The Forlorn(107)

The stone of the corridor outside the heavy steel door of the pedestrian exit to the surface had been cut to a polished smoothness. The surgeon, seeing them out, pointed to the walls. "Laser cut," he said. "I hope you're not being expected."

* * *

Cap's first act on getting through the great doors was to step across to the right wall. He spoke a rapid series of numbers into the small grille there. A slot opened below. He inserted an almost cubical block into it. Satisfaction beamed all over his face. "There. That's done away with all of Evie Lee's trash. It took me nearly thirty years to craft that data-instruction dump, especially as I didn't know what rubbish she'd fed in, in the first place. Now we're as secure as the best-armed fortress on the planet can make us."

He looked at Shael's face. "So you were still expecting that brat boyfriend of yours." He snorted. "I dare say he's trying, but it's a long way from FirstHive to here, my girl. If he had the least idea where we were going, which I don't put beyond the boy, he could never get here. It's a hundred and fifty miles across the sheet ice from the sea to here. Besides, with imprinting the colonists at the self-sustainable technology level, people started low. They haven't yet learned how to make a ship that could get him here. If he could find a flying device in the Morkth hive, and manage to operate it he still wouldn't get more than two hundred miles off before Morningstar II's defenses kick in. He'd be flying a fireball before he could do anything about it. And the gate," he said, with a cruel smile, "I left on Evie's settings. A psi with the core sections. I've got all of the core sections. I must admit I was surprised when the gate opened." He chuckled. "I thought it would have to be core sections in physical contact with a psi. I thought I'd have to hand you my whole bagful. You could just have stepped through and left me to freeze my balls off outside."

Shael was left with the grim knowledge that the hidden bracelet cold against her skin had allowed Cap to attain his goal. She pointed at the gag.

"I suppose I may as well," said Cap, magnanimous in his triumph, cutting it.

Shael moved her bruised and stretched mouth. There was no one to help her. Well, she'd just have to help herself. First to find out what he was planning for her in this alien place of white starkness. "What are you going to do now?"

"Assume my rightful position as captain. Save humanity from the Morkth hives," he said, putting his chin back, assuming a heroic stance.

He actually believes himself to be a hero, thought Shael. Maybe I can use that. "Are there any Morkth left to save us from?" she asked. "Aren't they all sitting outside in the snow?"

"Probably. Stupid bugs." He shrugged. "It doesn't matter. The visible signs are still there. When I pay my visit to the ship, I'll give the terraforming tools a tryout. There's some amazing equipment stored up there. This planet was prepared for humans, but we'd have to have gone a-hunting for the next one. So, we've got some really massive destructive potential up there. We kept that sort of stuff on the ship for safety, see, to keep it away from any ambitious colonist would-be dictator. I'll turn each hive into a nice glowing crater. That's what the colonists need. A clear sign that the crew is back in control."

Leyla looked at him with a curious lack of expression. "And the Morkth-men?"

"You can't make an omelette without breaking a few eggs, you know. Anyway bug-slaves would be pretty worthless to the human race. Don't waste your pity on them. You and I have a glorious future ahead of us. I'll sort out your little city. In fact I'll make you a present of it. We can fry it at the same time as we do the Morkth hives. A good signal to the rest of the colonists that we won't take any more uppity shit from them. Reestablish a decent respect for the crew. We might have to knock out a few other would-be empire builders. They were intended to live in city-states, and they'll damn well stick to that. You'll be first lady of the world, eh." He was tapping keys on the keyboard at the time, chicken-pecking orders. He didn't see Leyla's expression. Shael began to feel that she might have an ally after all.

"And me?" asked Shael.

He looked up from the keyboard. At the screen. Then at her, "Transportation should be here in a minute. Then decent quarters, clean clothes, and a good meal. And you, my dear Evie-descendent, can rest assured that all that I need of you, is your duty. You'll be helping the ship up there to fulfill its great purpose. Man can move on through the depths of space to the next suitable G0 star with a planet we can terraform and colonize. A world for my children to rule, before we go on to other stars."

A gleaming white capsule arrived with a whoosh of displaced air. After she had been pushed aboard, Shael had time to think. She thought back to Cap's statement on the night he'd captured them. Something about Evie Lee's duty being to die, so that a hundred million people could live.