Jack McDevitt - SEEKER

“Okay,” Alex said. “Chase, I guess you’ve got it.”

“Good.”

Alex was standing back, away from the viewport, trying to look out without being visible to the other ship. “You say the Lotus is small. Does it have any interior airlocks?”

“No. Just a cockpit, three small cabins, and a maintenance area.”

“So once you’re inside, that’s it. No obstacles?”

“None.”

“Okay. I have an idea.”

“Which is?”

“We have one thing going for us.”

“What’s that?”

“Our main airlock’s on our port side.”

“How’s that an advantage?”

“The Lotus is off to starboard. She can’t see it.”

“Okay,” said Alex, “are we ready?” He was wearing Charlie’s yellow pressure suit.

Shara and I were in the Spirit suits.

“I think so,” I said.

“One question,” said Alex. “When you talk to Kalu, is there any chance Windy will be able to listen in?”

“No. The hull should provide adequate shielding.”

“Don’t forget that the launch doors will be open,” said Shara.

“That’s right. I forgot.”

“Then she will be able to hear us.”

“Maybe we better assume she will.”

“Okay,” he said. “Everybody keep it in mind. Are we ready?”

Nods all around.

“Let’s move.”

Shara and Alex cycled through the cargo airlock onto the lower deck. I waited five minutes, spending most of my time watching the dwarf get closer. A storm was floating in its upper atmosphere, a circular smear, darker than the bloodred clouds around it.

I had Charlie’s laser. I checked its power levels and tied it to my belt. Then I strapped on my air tanks and a thruster pack.

When the five minutes had elapsed, I told Kalu to get ready and opened a channel to the Lotus. “Windy,” said Kalu, in Charlie’s voice, “we have a problem.”

“What is it, Blink? What’s taking so long?”

I fed Kalu the reply. “I took out the main boards. But they have a backup bridge on this thing. In the launch bay. In case of emergency.”

“Knock it out, too.”

“I’m working on it.”

“What do you mean, you’re working on it, Blink? Just demolish it. Where’s Benedict?”

“He’s loose. He got clear.”

“Say again.”

“He got clear. Windy, the laser failed. That’s why there’s a problem.”

“Goddamn it, Blink. I told you to check everything.”

“It was charged. But the damned thing blew up in my hand.”

“Where are you now?”

“On the auxiliary bridge.”

“Okay. Do what you have to. Take the goddam thing apart physically. How about communications?”

“They’ve got a long-range capability.”

“Then don’t let it happen. Kill them.”

“The two women are already dead.”

“At least you got that part of it right.”

“Benedict got down through the airlock when the laser went out.”

“You can’t find him?”

“He’s down here somewhere.”

“All right. Don’t worry about him. Just destroy the controls and make sure you get their communications. Let me know when it’s done.”

I opened a circuit to Alex. Because of the possibility that Windy might overhear, we couldn’t talk to one another. So I simply left it open for six seconds and shut it down.

Alex would hear the carrier wave, and the six seconds told him phase one had gone according to schedule. Initiate phase two in five minutes.

I disconnected Kalu and put the chips that constituted his memory and programs into a pocket. Then I put on my helmet and went into the main airlock. Two minutes later I was outside, bathed in dark red light.

If Windy wasn’t watching the Spirit, we had no problem. But we knew she would be.

Probably, her attention would be riveted on the cargo airlock, where Charlie had made his entry and which was still open.

Precisely five minutes after I’d sent Alex the carrier wave, I sent a prerecorded message in Charlie’s voice. “Windy, I got the son of a bitch.” Moments later, if our timing was right, two space-suited figures, one in Lotus yellow, the other in Survey green, fought their way past the open doors. The struggle went silent as, presumably, Charlie’s radio was shattered. (There was no way we could realistically coordinate the sounds of combat with whatever Windy might be seeing.) But it worked. “Blink!” she said. “Kill him. Don’t let him near the other bridge.”

I climbed atop the Spirit, and launched myself toward the Lotus.

“Blink! Answer up! You got him. Finish him off!”

The cargo airlock came into view as I cleared the hull and began to approach the yacht. I caught movement but couldn’t quite make out what was happening.

For the minute or so it took me to get across I was horribly exposed. In full view. All she needed do was look away from the theatrics.

The Lotus ’s airlock was shut. I landed beside it as gently as I could and touched the manual control. The lock opened, and I slipped inside.

The outer hatch closed and air pressure began to build. If Windy was paying any attention at all, she knew by then someone had invaded the airlock. And it shouldn’t be hard to guess what was going on.

Her voice broke out of the link. “Who’s in there?”

What a dip.

“I know you’re there, Alex. It won’t do you any good.”

I could hear her, tinkering with the hatch. Probably trying to figure out a way to seal it so I couldn’t use it. But airlocks aren’t designed that way. It’s a safety feature. You can always open the inside hatch as long as the air pressure matches whatever’s outside.

“You might as well go back where you came from, Alex. You come through that door, you’re dead.” Her voice was pitched high.

Air pressure reached normal and I shut it off. I thought about what would be waiting when I opened the hatch. Nutcase with another laser. Or a scrambler.

A shoot-out could go either way, and there was too much at stake to take any chances.

I thought about the question Alex had put to me. If it came to it, could I take Windy’s life? And I realized the only certain way to save the situation was to do so.

I reversed the lock controls, putting it back on the decompression cycle. She saw immediately what I was doing.

“That’s smart,” she said. “Get out while you can, Alex.”

I knew the makeup of the yacht. Beyond the bulkhead on my right was a cabin. A storage compartment lay to my left.

“I assume you killed Blink,” she said. “And this has all been an elaborate charade.

But no matter. He wasn’t very competent anyhow, was he? How did you manage it?”

The air pressure hit zero. I opened the outer hatch and looked across at the Spirit.

Shara and Alex were standing near the cargo doors, watching. We’d agreed they were to stay clear until the thing got settled. Nothing they could do, in any case.

“You don’t want to talk to me, that’s okay. It doesn’t matter, Alex. I won’t take offense.

I understand you’re upset. I’m sorry things are turning out this way. It’s nothing personal. I just can’t continue allowing you to rape the sites. You’re too good at it.”

“Hello, Windy,” I said. “How’s it going?”

“Chase!” She sounded horrified. “He sent you? That coward sent you?”

“It was my idea.”

“He’s even a bigger lout than I thought.”

I wondered if Alex was getting this. “He hasn’t killed anybody.”

“You’re a cool one, aren’t you, Chase? Lecturing me about morals. What a joke.”

“I’m sorry you think so.”

I picked the right-hand side, the side that bordered the cabin. I released the laser from my belt, aimed it at the bulkhead, and pushed the firing stud.