I frowned. “What people?”
“Were you planning to fly this warship around all by yourself?” Hardin asked. “I, on the other hand, have whole battalions of pilots, navigators, and engineers.”
“Of course—why didn’t I think of that?” I said sarcastically. “And their licenses for ancient Shonkla-raa spacecraft are current?”
Hardin’s lip twitched. “I hadn’t thought about that,” he admitted.
“Fortunately, we should be able to give them a head start,” I said, taking Bayta’s hand. “Bayta’s studied the Shonkla-raa language. She can at least teach your pilots how to read the controls and gauges.”
Bayta stirred, and I sensed her getting ready to protest that she wouldn’t know ancient Shonkla-raa if it took out ad space on her eyelids. I squeezed her hand warningly, and she remained silent.
“But it will take a while for them to slog through all of it,” I continued. “Eight weeks, maybe a little more.”
“Two months is a hell of a long time in warfare,” Hardin pointed out. “Are we expecting the Shonkla-raa to just sit on their hands while we’re off deciphering their hieroglyphics?”
“Yes, actually, we are,” I said. “Because while Bayta’s playing language professor, I’ll be sending a message to Osantra Riijkhan offering to reopen negotiations for me to go over to their side.”
Hardin snorted. “You really think he’ll buy that?”
“Why not?” I said. “He’s already offered protection for the Confederation in return for my services. After today’s object lesson, it would only make sense that I might be reconsidering his offer.”
“That’s an easy enough game to play as long as you can stay on Earth,” McMicking pointed out. “What happens if he wants to meet with you somewhere else, where we can’t protect you?”
“We’ll cross that bridge when we get to it,” I said. “Are we agreed, then?”
There was a moment of silence. “There are a lot of details we haven’t touched on,” Hardin said. “But we’ve got time to work those out. Fine. Hardin Industries is in.”
McMicking half lifted a hand. “So am I.”
“You’re part of Hardin Industries,” Hardin reminded him dryly. He cocked an eyebrow at me. “So are you, Compton, if you want to be.”
“You mean reinstatement?” I shook my head. “Thanks, but it’s bad enough I have to work with a man who employs people like our friend from the super-express. I don’t think I could handle being on the actual payroll.”
Hardin hissed out an impatient sigh. “I already told McMicking, Compton. Now I’ll tell you. He was working entirely alone. Yes, he was working for me; and yes, I had him on a very loose leash. Too loose, as it turned out. But as you may recall, I gave you the same freedom when you worked for me.”
“Leashes aside, you’re also the one who created his neat little bag of tricks,” I reminded him.
“And you should be damn glad I did,” he countered. “Those bouncy marbles McMicking used against the Shonkla-raa out there? They came onto the Tube as protective bubble wrap.”
I frowned at McMicking. “Bubble wrap?”
“Two-centimeter-diameter air-filled plastic spheres set between two thin sheets of plastic,” he confirmed. “The stuff looks and acts just like normal protective wrap, except that the spheres are three-hundred-kilo test weight. Pull the two enclosing sheets apart, and the spheres drop out, ready to use.”
“Very neat,” I said.
“The point is that I may have equipped the bastard, but I never authorized his plan,” Hardin said. “That was all him.”
“Fine,” I said. “My point is that I’m not working for Hardin Industries anymore. I’ll work with you, but not for you.”
Hardin grimaced, but nodded. “Fair enough,” he said. “Would you be willing to at least accept a ride back to Earth? My torchyacht is faster than anything you could rent at the transfer station, and a lot more secure.”
“That one I’ll be more than happy to accept,” I assured him. “Why don’t you and McMicking go find Morse and see if he can talk Colonel Savali into letting us leave the station. Terese, you and Rebekah might as well go with them. We’ll be along in a minute.”
“Right,” McMicking said before anyone could object. “Mr. Hardin?”
“Just make it fast,” Hardin warned me as he headed toward the door. “I’m suddenly not liking this place very much.”
“We’ll be right there,” I promised.
They filed out, the door closing again behind them. “You do realize,” Bayta said into the silence, “that I don’t know enough ancient Shonkla-raa to teach a fifteen-minute class.”
“That’s okay,” I said. “I wasn’t going to have them spend more than fifteen minutes on it anyway.”
She frowned. “Then why an eight-week delay?”
“Two reasons,” I said. “First, there is an actual course of study I want Hardin’s people to take. And second, we need to give the fleeing rats a place to flee to.”
“Which fleeing rats?”
“All of them,” I said. Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out the data chip I’d been about to show her before McMicking and the others interrupted. “The thing that’s been nagging at me the whole time was why they chose Terra Station for this confrontation, and why they made it so big. Why in the world would they risk this kind of exposure in a full-blown battlefield assault?”
I handed her the data chip. “So while Morse and I were taking a breather from all the official questioning, I slipped over to the message center to see if the Spiders had anything for me.”
Bayta fingered the chip, making no move to pull out her reader. “And?”
“It’s my version of the same news the Shonkla-raa must have gotten before we arrived,” I said. “A report from Logra Emikai saying that the Shonkla-raa gene-manipulation facilities aboard Proteus Station have been completely destroyed.”
Bayta’s eyes widened. “Already?”
“Already,” I confirmed. “And when I say completely I mean down to the last DNA molecule. He planned it well, and was able to bring in some of his old friends to assist. That, plus the intel the Modhri provided him, let them launch a single coordinated raid and take down everything.” I tapped the chip. “And there’s more. Emikai and Director Usantra Nstroo were able to find enough proof of the Shonkla-raa activities that a quiet alarm has now been sent out across the entire Assembly. Within weeks, months at the most, the Shonkla-raa are going to be hunted down and captured.”
“Or killed,” Bayta murmured.
“That’s up to the Fillies,” I said. “The point is that with their handy genetic assembly line on Proteus up in smoke, there aren’t going to be any new Shonkla-raa anytime soon. With their hoped-for future numbers wiped out, and with my well-established knack for thinning their current ranks, they apparently decided I needed to be taken out, one way or another, no matter what the cost. Hence, today’s desperate gamble.”
Bayta gazed down at the data chip in her hand. “So what you’re doing now is baiting them,” she said. “You’ve set up a plan you don’t intend to carry out, hoping they’ll now come to you.” She looked at me, her face pale. “And kill you.”
I sighed. “For whatever it’s worth, I don’t like this any better than you do,” I said. “But like you said, we need to get them out into the open.” I shrugged. “This was the best bait I could think of.”
“I know.” Bayta took a deep breath. “I hope you’re right.”
“Aren’t I always?” I countered, trying for a levity I didn’t feel. “Ready?”
She braced herself, and I could tell she was dreading the thought of walking the gauntlet of dead bodies out there. “Ready,” she said, standing up and handing me back the data chip. “I never liked this war, Frank. But now, I’m starting to hate it.”