Renada came back, handed me a square steel box. "Let's have the key, Mallon," I said. He handed it over. I opened the box, sorted through half a dozen silver-dollar-sized ovals of clear plastic, lifted one out.
"Is it a magical charm?" Renada asked, sounding awed. She didn't seem so sophisticated now-but I liked her better human.
"Just a synthetic crystalline plastic, designed to resonate to a pattern peculiar to my EEG," I said. "It amplifies the signal and gives off a characteristic emission that the psychotronic circuit in the Bolo picks up."
"That's what I thought. Magic."
"Call it magic, then, kid." I dropped the electropass in my pocket, stood and looked at Renada. "I don't doubt that you know how to use that gun, honey, but I'm leaving now. Try not to shoot me."
"You're a fool if you try it," Mallon barked. "If Renada doesn't shoot you, my guards will. And even if you made it, you'd still need me!"
"I'm touched by your concern, Toby. Just why do I need you?"
"You wouldn't get past the first sentry post without help, Jackson. These people know me as the Trollmaster. They're in awe of me-of my mana. But together-we can get to the controls of the Bolo, then use it to knock out the sentry machine at the Site-"
"Then what? With an operating Bolo I don't need anything else. Better improve the picture, Toby. I'm not impressed."
He wet his lips.
"It's Prometheus, do you understand? She's stocked with everything from Browning needlers to Norge stunners. Tools, weapons, instruments. And the power plants alone."
"I don't need needlers if I own a Bolo, Toby."
Mallon used some profanity. "You'll leave your liver and lights on the palace altar, Jackson. I promise you that!"
"Tell him what he wants to know, Toby," Renada said. Mallon narrowed his eyes at her. "You'll live to regret this, Renada."
"Maybe I will, Toby. But you taught me how to handle a gun-and to play cards for keeps."
The flush faded out of his face and left it pale. "All right, Jackson," he said, almost in a whisper. "It's not only the equipment. It's… the men."
I heard a clock ticking somewhere.
"What men, Toby?" I said softly.
"The crew. Day, Macy, the others. They're still in there, Jackson-aboard the ship, in stasis. We were trying to get the ship off when the attack came. There was forty minutes' warning. Everything was ready to go. You were on a test run; there wasn't time to cycle you out…"
"Keep talking," I rapped.
"You know how the system was set up; it was to be a ten-year run out, with an automatic turnaround at the end of that time if Alpha Centauri wasn't within a milliparsec." He snorted. "It wasn't. After twenty years, the instruments checked. They were satisfied. There was a planetary mass within the acceptable range. So they brought me out." He snorted again. "The longest dry run in history. I unstrapped and came out to see what was going on. It took me a little while to realize what had happened. I went back in and cycled Banner and Mackenzie out. We went into the town; you know what we found. I saw what we had to do, but Banner and Mac argued. The fools wanted to reseal Prometheus and proceed with the launch. For what? So we could spend the rest of our lives squatting in the ruins, when by stripping the ship we could make ourselves kings?"
"So there was an argument?" I prompted.
"I had a gun. I hit Mackenzie in the leg, I think-but they got clear, found a car and beat me to the Site. There were two Bolos. What chance did I have against them?" Mallon grinned craftily. "But Banner was a fool. He died for it." The grin dropped like a stripper's bra. "But when I went to claim my spoils, I discovered how the jackals had set the trap for me."
"That was downright unfriendly of them, Mallon. Oddly enough, it doesn't make me want to stay and hold your hand."
"Don't you understand yet!" Mallon's voice was a dry screech. "Even if you got clear of the palace, used the Bolo to set yourself up as Baron-you'd never be safe! Not as long as one man was still alive aboard the ship. You'd never have a night's rest, wondering when one of them would walk out to challenge your rule…"
"Uneasy lies the head, eh, Toby? You remind me of a queen bee. The first one out of the chrysalis dismembers all her rivals."
"I don't mean to kill them. That would be a waste; I mean to give them useful work to do."
"I don't think they'd like being your slaves, Toby. And neither would I." I looked at Renada. "I'll be leaving you now," I said. "Whichever way you decide, good luck."
"Wait." She stood. "I'm going with you."
I looked at her. "I'll be traveling fast, honey. And that gun in my back may throw off my timing."
She stepped to me, reversed the pistol, and laid it in my hand.
"Don't kill him, Mr. Jackson. He was always kind to me."
"Why change sides now? According to Toby, my chances look not too good."
"I never knew before how Commander Banner died," she said. "He was my great-grandfather."
7
Renada came back bundled in a gray fur as I finished buckling on my holster.
"So long, Toby," I said. "I ought to shoot you in the belly just for Don, but-"
I saw Renada's eyes widen at the same instant that I heard the click.
I dropped flat and rolled behind Mallon's chair-and a gout of blue flame yammered into the spot where I'd been standing. I whipped the gun up and fired a round into the peach-colored upholstery an inch from Toby's ear.
"The next one nails you to the chair," I yelled. "Call 'em off!" There was a moment of dead silence. Toby sat frozen. I couldn't see who'd been doing the shooting. Then I heard a moan. Renada.
"Let the girl alone or I'll kill him," I called.
Toby sat rigid, his eyes rolled toward me.
"You can't kill me, Jackson! I'm all that's keeping you alive."
"You can't kill me either, Toby. You need my magic touch, remember? Maybe you'd better give me a safe-conduct out of here. I'll take the freeze off your Bolo-after I've seen to my business."
Toby licked his lips. I heard Renada again. She was trying not to moan-but moaning anyway.
"You tried, Jackson. It didn't work out," Toby said through gritted teeth. "Throw out your gun and stand up. I won't kill you-you know that. You do as you're told and you may still live to a ripe old age-and the girl, too."
She screamed then-a mindless ululation of pure agony.
"Hurry up, you fool, before they tear her arm off," Mallon grated. "Or shoot. You'll get to watch her for twenty-four hours under the knife. Then you'll have your turn."
I fired again-closer this time. Mallon jerked his head and cursed.
"If they touch her again, you get it, Toby," I said. "Send her over here. Move!"
"Let her go!" Mallon snarled. Renada stumbled into sight, moved around the chair, then crumpled suddenly to the rug beside me.
"Stand up, Toby," I ordered. He rose slowly. Sweat glistened on his face now. "Stand over here." He moved like a sleepwalker. I got to my feet. There were two men standing across the room beside a small open door. A sliding panel. Both of them held power rifles leveled-but aimed offside, away from the Baron.
"Drop 'em!" I said. They looked at me, then lowered the guns, tossed them aside.
I opened my mouth to tell Mallon to move ahead, but my tongue felt thick and heavy. The room was suddenly full of smoke. In front of me, Mallon was wavering like a mirage. I started to tell him to stand still, but with my thick tongue, it was too much trouble. I raised the gun, but somehow it was falling to the floor-slowly, like a leaf-and then I was floating, too, on waves that broke on a dark sea…
"Do you think you're the first idiot who thought he could kill me?" Mallon raised a contemptuous lip. "This room's rigged ten different ways."
I shook my head, trying to ignore the film before my eyes and the nausea in my body. "No, I imagine lots of people would like a crack at you, Toby. One day one of them's going to make it."