Eric Flint - Threshold

Anthony was doing the same thing. "Horst-" "Yes. I do not think they suddenly stopped transmitting, and that means we are being jammed.

Which would need something very close." The external ramp cameras came on. Standing in the doorway of the hangar were three figures: Richard Fitzgerald, security officer James Feeney, and Mia Svendsen.

Fitzgerald gave a cheery wave. "Why not say hello, boyo? It's the friendly thing to do."

Chapter 40 Richard saw the furious face of Horst Eberhart materialize in his VRD. He let Horst give vent to a considerable range of epithets. Most of them were in German, some in French, two in English, one in Italian, and one in Czech. He hadn't realized the lad was such a linguist. Shame he wasn't in any position to actuallydo anything. "Yes, yes, let's take it that you've told me what you think of me and my ancestors. We're wasting valuable time here, since our dear friends onNebula Storm have sent us heading straight for a very un-soft landing on Io." "Nebula Storm? It isyou who have doomed us, Fitzgerald!" Anthony LaPointe almost shouted. "Had you never attacked them, had you not tried again, then all of us would still be alive!"

He shook his head. Of all the wrongheaded things to be arguing about!

"I was doing a job. You don'thave my job, and innocents like you never do understand how things work, anyway. It's simply a waste of time to argue about who did what to whom. The real question is how those of us still alive can stay that way. "Now, it seems to me thatMunin has more than enough room for you two, the four of us, and little Mia here.

She's all fueled, she's loaded, she's ready. And I happen to be qualified to pilot her, too, which I don't think either of you two are." "I have flown some," Horst said. "In space. Between myself and Anthony, I think we can fly it." "Maybe so. But it's a lot different in real life than the simulator, don't you forget that. Still, I won't force you to trust my flying. Just open up and let us on board." Horst laughed. "Letyou on board? You must be joking!" Richard shook his head. "Now, that kind of talk gets us nowhere, Horst." He nodded, and Feeney pointed his pistol at Mia's head. Behind him, Johnson and Desplaines emerged, flanking him on either side. "Do I have to draw you a picture? Surely you're bright enough to see the bargain. Or do you think we won't hurt her?" Horst was silent, clearly trying to think of some argument he could make, or of some other threat which wasn't immediately cancelled by the threat to theOdin 's chief engineer. "We'd be outnumbered four to three, counting Mia. That's bad enough. No one's coming on board armed." Richard considered. He liked having weapons, but he really couldn't afford to shoot anyone at this point, even Eberhart and LaPointe. Eberhart might also be able to get around the guns' personalized locks, in which case bringing them on board could end up putting a weapon in the German engineer's hands. "I suppose I can give you that, for the sake of some small goodwill.

You're not silly enough to think that us getting rid of the guns will mean we can't hurt Miss Svendsen, are you? Didn't think you were." He gestured. "Lose the guns, mates. And any other toys we brought along.

We shouldn't be needing them." Johnson stared at him. "Chief, are yousure about this?" He cut out his transmitter. "Seven of us having to survive somehow is none too many," he said, voice low but carrying to the others. "And besides, if two engineers and an astronomer can beat the four of us in unarmed combat, we're nothing but a bad joke and that's the truth." The other three looked reluctant, but followed orders. Richard collected the weapons-six firearms, three knives, and an explosives kit-put them in one of the mesh holding bags used for loose items in weightless spaces like the hangar, and held it up.

"There they are," he said, transmitter active again. "I am putting them over here." He went to the wall, clipped the bag securely, then rejoined his group, where Johnson was keeping Mia in a restraining hold. "Satisfactory? Now open up." "How do I know you don't have anything concealed inside your suits?" Richard rolled his eyes.

"Youdon't, boyo. And I don't think I'm getting out of my suit just to make you feel better. Sudden decompression without a suit doesn't appeal to me, and the shape oldOdin is in, that could happen just about any time. You take what you see. Now open up." Horst hesitated, but Richard could see that he knew he'd run out of options and delaying tactics. The younger man began to reach for a control out of sight of the camera. Something warned Richard Fitzgerald; perhaps it was a very slight shift of Horst's gaze, a widening of the eyes; perhaps it was an intake of breath on the part of Anthony LaPointe.

Perhaps it was just more than a quarter-century of instincts honed in lethal conflicts around the world. Whatever it was, he found himself suddenly diving forward and up, launching himself across the hangar toward the support and loading mechanisms-just as the thunder of a large-caliber handgun blasted out from behind him. Johnson never had a chance to even scream. One second he was stolidly holding Mia immobile, the next his head exploded in a spray of red. Feeney, startled, tried to whirl, actually managed to complete a quarter-turn before the gun roared again, blowing a hole in his neck. Vanna Desplaines made a desperate dive toward the net bag holding their guns. Two more shots echoed out, deafening in the enclosed room. The firstspang ed off her carbonan suit, sending her into an uncontrolled spin to smack into the wall. The second hit her just as she began to rebound, and took her right between the eyes. Richard stared down incredulously at the shadowed doorway, searching for some sort of weapon-a crowbar, a hammer, something. Four shots, three dead? Evenhe would have had a hard time pulling that one off. Who in the name of… An involuntary chill went down his spine as the figure in the doorway moved into view. Looking directly at him, golden eyes gleaming cold as dead men's treasure, General Hohenheim raised his pistol.

Chapter 41 "General! You're alive!" Hohenheim found the relief and genuine pleasure in Horst's exclamation warming. But he didn't have time or luxury for enjoyment at the moment. "I am. Mr. Eberhart, while Mr. Fitzgerald stays extremely still, I would like you to open theMunin 's hatch and allow Mia to board." He looked down at the wide-eyed engineer, who was pale and shaking-and covered with blood and other remnants of her former captor. "My apologies for being unable to warn you, Miss-do not move, Mr. Fitzgerald! I have excellent peripheral vision, and I believe I have demonstrated my accuracy with this weapon. As I was saying, my apologies, Miss Svendsen. I hope you are unharmed?" Mia swallowed, then nodded. "I… I am all right, General. They had said you were dead." He smiled grimly. "That is what I intended them to think." TheMunin 's hatch opened. "Now get on board." Mia stood, a bit shakily, and moved toward the ramp. Her boots gripped the deck and allowed her to walk and keep her balance despite being at the edge of collapse. It was at that moment that everything went wrong. Vanna Desplaines' body had continued to ricochet gruesomely in slow-motion around the docking area, and at that crucial instant she passed between Hohenheim and Richard Fitzgerald. The speed of Fitzgerald's reaction showed that he had already anticipated exactly that turn of events-had watched everything, estimated angles, movements, timing. He dove toward the body, her armored corpse making a shield that Hohenheim's single reflexive shot did not penetrate. He then spun his body around, flinging his associate's toward Hohenheim and gaining a change in vector that caused him to sail directly to the wall he had just recently left. Before the general could get a clear shot, his former security chief had ripped the mesh bag from the wall and bounded away, back into the shadowed reaches of the support and loading mechanisms. And now he is fully armed, and I have one gun, Hohenheim thought grimly as he pulled himself back into the doorway from which he had entered. He gestured savagely to Mia, who had frozen and tried to drop to the ground-a gesture which had ended with her floating mostly motionless near the boarding ramp. "Get on boardimmediately." As she moved to comply, Hohenheim continued: "Once she is on board, Mr. Eberhardt, you will close the hatch." "Sir?"