The Forlorn(113)

"He's taken a groundcar, like the one we used to get here," said Shael quietly. "We'll never get out in the time there is left."

"There will be no need to," the voice from the speaker said. "Normal computer function has been restored. Sub-Captain Fisher's orders have been overwritten. Message follows." Faime, Lea and Sandi's voices, and Sula's slightly deeper tone, shouting triumphantly. "We did it! We did it! Wolf, Gerda, anyone, can you hear us?"

Keilin leaned against the wall amid the whoops of triumph. "CompControl. Tell them we're fine. Where is Cap . . . I mean Fisher?"

"Sub-Captain Fisher has fled in an orbital capacity spacecraft."

"Can you shoot him down?" Keilin asked.

"Negative. He is beyond range," said CompControl in its mellifluous voice, showing no trace of emotion.

"The stuff on the moon . . . the ship . . . can we do anything about that?" Keilin asked, warily.

"Negative. My attempts to contact the ship over the past three hundred years have only elicited the following automated response: "There are no living crew on board." There was a toxic gas release in crew territory thirty-eight seconds after the Morkth attack on Morningstar I. The ship recyclers will have cleared the gas within a few minutes, but someone seems to have inserted a command string to shut down all but the ship's maintenance functions. Ship CompControl is unable to give any support, unless these orders are countermanded by a live human."

CompControl paused briefly, and then continued, "Additionally, what Sub-Captain Fisher has said is factual. There are tools and weapons on the ship which are capable of destroying and reshaping continents, for the terraforming of new planets. You are not even safe here. This unit is flight-capable, but we lack fuel. We can manufacture this, but sufficient quantities would not be available for several years. Normally, we would have used matter transmission to retrieve stocks from the ship. I will attempt to evacuate you to any place you wish to go to. There are still three remaining shuttlecraft. However, once Sub-Captain Fisher establishes control over the ship, he will be able to track and destroy those."

There was a long silence.

Shael's voice was oddly strained. "Cay. Put your hand inside my blouse. Then . . . please touch my left nipple." Something in her voice made Keilin do exactly what he was told in front of the open-mouthed audience. He felt the coldness of the core section beside it . . . getting rapidly colder.

The bag of core sections popped into the air between them. Shael caught it before it could fall. "Compcontrol," she said, "these are the transmitter core sections. Can we get to the ship before him?"

"Yes. Once the transmitter is fully activated, matter transmission to the ship's orbital command center would be possible. A suitably skilled person could activate the ship's defenses." Could a machine sound hopeful?

"Suitably skilled . . . what does that mean?"

"Either someone who is computer-literate, or someone who the ship's computer would recognize as an officer. None of the human personnel within Morningstar II can be revived in time."

"What about that doctor . . . the one who was working on Dad . . ." Wolfgang asked quietly.

"I am accessing Morningstar II General Medical Hospital . . ." There was an infinitesimal pause. Then Compcontrol said, in a voice of urgency, unlike its previous mellifluous tones, "Psi-active personnel, return to the transmitter chamber immediately. I am now paging Lieutenant-Commander James Edwards."

"Come, Cay."

Keilin didn't move. "Cap was going to rape and kill you there. I'm not doing that. The world can go to hell. He won't destroy it entirely."

"It's all right, Cay. I'm your partner . . . remember. Trust me. I've read Queen Evie's records. She got forty million people, and tons of equipment and stuff, off Morningstar, without getting hurt at all, before Cap did what he did. Believe me. That was just the way Cap would have preferred to do it. Him, the Captain, in control, sacrificing psi victims, like some ancient barbarian priest. Come on," she smiled her most devastating smile. "The rest of you please go away . . . and seeing as you broke the doors down, please keep everybody else out too." She led the unresisting Keilin into the drive chamber. She slowly began to take off his clothes.

They put the core sections into the transmitter-core container. As soon as they were all together the sections began to meld. Even from a few yards off the cold glow could be felt. But the rest of the air in the chamber was pleasantly warm. Scurrying little robots darted out and one of them injected Keilin, too. Soon his nerves were tingling and hypersensitive like Shael's. On the other hand, the way she was behaving, he didn't think that he had needed any chemical help.