On the wall directly ahead of her, a coyote chased a roadrunner, with hilarious results. The guard laughed on cue with the video.
As expected, the alien girl opened one eye to see what was so funny. As Kris watched, the girl succumbed to watching as one vermin repeatedly tried and repeatedly failed, to get the other.
“I was betting on the roadrunner to drag her out of herself,” Jacques said, drifting up to watch with Kris.
“It she the hard case?”
“Among our kids, yes. I understand from the Royal that they have two hard cases. Both older. Doc Meade wanted to spread the kids out among all the ships, but I told her solitary confinement would be the worst thing we could do to the youngsters. As it is now, we and the Royal are the only ships with nurseries.”
“And most of them are coming around?”
“All the youngsters are moving, at one speed or another. This young woman, hard as she appears to be, is like putty compared to the diamond of the old lady’s personality that you’re about to meet.”
“What are our chances of turning the woman?” Kris asked.
“Somewhere between none and nil,” the anthropologist said. “But Jack had us reduce her sedation so you could talk to her. He thinks it’s important that you hear what she has to say.”
“Is it safe to do that?”
“Jack wants it. We’ve got a pump in her. We’re ready to put her back to sleep at the first sign she’s dangerous to herself. Why don’t you come see for yourself?”
Kris left the girl. Her guard had just brought a pillow to support her head so she could watch the video more comfortably.
The next room was not much larger than the one Kris had just watched. Here Jack stood, wearing only the sweat-stained liner to his battle armor. On the bed, the gray-haired woman was tied down with padded restraints. Her head lolled gently back and forth in zero gee.
Jacques opened the door but stayed outside when Kris entered. He locked the door behind her.
~Our Enlightened One is here,~ Jack said, as Kris came to float beside him.
The woman opened her eyes, took in the scene with a lazy glance, and laughed. It was a harsh, dry cackle.
~Vermin, your false enlightened one is a woman,~ she spat.
~I led the ships that blasted your other ships into tiny pieces,~ Nelly translated for Kris.
The woman turned her face to the wall. ~Yes, yes, yes, the vermin have chewed our toes. You said that before. But you are fools.~
She turned back to face Kris. ~You are a fool. You shot me with your false guns before I could tell you why I chose to live and see the fear in your eyes before I die like my worshipped one, the truly Enlightened One.~
~What will bring fear to my eyes?~ Kris asked.
~They have sent the torch to all the ships. Your luck may have led you to be there when we stumbled, but your luck cannot save you from what is even now moving to obliterate you. We will swim in your blood. We will pile your heads in our Holy of Holies. You will have no children to share the wine of your remembrance.~
She stared hard at Kris. As hard as her drugged state allowed.
~No one will know you ever lived.~
NELLY, SHOW HER THE CRYPT UNDER THE PYRAMID.
WITH PLEASURE, KRIS.
The wall to Kris’s right came alive with a holograph of the hall of horrors under the pyramid.
Even drugged, the woman’s face took on shock. Horror.
~You cannot have been there.~
~I have walked your horror of horrors,~ Kris said through Nelly. ~I have spat on it. This is the message I left for all of you to read.~
Now the stone Kris had used to block the entrance to the pyramid filled the wall.
~You make war on us,~ Kris said, ~we will bury your pyramid under a pile of your skulls. We will flood your plain of glass with your blood.~
~No. No! NO!~ the woman screamed. ~You are wrong. All the ships will come now that the torch has been sent to them. It is you that will be buried in a flood of ships. We have more ships than you can count. Our women are most fruitful. We will destroy you.~
“Jacques,” Kris said aloud, “are you listening in?”
“Yes,” came from a small grill in the door.
“Put her to sleep. I think she’s said all she came here to say.”
“Her vitals are way up. I was about to do it anyway.”
“Do it.”
The woman’s head lolled back on her bunk, and, in a moment, she was snoring.
“They fled here right after the first fight,” Kris said to Jack. He nodded agreement.
“I don’t see any way that this group could have sent any ‘torch’ to the other ships.”
“It’s not likely,” he said. “However, there may be some sort of precedence for them rousing the tribes with a torch.”
“And she’s assuming someone among the others has done that.”
“Like the three ships that observed our last fight?” Jack pointed out.
Kris winced. “Yeah.”
“Any suggestions what we do next?”
“I wonder if there is a library on the station,” Kris muttered to herself. “Someplace that has the history of these people.”
“The only way to find out is to search it,” Jack said.
“I hate to order your Marines into that place.”
“It’s ugly,” Jack agreed.
“You’ll want scientists in the search, too,” Jacques said, joining them.
Kris heaved a sigh. “Captain Drago, lay the Wasp alongside the station, then please join me on the flag bridge. Have the other skippers come, too.”
“Aye aye, Admiral. The Word is already sent to the squadron.”
Kris squared her shoulders. It was bad and would, no doubt, get worse.
59
Kris sat in her day quarters, meetings done.
All four of the squadron’s ships now lay close to the station. The Wasp, Royal, and Intrepid were able to spawn pinnaces. They were out cloud dancing, gathering in enough reaction mass for the squadron’s needs to get them back to Alwa.
Hopefully, it would not take them long to refuel all four ships.
The idea of sending Sailor, Marines, and boffins to root around among all those bodies on the station to see if there was anything helpful left had caused Kris to blanch.
Professor Labao and Nelly had come up with a solution. As Kris sat here, nano scouts were zipping through the station, looking for anything interesting. Nelly and her brood were doing the oversight. Only if they found something really interesting did a human eye get brought in.
Thanks to a merciful God, the A deck with all the bodies seemed to hold little of interest. It was closer to the hub that the scouts found things to refer for human review. There was a file room, huge and full of actual print on paper. There was something that might be a library, but it didn’t have all that many books. There was also a series of large halls that might have passed for courtrooms with judicial chambers off them. In them were loads of officious-looking books. The scientists were all interested in these for lack of something better.
“What we haven’t found,” Professor Labao noted, “is anything like a research facility or labs. Interesting that.”
Kris was finding a lot of things interesting.
The ships swung at anchor as close to the station as was safe. Now there were air locks spaced along the station’s outer hull where longboats could easily dock. Inside, a small team had spread nets across A deck. If it worked as planned, the nets would hold the drifting bodies well back from the people who actually boarded the station to do the scavenger hunt.
Kris hoped they saw no more than was necessary.
For now, Kris stared at the screens in flag plot.