Timothy Zahn - Spinneret

"Yes, sir."

"Keep me informed; I'll be there in a while." Breaking the connection, Meredith snatched up his gunbelt and hurried outside. The eastern sky was showing a faint glow now; stopping momentarily, he punched Carmen's number onto his phone before continuing his jog toward his office.

She answered on the first ring. "I heard the announcement," she said after Meredith had identified himself. "I figured it'd be better to wait until you called instead of bothering you with questions."

"Good thinking. How fast can you get to your office?"

"Thirty seconds; I just came through the front door. You want me to alert the Whissst and Orspham?"

Silently, Meredith blessed her quick mind. "Yes, but don't tell them anything except that the UN ship is not to launch any shuttles or come in closer itself. I don't have any proof yet, but this stinks of collusion and I don't want Msuya's people available to reinforce Dunlop's play. Then run a check of our military personnel and see if anyone's had counterterrorist or hostage-rescue training or experience."

"Hostage rescue?"

He grimaced. "Yes. We think they took Dr. Hafner in with them."

There was no startled gasp or exclamation … but when Carmen spoke again, her words were packed in ice. "Understood, Colonel. How many commando teams will you want formed?"

"Two, possibly three. I'll be there before you get that far, though." He hesitated.

"Don't worry; Hafner's worth an incredible amount to them alive and nothing at all dead. Even Dunlop wouldn't be stupid enough to hurt him."

"Yes, sir," she replied in that same cold voice. "I'll expect you soon, then."

Breaking the connection, Meredith increased his pace, swearing gently under his breath. If you're behind this, Msuya, he thought toward the sky, you and the whole UN are going to pay a heavy price. Count on it.

What Hafner didn't know about Ctencri stunners would have filled several volumes … but as he lay limply on the ground with his eyes closed he concluded his captors didn't know a whole lot more. Whether they'd misjudged the setting or merely grazed him with the beam he didn't know; but from his lack of restraints it seemed clear they thought he should still be unconscious. All around him he could hear footsteps and muttered commands and the clink of metal on metal as they rushed around building something. Where he was was no problem to figure out—only the Spinner cavern had that particular combination of odors and shifting winds. Probably near the op cent, he tentatively concluded, as occasional echoes from the entrance tunnel reached his ears.

It was the events occurring a bare meter away, though, that he found the most interesting.

It had started as a technical discussion regarding the boosting of power to some instrument in order to get past the effects of all the cable material in the area. But within a few minutes the problem was solved … and Hafner listened with growing astonishment as two voices—one unknown, one all too familiar—held a brief conversation.

"The Spinner cavern is now in our hands," the unknown voice said without preamble once the connection was made. "We have both the tunnel entrance and the cavern entrance booby-trapped and are setting up gun emplacements from which we'll be able to fire at anyone approaching us."

"Excellent." Msuya's voice was faint and tinny, but nonetheless recognizable.

"The Hammarskjold joined us twelve hours ago; together we have fifty UN troops we can land to reinforce you—"

"Negative," the other interrupted. "Your troops will stay right where they are."

"Come now, Major—you can't hold out forever there by yourselves."

"I know that. That's why the Hammarskjold's going to head back to Earth and bring me a contingent of American soldiers. I'll turn the cavern over to a properly authorized officer of the United States Army—no one else."

There was a short pause. "So you're unilaterally scrapping our agreement, are you?" Msuya said. To Hafner's ears he didn't sound all that surprised. "Suppose I refuse to send the Hammarskjold back? What then?"

"Oh, you won't refuse," the major said confidently. "As matters stand now you have no leverage at all on Astra; with the planet under U.S. control you'll at least have a chance to get what you want here by putting on the pressure back home."

"I don't trust America farther than I can shift the Zambezi," Msuya told him. "

Allerton is as good at weaseling as any other Western politician, and I have no interest in turning legitimate UN interests over to his charity. No, Major—right now we have our best chance to reestablish UN control of the Spinneret, and I'm going to take it. You can cooperate or else."

"Or else what?" the major shot back. "You going to sit back and let Meredith get back in when our supplies give out? Don't be silly. You'll do as I say and be satisfied with the crumbs the U.S. gives you."

"I see I underestimated your ambitions," Msuya said coldly. "I assumed you'd be satisfied with the heartfelt thanks of the people of the world; but you apparently think you can become the Hero of Astra to the next generation of American schoolchildren."

"Your sarcasm is wasted, Msuya—your only miscalculation was in thinking Americans weren't patriotic anymore. You assumed I could be bought like some petty Third World dictator if you dangled enough empty promises in front of me. I trust you've learned differently now."

"I've learned you can't be trusted, but that's no great revelation. What now keeps me from offering aid to Meredith in taking the cavern back from you?"

"What for, the hope that our noble colonel will be grateful to you for abandoning your own coup?" the major snorted.

"It would be your word against mine," Msuya said. "From here I can destroy all traces of the transceiver you're using; you'd never be able to prove you'd been in contact with me. And as for Meredith's thanks, I think we could manage something more substantial once my troops were on the ground."

"I doubt it. You see, I brought a little insurance in here with me: Dr. Peter Hafner, one of the five people who has access to the main Spinneret machinery. Still think you're going to charge in here with blazing semi-auts?" He paused, but Msuya remained silent. "On the flip side, with Hafner as part of the bargain a peaceful takeover is now more important to you than ever—and the only way you're going to do that is with U.S. troops. So why not quit wasting time and get the Hammarskjold burning up space back to Earth?"

"You seem to leave me without a reasonable choice," Msuya spat. "Very well, you'll get your American troops. But the matter will not end there."

"Maybe not—but it won't be you and me handling it, and I'd put President Allerton up against Saleh any day of the week. Good-bye, Msuya; let me know when my relief arrives."

There was a click and the scraping of a chair as the major got up and walked toward a sort of hammering sound in the near distance. His step seemed springy, and Hafner got the impression he was satisfied with the way the confrontation had gone.

Idiot, Hafner thought. Msuya'll just bring back UN troops in U.S. uniforms or something.

But that wouldn't happen for at least a week. Meredith had until then to take the cavern back … and his chances would be greatly enhanced if the major's prize hostage could arrange to disappear.

Concentrating on keeping his breathing slow and steady, Hafner listened to the sounds around him and tried to come up with a plan.

"He appears to have fifty-two men in there with him," Carmen said, gesturing to the listing on the computer display they'd set up in the temporary command center half a kilometer from the tunnel entrance. "Thirty-five are from his Ceres contingent; none seems to have any special terrorist or siege training, so we won't have to worry about them anticipating anything clever our teams come up with.