“Roger and his people will take care of things up here,” Colette informed them. “Why don’t you go below until the arguing’s over?”
“I’d rather stay outside,” Ethan told her.
“No way. I’m not having my prospective husband’s head shot off just after he’s accepted my proposal.”
“It’ll be all right. They’ve only got a few hand beamers over there. When they see how badly we’ve got them outgunned, I don’t think there’ll be much fighting. You might have more trouble with their Tran allies. They’re stubborn.”
“I remember that much. No offense,” she told Hunnar and Elfa through her suit translator.
“There is no offense in truth,” he replied. “We are stubborn.” He smiled, displaying sharp canines.
XV
BAMAPUTRA DID NOT LOOK toward the harbor as he turned up another of the steep switchbacks that led up the mountainside away from Yingyapin. He did not have to. Antal’s monocular had already revealed the unexpected presence of long weapons on board the unmarked skimmer. The new arrivals were obviously in league with his enemies on board the ice ship. His foreman had assured him there was no way they could win a pitched battle against well-disciplined people carrying rifles. All they could do for now was retreat to the installation and seal themselves inside the mountain.
Corfu accompanied them, wailing and raging at an interfering fate and wondering why they didn’t stay and fight.
“Better it is to die for what one believes in than to run and hide in a hole in the ground!” He was having trouble keeping up with the humans, whose feet were far better designed than his for climbing.
“A foolish and primitive notion.”
“They’ve got us outgunned,” Antal told him. He gestured with his own hand beamer. “I’ll explain it one more time. Our light weapons are not as powerful as theirs.”
“Then what are we to do?”
“First we make sure they can’t touch us.” The foreman nodded toward the entrance to the installation which lay one last switchback ahead. “We lock ourselves out of their reach. Then we bargain. They could probably blast their way in, but that would mean casualties on both sides. I think they’d rather talk.”
“Talk.” Bamaputra wasn’t breathing hard at all. “What is there to talk about? These are not government representatives. I do not know who they are but they are not that. Not that it matters. It is enough that they are friends of those whose destiny we once controlled. Their destiny was our destiny, and now that control has slipped through our fingers.”
“We can still try to strike a deal with them,” Antal insisted. “We can hold out till the regular supply ship arrives.”
“Don’t be a fool.” They had reached the cleared area which fronted the entrance to the installation. As they watched, the huge door rolled up into the solid rock, admitting them to the complex beyond. “We are finished here. The project is finished. They will communicate with the authorities. We will not be given time to reach our own relief ship. Now if there was a way to disable their skimmer…”
“Not a chance. They’ve got rifles down there. They can sit around and pick off anyone, human or Tran, who tries to get close.”
“As I feared.” They were inside the complex now. Curious engineers and technicians looked up from their work as their supervisors walked past. Corfu was already getting hot, but he followed anyway. He had nowhere else to go.
“There’s got to be something we can do,” Antal muttered. “If they take us back, it means mindwipe at least.”
“Better to die. The body lives on but the soul perishes.”
Antal eyed him askance. “What do you mean, ‘soul’? Mindwiping just removes whatever the psytechs identify as criminal tendencies. When it’s over you’re still the same person you were when you went in.”
Bamaputra was shaking his head. “Are you so credulous as to believe the government’s propaganda? They leave you enough to function with, but you are not the same person. Something vital has been taken away.”
“Sure. The criminal part. Just the criminal part.”
“But we are not criminals, you and I. We are visionaries. I do not think I could stand to lose the visionary part of myself.”
The foreman frowned, but Bamaputra appeared to be completely in control of himself. “Yeah, well, I’ll take care of securing the station, making an announcement about what’s happened and what we can expect. There’s only the pedestrian entrance and the cargo dock to seal. No matter how much portable firepower they can bring to bear I still think we can keep ’em out long enough to do some bargaining. Meanwhile you can start shutting stuff down.”
“Shutting down, yes, of course,” Bamaputra murmured softly. “There are records to destroy, chips to erase, people to protect.” He turned on Antal so sharply that the foreman jumped in spite of himself. “Whatever you do, do not negotiate with this September person. Try to talk to the scientists. If we are fortunate, there may be a government official among them. Such types will go to almost any length to avoid bloodshed. I will see to the pumps and reactors while you brief the staff.”
“Got it.” They separated, leaving behind a confused and panting Corfu ren-Arhaveg.
Only much later did Antal reflect on his supervisor’s words. Seeing to the pumps and reactors did not necessarily mean shutting such systems down.
There was some desultory resistance put up by the ragtag imperial armed forces of Yingyapin. It didn’t last long. Spears and swords weren’t much of a match for beamers and energy rifles. Despite the pleas of Hunnar and Elfa, Colette directed her troops to shoot only to wound. After all, as Hwang explained to her, the citizens of Yingyapin were as much victims of the visiting humans’ deceit as anyone aboard the Slanderscree. Once the truth could be explained to them they should become useful members of the expanding Tran union.
When the last soldier had dropped his weapons and fled, those on board the skimmer considered what to do next. Iriole was studying the entrance to the buried installation through a monocular.
“Door looks pretty solid. I’m not sure we can blast our way past.”
“We shouldn’t have to,” said September. “They know it’s in their best interests to surrender peacefully. They can’t go anywhere. The threat of busting in should be sufficient to induce the lower echelons, at least, to come out with their hands in the air. Can the skimmer make the climb?”
Skimmers were designed to travel no more than thirty meters above a solid surface. They were not designed for ascending steep inclines. They were not aircraft. Still, if they moved slowly, Iriole thought they might be able to make it to the level area fronting the entrance. He looked to his employer for instructions.
“Let’s give it a try.”
Ethan put his arm around her. Somehow it seemed the right thing to do. Didn’t feel bad, either.
“Everybody take a seat and strap down,” Iriole told them. “We’re going to tilt some and I don’t want anybody falling out.”
When the awkward climb had been accomplished and they landed outside the massive doorway, Grurwelk Seesfar wanted to go back down and make the exhilarating ascent all over again.
“Mr. Antal, sir?”
The foreman turned to the young technician who’d barged in on him. “What is it? I’m busy?”
“I think you’d better come with me, sir.”
“Can’t. I’m trying to do a dozen things at once right now. Didn’t you hear me over the com system? Don’t you know what’s going on?”
“Yes, sir. But I still think you’d better come with me. It’s Mr. Bamaputra, sir.”