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  “True. Could be they had someone ... ?”

  He left his thought hanging so she could complete it herself. She stared blankly at the computer screen and then said, “On the inside? But why?”

  “Why what?”

  “Why kill so many people in cold blood? On some backwater station. Revenge?”

  “Or for fun?”

  “Warped idea of fun.”

  “Could have been Runners?” Nahara said.

  “I don’t get it.” Scott took a breath.

  “We’re not going to find out until the WC investigates,” Nahara said. “And by then, hopefully we’ll be long gone.” He hoped that would end it.

  And it did.

  For now.

  Scott left him at his terminal and walked over to the others. Nahara took the time to finish deleting the rest of the deep backup files. Closing every door. He never should have suggested this was the work of Runners.

  Because he knew it was.

  Once the drive was wiped clean, he felt marginally better ... as long as any auto reports hadn’t gone out between the attack and now.

  Maybe none of them suspect anything after all.

  He smiled, his first in a long time.

  ~ * ~

  Rodriguez was tense ...jumpy as they made their way down the corridor toward the pod bay.

  He squeezed the grip of his pulse pistol even though he knew he’d be worse than useless in a fight.

  Probably end up blowing my own damned foot off.

  They passed several more bodies, all of them horribly mutilated.

  The stench in the corridor—overwhelming.

  When they arrived at the data pod bay, Jordan entered first with Scott close behind.

  Guns raised. Ready.

  Rodriguez exhaled.

  But he saw movement.

  To the right.

  Something huge and dark, racing toward Jordan.

  A strange sound filled the room as the creature launched itself into the air, its hind legs curled up, its front paws straight out—and the mouth, lined with razor-sharp teeth, wide open.

  So fast. No time to think, much less react before the heavy thump of a pulse pistol blast filled the small room. Loud enough to hurt his ears.

  But this time, the gunner didn’t get off a clean shot.

  The creature’s snarl rose into a howl of rage and pain as it slammed into Jordan, knocking him backward, onto the floor.

  Rodriguez raised his gun and waved it around, but he didn’t fire.

  But Scott did ... aiming at the beast, up close.

  In the thrashing scramble on the floor, it was impossible to distinguish man from beast.

  Annie went right up to the creature pinning the gunner, pistol to its head, as it turned.

  A shot.

  And the head disappeared.

  Bluish, nearly black blood sprayed the nearby wall and Jordan.

  ~ * ~

  “Damn!” Jordan shouted as he threw the heavy carcass off himself and got to his feet.

  Annie looked at him. His face, clothes ... all stained with splashes of blue-black blood. He looked more pissed than shaken.

  Jordan turned to Rodriguez and said, “Get your goddamned message so we can get the fuck out of here!”

  Scott came over to him.

  “Thanks,” he said

  “No problem.”

  Jordan looked around. “Gonna be more of them. We gotta move fast.”

  Rodriguez stood at the pod bay.

  “Shit!”

  Annie saw that the display showed ... nothing.

  “The message pods have been wiped, too. Nothing in or out.

  Nahara walked over.

  “Hang on, Doc.” He looked at the screen showing incoming and outgoing pod messages. Then, with a few flicks of his hand, he paged past some screens and then: “You might be in luck, Doc. There’s one pod that hasn’t been logged in yet.”

  Rodriguez stepped back and waited while Nahara touched the screen. After a moment, a small, opaque metal capsule the size of his thumb emerged from the console.

  “Give it to me,” he said, holding his hand out impatiently.

  Nahara took the miniature pod and held it up, rolling it between his thumb and forefinger. He narrowed his eyes as he looked at Rodriguez.

  “We can run it right here,” Nahara said. “See what it says.”

  “It’s encrypted.” Rodriguez was getting angrier by the second.

  Nahara looked at Annie. All she could think was: What are they, school kids?

  “I don’t think we need to be keeping any secrets now, Doc.”

  Rodriguez flinched at the sound of her voice. He turned to her and took a deep breath.

  “Look, Captain. I’m under strict orders to maintain top-level security with this.”

  His tone was sharp ... something new from the nervous scientist.

  She looked at him, wondering: What the hell is this about?

  And: We have to get out of here ASAP.

  She shook her head.

  “Read your damn message.”

  ~ * ~

  After making sure the washroom next to the pod bay was clear, Annie stood guard at the door while Jordan went inside and cleaned himself up. He came out a few minutes later, his clothes still stained with warrow blood.

  ‘Blood smells like shit,” he said, sniffing the stain on his forearm.

  “You look like you’re back to your old self again,” Annie said.

  Jordan looked at her as if to say: I’m always my old self.

  Before they started back, while they were alone: “So, what do you think about those two?” Annie asked.

  Jordan was silent. Shook his head.

  “Useless in a fight, that’s for sure.”

  Annie smiled. “Nothing else?”

  “Like what?”

  “Always a pleasure, drawing you out,” she said. “I mean—what do you think their deal is? Nahara’s twitchy as a frog on a skillet. And who the hell knows what Rodriguez is up to.” She paused. “I don’t like it.”

  “None of our business,” Jordan said. “Just have to get ‘em to their destination.”

  “Not if it kills us.”

  She nodded.

  “Haven’t heard any screaming or shooting,” she said. “They’re probably okay.”

  “Or dead before they knew it.”

  Watching both ends of the corridors and every doorway, they made their way back to the pod bay.

  And there they were... Rodriguez in a secure pod terminal and Na-hara lingering nearby as if he were trying to eavesdrop.

  Annie glanced at Jordan and whispered, not too softly, “I can’t wait to get to Omega Nine and be done with these guys.”

  From Jordan, a small laugh.

  “What?” Annie asked.

  Jordan’s mouth was a thin, straight line as he shook his head and said, “If I was you? I’d be more concerned about that Gage character.”

  ~ * ~

  In the security of the message cone, Rodriguez wondered if he would be safe from attack if another one—or more—of those creatures showed up.

  Wait in here while they kill everyone else? And then what?

  His hands were sweating and shaky as he slipped the metal pod into the console and keyed it in. He put on a pair of VR goggles, adjusted them, and then settled back.

  Relax... Just relax... It’s all good...

  After a few seconds, the view before his eyes pixilated.

  Then the three-dimensional face of Dr. Lucius Carroll appeared.

  “Good day, Dr. Rodriguez. If you’re watching this, I assume you’re alive and well, and on your way to Omega Nine. What I’m about to tell you is classified top secret. You cannot reveal the contents of this message to anyone—even your SRV captain. I hope you understand.”

  Rodriguez nodded, then realized that the motion was unnecessary.

 
All right, he thought as mild tension gathered within his gut. Here we go...

  Dr. Carroll’s face dissolved to a view of a planet—Rodriguez assumed it was Omega Nine.

  “Nice place to take the wife and kids,” Rodriguez said softly as he stared around at the stony, bleak landscape. A small, feeble orange ball of light illuminated the landscape with a sickly glow. In the distance, a vast mountain range rose against a beige sky.

  And in the foreground several small figures were moving about—and there were at least fifty—maybe more black metal capsules, about humansized.

  Caskets... coffins...

  Carroll’s voice continued: “Three weeks ago, we thought we had an outbreak of a previously unknown disease on Omega Nine. Of course, the likelihood that pathogens that would affect humans evolving independently on a distant planet is highly unlikely. What we found out...”

  A short pause. Dr. Carroll stared into the camera.

  Do we really need the drama?

  “The situation on Omega Nine is worse, much worse.”

  ~ * ~

  Back in SRV-66, Ivan sat sprawled in his seat.

  Eyes closed. Head propped against the bulkhead. Pretending to sleep even though that damned Chippie would occasionally let out a low groan or a stifled whimper.

  Give it a rest.

  You’re the one who decided to chip in.

  Deal with it.

  Mostly, though, he couldn’t sleep because he knew the Seeker, Ruth, was watching him ... wanting to talk.

  “Waiting’s the hardest part, isn’t it?”

  Her voice was soft, soothing. In his half-sleep state, like a voice in a dream.

  “Don’t you think?”

  Dream voice or not: Leave me the hell alone, he thought.

  “Gage?”

  A light tap on his shoulder.

  “Not in my experience,” he said sleepily, not opening his eyes.

  Will she get the hint?

  “I’ll bet you’ve been to lots of interesting places. On the Road, I mean.”

  The Chippie.

  Ah, there she is... back to her old self...

  Ivan decided to let that comment pass. Next thing you know, she’d be wanting to make a chip with him ... doing ... God knows what?

  Not that she wasn’t attractive.

  In fact, that was the problem. She was very much not unattractive.

  “What do you think’s happening? Out there?”

  Seeker Ruth again.

  So much for a nap.

  Sounding earnest. Nervous. And maybe—yeah, scared.

  Ivan slid his eyes open and looked up at her. In the hazy glow of blue sunlight, she actually looked ...

  Interesting... maybe.

  “Isn’t there something you can do?”

  Ivan heaved a sigh and sat up straight. The Seeker might be right.

  Waiting is the worst part.

  No, what’s worse is not having a damn gun ...

  “None of my concern,” he said, and he meant it.

  “But it’s so ... empty out there. Where are they? Why aren’t they back yet?”

  “Your guess is as good as mine.”

  “What if—”

  She let the thought drop, but Ivan finished it for her.

  “What if whatever happened to the station personnel happened to them?”

  “Yeah ... then what?”

  Then things would get interesting, he thought, but he reminded himself that getting tangled up in other people’s problems usually led to problems of his own.

  And he needed to avoid problems ... especially during this trip.

  Still... if I had a gun ... I might go find out what’s happening.

  Looking past the Chippie, he eyed the storage locker where Jordan had stowed his weapon when he’d first boarded.

  A combination lock—with numbers and letters.

  Great.

  Besides, the locker probably had a failsafe that would lock it permanently if he entered the wrong code more than a couple of times.

  It was strong, too. Judging by the looks, there was no way he was going to be able to pry it open unless he came at it with a laser torch.

  So let Captain Annie and the others figure out what’s going on out there, he thought even as his eye lingered on the locker.

  Yeah. That’s what I should do.

  Nothing.

  Instead ...

  “Pardon me,” he said, standing up and easing past Ruth, who shied away from him as though fearing he might hit her.

  Why is she so jacked up?

  He made his way up the aisle, trying to appear casual as he approached the storage locker. Leaning his elbow against the ship’s wall, he brought his face up close to the keypad and inspected it. Then—just for the hell of it—he tapped in a couple of numbers and letters.

  At random.

  As if...

  He grabbed the handle and pulled on it, not at all surprised when it didn’t open.

  He sensed Ruth’s presence behind him, turned, and looked at her.

  But she was at the side hatch. It was open, and she was standing in the doorway, looking out. A thin, piping whistle sounded from outside.

  Ivan focused on the combination again. Frustrated.

  He entered another series of random numbers and letters, each key beeping as he pressed them.

  The small, unblinking red light stayed red, and when he yanked on the handle—a bit more angrily this time—he muttered a curse under his breath.

  The Chippie shifted in her seat behind him. He could feel her gaze fixed on him.

  What was she thinking? Time for some fun?

  He glanced at her and smiled. She was digging through a small leather case filled with chips.

  Good solution, he thought. Retreat into another safe little fantasy world.

  He turned back to the lock. Stared at it. Frustrated.

  Then a voice said: “K-2-6-Y-Y-7-A-1-9.”

  Ivan turned.

  “What’s that?”

  “K-2-6-Y-Y-7-A-1-9,” the Chippie said. “The combination.”

  He looked at her in disbelief. Smiled. Shook his head.

  She putting me on?

  “What are you,” he said, “psychic or something?”

  A slow, sensuous smile spread across her face, and her almond-shaped eyes narrowed as she raised her right hand and tapped the chip implant on the side of her head.

  “I was in recording mode when you first came onboard the ship. I watched the gunner open the locker before he opened the airlock to let you in.”

  “Son of a bitch.” Ivan laughed.

  He punched in the code.

  After a second or two, the lock chimed, and the light started blinking green. When he triggered the handle, the alloy-plated door swung open easily. He glanced at the Chippie over his shoulder and nodded his thanks.

  She licked her upper lip with the tip of her tongue.

  Yeah ... she’s feeling better.

  Then he reached inside ... and grabbed his gun.

  As he pulled his hand back and stared at the pistol, he smiled and thought: Now that feels better.

  Time to see what’s going on out there.

  ~ * ~

  20

  PREDATOR AND PREY

  Rodriguez walked out of the data pod bay, and Annie could tell from his expression that whatever he had just learned, it hadn’t been good.

  “You okay, Doc?”

  His face pale, the scientist walked stiffly to the balcony railing that overlooked the station complex.