The weapon he was holding was set at the lethal level. He raised it, opened the door, and stepped through—and saw, no more than twenty feet from him, not Ransome but Mary.
Typically, she had ignored the standard dress code of Ransome’s Hole. She was wearing a dress of russet velvet with puffed shoulders and a choke collar, and on her head she wore a broad-brimmed green hat. She turned slowly at the sound of the sliding door, an imperious look on her face.
Mary was certainly playing a part—but which one? None that Bey recognized. He lowered the gun so that it was no longer trained on her midriff. Mary ignored it, anyway. She moved right in front of him and reached out to put her hands on his chest.
“Bey!” So much for the idea that he still resembled Ransome. “My poor sweet, what happened to you.”
“Where is Ransome?” His voice was failing, curdled in his throat.
“Bey, what are you doing here? I wanted to come and see you last week, but I was told you were no longer on the habitat. When did you get back?”
“I never left. Where is Ransome?”
“My poor love.” Mary was holding him away from her and inspecting him closely, touching beneath his eyes with a gentle finger. Bey realized for the first time that he was crying. “I don’t know what you’ve been doing to yourself, but I know what you have to do next. You look so sick. We’ve got to get you to a form-change tank—right this minute.”
“Soon. Not yet. Where’s Ransome?”
“Bey, you shouldn’t even be thinking of Ransome in your condition.” She was supporting him, holding him close. “You’re shivering all over. I have to look after you.”
“Where is Ransome?”
“I don’t—” Mary began. She was interrupted.
“If you are so interested in my whereabouts, Mr. Wolf, you might at least look at me.” The casual voice came from Bey’s left, from a shadowed part of the room. He jerked to face that direction. Ransome was standing there. As Bey raised the gun, the black-clad figure took two steps forward.
“No closer,” Bey said. “This is on maximum setting.”
“So it is. How very unfriendly.” Ransome sounded as calm and rational as ever. “Come now, Mr. Wolf, can we not dispense with these posturings of violence? We are both civilized men, and we have much to talk about.”
“Not true. You’re a murderer. We have nothing to talk about.”
“Let me persuade you otherwise. Do you realize, Mr. Wolf, that this is the third time that I have underestimated you? Really unforgivable on my part. But it makes me more convinced than ever of your value to my operations. You could do wonders for our security systems.”
“I’ll do nothing for you.” Bey waved the gun at Ransome. He was feeling increasingly dizzy and unable to talk. “Move back.”
“You will feel differently once you understand my mission.” Ransome moved another step closer to Wolf. “You regard the two of us somehow as ‘enemies,’ people on opposing sides of an argument. But we are not. You will surely admit that you owe no allegiance to the Inner System—they dismissed you after a lifetime’s work. As for the Outer System, those people have nothing in common with you. You and I can work together very well. So why not be practical? The old order of the Solar System no longer applies. It will soon be gone forever. Put away that gun and sit down. It is more dangerous to you than it is to me. And you and I must talk.”
“I’m past talking.”
“No, listen to him, Bey.” Mary clutched his arm, but she did not try to interfere with his aim. “He’s right. I’ve followed the reports from the Inner System. It’s a total mess there.”
“Sure. Because he—” Bey tried to gesture at Ransome and found his arm taking on a spastic movement of its own. “—has been doing his best to make it a mess. Can’t you see, Mary? He’s the cause of all the trouble.” Bey waved his arm again at Ransome. “I don’t have the time or taste for talking to you. Get back up against that wall.”
“Don’t be silly, Mr. Wolf.” Ransome advanced another step. “You escaped from your quarters. An unusual achievement, and one that I am quite willing to recognize. But beyond that you are powerless to influence events. You are in desperate physical shape, and you do not seem to understand reality. I can have a hundred people here to overpower you in a few minutes. So put away that gun.”
“Get back! Last warning.”
But Ransome was still coming forward, still smiling. And Bey was at the end of his strength.
It was now or never. With shaking hands he pointed the gun squarely at Ransome’s head, groaned, and fired.
There was the usual dazzling flash of blue. Bey sagged against the wall. Ransome had given him no choice—too many lives depended on stopping the man—but Bey was sick at what he had done. Would Mary forgive him, understand that he had had to do it?
As the Cherenkov radiation pattern died away, Bey raised his head. Unbelievably, Ransome was still moving. He had walked right through a high-intensity beam. That was totally impossible!
Cherenkov fringes appeared. As Bey watched, Ransome’s face turned yellow and began to bubble. The skin evaporated in bursting pockets of light, exposing the wall behind as their color swirls faded.
The bubbles of Ransome’s face were bursting in Bey’s own brain. He dropped the gun and sagged against Mary. “Field interference effects—a holograph!”
“Of course.” The image of Ransome was beginning to fade, and only his voice seemed to hover clear in the air. “How else could I appear to you when I am far away? And what a simpleton you must be, Wolf, if you imagine that I would not have taken precautions against both death and discovery!”
Ransome’s uniform was becoming transparent. His smile showed a black mouth, black teeth, as he turned to face Mary. “Leave this idiot now. He deserves to die. And from the look of it he hasn’t long to wait.”
He glared at Wolf and shook his head rebukingly, his face filled with contempt.
“I’m afraid I sadly overestimated you, Wolf. You’re a fool, no more intelligent than any of the others. Did you seriously believe that I would expose myself to possible death when my life’s work is unfinished? If you had agreed to cooperate, I could have saved you. But you tried to kill me—and that means your own death. Your life is finished. For me, and what I am going to do, it is just beginning.”
“No.” Bey’s throat was tightening. He had little time for more words. “You’re crazy, Ransome. You’re the one who doesn’t know reality. You are finished. A message was sent from here a few minutes ago. All circuits, to the Inner and Outer Systems. People know where you are, what you are, how many your actions have killed. You’re done for, Ransome, even if you don’t admit it. No matter where you run to, where you hide, you’ll be found and caught and brought to trial.”
The distorted image of Ransome’s face flared with anger and astonishment. “That was a truly intolerable act. And quite a futile one. I am not finished—I have scarcely started! And I have tools available to me beyond your imagining. I would say wait and see, but you will not live long enough for that. Die now, Wolf. Your time is over.”
Was it true? Did Ransome have more secret fortresses, other resources? Bey did not know, and he could no longer attempt analysis. If there were to be new battles with Ransome, others would have to fight them.
Black Ransome, Bey thought distantly. The air around Ransome was turning black. Or was it Bey’s own failing consciousness?
“Leave this ignorant fool, Mary, and follow me,” a curt voice said. And then even the dark shadow was gone.