Playing God(115)

“Well”—Esmo swigged some more coffee—“if it's any consolation, you were right.”

Keale snorted. “I was wrong, Esmo. I was preparing for a spontaneous attack, a mob action. I completely faded to consider an organized, carefully planned takeover by a group of people who had studied us for a long time.” He laughed once. “Never, ever trust the stats, Esmo. They lie.”

“What do you think they're going to do now?”

Keale shook his head. “I've got no idea. Try to attack the t'Therian city-ship, maybe. Take all those virus samples we've got in there and dump them over the t'Aori peninsula. Find a big rock to drop, maybe. They've done that before.”

Esmo studied her coffee. “So what are we going to do now?” she asked calmly.

“First”—Keale looked at the tiny, glowing city-ship on his screen—“we're calling the home system and getting reinforcements.” His eyes narrowed as he looked down at the city-ship again. “Then, we're going to show our guests just what kind of trouble they're in.”





Chapter XVI



The carrier crept forward another few feet. Arron shifted his weight from one buttock to the other. They'd been riding in the carrier's canvas-roofed cargo bin for the better part of an hour. Balt and Entsh had been able to take them most of the way using the security tunnels. They'd made good time, although being surrounded by the reek of gasoline and smog and the constant echo of traffic noise had not made for a comfortable trip.

They'd had to emerge onto the main streets when they reached the town of Mrant Chavat. Too many checkpoints, down below, Balt had told them. This close to the port fortifications, the cargo bin would have to be inspected.

Arron ran his hand across the stubble on his chin and his scalp. He itched. He also stank, but Lynn assured him it was all right; she did, too. Lynn sat on the opposite side of the bin from him. Res huddled under the canvas openings at the rear, where the air circulation was best. Her skin was still twitching way too much, he noticed.

None of them bad spoken since they climbed into the carrier. Lynn leaned against one of the support struts for the canvas and pretended to be asleep. He suspected her infection was taking more out of her than she wanted to admit. The skin around the bandage was swollen and cherry red, with dark streaks running through it. The liquid seeping out from under the ragged cloth had a greenish tinge that could not be good.

He'd called her his sister yesterday. It was the only Getesaph word for a close relationship. “Friend” didn't really exist. Ally was a transitory term. Those who were closest to you could only be sisters, mothers, or daughters. There were no words in Getesaph for how he had felt when he had seen her again after all these years.

God, he'd missed her. Not just for the sex. He'd had that, as needed. The Human population on the Getesaph's Earth was not that small, and it circulated fairly regularly. He'd missed her laugh, her voracious intelligence, her sharp opinions, her ways of speaking.

There had never been anybody like her, before or since. He'd wanted to rescue her. To show her this had all been a mistake. To explain why she was going about her project all wrong in a way she'd understand.

Then, when she'd heard about the Ur, she'd said, “David,” and he'd felt something inside him snap in two.

This is crazy. He leaned his head back against a strut and stared up at the rippling canvas ceiling. This is completely crazy. My friends, my family are committing suicide out there, and I'm sitting here being jealous of Lynn's… whoever.

Arron tried to find something else to think about. He couldn't hear any of the town noise over the rumble of the engines and the rattle of struts. Shadows of buildings and traffic passed outside the canvas. He could smell the city smells of smog and fish and garbage and spices.

A shrieking roar sat him bolt upright. The carrier jerked to a halt. Other noises joined the shriek: a distant boom and crump.

Oh, no.

“What!” exclaimed Resaime.

Lynn sat up, groggy but wide-eyed.

Arron scrambled to the rear of the carrier. Resaime scuttled aside. He undid one of the ties and raised the canvas.

The cloud blanket had broken to let some blue gleam through. The shriek began again and Arron saw the black wedges of warplanes streak across the sky. The crump and boom of the shore batteries split the city noises. Which meant more planes were coming.

A new shriek started, and nearby he heard a bang. His gaze jerked to a rooftop. Somebody had a rocket gun set up on a tripod. They fired it, and it went bang! with a flash and cloud of smoke, and the planes appeared overhead and a cloud of flame blossomed out of the side of one. A cheer went up, until one of the black wedges swooped back toward them.