Helix Wars (48 page)

“And you, President; what might you gain from our alliance?”

Horrescu hesitated, obviously considering his words, then looked the starship captain in the eye and said, “I am dying, Captain, and I have known this for a year or more. Nothing can keep me alive... Nothing, that is, on Sporell. We might be sophisticated in many ways, but there is only so much that our medicine can...” He faltered, and Ellis upped the magnification and saw the gleam in the tyrant’s eyes.

“However,” he went on, “the only hope I have is that you, with your sophisticated starship, your drives which propel the ship at speeds as fast as light, might possess a concomitant level of medical expertise. We could reach an agreement, Captain. The ministrations of your best doctors, for my aid in helping you capture the finest worlds the Helix has to offer – for the benefit and advancement of the Sporelli people!”

Kranda leaned towards Ellis and hissed, “The slimy, self-seeking bastard!”

The captain said, “I will have my surgeons examine you, President Horrescu. My people do enjoy advanced medical resources, and it is possible that we might be able to help you.”

Horrescu bowed his head. “I would be most grateful,” he said.

Beside the president, Commander Yehn leaned towards Horrescu and spoke in a whisper which Ellis’s varnika did not pick up.

Horrescu considered what Yehn had said, then looked across the table at the starship captain. “You spoke, in your communiqué, of half a million troops...”

The captain inclined her head. “I commanded a force twice as large as any on our homeworld, President. For twenty years our planet was torn apart by war after war, and only after my forces brought peace to the planet did I turn my sights elsewhere.”

Horrescu smiled, skull-like. “War-hardened troops, and half a million of them... Captain, I know the worlds of the Helix where we might meet most resistance, puny though they would be in comparison to your forces. An expeditionary force of ten thousand of your troops, with Commander Yehn as your liaison, would quell all resistance on New Earth and Mahkana.”

The captain laughed. “But my dear President Horrescu,” she said, “you misjudge me if you think I would risk a single one of my soldiers in battle with the beings of the Helix, no matter how feeble you say they are.”

Horrescu’s expression faltered. “But then how...?”

“We have weapons on board this ship which will achieve our goals without even a single Sporelli soldier needing to set foot on enemy soil. From orbit we can bombard a world and render it lifeless within six hours.”

The president was wide-eyed in wonder. “But, if I may say... if you annihilate a world, render it uninhabitable, then how will our people benefit – ?”

The captain flung back her head and laughed, silencing the president. “But President Horrescu... please forgive me. Thousands of years have passed since your ancestors were taken from Sporell. In that time we have made scientific advances of which you could not even dream.” She braced her arms on the table and leaned forward, staring at the president intensely. “President, we have weapons which will rid a world of a specific life-form – Mahkans, humans, whichever – and leave the planet, its flora and fauna, untouched. We have code-bombs and biological agents that will deal death to a billion souls before they even know they are being attacked!”

Horrescu shook his head. “And you say the world would be fit for habitation afterwards?” He sounded shocked.

The captain smiled. “All that would need to be done would be to clean up the corpses from the streets, and then move our people in...”

One of her officers leaned towards her and spoke in hushed tones. She listened, nodded, then addressed Horrescu. “President, we are ready to complete the final approach run to the Helix... Perhaps, as my guest, you would care to be present in the armoury when we fire the first of these weapons... as a display of Sporelli might to whoever might be foolish enough to attempt to oppose us.”

Ellis could see the expression on Horrescu’s face – greed mingled with awe – as he stammered, “I would be... honoured indeed.”

“You might even, President Horrescu, care to select a world to be our first... victim.”

Horrescu smiled. “I would have no hesitation in choosing the world of Mahkana,” he said. “They are an arrogant race, who think themselves superior, unmatched on the Helix. And, so I am told, they inhabit a vast, cold planet that would make a suitable colony world for our people.”

The captain inclined her head. “Mahkana it shall be, then.” She spoke hurriedly to one of her officers, who listened intently and tapped her instructions into a screen on the table.

“President, in less than four hours Mahkana will be ours. If you would care to come with me...”

She stopped. One of the armoured soldiers had approached the table and bent to speak in her ear. She stiffened, stared across at the president, and said, “It has come to our notice that your boarding party was accompanied by two beings you chose not to reveal to us. We consider this...”

Whatever the captain said next was lost as Kranda reached out and grabbed Ellis’s arm. “That’s us, Jeff. We’re
persona non grata
at this party. We run.”

From across the amphitheatre, half a dozen guards approached cautiously, weapons drawn.

2

E
LLIS LEAPT TO
his feet and sprinted, diving through the irising portal just as the first Sporelli fired his blaster. The beam missed him by half a metre, scoring a silver rent in the wall above the portal. Ellis tumbled, picked himself up, and ran along the corridor after Kranda.

He glanced over his shoulder. A dozen armoured Sporelli soldiers were tumbling through the exit, the leading pair taking aim and firing. The beams missed by a fraction, scorching the wall to Ellis’s right and filling the corridor with blinding light.

Ellis caught up with Kranda. “Back to the ship?” He thought of Calla, in the custody of the starship captain, and his stomach turned in despair.

“What? And have them corner us like coyti?”

“Where, then?”

“This way!”

She turned as she ran and fired off a blast from her laser rifle. All Ellis saw was a bright blue beam lance from head-height beside him. He looked back down the corridor. An advancing Sporelli soldier was flung back, skittling three others.

Ellis increased his pace, Kranda beside him. They passed down grey industrial corridors, their walls stained with the oil and filth of centuries.

“We’re outpacing them,” Kranda said. “But it’s a concern that they’re aware of us.”

“That’s something of an understatement,” Ellis panted.

They turned into a corridor and sprinted, came to a T-junction and turned left. Kranda raced ahead, faster than Ellis had ever seen her move before. He increased his pace, saw strip-lighting strobe by like flak. He caught up with Kranda and the Mahkan slowed down.

He looked over his shoulder. They had shaken their pursuers, for the time being.

“And now?”

Kranda grunted. “You forget that we are armed with two very effective nuclear bombs.”

Ellis glanced instinctively at where the Mahkan was; he saw only her outline. “Two tiny nuclear devices against a ship this size?” he began.

“Strategically positioned, Jeff, they will prove exponentially effective. If we find the engine-room and plant a blaster within the drive’s power-source...”

“And they’ll disable the ship before it reaches the Helix, right? Render it inoperable?”

Kranda interrupted. “That will not be enough.”

Ellis stared at the Mahkan’s outline. “Meaning?”

“I intend the nuclear charges to
destroy
the starship.”

Ellis was aware of the thudding of his heart, and an icy fear crawled down his spine. “Kranda...” He marshalled his racing thoughts, “there are at least half a million innocent –”

“Human!” Kranda yelled. “You heard the captain. You heard what she said about her weaponry – you heard what she said about using it!”

“Even so,” Ellis said, ineffectually. “Look... there must be some way to disable the ship without killing so many...”

“I cannot gamble with the lives of my people, the future of my world – the future of the very Helix itself. We must
annihilate
this ship. There are no half-measures, no other ways of ensuring the continued existence of the Helix and every race upon it! Now, are you with me, or do I continue alone?”

They had slowed to a fast walk. Ellis was aware of Kranda’s stentorian breathing at his side.

He said, “You’re not telling me everything.”

“What?” It was almost a roar.

“With your engineering expertise, your varnika... I’m pretty damned sure there’s a way to disable this ship, render its systems useless. Do you know what I think?”

“As if I give a damn about what you think, human!”

“I think it’s because the Sporelli had the audacity to target Mahkana first. That’s it, isn’t it? You’re punishing them for that.”

Kranda roared. Ellis saw a blur, felt something grip him by the throat. She lifted him through the air and slammed him against the bulkhead.

“How dare you, human! How dare you accuse me of punishing the Sporelli merely because they elected to target my planet first! Do you think I’d stand idly by – as you would! – if your planet were under threat first?”

She must have commanded her shield to deactivate, then, for she suddenly appeared before Ellis. Her slavering muzzle was centimetres from his face, lips drawn back in rage. She snarled at him. “I am doing what I am doing for the sake of the Helix! Get this into your head – the Sporelli are little more than primitive animals, conscienceless aggressors who deserve to die! They will attack my planet, and then yours and who knows how many others after that, and if we do nothing to stop them, millions of our people will die and nothing will ever be the same again on the Helix!”

She released Ellis, let him slide to the floor, and activated her shield again.

He picked himself up, rubbing his throat.

“Now, Jeff, you can accompany me to the engine-room, or you can make your own damned way back to the interworld ship.”

She waited. He said, “Okay. Okay, I’m coming with you...” He wanted to impress upon her that he was accompanying her not because he agreed with what she was doing, but because he feared facing the Sporelli alone.

But he held his tongue and set off alongside Kranda at a jog.

To break the strained silence, he said, “Finding the engine-room might not be that easy. Have you thought of that?”

“You have little faith in me, human,” the Mahkan snapped.

“You mean...” he said, “you know where it is?”

“Approximately.”

“You’re joking, right?”

“In situations such as these, human, I do not joke.”

Ellis glanced behind him; there was no sign of the Sporelli. He felt a quick sense of relief, soon tempered by the realisation that they were lost on a vast alien starship.

“How the hell...?” he began.

“On the interworld ship’s approach,” Kranda explained patiently, “I took the time to observe the starship.”

“So?”

“I registered what I assumed were the engine nacelles. The engine-room or drive apparatus chamber cannot be far away.”

“And if you’re wrong?”

“In that case, we will simply plant the nuclear charges, and hope.”

They came to an open elevator and Kranda paused.

“Where now?”

“I’m thinking... Very well, up a level. But not on the elevator – too dangerous, if the Sporelli are monitoring their ship’s operating systems. This way.”

They came to a recess in the wall and Kranda indicated a column of staples welded to the bulkhead, forming a ladder. She climbed. Ellis looked back along the corridor, then followed.

They were in a low, wide corridor. To one side was a single rail set into the decking, and ten metres further along, a two-seater pod; evidently a means of getting around the vast starship.

Kranda said, “We’ll be faster on foot. Again, they might be monitoring their transportation units.”

They sprinted along the corridor.

“How far now?”

Kranda considered. “A couple of kilometres, no more.”

Ellis yelled, “I hope you’ve memorised the way back.”

“Not me, but my varnika has. When we’ve planted the charges, sub-voc this code and your varnika will do the rest.” She gave him the required code. “Halt,” she said.

His heart leaped. “What now?”

They had paused outside a great archway, over which curved a line of bold Sporelli lettering.

Ellis’s varnika translated: “
Hibernative Suspension Chamber #1
”

Kranda approached and palmed a sensor beside the sliding door. She waited a second, but the door refused to open. She raised her laser and fired at the sensor, and the door juddered open fractionally. Grunting, Kranda reached out and hauled the sliding door further open.