“Drop it!” One of the soldiers pointed her gun at Resaime. Showing she wasn't a complete fool, Res dropped the gun.
“The Humans get up and move back.”
“Well,” said Arron as he heaved himself to his feet. “That was short-lived.”
Lynn bit her lip and got onto all fours. She made as if to stand, but let herself fall onto one knee with a small cry.
“The Humans get up and move back.” Lynn was sure the soldier raised the gun muzzle a little higher.
“She's lost blood, and she's got an infection,” said Arron, from his place behind her. “She probably can't stand.”
“Help her.”
Lynn felt Arron move up beside her and bend over. A shot exploded from somewhere, and another. Lynn grabbed for her gun, brought it up, and fired. It kicked into her shoulder and she gasped from fresh pain. She couldn't see straight. Half the world was black. She fired into the light again. And again.
“Run!” shrieked Resaime.
Arron grabbed Lynn's shoulders and dragged her forward. Lynn stumbled up the steps and would have tripped over the squirming, gasping soldiers if Arron hadn't kept her upright.
Her vision cleared a little and she could see windowless walls of brown-and-white stone. This was a bunker, probably burrowed into a mountainside. The Getesaph had been digging them for centuries.
Lynn found her feet and made out Resaime's fleeing back. Lynn pelted after her.
“Stop!” shouted voices behind them. “Stop!”
Something yanked Arron's hand out of hers. She wheeled around in time to hear the thud and see Arron tackled by a big Getesaph in green-and-lavender civilian clothes. Lynn swung her gun at the Getesaph's skull. The blow connected, startling them all. The Getesaph's grip loosened, and Arron twisted around and smashed his hand against the Getesaph's nostrils. The Getesaph screeched and scrambled backward. Lynn held out her arm and let Arron pull himself up and drag them both toward where, she hoped, Resaime had run.
Shots rang out. The air beside Lynn's ears hissed and sang. Adrenaline poured into her heart and she ran. Blind and panicked, she ran without thinking, just to get away from the shots.
“Don't kid the Humans!” someone shouted.
Arron shoved Lynn to the floor again in a shadowed place. She blinked and tried hard to focus. They were behind a heavy desk. Resaime had upended it for cover. Shouts Lynn couldn't understand were filling the place.
But they had an out. They had one out. “Arron, get your gun up. Res, do you see a door?” Lynn fumbled for the fastenings on her helmet.
“Yes.”
“Lynn, what…”
She tore her helmet off. “If we can keep them back, maybe we can walk out of here.” Hands raised, but not in surrender, Lynn stood up.
“I'm stripped!” she shouted in Getesaph. Her voice was harsh and tremulous. “We're walking out of here! The first one who wants to die of the Human poison can try to stop us!”
For the first time, she got a good look at the place. It was an open lobby with desks sitting here and there. About a dozen Dedelphi stood between them, some in civilian clothes, some in uniform. Slanting ladders led to catwalks for access to the second-story rooms.
They'd taken shelter directly under one of the catwalks. Lynn's scalp crawled. She couldn't see who was up there, but, then again, they couldn't see who they were shooting at down here.
“We have no quarrel with the Humans.” A squarish Getesaph with sandy pink skin and a uniform with a trindt's red bands around her wrists.
“We seek no blood from you,” the trindt went on. “But we have to defend ourselves from the t'Theria. You inadvertently prevented this operation. We are negotiating your release …”
“Bullshit!” spat Lynn. She recovered herself and spoke in Getesaph. “We are walking out of here. You can shoot us or you can send your soldiers to take the poison for you.”
“We seek no blood from you,” repeated the trindt patiently. “We will escort you to a Human installation, but the t'Therian—”
“I didn't do anything to you!” screamed Resaime.
The trindt's calm snapped. “Devouring spy!” she shouted. “Daughter of death and lies! You will be stopped! All of you will!”
A few Getesaph started forward. Lynn held her hands up, one out to each side, palms outward.
“Halt!” thundered the trindt.
They obeyed. Relief washed over Lynn. “We were invited to save the whole of the Earth!” Lynn's shoulders shook. Her knees weren't going to hold her up much longer. “Not just your islands!” In English, Lynn said, “Let's go.”
She heard shuffling noises. After a moment, Arron came into her line of sight. He carefully kept his gun up. Resaime hunched on his other side.