Part 27 (2/2)

'That was five years ago.'

'True, they were far stronger then. And in his letter he gave me an alternative. He still needed the diversion, but now Braxiatel has an agent planted here. An agent who can deactivate the minefield which forms the main obstacle between the Rippearean fleet and Heletia.' He resumed his inspection of the remains, calling back over his shoulder, 'So I subst.i.tuted my ending for Braxiatel's rewrite of Osterling's. Rather than a ma.s.sacre and a force of killer robots rampaging round the place, I managed a diversion which cost just a few bruises and the odd broken arm.'

'It also caused that poor guard Marlock left us to need a clean pair of trousers, I should think.'

The Doctor laughed. 'Dramatic licence.'

'So who is Braxiatel's agent? Anyone we know?'

'Yes Benny. Let's see how she's doing, shall we?'

Marlock had taken a length of electrical cable from a store cupboard in the corner of the room. Benny watched as he cut across the end of it and stripped back several centimetres of plastic insulation. He started to splay out the copper wire inside, wrapping the other end of the cable around his hand.

'Hold her still,' Marlock told the bodyguard behind Benny. 'Let's see how strong some of these antique fibres really are, shall we? Denim, for example, has a reputation which could usefully be put to the test don't you think?'

Benny tried to pull away, but the guard had her held tight. The other guard stepped aside, but he kept his disruptor levelled at Benny's stomach.

Marlock nodded his approval. 'If she flinches, shoot her in the arm.' He swung the cable to and fro. Benny watched its regular motion, transfixed, trying to empty her mind of what was to follow. 'Just a short burst.' He raised the cable above his head. 'I want her to retain consciousness for as long as possible.

Marlock's bleeper sounded as his hand reached its apogee. He lowered the cable. 'Always when you're having fun,' he observedwith a smile and flicked open a channel on his communicator. 'Yes, what is it now?'

The answer was a woman's voice. It was far from calm. 'Sir the kill*sats in the Gap are deactivating.'

'What? How?'

I don't know, sir there's no signal from this end. They're just off*lining one after another.'

'Check it,' Marlock snarled to the guard holding the gun. He gave a short nod and started to inspect the communications equipment where Benny had been sitting.

'Well?'

The guard shook his head. 'Nothing, sir no pulse sending from this end. The source must be elsewhere.'

'They wouldn't acknowledge a signal from anyone other than us,' Marlock spoke into his communicator again. 'What are the Rippeareans doing?'

'Nothing, sir,' the tinny voice responded. 'They're still on station the other side of the field.'

'Good. They can't know what's happening the satellites are pa.s.sive, so they won't know that they've shut down. Tell me if there's any movement.' He turned off the communicator and stared at Benny. 'You sent the surrender signal,' he said after a while. 'But although you are not deactivating the mines, I think you know who is.'

The frayed cable swayed in front of Benny's face for a moment. She swallowed. This would take very careful timing and pretty good acting on her part.

'Very well,' said Marlock with a sigh. He raised the cable again.

This time Benny stopped him as the cable was about to come flailing down at her. 'The Exec,' she said, shouted probably, she could not tell. 'He was panicked by the performance, It was the Exec who sent me to call the surrender, it must be his orders that are deactivating the satellites too.' She hoped the fear had sounded genuine it should have done, because it was.

Marlock paused. His good eye narrowed as he watched Benny. She could almost see the thought process inside his head.

After what seemed like forever, Marlock dropped the cable. 'Bring her,' he said to the guard holding her. 'It's time I sorted out this mess.'

The outermost line of kill*sats in the Gap deactivated themselves and threw out a program message pulse into the s.p.a.ce ahead of them. There were no satellites there to receive it.

But the mine destroyer Wild Fire Wild Fire was positioned to receive it from two different satellites in the link. The signals arrived within a second of each other. The second in effect confirmed that the Gap was safe, and the was positioned to receive it from two different satellites in the link. The signals arrived within a second of each other. The second in effect confirmed that the Gap was safe, and the Wild Fire Wild Fire began to despatch handler probes to clear a path through, dragging the kill*sats aside so gently that if their motion sensors were still on*line they would not detect it and detonate. began to despatch handler probes to clear a path through, dragging the kill*sats aside so gently that if their motion sensors were still on*line they would not detect it and detonate.

The Wild Fire Wild Fire also sent a coded signal to the flags.h.i.+p also sent a coded signal to the flags.h.i.+p Jorvik Jorvik: 'Final Curtain.'

When Marlock arrived at the green room with his two bodyguards and his prisoner, he found the doors closed and bolted against him. The two doorguards and even the Exec's two bodyguards were standing outside, evidently somewhat confused. They recounted the events which had left them locked outside, and Marlock sent them back to the barracks to await his wrath.

'It seems you may be telling the truth,' he told Benny, 'We shall soon see.' He hammered on the doors with his fist and shouted, 'Exec open up. It's me, Marlock. The invasion is defeated and we are safe. You You are safe. Do you hear me? Open the doors!' are safe. Do you hear me? Open the doors!'

They waited but there was no response from inside.

'I'll watch her.' Marlock drew his disruptor and motioned for the guard holding Benny to release her. She flexed her shoulders, they were still. Marlock kept her covered with his gun. To his two bodyguards he said, 'Get those doors open. Now.'

The Exec's sobs had subsided and he was beginning to recover. Lannic was still holdin his head, still had her hands tangled in his greasy hair.

'You don't know how I've waited for this moment,' she said. 'How I dreamed of having some time alone with you.'

He looked up at her his face smeared with the stains of tears. 'You wish to be my consort.' It was not a queston. He ran his hands down her back, feeling the uneven mesh of the gauze of her blouse.

'I was married once,' she said Her hands had stopped their tugging and she was staring into empty s.p.a.ce. 'It was long ago.'

The Exec's hands had reached her waist. The adrenalin of panic began to give way to other stimulation and emotion as he followed the curve of her body and squeezed her thigh.

But Lannic seemed not to notice. 'It was sunny a lovely sunny day. I was in the kitchen when I heard him scream. Funny how you remember, how immediate it still seems. It was the day after we were sure, the day we were going to celebrate.' Her voice cracked slightly. Her eyes were still unfocused, staing into the past. 'I ran out, but by the time I got there ' She blinked suddenly and her head lolled forward. Then she recovered herself and continued, '... got there it was too late.'

At last she turned and looked at the Exec. He could almost feel the intensity of the gaze, and his hand tightened on her thigh, rubbing downwards, feeling for an edge of her skirt. She still gave no sign of having noticed. 'They had him strung up in the yard. I didn't hear them arrive, didn't hear his first screams he must have screamed more than once.' A tear welled up in her eye and rolled down her cheek. She made no move to wipe it away, her hands were still tangled in the Exec's hair. 'I couldn't run couldn't leave him. He was still alive. Just.'

Her body began to shake with inner sobs, her voice was distorted with emotion and her head swayed slowly from side to side. 'I didn't try to stop them, how could I? I just kept looking at him, hanging there in the doorway, burned and bleeding. And they made sure he could see me could see what they did. They weren't fit to be called men, let alone soldiers. They left me there, in the yard, crying by his dead body. They wouldn't cut him down even when he was dead.' Her voice faded away. She seemed calmer now, her fingers tying themselves into his hair again.

'The Rippeareans,' murmured the Exec. 'We'll make them pay.' His hand had felt its way into the split in her skirt. Now it rubbed up her right thigh. 'What's this?' He had felt a strip of material, thought it to be a garter, but it held a pouch strapped to her leg.

Lannic's hand closed on the Exec's, drew it away, and pulled the skirt aside. Her other hand was still in the Exec's hair and it pulled savagely, yanking his head up so that he was forced to look into her face. She was shaking her head, her eyes wide and her jaw set. 'Not Rippeareans,' she said, and her voice had become hard and determined.

Startled, the Exec pulled his head free. He flattened himself against the back of the doors, watching in horrified fascination as Lannic unclipped the flap over the top of the pouch at her leg. He gave a squeal of panic as she drew out a small percussion pistol.

<script>