Get him!”
Rebo shouted, “No!” but the mob ignored him and thundered up the corridor in hot pursuit of whatever the circus performer had seen. The norm, with Okey close on his heels, found himself running next to Hoggles. “I couldn’t hold them,” the heavy panted, as he pounded along. “They’re crazy.”
As if to prove the variant’s point the leaders of the mob turned a blind corner and started down a wide-open stretch of hallway. The runner saw a sign that read, security control center, and the norms who were standing directly below it. He shouted, “Get down!” But, by the time the passengers in the front rank saw the danger and began to react, Mog, Ruk, and Tas had already opened fi?re. They had armed themselves with machine pistols, and it was only a matter of seconds before people in front of them began to jerk and fall. Thanks to his position toward the front, the beast master was among the fi?rst to take a bullet, immediately followed by a mime and a clown, as the runner raised the long-barreled Hogger. The weapon bucked in his hand, made a resonant boom, and sent a bullet spinning toward one of three possible targets.
Tas felt a sledgehammer strike his chest, lived long enough to register a look of surprise, and slammed into the hatch behind him before sliding to the fl?oor. That came as a considerable surprise to the outlaw’s siblings, who had preyed on other people for years without suffering any negative consequences themselves. But there was no time to grieve, not yet at any rate, as Rebo opened up with the Crosser and bullets pinged all around them.
Mog answered with a burst of well-aimed automatic fi?re, but the runner was already falling, with Hoggles on top of him, which meant that the bullets were high. That gave the surviving cannibals suffi?cient time to slap the controls, grab their brother’s ankles, and drag the body through the hatch. The door closed with a defi?nitive thud and the battle was over.
The heavy rolled off Rebo, the runner fought to suck air back into his lungs, and allowed the variant to pull him up off the deck. The hallway looked like a slaughterhouse. A quick check confi?rmed that fi?ve passengers were dead, and three were wounded, including the beast master. It was diffi?cult to tell, given all the blood, but it appeared that a bullet had creased the performer’s skull and knocked him unconscious. Some of those who had escaped returned when the fi?ring stopped, and there were cries of grief as dead friends and relatives were located. Then, with astounding speed, sorrow turned to anger. “This is your fault!” Okey insisted, as he pointed a long skinny fi?nger at Rebo’s chest. “You led us here!” The accusation wasn’t fair, or true, but elicited a chorus of agreement from the rest of the passengers nonetheless. Rebo considered trying to defend himself, decided that it would be a waste of time to do so, and returned the Crosser to its holster. “I suggest that we carry the wounded back to the hold—and organize a burial party. Or, would you like those bastards to snack on your friends?” Okey’s face turned gray at the thought. He turned to the others, barked some orders, and the evacuation began.
Two hours later Rebo, Norr, and Hoggles were inside their shelter, sitting around a tiny oil-fed blaze. That left the water supply unguarded, but given the fact that the beast master was temporarily out of commission, the runner fi?gured it would be okay. The sensitive, who was just back from treating the wounded, cupped her mugful of tea with both hands. It was eternally cold in the hold, and the warmth felt good. “I’m sorry, Jak. . . . They were wrong. It wasn’t your fault.”
“That’s right,” the heavy agreed stolidly. “Especially since they disobeyed every order you gave them.”
“Yeah? Well, tell it to all those dead people,” the runner replied bitterly.
“I will, if I happen to run into one of them,” Norr responded calmly.
“So what are we going to do?” Hoggles inquired. The question had been directed to the sensitive, but rather than answer it, her face went suddenly blank. Nerveless fi?ngers released the mug, which fell and shattered against the metal deck. The lamp fl?ickered as droplets of tea hit the yellow fl?ame.
“Uh-oh,” Rebo said, dispiritedly. “Lysander is about to pay us a visit.”
But even as Norr was forced to make way for another entity, the sensitive knew it wasn’t Lysander, but another spirit named Kane. The same person who had been her brother in a previous lifetime, pursued her on behalf of the Techno Society during his most recent incarnation, and been killed by Rebo. Although Kane had a preference for male vehicles, such was his affi?nity for the physical plane that he found Norr’s body to be not only acceptable but rather interesting. In fact, if the opportunity arose, the invading spirit thought it would be fun to offer the female vessel to one or both of the attending males.
Norr “heard” the thought and tried to dislodge Kane but discovered that his grip on her was too strong. The sensitive’s eyes blinked, her lips moved, and a raspy voice was heard. “Greetings . . . This is Jevan Kane.”
Rebo’s eyes grew bigger. “Kane? I thought I killed you!”
“You did,” the spirit entity grated. “And I will fi?nd a way to even that score one day. . . . In the meantime I am compelled by certain agreements to help protect you and your fellow cretins. And that’s why I’m here. . . . To inform you that the person you know as the beast master intends to kill the body I occupy now. A rather shapely form with which I sense that you are well acquainted.”
The Crosser appeared as if by magic as Rebo came to his feet. Norr looked up into the gun barrel and smiled serenely. “Yes!” Kane hissed. “Shoot me! I’d like that.”
“Don’t do it!” Hoggles interjected, and had just started to rise as the Crosser was withdrawn.
“Say whatever you came here to say, and get the hell out of Lonni’s body,” Rebo said through gritted teeth.
“I already have,” Kane replied smugly.
“But how?” Hoggles demanded. “How does the beast master plan to murder Lonni?”
“I don’t know,” the spirit entity replied honestly. “A thick veil separates our worlds. But his intent is clear.”
Meanwhile, Norr struggled to reassert control over her body. Bit by bit she gathered the necessary energy, shaped it into a coherent desire, and gave the necessary order. Her physical form responded, and the unanticipated action took Kane by surprise as his/her hand jerked forward. Rebo saw the sensitive stick her hand into the lamp’s open fl?ame, and was still processing that, when Norr’s body gave a convulsive jerk, and Kane was forced to leave. Then, having regained control, the young woman removed her hand from the fi?re. The burns hurt . . . but the pain was worth it. “Lonni?” the runner inquired tentatively. “Is that you?”
“Yes,” Norr whispered hoarsely. “I’m back.”
Meanwhile, on a girder high above, the Slith snake sampled the air with its tongue, identifi?ed the scent it was searching for, and resumed its long, arduous journey. The city of New Wimmura, on the Planet Derius The suite, which was the best that the hotel had to offer, sat on the topmost level of the city and looked out over the lake that claimed one end of the kidney-shaped open-pit mine. It was a lofty perch, and as Shaz stood on his private veranda, it was like looking down on a nest of insects as thousands of people crisscrossed the plaza to the north, wound their way along the various plateaus, or climbed ladders that led from one bench to the next. A number of days had passed since the night when unit A-63127 had been terminated—and the antitechnics had launched their attack against Techno Society headquarters. During the interim it had been determined that the same explosion that caused extensive damage to the station’s fi?rst fl?oor had destroyed the facility’s power accumulators. That meant the local portal was not only out of service but would remain so until a functionary could travel to the distant city of Feda, where they could access a star gate, and travel to Anafa. Worse yet was the fact that Logos and his human companions would be unable to use the gate, thereby playing hell with Chairman Tepho’s plan, and causing even more problems. There was a solution, had to be a solution, but the operative had yet to fi?gure out what it was.