She slides out of my grasp, shaking her head. "No."
"But you hate it here; you hate what the Lake is doing to you--"
"It needs me. It's alone, it needs me. I'm important here, I'm a queen! I belong here, I want to stay--"
"Goddamn it," I shout, losing all patience, "you're crazy! You need more help than the god damned Lake
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does, and I'm going to see you get it. Come on--" I jerk her to her feet.
She pulls away from me, and begins to scream. I hit
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her; the scream stops and she slumps to the floor.
I go to the door and shout down to the guards. "Something's happened to Song!" They come running up the steps, their guns out. I hit the first one with a chair as he starts through the doorway, and knock them both back down the steps. They don't come up again.
I start to pick up Song; stop, and go back into the other room. I take the globe that holds the droplet of Fire Lake.
I fold it in a piece of heavy cloth, and tie it to my belt.
Then I wrap Song in a dark rug and carry her over my shoulder down the steps.
We leave the skeleton tower unchallenged, and I
search for a way back through the treacherous light and-shadow alleyways of the town. I get lost half a dozen times before I find the place where I left my brothers, but nobody I meet is crazy enough to challenge an armed man carrying a body.
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I hesitate when I reach the doorway that I think is
Anubah's. The rooms inside are dark, but a group of men is laughing and gaming a little way down the alley, by the light of a solar torch.
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A figure emerges from the doorway, and I stiffen.
"BZ?"
"SB!" I start toward the door, but he holds up his hand.
"Quiet, Anubah's inside, sleeping." He gestures me down against the building wall. "Thank the gods," he mutters. "I thought you were never coming back."
"I said I always do my duty."
He frowns. I lay Song down beside me as carefully as
I can; sit back against the wall, with my arms and legs trembling. I wonder dimly how long it has been since
I've eaten anything.
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"Is that her?" SB asks.
"Yes."
He grunts something that sounds like "Idiot," and turns to the doorway again. "HK," he whispers.
HK emerges, carrying a small case. They crouch down beside me. "Here are the tools." SB takes the case from
HK's hands. "Get these blocks off us. Can you short them out?"
"Not if you want to keep your heads. Can't you get the control box?"
"No. I don't know where Anubah keeps it--" He breaks off, lowering his head as someone strides by.
When the stranger is past, I say, "I've got the gun working. Let's just get out of here."
"No! I want this off. I want to leave here like a man, with honor." He grips my arm. "You Page 165
understand." His eyes burn holes in the darkness.
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"All right." I pick through the tools in the dim light reflecting off the walls. "It's too dark here . .
. wait." I
unwrap the fire globe. Its restless glow washes their faces with warm radiance.
"What is it?" HK whispers. "Lava?"
"A drop of Fire Lake." I look up, grinning with elation.
"It's stardrive, HK! The whole damned lake!" The real significance of my discovery is only beginning to penetrate.
"What are you talking about?" SB snaps. "Shut up with that crazy talk, and get us free."
"I'm not crazy." I meet his eyes. "I've discovered what Fire Lake really is. A ship of the Old Empire crashed here, and nobody knew it. Its drive has been breeding here, uncontained, for a thousand years. That's what causes all the abnormal phenomena. Think of it, SB!
Think of what this will mean to the Hegemony!"
"You're sure?" he asks. "You're sure?"
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WORLD S END
"Absolutely."
"Gods . . ." HK sighs. "And we're the only ones who know."
"All the more reason to get out of here alive." I switch on the magnifier, and watch the invisible tracery of the blocks' circuits glow on its surface. I follow the microfine pathways inward more by instinct than by sight. "All right! . . . Give me a tone box." HK puts it into my hand.
I press a code sequence--half audible notes, half silent to my ears. The pinprick red lights on both their collars wink out. "Deactivated. You're free. Now come on, let's--"
"One more thing," SB says grimly. He picks up the beamer before I realize what he is doing, and disappears through the doorway. I curse. "What's he--?"
A bellow of fury, a low voice speaking. A flash of light, and a scream--
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The men down the alleyway look up as SB bursts out through the doorway. Some of them start to get up, or call out Anubah's name.
"Now I feel like a man." SB grins at HK, holding up the gun.
"You killed him?" I whisper.
"Sure." He nods. "He deserved it."
I look away mutely, too many voices in my head.
"Gods, SB," HK whines too loudly, "they know what you did!" He points down the alley, jittering with panic.
"Quiet--" I mutter, but he grabs the fire globe and begins to hobble away. Someone shouts at us.
SB's arm comes up with the gun. "No!" I say, but he fires wildly.
I see weapons come out, and the others start for us in a mob. I pick up Song and we all run. She is a dead weight, but rage at my brothers gives me more strength than fear does.
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JOAN D. VINGE
are our enemy and our friend. As we run I fix an image in my mind of the landing flat, the waiting rovers--escape, freedom--willing myself to see them ahead.
And abruptly I do, almost as if I have the power to twist time and space. With the last of my strength I run out onto the field. But in the hard glare of the lights I see more outlaws, and Goldbeard, roaring, pointing at us--
"There! He has her! He stole Song!"
SB fires at him and Goldbeard crumples, but the rest come toward us in a raging mass.
"Leave her, drop her," SB gasps, pulling HK by the arm. "It's her they want! They'll tear us apart!"
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I run for the nearest rover instead, and drag Song's body on board. SB and HK throw themselves through the doorway after me. I seal the door, and fumble the remote into my ear. I gasp an override command, collapsing into the pilot's seat. The control panel comes to life. I lift off, hearing HK and SB grunt as the takeoff dumps them against the back wall. I can barely keep my leaden hands on the controls as we rise from the plateau into the darkness.