An alarm screamed out from a speaker above their heads. A mechanical voice squawked. "Secure all personnel. Emergency status. Mechambulance unit 16 under attack. Taking evasive action."
They had barely time to grab for handholds. The craft banked viciously then dropped like a stone. They hurtled along, inches above the gray wave chop and were abruptly flung upward. They skimmed over the gleaming edge of a white floating mountain. And sheered away, jinking between more vast bergs. Behind them a burst of incandescence shattered the ice. The speaker squawked, constantly. Stuff about "Rules of war; non-combatants; medical personnel; prohibited weaponry and nuclear-free zones," until Keilin wished he had a free hand to shove a pillow over the thing and suffocate it.
Then there was another burst of incandescence, in midair this time. The mechambulance began to regain height. "Personnel. Emergency status cancel. Compcontrol defenses have nullified attack craft. Landing two minutes." The speaker continued in its flat mechanical tones. The mountain looked just as it had in Keilin's vision from the desert. Except bigger. And colder.
As the craft dropped towards an opening in the rock, Keilin had a brief view of a huge, dark wreck on the far shoulder of the mountain. Spilling from it was what looked like a river of ants. Then the mechambulance zoomed into the rocky tunnel. Behind them steel doors slid shut. The craft slowed. Then it stopped, pushed its tail end into a brightly lit bay and opened the back hatch. Beywulf's entire bed section began to roll out.
A man in green clothing was waiting. He shook his head at them. "Don't come out here. Only the patient can go in through the sterilizer unit. This is the sterile zone. I'll be with you as soon as I've seen to the patient. Unit 16, take them round to reception."
The speaker bleeped. "Please stand clear. Rear entry closing." Before the stunned group could respond, it had closed. The craft moved off slowly, despite their pounding on the door. Then the hatch opened again.
This time there was a broad set of stairs in front of them, leading to a well lit hall with hundreds of chairs in it. Above the door a glowing sign read:
* * *
MORNINGSTAR II GENERAL MEDICAL
HOSPITAL
CASUALTY RECEPTION
* * *
They stepped out. Keilin looked at the pain-wrung face of one of the hive girls. She cradled her arm. By the angle, Keilin was sure it was broken. It must have been during the "evasive action." He helped her up the stairs and through the glass doors.
As the door closed a three-foot-high metal cylinder on wheels scooted up to them. "Doctor says he will be with you presently," the mechanical voice chirped.
"This girl is also injured," Keilin braved, while the others felt for weapons.
"What is the nature of the injury?" the thing chirped back.
Mutely, Keilin pointed to the cradled arm. A metal proboscis followed his hand. A brief whirr and click. "A simple fracture of the radius and ulna. Unnecessary to disturb the doctor. Follow me to dressing room three and I will deal with it."
Because there seemed little alternative they followed the cylinder to a room full of neat implements and painted cupboards. They persuaded Sandi to place her arm on the metal plate where a white gleaming cover slid over it.
"The pain. It's gone." With wonderment in her voice, she tried to pull her arm out.
"Don't move. Ultrasonic manipulation in progress," chirped the little cylinder sternly. "Just another few minutes."
They walked out of the room, Sandi peering in wonder at her arm, now encased in a hard sheath of transparent webbing.
The green-clad man was waiting for them.
"Just what," he asked, slapping his stripped-off powdered gloves against his other hand, "is going on?"
CHAPTER 18
Morkth. Swarming. With their hissing, clicking speech all round her. The air, since that terrific concussion, was streaming in in great icy wafts. At least it cut the stink of the creatures. It was also fun to see them scuttling away from it. Shael derived what satisfaction she could from it. She'd felt Keilin touch his core section. She could hardly do otherwise with the bracelet inside her bra. She was sure she'd have a scar on that nipple. He had been coming at the run, she knew . . . but now he must be thousands of miles away. She was on her own. Even Leyla had turned strange.
Shael had been angry when Cap summoned the platecraft, and she'd realized he planned to leave Keilin and the Gene-spliced to cope with the situation in FirstHive, now that he had what he wanted. But when he'd flown the craft straight to a Beta-Morkth nest . . . then she had known terror. When Shael had tried to question Leyla, the older woman had set her mouth into a thin, hard line, and refused to say more than, "Just Cap playing his games again, dear." But Cap, when she'd tried to ask him what he was doing, had gagged her.