. The boxes stimulated the pain nerves of the body, doing no actual physical harm. They were superlative control devices. “Please,” Melody said. “Set his level down again.”
Llume paused. “Since you cooperate, I honor your request. I return his setting to one.” And Skot relaxed somewhat.
Llume led the way to the maneuvers console, and gave Melody a quick general rundown. Melody paid close attention, while standing as far from Llume as she could without arousing suspicion, so that no chance contact could give away her aura. If she ever got free of the box, she wanted to know how to operate this ship.
A warner sounded at the communications console. Llume returned to it. “A capsule is approaching,” she observed. “It could be Captain Llono of Spica, in which case I would welcome him though I should have to confine him. I have a certain fondness for Spica; my host there was very nice. She was voluntary, having no knowledge of my true mission; the same is true of my Polarian host. I do not believe in damaging hosts, despite Andromedan policy.”
“Perhaps you should join the Society of Hosts,” Melody remarked.
“You have picked up certain mannerisms of your prior transferee,” Llume said. “That remark is typical of her.”
Melody had forgotten that Llume was a specialist in alien cultures. She had nearly given herself away! “I liked her,” Melody said.
“So did I. She was a resourceful, intelligent entity with a fine lovely aura,” Llume said. “It is with extreme regret I find myself opposing her. If she survives this war, I hope to be her friend again.” She studied the viewglobe. “I wish this host had better vision; I cannot be sure of the precise origin of that approaching shuttle. But in any event, I cannot take the chance that it is innocent. It could contain a radiation bomb.” She rolled over to the short-range radio. “Identify yourself, shuttle. Andromedan or Milky Way?” There was no response.
“Identify yourself,” Llume repeated. “Otherwise I must destroy you.”
Captain Llono must have been en route in the shuttle when the “Six of Scepters” announcement was broadcast, so didn’t know of the change in situation. This challenge from Llume probably confused him; it was on the wrong beam. So he was bluffing it out in silence while he tried to contact Skot on the other beam. Only Skot was no longer on duty in that capacity. Possibly Llono had caught on from these hints that something was wrong. Melody didn’t know whether to say something, and decided with regret to stay out of it lest she give herself away. She could not be certain that Llume’s conjecture about the radiation bomb was not correct.
Llume rolled over to the laser control console, oriented one cannon to verbal directive, focused on the shuttle, and fired.
Oh, Llono! Melody cried internally. Why hadn’t she spoken? Better that he be captured than wiped out! A mote flicked out in the viewglobe. “No explosion,” Llume observed. “Then it was not a bomb. Perhaps merely debris from the sundered Polarian craft.” But she did not sound convinced.
The irony was, Llume had acted entirely reasonably, by the standards of war. She had challenged the approaching craft, informed it of the consequence of unrecognized approach, and only then destroyed it. Had she not done so, all the fleet would have known she was bluffing. How could Melody blame her for that?
She glanced across at Skot. He was writhing in agony. Obviously he had tried to do something!
There was a period of silence, as if in mourning for the lost craft that might have been a bomb, and the inadequacies of those who might have allowed a brave entity to die needlessly. Melody rehearsed script after script in her mind that might have saved her friend, knowing it was pointless. She was guilty of the slaughter of a sapient entity, not in self-defense but in stupidity.
The fleet net came alive abruptly. “I am Mnuhl of Segment Knyfh,” a voice announced. It was a human voice, an automatic translation from the magnetic charges that were Knyfh communication. The net was geared to handle the full range of languages and modes of the fleet components. All messages were transmitted in common code, to be translated upon reception to whatever mode was applicable. “In the seeming absence of leadership in Segment Etamin, in the interest of Galaxy Milky Way, I am assuming temporary command of the loyalist forces of this fleet. I base this assumption on information obtained from Melody of Etamin, a special segment agent who helped me free my vessel of hostages. Loyalist ships will close in on my ship, the Ace of Atoms, after identifying themselves to me. It will be necessary for each vessel to acquiesce to search by my personnel to verify absence of hostages.”