Despite the danger, Garth smiled triumphantly with half his mouth. Ornth had taken the rare step of conversing with his mount. This in itself was an achievement among skalds.
I offer no threat. I am imparting a warning. The enemy is near. Can you not sense them?
The ship is full of the beasts from the stars.
Yes, but now they are inside our sanctuary. They have broken in somehow.
Ornth hesitated, then Garth felt his arm lifting again. I do not believe you, Ornth said.
Fine. Open the door. Prove me right as we are devoured, watch our flesh be sucked up into the food-tubes of the ancient enemy. How they will laugh when they find you hiding inside my cracked skull!
The hand stopped, and lowered back to Garth’s side. If we are not to exit this place, what can be done?
Garth felt his crushing tension relaxing. The Tulk was listening to him. Use a communication device. Attempt to communicate with another skald in another cubicle. Do not speak, but see if the others respond. We cannot let the enemy know we are awake and breathing in this place. They will hunt us, if we do.
Ornth did as he suggested. He touched a device near the bedside in the darkness, after first muting the system. Garth knew a tone would sound inside another chamber nearby, but he could not hear it. Ornth waited, but after six chimes, no one answered.
Try another, Garth suggested.
You are clouding my thoughts, and causing me undue stress.
I’m keeping us both alive.
Ornth used Garth’s fingers to reach out and touch a different glowing cabin number. More chimes were indicated. Garth could hear them through the wall. Ornth must be calling a nearby room.
This time, the call was answered. A face flickered into being on the screen and both minds stared with Garth’s wide eyes. It was a female face, but not the same skald girl who had tricked Garth days ago. She looked tired and baffled.
“What is the purpose of this communication?” she asked.
Do not respond, Garth urged. They are listening.
Ornth said nothing with either his mind or Garth’s lips. The skald girl peered at them, unable to see much. She lifted her hand to disconnect the device-but hesitated, turning her head to one side.
Suddenly, a shriek came from her. It was a strange sound of surprise and desperation. The cry was human, but not entirely so, as two creatures screamed together in mortal terror.
Her face was gone from the view of the device a moment later.
Turn off the device! Garth urged.
What has occurred?
Turn off the device!
His own squirming fingers did as he demanded. The horrible sounds could still be heard, however. They were coming through the wall from the cabin next door. The walls reverberated with a sudden booming sound, as a body thudded against it.
We must flee! Garth urged. Walk us into the lavatory.
Ornth did so on shaky legs. Why are we here? There is nowhere to hide.
Garth directed the Tulk to remove a clamp and the toilet slid from its moorings. A narrow dark hole appeared. A rich odor wafted up from the pipes below.
You suggest we attempt to slide away into the sewers?
I maintain this vessel. The pipes will expand as they join others. If we can reach an expulsion tank, there will be a maintenance portal. That may well be how the shrade got in in the first place.
Ornth walked out of the lavatory, while Garth shrieked in his head. You are the mad-thing, not I. You have never met them in person. I’ve been in their nests. We must flee!
No, said Ornth firmly. We will gather weapons and drive this interloper out.
The Tulk do not fight, they flee!
The Tulk do battle, upon occasion.
But why change a successful strategy now? Why not continue to avoid the enemy?
Because there is no way off this ship, disobedient rogue. Now be silent, I’m having difficulty cogitating.
Garth was anything but silent. He pleaded, threatened and strained to recapture the reins of his body. But his nerve endings were riddled with fresh-driven control threads. He could not force his own limbs to stop moving. He felt his hand make contact with the smooth metal touchpad. The door swished open, washing him with the bright glare of the corridor outside. Although he didn’t see any aliens crouching at his feet, Garth shrieked helplessly within his own mind.
Quiet, fool! Ornth demanded. I can’t think!
The being that was a hybrid of human and Tulk stepped out into the empty corridor. The room next door was quiet now-perhaps the shrade was eating its fill. Garth had to struggle to make a coherent argument with the creature that drove his body like a power-walker without his consent.
You must see reason, Ornth, he said. At least, whatever you do, don’t open that door.
I do not intend to listen to a rogue.
I have faced these beings before. Allow me to be your tactical advisor.
The Tulk hesitated uncertainly. Garth felt a growing sense of panic. They were taking a tremendous risk standing here in the hallway, staring and twitching. At any second, one of the aliens could arrive on the scene and there would be three creatures riding this single body.
I would humbly suggest, great Ornth, that we move to a safer location, Garth said, trying make his thoughts seem as calm and reasonable as possible. His continued existence depended on it.
I have no intention of exploring sewers. We are under attack. I must sound the alarm.
Garth wanted to shriek again, to cry, to screech and gibber with madness. But these things would not increase his already dismal odds of survival. Instead, he controlled his thoughts as the Tulk clumsily drove him to take tottering steps toward the open saloons.
Any audible alarm will also alert the enemy, Garth pointed out.
I am not a fool. I will find the others and we will form barricades.
Garth wanted to argue that the Tulk was indeed an old fool, even for one of his reclusive race. He was impressed by the bravery of this member of the Tulk, however. Fryx would have run and done anything to distance himself from danger. This being had larger ideas. Unfortunately, they were foolish ideas and likely to get both of them killed.
The shrade will penetrate any barricade, as it managed to do when it entered this enclosed region. The critical thing now, is to stop the shrade from opening the exterior locks. It will seek to do so, and thus let in an army of its comrades.
This line of reasoning halted Ornth in his teetering tracks. Even the arrogant Tulk mind could see the obvious logic behind Garth’s suggestion. Leaning forward, face and hands twitching, Garth was left standing there for several seconds. It was all he could do not to rave inside his head.
Ornth jerked on the reins suddenly. They did an about-face and marched in the opposite direction. They passed the compartment where they’d awakened, then the next inside which the shrade had no doubt slain another skald. They headed toward the emergency engineering compartment at the end of the passage. There was a code lock here. Garth’s hand rose up and tapped at it. The lock quietly beeped a low tone, denying access.
Allow me to control my hand, Garth suggested. I know all the codes.
No, Ornth said, tell me the code, and I will type it in.
Garth would have hissed in frustration if he could have forced his lips to make a sound. He had hoped the Tulk would allow him some level of nervous control. With good fortune, he could use this wedge to drive the rider into remission. Unfortunately, Ornth did not trust him and would not allow any sharing of muscular control.
And if I refuse to give you the codes?
Then, according to your own logic, we will quickly die together.
Garth cursed the strong will of this Tulk. It was decidedly greater, and tougher, than Fryx’s had been. Fryx had been easily cowed by any threat of exposure.
Garth gave the Tulk the code. They stepped inside, and touched various control panels and maintenance valves. With Garth’s help, Ornth managed to manually seal the exterior portal and disconnect the touchpads at the airlocks. Hopefully, this would delay the shrade and foil its plans.