"What the hell do we do?"
"We can't rush that thing."
Rance was on the communicator. "I'm moving the women up into the corridor."
"You can't do that! We're pinned down in the tunnel by a heavyweight."
"Can you do anything about it?"
"Not a damn thing. We'd have to rush down a straight tunnel. We'd be cut down before we got halfway."
Rance sounded desperate. "I've got to start moving these people up into the corridors. We're being pressed too hard here at the elevators. We're stretched too thin."
"You got any ideas?"
"What's manning the EW?"
"Hold on… Renchett, take a look at what's firing that thing."
"Stick your own goddamn head out." "Don't screw around, man!" "Okay."
Renchett craned forward. Fire burst above his head, and he jerked back. "Dauquoi."
"At least they won't be rushing us in a hurry. They squirm too slow."
"So what's the story, Rance?"
"Wait a minute, we might have something back here." More fire hit the wall. Molten rock spattered their armor.
"You better make it fast."
"I've got six shores here with their servo suits. They figure they could rush this gun nest. They might pull it off. They've got the speed and they've got the armor. They'll be coming at a power-assist run, so don't get in their way."
"We'll be here."
There was a lull in the firing. The dauquoi seemed willing to wait out the humans. After a couple of minutes, the men in the tunnel heard the first metallic crash of power-stepping coming down the tunnel behind them. The servos had their lights flashing and panning from side to side to confuse the dauquoi. They were coming fast, faster, in fact, than most of the men thought a servo suit was capable. Two extra shore patrol clung to the back of each one, firing under its huge arms. The troopers flattened against the wall as the machines thundered past.
"Get in behind them."
The servos' armor seemed to be withstanding all of the dauquoi fire. Then a cascade of sparks fountamed from the leg of the lead machine. It reeled like a drunken man as the operator lost control, staggered a few paces, then fell headlong. The others didn't hesitate, however. They kept on going. A second servo was hit. Smoke streamed from the upper half of its torso. It lurched off course and smashed into the tunnel wall. The remaining three steered around it. They were in among the dauquoi, pumping fire and even stomping down on them with crushing steel feet. Purple slime sprayed the tunnel wall and dripped from the ceiling as the wormlike aliens literally burst apart.
"Rance, we're into the shuttle dock. You can move everyone up."
The troopers practically had to wade through the debris of the dauquoi. The purple slime seemed to be everywhere. Renchett looked genuinely amazed. He scooped up some of it with his fingertips and held it up to his visor. For one horrible moment, it looked as if he were going to taste the stuff.
"Never thought they looked like that on the inside."
"Shut the hell up, Renchett, you're making me sick."
"Somebody bring along that EW. We may need it."
They were in a brightly lit, transparent gallery that ran along the rear of the large shuttle dock, overlooking the individual reaction pads. There were five of the hemispherical craft parked in the dock, and umbilical walkways ran out to their pressure locks. Each one could lift 150 human passengers. There didn't seem to be any further guards of any species.
The surviving shore patrol dismounted from their servos. The advance party walked slowly down the gallery with the same dazed look that always followed combat. Both the men and the women were gazing up through the curved canopy that covered the gallery. The stars were visible where the dock was open to space; it was the first time most of the women had seen the stars since they had been taken from their own worlds. Then the Anah 5 came around on its orbit and blotted out everything else.
One of the shore patrol looked at Hark. "Is that your ship?"
"That's her."
"Then it looks like we really made it."
"When the pilots get up here."
Dyrkin broke the spell. "Some of you secure that far entrance. Take the EW. I don't want anything coming through there."
"We still have to knock out the main fire control. It's just above here."
Renchett scowled at Hark. "And guess who'll do the knocking."
"We'll wait until Rance gets up here and see what he wants."
Rance wasn't long in coming. There was the sound of firing and the sight of flashing in the dark of the tunnel. Women started to pour into the gallery. Dyrkin remained in control. He started to direct the women down the um-bilicals.
"Keep on going! Down into the ships. You'll be safer there."
The troopers were now backing out of the tunnel, firing as they retreated. A large force of lanteres was pressing them hard.
"You men! Get back there and help them out! We've got to keep those suckers back… Rance? Where are you?"
"Over here!"
Dyrkin spotted the topman backing out of the middle of the fighting. There were four men with him in blue flight suits and helmets.
"Are those the pilots?"
"That's them," Rance said. "I've been watching over them like a mother."
"Better get them down into the ships. It'll take time to get those shuttles powered up."
"They're on their way."
Firing started at the far end of the gallery. The EW opened up. A second force of lanteres was attacking from that direction. Rance looked quickly around. The situation could actually have been a lot worse. For the moment, the humans were holding both entrances. In the tunnel, the lanteres were pinned down in the same way that Dyrkin and his men had been just minutes earlier. At the other entrance, they had yet to mass in sufficient force to be able to overrun the EW. Rance, having taken stock of the situation, moved up next to Dyrkin.
"I think we got them stopped. We should start pulling back into the umbilicals."
"What about fire control?"
"Can you take some men and handle it?"'
"You're getting predictable."
Abruptly the firing ceased.
"Wha-"
The lanteres had stopped firing, and at the same time, men were also lowering their weapons. They were backing away from the mouth of the tunnel.
"What the hell is going on?"
A light appeared in the tunnel, white and brilliant, and murmuring among the humans. Hark was one of the last to feel it, and Renchett the first to realize what it was.
"A Therem. A goddamn Therem. Right here."
Hark's MEW was very heavy in his hands. He wanted to put it down. His legs felt weak, and a warm languor was spreading all through his body. He knew that he should be angry, that he should do something, but he couldn't force his mind to focus. He was staring through his visor at the weapon in his gloved hands. Even reality was wavering. What the hell was this thing that he was holding? He wanted to lie down and sleep. All around him, men and women stood and stared as if they were in a trance. Even the attacking aliens were rooted to the spot.
"Mindlock."
A tiny surge of anger managed to break free, but it was almost immediately smothered. He searched for another, but the influence of the Therem was like a warm smothering blanket. Resentment still smoldered, but he couldn't reach it and bring it to violent life. The whole escape was coming to pieces, and there's wasn't a damn thing he could do about it.
They came out of the tunnel. Two of the familiar red spheres flanked a third, larger One of a kind that Hark had never seen before. This was the source of the white light. It was hard to even guess at the material from which it was constructed. The light didn't seem to come from inside the sphere but to halo around it like an aura. The surface of the sphere was even more of a puzzle. It constantly changed. At one moment it was a polished, reflective mirror, and the next it would be pale opaline, with faint rainbows drifting across its surface. The only thing about which there was no doubt at all was that this sphere contained one of the beings that had been the Masters of humanity for countless generations. There was a Therem inside the sphere. Perhaps this was the ultimate irony. This human rebellion was finally being subdued by an actual Therem, but the poor forsaken humans weren't being allowed to so much as see it before they died. "Nooooo!"