Only Human (38 page)

 Jelani took his hand.

* * *

 "He's so old," Nova whispered.
She perched on the edge of the lounger, eyes fixed at some point below the
ceiling, seeing nothing. Tychon watched her spellbound face anxiously, torn between
manning the cockpit and staying here, beside Nova, where the real battle was
about to be fought.

* * *

"
Erato
is in orbit over the
valley, Colonel."

Carras nodded. "Newson?"

"Sir?" The engineer looked up
from his monitors.

"
Erato
's Challenger controls will
be off line?"

"Yessir, it can be controlled only
from here," Newson replied. "By your orders," he reminded him.

"What coverage do we have?"

"The northern half of the plateau and
most of the Shad Laika lowlands."

"Can we reduce that?"

"Certainly. We can narrow our target
area down to approximately two square kils from here."

"Good. Do it."

"Which coordinates, sir?" Newson
hid his surprise.

Carras turned to the lieutenant near the
helm. "What are the coordinates for Eagle Five?"

"Sir?"

Carras nodded. "Tharron knows we have
arrived. If he can use his weapon, he will do so now. If my agents are still
working, they will be close by. If not, I will assume that Tharron has taken
possession of the Eagle. It is a valuable ship and likely faster than anything
he has. Either way, Tharron is where the Eagle is."

Newson adjusted the Challenger. "Shad-Areen,
then. Ready, sir."

Carras studied a real-vid of the peaceful
planet below. The passive signal emitting from Eagle Five, Tychon's borrowed
ship, originated within a town of a surprisingly high population compared to
other parts of Shaddallam. It could very well be a rebel stronghold and
destroying the city would deal a serious blow to the enemy.

But what if those people his scanners
indicated were civilians?

The maddening uncertainties of this entire
operation irritated him. He must act, and soon. No, he could not wipe out the
entire valley. But this city, this one city, might not be too high a price to
pay for both Tharron and the Tughan Wai. Perhaps even Comori! Carras had simply
scaled down an outrage that would never be muted by the Union's public
relations specialists and propaganda makers. Gone was the hope to make
Brigadier General before his honorable retirement. Gone was the hope of being
remembered as one of Targon's more capable commanders. He would be remembered
as the man who wiped out thousands of peaceful sentients. And no one would ever
know why.

"Colonel Carras! Vanguard One
reporting."

Carras rushed to the communications
console. "Adachi! Come in."

"I'm over Shad Areen, sir," came
the reply. "Eagle Five is in the air. Holding position over the city at
fifteen hundred meters."

"Are any other planes launching?"

"Negative. Just the Eagle."

Another voice cut into their exchange.
"Colonel Carras, this is Baroch on the
Erato
. Please identify the
occupants of that craft. If they are yours, order them aside so that we may
begin our operation. We have only minutes before you must engage the enemy
carrier."

"Yes, sir," Carras said. "Stand
clear as well, Adachi."

"Affirmative."

* * *

"Jelani!" Nova whispered aboard
Eagle Five when she recognized the other presence within Kiran's mind.

The Shantir, in his weakened state, did not
notice the intruder. Kiran offered no resistance. Jelani slowly put the fuses
together, gaining confidence with every step. This, he knew now, the creation
of the Tughan, had been his one purpose in life. And it was he, of all the
Shantirs privy to the secret, who had been given the opportunity to realize the
dream. That Tharron was the beneficiary of all of this was a remote point of
interest that faded in the light of the whole.

The boy that was the Tughan counted on Nova
to stop the Shantir with the blind trust of any six-year old. And his father
was there and would not let bad things happen. Was that not what Nova believed?

But Nova merely watched in amazement, now
part of the Tughan. How easy it all was! Could something as infinitely complex
as the Tughan Wai be moved so easily? She followed Jelani through the blinding
maze of Kiran's mind, awestruck by what she saw. She was lost, standing small
and insignificant before a power that her own mind could not begin to
understand. It was all there! Had they really worried about the Tughan as a
mere weapon of destruction? Did no one know how much more lay dormant here? She
was looking into infinity! Here was a creature of unfathomable proportions,
waiting to receive knowledge that would give substance to its powers, knowledge
that it would begin to assimilate once Jelani had completed the creation. This
creature knew that it was about to be born and Nova was like a mote caught in
the vast machinery that drove this endless unknown. She shivered.

"What's that?" Greah yelled.

Tychon looked up at a secondary monitor and
leapt into the cockpit to identify the craft now approaching from above.

"They're here, Nova! Vanguard!" He
hailed them. "This is V7 on Eagle Five."

"Tychon?" came the incredulous
reply. "Dammit, Ty! What's going on down there?"

"We've got them cornered for now. Get
down here and we'll figure out a way to extract the boy. Are any of the other
Vanguard here?"

"Yes, and so is Carras. With his
finger on the trigger. And Tharron's got a carrier on the way, too. Get out of
there. The place is about to get scorched."

"Tell Carras to stand down!"

"You're crawling with rebels down
there!"

"Not as many as you'd think. Those
are–"

"Ty!" Nova yelled.

 Tychon turned to her. "It's Eagle One–"

"Cut them off! Now!"

Too late. Tychon knew where Eagle One was.
Through Nova, Kiran understood. Then Jelani knew. He gave the Tughan a vicious
mental shove.

Eagle One's signal disappeared from the
screen.

"Nova!" Tychon shouted.

Nova knew. The Tughan had risen. Carras
would open fire.

* * *

"Vanguard Three," Carras roared
aboard
Teti
. "Xi! Return at once. Stand clear!" He slapped at
the controls. "Baroch!"

"I hear you."

"Eagle One has taken fire! They've
gone down east of the city."

"It was the Tughan, Colonel,"
Baroch said. "No shots were fired. Your Eagles are useless now. We will
fire Challenger on my command. Ready?"

Carras turned the transmitter down. "Newson,
is the Challenger targeted on Eagle Five?"

The engineer nodded. "It'll also
affect the ground immediately beyond the Eagle. The city..."

"I'm aware of that," Carras barked.
"Fire when he gives the order."

Newson nodded, overriding
Erato
's
signal. "Ready."

* * *

"They've got a plane down there!"
Greah gestured wildly at his screens.

Tychon switched the scanners to real video.
He saw a group of people exit the hangar, among them Jelani and Kiran, both
moving slowly, seeing nothing. They walked toward an air car that would take
them up to a cruiser now hovering over the damaged tarmac.

His eyes moved from the screen to Nova. She
was immobile, frowning as though she followed some unheard and unpleasant
conversation. Like Kiran, she was held captive by the wonder that Jelani had
unfolded.

"Nova? What do you see?"

Kiran suddenly stumbled over a crack in the
torn pavement and fell to his knees. Both Jelani and Nova winced at the sharp
pain that all of them felt. Startled, Nova was able to tear herself away from
the Jelani-presence within Kiran.

Kiran had changed! Nova sensed that she was
witnessing, at last, the birth of the Tughan Wai. She saw an understanding that
had not been there before. Something to do with Eagles and a memory of
Centauri.

"Adachi?" Nova gasped. Adachi,
commander of Eagle One, was there! Somehow, he now lived within the Tughan. Or
rather, any thought that had ever crossed the Terran's mind was now part of the
Tughan. She gasped when she also recognized a familiar
something
that reminded
her of Dylan. And Kiran had grown to accommodate them. He acknowledged their
presence, aware, without question.

Jelani had seen it, too. Like Nova, he
could not break their link.

"There's something happening,"
Greah shouted. "More planes!"

Tychon turned his attention back to the
scene below. Even as Tharron's new cruiser left the airfield, four shrills
arrived from the city and shot toward Eagle Five.

* * *

"Colonel," Xi reported to Carras
from his vantage point on Eagle Three. "Another cruiser has left the Shad
Areen air-field. It's heading toward the enemy carrier and Eagle Five is
following."

"Colonel Carras, four fighter planes
approaching Eagle Five from the ground."

"Colonel Carras, enemy battleship has
launched approximately two hundred fighters."

Carras studied several screens and
indicators at once. "McDougall," he advised
Teti
's captain,
"we are launching seven squadrons against the enemy ship. Request that you
do the same."

* * *

Aboard Tharron's cruiser, Jelani had
dropped Kiran's hand and had fallen to his knees. His mouth worked to form some
words, prayer perhaps, but no sound passed his lips.

 Kiran sat small and insignificant in one
of the wide chairs of the bridge, his eyes fixed on the Shantir.

"You're not finished," he said,
smiling.

"No," Jelani whispered.

Tharron tore his eyes away from the screens.
"Jelani! Take out that Eagle behind us. Do it now!"

Kiran laughed. Jelani died. The Shantir's
screams exploded through the rebel ship and even Tharron blanched at the sound.

* * *

Nova's hands flew to her head and she
jumped from the couch as if to physically escape her link to Kiran. She moaned
loudly when she felt the Jelani presence, like Adachi, now part of the Tughan.
The Tughan no longer needed his teacher. His teacher had become part of him. She
struggled to back out, frightened by the power she felt, unaware that Union
battleships prepared to fire and that four rebel fighter planes slowly caught
up with the Eagle. She saw only the Tughan. And now the Tughan saw her. Kiran
seemed to remember Nova's presence with some surprise and then allowed her to
live. She became a spectator, helplessly bound to this mind that would not
release her.

* * *

"Challenger ready," Baroch said,
his voice clearly audible aboard the
Erato
, aboard the
Teti
,
aboard the Eagles and aboard Tharron's ship. "Fire."

Kiran smiled, having understood the
Challenger through Adachi. He turned his attention to
Erato
and
deflected the deadly beams as though shielding his eyes from an overbright sun.
Most of the blast went wild, out into space where its signal rapidly decayed.
Then Kiran followed her output back to the
Erato
. As all life there
winked out within seconds, the Tughan absorbed and learned, rejecting nothing
and no one.

Nova slumped onto the floor of the Eagle. She
had felt Kiran's roar of pain and triumph when the combined consciousness of nearly
nine hundred people flowed into him.

"Kiran, please," she begged.
"Stop this now."

I haven't even begun!
the Tughan returned.

"Ty, he's taken out one of the ships!"

"From here?" Tychon gasped. He
waved a hand to get Greah's attention. "Hang on to something, we're about
to leave the atmosphere."

He reached for his headset as the Eagle
approached escape velocity. They were still racing after Tharron's ship while
in turn pursued by the four rebel fighters. One by one, the planes headed into
space, directly toward
Teti
's dogfight with the enemy shrills. Tychon
held his course nervously, not wanting to lose Tharron's cruiser in the melee.
A hit into their deflectors threw the Eagle wild. Greah tumbled off Nova's
pilot bench and landed hard on the steps up to the main cabin. He touched his
head and cursed when his hand came away bloodied.

"Nova, there are four shrills on our
tail," Tychon said. "I'm going to have to let the cruiser go."

Kiran had perceived Tychon's predicament
through Nova. His attention moved only momentarily to their pursuers. All four
shrills disintegrated. Tychon stared at his screens. They were gone! "What
is going on? Did Kira do that?"

* * *

Kiran no longer existed. The being that now
inhabited the young body gazed around Tharron's ship to find the K'lar leader.
"Tharron," he said.