Meta made out his white teeth. The pig was grinning at her. Make love to her? She would stick a knife between his ribs.
“I should have done this a long time ago,” he said.
Meta felt his hands touching her, groping, squeezing. “Kane,” she whispered. “What…”
“We have no more time,” he said, pushing her over onto her back. “This is our one chance—”
“Are you going to rape me while I’m stunned and immobile?”
“You’re so beautiful. I must—we won’t—you’re trying to confuse me.”
Meta heard a new note in Kane’s voice that hadn’t been there before. He didn’t sound as aloof as last time. How had the enemy agent gotten back to Earth before Victory? The answer was obvious. The New Men had sent him through the Nexus. Had repeated long-distance jumps worn him down?
“I am ice,” Kane said, as he squeezed her flesh.
“What’s that supposed to mean?”
He was silent, and his hands no longer roved over her body. His breathing became heavier.
Beneath her, Meta felt the shuttle lifting. This couldn’t be happening. Had Valerie opened the hangar bay doors already? How could the lieutenant do that without first checking in with her? Had the enemy tricked Valerie?
Yes. That must be it. Horrible Oran Rva was here in the Solar System and had tricked them into giving him the Builder egg—because the commander had pretended to be a Star Watch hauling team. This was a disaster. Now, Kane was kidnapping her all over again. Worse, he planned to rape her to fulfill his own base appetites.
“When I was a boy,” Kane rumbled. “The trainer took us out to Rollo Glacier.”
What was he talking about now?
“On the Rouen Colony?” Meta asked.
“Yes,” Kane said. “You know Rollo Glacier is as large as some continents. We trekked across it for days, enduring as the trainer hardened us into gang-leaders. We were the chosen, but first we had to show him we had the desire to survive. It was so cold, Meta. The iciness seeped up through the soles of my boots. The winds came, and still the trainer forced us to march. We had to endure. We had to prove we were tougher than the ice.”
Through a porthole, Meta saw the darkness of space. Was the shuttle outside the starship? She wanted to weep with frustration.
“Some of the lads sank down in exhaustion,” Kane said, absorbed with his stupid tale. “I hauled up my friend. The trainer struck me. ‘Let the weakling die,’ the trainer told me. I did not listen. The trainer beat me that day until finally I collapsed beside my friend.”
Meta tore her gaze from the porthole to stare at the fuzzy-imaged face before her.
“I remember seeing the trainer’s boot before my eyes,” Kane said. “I lay on the ice, shivering, freezing to death. He laughed at me. He asked if I, too, was a weakling like my dead friend. When I didn’t answer, the trainer knelt before me, staring me in the eye. ‘You have grit, Kane,’ he told me. ‘You dared to endure my wrath. Let me tell you the secret of life. Be the ice. Rid yourself of useless emotion. Let your cold freeze others into submission as you beat yourself into a superior being.’ I stared into his eyes, hating the man for what he had done to me and for letting my best friend die. Finally, he shrugged, climbing to his feet. He left with the rest of the lads.”
“What did you do?” Meta asked. She didn’t understand why he was telling her all this, but she found herself wanting to know more, to understand more about the New Men’s mysterious agent.
Kane inhaled deeply. “I lay on the ice, absorbing its power. It grew in me that day. It entered my soul and filled me with the resolve to live. I would endure until I had the opportunity to kill the trainer because he had beaten me for helping my friend. I became the ice, and I climbed to my feet. That night, I staggered into camp. The trainer let me eat hot food, even though I was late. That was weakness on his part. Five years later, I showed him the foolishness of weakness by beating him to death with my fists.”
A little more of Kane’s blocky features came into focus. Meta shivered at the hard stare in his eyes.
“I am ice,” Kane said. “I will destroy those who hurt me.” He turned his head, staring at the hatch that led to the corridor that must lead to the shuttle’s flight compartment.
“Where are we going?” Meta asked.
Kane focused on her, and he glanced at the hand on her shoulder. Slowly, he removed the hand. “You are mine, Meta.”
She said nothing, but a plan began to form in her mind.
“This time you will stay with me.” Kane stared into her eyes. Finally, he held out a hand.
Meta forced herself to move until her fingers touched his. Kane hauled her to her feet.
“Come,” he said. “Let us see Oran Rva. He will wish to examine you, perhaps test your fitness for the mission.”
One more time, Meta glanced at the porthole. It showed Starship Victory outside. Behind it was the Earth. Both the vessel and the planet grew smaller. Where was the New Man taking the shuttle?
-36-
Maddox pushed the air-car higher into the atmosphere. The blue had begun to fade away into darkness.
Riker stared out of the bubble canopy. “Makes a man feel insignificant. Can’t say that I like this in the slightest.”
The captain hardly heard the sergeant’s words. He focused on the task. The enemy kept one or even two steps ahead of them. It seemed clear they would try for the Builder egg. The nuclear blast in Monte Carlo had been a diversion. Now would be the perfect moment to stage—what would the enemy do? It seemed to him they would try what they had in the past.
Per Lomax had led a boarding team against Victory. With Star Watch codes, how many troopers would the enemy use to try to grab the starship?
“This is going to be hard without any communication,” Riker said. “Where is the starship in orbit exactly?”
“One thing at a time, Sergeant,” Maddox said.
Riker turned to him in wonder. “Don’t tell me you don’t know, sir.”
“Try the radio again,” Maddox suggested.
Riker stared at him another second. Then, the sergeant tried the radio. It was still dead. “That’s no good, sir.”
“Try your communicator.”
“Don’t have one on me, sir.”
“I have one,” Maddox said. He pulled it out and tried it. Nothing happened. “Hmm. That’s not good, as you say.”
“We have to go back down, sir,” Riker said.
“I don’t think so.”
“Begging your pardon—”
“Kindly shut up, Sergeant, and let me think.”
Riker nodded. “That’s it, sir. Take it out on me, why don’t you? I’m just the hapless enlisted man—”
“Sergeant,” Maddox warned.
Riker fell silent, once more staring out of the bubble canopy.
“I have an idea,” Maddox said in a bit. “It presupposes greater intelligence on Galyan’s part. I have to believe the AI is busy monitoring everything. That’s what the hyper-intelligent do.”
Riker kept quiet, fixedly staring at the now appearing stars.
“Yes, I understand, Sergeant. I’m a difficult taskmaster.” Maddox began to fiddle with the controls. He shut the engine on and off in exact sequences.
The fuel gage showed the air-car had just enough to get back to Earth if they started down now. Maddox had no intension of doing that, though. If the enemy had made his move for the egg, the doomsday machine was likely going to show up soon. The enemy must be able to track the planet-killer—if they truly possessed long-distance communicators.
“We need communication,” the captain said. “I want Keith to bring up a jumpfighter.”
Riker glanced at him. “Can I ask what you’re doing, sir?”