Time Past (45 page)

Most of the humans are out. Looks like the Q’Chn are only interested in the K’Cher.

“Your people?”

The three guards assigned to this section. They have armor, but no special weapons. Looks like they’ve grabbed some plasma rifles. Chief Murdoch’s on his way with a squad.

“Thanks.”

Four more interminable minutes. The uplifts might be working, but they weren’t working as fast as they should. I tried to contact Venner and, amazingly, she accepted the link.

“What the hell’s going on, Captain?” I said. “You said you could keep them out of the rings.”

I promise nothing.
Her voice on the link was as flat as an Invidi voicebox.

“No, you’re wrong. The New Council promises much and delivers nothing,” I snapped. “And I swear I’ll let the whole galaxy know just how much nothing.”

I cut the link, fuming. If the New Council couldn’t control the Q’Chn, why had they brought them back to life?

The uplift opened, as Sasaki promised, onto Section Three. Behind me, the bulk of the spoke rose like a curved wall. In front of me lay an open section of throughway ending in the first building of the section. To my left, the gray, featureless surface of the airlock door that sealed off this section from the next one. It stretched from the spoke across to the wall of the station. I couldn’t remember seeing one activated since the time of the fire during the Seouras blockade.

Sasaki and a lanky corporal stood beside the wall interface monitor in the sealer door. On my right, where the throughway led out into Section Three, a Security constable kept back a crowd of curious onlookers.

Sasaki turned as I stepped out of the uplift. “Commander Halley. You can see what’s happening here.”

Security’s visual pickups in Alpha were the most efficient on the station, firstly because nobody vandalized them, as happened on the lower levels, and secondly because the upper building levels mostly followed the building code and left space for the pickups to be attached.

The screen split into two. One side showed the wide throughway of Section Two residential area and the other side a magnified view of a building. I recognized the Trade Hall and the unmistakable shape of Q’Chn. Two of them, huge spindly forms, on one side of the Hall in front of a side entrance.

“Our people say the two K’Cher tried to make a run for it from the Hall to the uplift. They’re trapped,” said Sasaki. “The three Melot stayed inside. Mr. Veatch is with them.”

“They should have waited inside the Hall,” said the corporal, his voice tight. “Then our people wouldn’t have to risk their lives.”

On the overview of the section, three bipedal forms in green uniforms advanced slowly from cover to cover. They looked very small. I recalled Murdoch’s briefing—the only time Security was to fire on Q’Chn was to divert them from attack on civilians.

“Let the Slashers get ’em,” yelled a voice from the crowd behind us. Others murmured agreement. “It’s not our fight,” called the voice again.

“None of the Four’d save us,” growled someone else.

I glanced back at the closest faces but they all avoided my eyes. Sullen, almost hostile expressions on the humans. A couple of Dir all cloaked in anonymous brown.

Commotion behind the crowd. Clatter of boots on the deck.

“Coming through,” yelled a voice.

The crowd parted to let a squad of Security through. They all wore full body armor and carried squat-barreled weapons. The dark helmets covered their features completely. I recognized Murdoch’s rolling walk as the leader.

“Chief.” Sasaki pointed to the screen. “Caselli, Munke, and Yata. Trying a diversion.”

“Follow me.” Murdoch’s voice crackled from his helmet speaker. He waved them forward as Sasaki opened one of the airlocks in the sealer door. We could hear the whine of weapons fire, like enraged insects. Murdoch’s squad filed through and the airlock shut again.

On the screen the three small figures kept up a continuous wave of fire at the Q’Chn. Flashes from their hands left dark burn marks on the deck and the wall behind the Q’Chn. But the Q’Chn themselves showed no effect, beyond a thin halo that traced the outlines of their bodies. Natural shields. How efficient of the K’Cher, to create soldiers who need no equipment.

On the screen now, Murdoch’s twelve humans spread out, their positions moving slowly along the throughway. They were running, but not fast enough.

The Q’Chn turned from the alley. The two spiky figures reared up a little as if to assess the situation. They stalked toward the Security constables, one, two, three paces. Perfectly coordinated. But not coordinated enough to split up and cover both threats at the same time.

“Get out now,” said Sasaki, the tips of her fingers white with pressure as she braced herself against the edge of the screen. “That’s enough.”

It was more than enough. In the seconds the Q’Chn were distracted, two bulky figures shot from the alley and scurried back to the Trade Hall, the door of which opened immediately to receive them, then snapped shut. I’d never seen K’Cher move so fast, and their ungainly, bottom-heavy run would have been funny in another situation.

The Q’Chn turned, started in the direction of their prey, realized they wouldn’t catch them, and stopped still for a second.

“Get back,” Sasaki whispered.

Murdoch and the squad were spreading out in an uneven fan-shape, keeping as much as possible to the edges of the throughway. As soon as the K’Cher disappeared into the Trade Hall, the three constables began to retreat toward the squad.

Too late. The Q’Chn moved nothing like the K’Cher. They broke into a flat, even run that overtook the fleeing humans before we realized what was happening.

Murdoch’s team put down such a barrage of fire that we could hear it through the sealer door. On the screen, a coruscating halo of flame enveloped both Q’Chn. One of Murdoch’s people fired something that hit one of the Q’Chn and physically threw it off its feet. But the other one kept moving.

It reached the first constable, turned to the next one. For a second I thought it hadn’t touched her. Then blood spurted, she crumpled, and something round bounced away from the headless body.

“Oh, God.” Sasaki vomited beside me.

The same Q’Chn pinned the second constable against a wall. Two of Murdoch’s team ran toward it, firing all the time. The Q’Chn swiveled its triangular head at them, then deliberately, slowly this time, drew its killing arm across the second constable’s throat. Then it walked away as the body slid to the deck. It turned its back on the Security squad and their weapons, which sprayed enough firepower at the Q’Chn to melt the walls of the building before which the body of the guard lay, then stalked unhurriedly in the direction of the Trade Hall.

The other Q’Chn rolled over and flipped onto its four legs. Shook itself like a dog.

The remaining unarmored constable was running, accompanied by two of Murdoch’s squad. They were about twenty meters away from the uplift.

Sasaki kept one eye on the screen and positioned the constable with us at the other side of the airlock, ready to make sure it opened as soon as the squad reached the door.

The rest of Murdoch’s squad ran forward so that they covered the unarmored constable and his escort. I recognized Murdoch by the way he crouched to reposition his weapon. Suddenly the screen was an enemy, putting the whole drama at a distance. I shouldn’t be here, I should be in there with Bill, he could get killed and I wouldn’t be there…

I took a step in the direction of the door, realized how stupid that was, turned back to the screen. If Murdoch were killed, I... Quick, try to access one of the automatic defense systems. They’ve never worked properly, but maybe it will provide some backup.

So this is how he feels when I get into trouble. As though something inside me was being squeezed to suffocation point.

“Hurry
up.
” Sasaki checked the door controls for the third time and nodded to the constable waiting on the other side of the door. He checked his weapon deliberately and settled into a ready stance.

One Q’Chn now crouched in front of the Trade Hall. The other swung its legs in a leisurely pace that caught up easily to Security’s protective line. Murdoch and the others were using lasers now, because all I could see were the violet bursts as the shots hit the Q’Chn’s skin and dissipated.

How the hell did they shield themselves?

The Q’Chn made two sweeps, left and right, that sent five of the guards flying sideways and backward in a crackling blue discharge of what looked like electrical energy. It hadn’t used the killing arm, but its long, whiplike feelers. It seemed to flush scarlet between the violet bursts, and at first I thought Security’s lasers were having some effect. Then I realized it was a skin color change like the K’Cher. The legends were wrong. Red wasn’t the only color the Q’Chn could see. It was the last color their victims saw.

The remaining three guards backed up before it, firing from the side but trying to keep between it and the unarmored constable.

I couldn’t see Murdoch and a horrible, dry-mouthed panic hit me. He might be dead and I never told him anything. Never said how much his caring meant to me.

Inexorable, unstoppable, the Q’Chn reached the three running humans. They were only twenty meters from the airlock. They could have tried the uplift, I thought, then realized the Q’Chn would be too quick.

It stood on its two hindmost legs, swept the two armored guards away simultaneously with its next two legs, and killed the remaining man.

I looked away, retching. Sasaki sobbed vicious curses and thumped the airlock frame with her fist.

When I looked up a moment later, the Q’Chn had turned its back, like the other had, and was walking away. The two guards who’d been sent flying picked themselves up and staggered to the airlock. Murdoch and the others—I searched the screen anxiously, found the figures helping each other back to the airlock doors. Nobody fired at the Q’Chn.

Sasaki tapped open the airlock with shaking hands. Three medics in white oversuits rushed forward to help the two closest squad members through, then led them gently to where they’d set up a field tent on the open throughway in front of the spoke.

I hadn’t noticed the medics arrive. I noticed now, too, that the crowd behind us had grown in both size and rowdiness. The constable went over to stand in front of them, his face impassive despite their shouted insults and questions.

I envied him his simple task. All I could do was keep an eye on the monitor and shiver. Inside Section Two, the Q’Chn stayed motionless in front of the Trade Hall.

Murdoch came through last. He was supporting one of the members of his team whose arm hung at a painful angle. When the medics loaded the woman onto a stretcher, he straightened up slowly and unclicked the catches on his helmet. Each click took a long time. I stood back and let Sasaki take the helmet from him when it finally released. His face was drenched in sweat and his eyes weren’t quite focused.

“What are they doing?” were his first words, spoken in a voice hoarse from shouting orders.

“They’re still in front of the Trade Hall,” said Sasaki. “What do you want us to do now?”

“Can we contact the Trade Hall?” He looked over at me. It was almost a plea. For what, I didn’t know.

“We tried before, but nothing,” said Sasaki. “I’ll try again.”

As she raised her comm link to her lips, mine bleeped.

Commander Halley, this is Gamet.

“I’m here, Barbara.”

We picked up a signal from the center to Alpha. It must have been the New Council talking to the Q’Chn. It’s in code, like when the Q’Chn started to come down and the New Council called them back.

Looks like Venner figured out we were listening to her messages.

Is there any change there?

Sasaki was signaling me frantically. On the monitor, the Q’Chn had left the Trade Hall and were ambling down the throughway toward this spoke.

“Wait on,” I said to Gamet. Then to Sasaki, “In case they try to come through, run the door charge.”

Sasaki nodded, and rushed to the control panel beside the spoke. She activated the electric proximity alarm and strips of bright orange warning lights began flashing over the whole surface of the door.

On the monitor, the Q’Chn got closer. Behind us, the crowd grew noisier, demanding explanations.

“They’re coming this way,” I said to Gamet.

Are you at the spoke?

“On the other side.”

As the Q’Chn grew closer, the pickup changed to a close-up image. Two angels of death mincing their way down the blood-soaked deck. One of them had been splashed with blood, the dark patches showed clearly against its gleaming skin, now iridescent again. Its feeler rubbed fastidiously at the stains.

I wish we could see you bleed, I thought.

They were only meters from the spoke.

“Uplift’s opening,” said Sasaki.

“Shit,” I said. “Is the alternate exit disabled?” Otherwise they could simply step in the uplift on that side, pass through the exit corridor, and step out in this section.

Sasaki nodded. “I had to reinitialize it after you got out.” She checked it anyway as she spoke.

I knew the alternate exit was supposed to disable automatically, but I didn’t trust all the systems after An Serat had been playing around in the core.

Got them.
Gamet’s voice was satisfied.
Sensors active. They’re on the way up.

“We guessed that,” muttered Sasaki. The spoke quivered and the uplift standby lights blinked green.

“Why did they go?” I said, half to myself.

“Not because of anything we did,” said Murdoch.

Something in the signal?
said Gamet at the same time.

“Analyze it,” I said to her. “I want to know what Venner told them and I want to be able to use that code and channel if I need to.” “Us?” Sasaki paused in tapping out a diagnostic of the exit program. “You want to talk to the Q’Chn?” Murdoch shot me a look under his brows.

“The more we know about them,” I said, “the easier it will be to fight them.”