Xenopath (37 page)

Vaughan could
only smile and shake his head as he turned and watched the procession
of pachyderms take on board their cargo of extraterrestrial
intelligence.

The animals
passed by one by one, their wrinkled hides pungent, something
statuesque and graceful in the colossal gravity of their tread as
they followed their leader into the corridor.

Vaughan said,
"Where are they headed now?"

"From my
valley, a cutting leads to a vast underground chamber, where the
pachyderms usually spend six months before heading north again. This
time, however, they will avoid the northern valleys and Scheering's
militia, and remain in hiding."

Vaughan looked
along the track. The last animal of perhaps fifty was passing the
crystals. "There will be others?" he asked.

"Until the
last of the crystals are empty," Breitenbach said. "They
will come in their individual herds over the course of the next few
weeks."

Vaughan watched
the last pachyderm pass the recess. A white light sprang forth, hit
the creature, and vanished.

He stared. There
was something about the light...

It reminded him
of something he had seen, and recently: the reflection of a laser, he
had thought at the time.

On the
surveillance film of Robert Kormier's murder...

The laser had
struck Kormier, and only later, on watching the killing in slow
motion, had Vaughan noticed the white light lance from Kormier and
hit the watching girl full in the face...

Kormier's
Hortavan, making the transfer as he died.

Making the
transfer to its new host, the Thai girl, Pham...

Breitenbach was
turning and following the last of the pachyderms down the corridor,
gesturing Vaughan to follow.

He did so, as if
in a daze.

Now he knew why
the killer had been so intent on tracing Pham—not because he
feared she had witnessed the killing, but because he had read the
girl's mind and was aware of the transfer. The assassin had killed
Kormier because he was playing host to the alien—and he would
stop at nothing to trace and eradicate the alien's new host, Pham.

They came to the
valley, the sunlight blinding after the shadows of the corridor.
Already, the last of the pachyderms were making their way through a
narrow fissure in the rock at the far end of the valley.

Breitenbach
said, "You will stay a while longer?"

"I must get
back to Mackintyre. I have a return flight to Earth."

Breitenbach
inclined his head. "I wish you a safe journey, and thank you for
what you have done for the Hortavans."

Vaughan said, "I
intend to do more. I have... I have an idea, a way I might be able to
stop the slaughter."

Breitenbach
smiled. "You would earn the eternal gratitude of the Hortavan
race, if you succeeded, my friend." Even as Breitenbach said
this, Vaughan detected scepticism in his tone.

He hesitated,
wondering whether to tell the radical his plan.

Breitenbach
gestured. "It is best if I do not know," he said. "If
Scheering's henchmen found me..."

They shook
hands, and Vaughan crossed to the flier and eased himself in behind
the controls. He hoisted the vehicle into the air and looked down at
Breitenbach.

The old radical
was a tiny, tattered figure, his right arm lifted in farewell.

Vaughan waved,
then lifted the flier from the valley and accelerated over the
enclosing peaks.

He followed the
jagged line of the coast, keeping on the seaward side of the
mountains in order to avoid the military patrols, and then turned
inland towards Mackintyre.

He discovered he
was thinking ahead—to trying to find Pham among the teeming
millions on Bengal Station.

THE VOICE IN HER HEAD

The last thing
Sukara recalled was the Westerner, smiling as he raised his laser and
shot her in the head. And now this... Was she going mad?

The voice in her
head said:
Be calm. Do not be alarmed. I am with you, and I will
help.

She recalled
only vague memories of what had happened. The Westerner wanting
Vaughan, making her discard her mind-shield. He had read that Pham
was due back soon.

Oh, God—Pham!

Be calm,
said the voice.
Pham is safe. She will not return here
immediately.

He shot me,
Sukara thought. I knew that I was dead, that I'd never again see
Jeff.

You are not
dead, Sukara.

My baby! she
thought, cradling the swell of her stomach. Is Li okay?

Your child is
unaffected,
said the voice.

Sukara felt the
panic subside. Who... what are you? she thought.

I will
explain later. All that matters now is that I will help you. But you
must do as I say. We are still in danger.

He lasered me
through the head, Sukara thought. How can I be alive?

I entered
your mind, made certain repairs, eased you through the trauma of your
death and brought you back to life.

The idea was
beyond Sukara's comprehension. All she knew was that she was indeed
still alive. She would see Jeff again!

We are still
in danger
, said the voice.
You must do as I say.

Okay, Sukara
thought.

She felt the
cover of the sofa beneath her body. She was lying where the Westerner
had shot her, in the sunken bunker in the middle of the lounge.

Pain? She
considered this, and found that, miraculously, she felt nothing. The
killer had lasered a hole in her head, killed her, and now she did
not even have a headache.

Where do you
come from? She thought.

I am from the
planet of Mallory
, said the voice.

Mallory, Sukara
thought. But that's where Jeff is!

Then she
remembered the killer. He must still be here.

That is
correct. He is waiting for Pham, and then for Vaughan. He is in the
kitchen now, eating.

Later, she knew
that her reaction was ridiculous, but at the time she experienced a
sudden indignation that the killer was helping himself to her food.

She thought: But
if Jeff comes back, walks right into...

Calm
yourself. I will have dealt with the assassin before Vaughan's
return.

How? She
thought.

I will tell you
that in a little while, when you are fully recovered.

Fully recovered,
Sukara laughed to herself. The killer lasered me dead, and now I am
recovering... She wondered if she were dreaming.

This is no
dream, Sukara. This is reality. Open your eyes.

Cautiously she
did so. She was lying on her back on the sofa. She reached up,
touched her forehead where the laser had struck her. Her fingers
touched a sticky crust of blood.

She pulled her
hand away, horrified.

The voice in her
head explained:
I had to leave the external wound, Sukara, so as
not to alert the killer to your resurrection.

Then she
thought: But he's a telepath! He'll read my mind and know I'm still
alive!

That is my
immediate concern
, the voice said.
At the moment his implant
is deactivated. I surmise that he will activate it soon, before Pham
returns.

Then he
will
read my mind! Sukara thought in panic.

We must
retrieve your mind-shield.

She had tossed
it across the room, she remembered.

She tried to
move, but the voice said:
Careful. Move your legs first, and then
your body. I am monitoring the assassin. Freeze when I tell you, do
you understand?

I understand.

She moved her
legs, wincing as they fizzed with painful pins and needles. Then she
shifted her body to a more comfortable position on the sofa. Now she
was able to look over the edge of the sunken bunker, across the
lounge and into the kitchen.

She saw the
killer as he crossed the kitchen, fixing himself a sandwich, and the
sight of him filled Sukara with dread.

Be calm. I am
with you
, the voice soothed.

The killer
passed from sight. She heard the cooler door open and shut, and a
hiss as the cap was removed from a bottle of Blue Mountain beer.

It was
irrational, but what incensed her was not so much that he had shot
her through the head, but that he was helping himself now to Jeff's
beer.

She shifted her
gaze to where she had thrown her mind-shield, and there it was. It
sat on the pile of the carpet, winking silver in the light of the
afternoon sun that cascaded through the window.

It was perhaps
three metres from where she lay, midway between the bunker and the
kitchen door.

I could get it!
Sukara thought.

But the voice in
her head counselled caution.
Not yet. 1 am monitoring the
assassin. I will tell you when to move.

You can read his
thoughts?

Not so much
read his thoughts, as interpret his intentions. I am aware of his
emotions, through the barrier of his shield. Be prepared...

Okay, Sukara
thought.

But even then,
she thought, even when I have the shield and he can't read my mind,
how will we overcome the killer before Pham and Jeff get back?

I told you,
the voice said patiently,
Pham will not return when she planned
to, and by the time Vaughan returns we will have dealt with the
assassin.

How?

Leave that to
me, Sukara. For the time being, be calm, and await my instructions.

The odd thing
was, even though there was an armed killer in the next room, who had
killed her once and would have no qualms about killing her again, she
felt curiously calm. She wondered if the voice in her head, which had
healed her wound and brought her back from the dead, was responsible
for her mental state now, as she lay in the bunker and stared through
the door of the kitchen.

He is staring
through the window at the void-ships,
the voice reported.
He
is drinking beer and waiting for his sandwich to toast. When he
crosses the kitchen again, and busies himself with extracting the
sandwich from the machine, then that is the time to move. Retrieve
the shield in silence and return to the sofa when I tell you to do
so.

Sukara nodded.
Okay.

He is about
to move,
the voice said, and Sukara saw him pass across the
kitchen and out of sight again. She heard him open the toaster, and
then the voice in her head said:
Now!

She moved. She
sprang from the bunker and dashed across the room, heart pounding.
She grabbed the shield, flooded with elation, then froze at the sound
of footsteps from the kitchen.

The killer's
shadow, cast by the light from the window, appeared at the door.

It was as if,
then, Sukara lost control of her own movements. She froze, but a
fraction of a second later she was moving again, rolling across the
carpet towards the bunker and over the edge. She hit the cushion,
closed her eyes and lay very still, breathing hard.

She knew that
the voice in her head had taken control of her, and she felt at once
alarmed and relieved.

He heard you,
the voice said.
He came to the door to listen again, but he did
not notice that the shield was no longer on the carpet. It is okay,
Sukara. He has returned to the kitchen.

She slipped the
mind-shield into her pocket and arranged herself on the cushions so
that she could see across the lounge to the kitchen door.

Will he notice
that I've moved a little? she wondered.

As far as he
is concerned,
the voice said,
you are dead. He will not notice
that you have moved.

Reassured,
Sukara lay and waited for the killer to appear.

And then, she
thought, what do we do when he comes back in here?

We lie very
still. We wait. At some point he will put down his pistol—then,
we make our move.

Does he have the
pistol on him now?

He placed it
on the worktop while he prepared his food.

Sukara nodded.
She considered what the voice had told her, then thought: How did you
enter my head?

A hesitation,
then:
I came from Pham, and before Pham another human, one who had
visited Mallory.

And why did you
come to Earth?

In a bid to
help my people, who are being killed by the government of Mallory.

And you can move
from head to head at will?

Most of the
time, yes.

Sukara
considered that. So... she thought, why don't you just enter the
killer's head now and make him stop what he's doing?

She felt what
might have been a smile in her mind.
Because the assassin is
shielded, Sukara. We cannot enter shielded minds.

She nodded.
Tough, she thought.

But do not
worry. We will prevail.

She thought of
Jeff. She wanted him in her arms. When she had him back, she told
herself, she would never let him go again.

She heard
movement, footsteps in the kitchen. The killer appeared in the
doorway, then stepped into the lounge carrying a sandwich in one hand
and the pistol in the other. Sukara half shut her eyes and watched
the blurred shape of the killer as he crossed the lounge.

He pulled a
chair into position to the left of the sliding door, sat down, and
began eating his sandwich. Holding the pistol on his lap. He hadn't
even given Sukara a single glance.

She opened her
eyes fully and watched him.

He was sitting
between Sukara and the door with his back to her. She could easily
leave the bunker, sneak up on him and... She looked around for a
handy, heavy object with which to crack his skull.