Part 25 (1/2)

”d.a.m.n,” Hanan muttered, hands running over the board as Ornina and Chandris also played musical

chairs, switching back to their usual seats. ”Anyone else in range?”

”I don't know,” Ornina said. ”Not even sure anyone else heard the call-signals don't cut too well across radiation lines.”

”Have you alerted Central yet?””Haven't had time. I'll do it now.” Ornina busied herself with her board.The Gazelle began to move, pressing Kosta back into his seat. ”Can I do anything to help?” he asked.

”I don't think so,” Hanan said over his shoulder. ”Just sit tight.”

Kosta squeezed his hands into fists. Wonderful. Another s.h.i.+p was getting roasted by radiation out

there, and all he could do was sit tight. And not roasted slowly, either, if that chatter of gamma-ray

sparks he'd heard had been any indication.He stiffened. Gamma-ray sparks? Reaching to his board, he keyed for a real-time display from his detectors below.

Nothing.

For a long minute he stared at the result, not believing it. Even given that the package was selecting only a few narrow bandwidths, there still should be something coming in. He keyed for a more sensitive reading- ”Kosta!” Chandris snapped.He jerked around. ”What?””Get on the comm,” she ordered. ”Try and raise the Skyarcher-tell them we're on our way but can't get a solid fix on them. See if they can give us some location data.””Right.” Kosta turned back to his board. A minute later, he had them.”Gazelle,” a voice called through the roar of static and gamma-ray stutter. ”Gazelle, are you there?””We're here,” Kosta called back. ”Hang on, we're coming. Can you give us your location and velocity vectors?”

”We don't have them.” Even through the noise, Kosta could hear the fear in that voice. ”The whole d.a.m.n s.h.i.+p is falling apart. You gotta help us.”

”We're trying to get there,” Kosta told him, an icy s.h.i.+ver running up his back. ”Just hang on and try

to relax-”He broke off as something went crack behind him. For an instant he thought his ears were playing tricks on him, that the sound had come from the comm speaker. But it was followed by another, and another- ”Hanan!” he shouted over the roar of the engines and the increasingly noisy crackling. ”We're

getting into radiation.”

”I know,” Hanan called back. ”No choice-it's our only intercept vector. Don't worry, the hull can handle-”

The rest of his statement was swallowed up in a sudden cloudburst of gamma-ray sparks.

And all h.e.l.l broke loose.

Hanan screamed, a cry of pain that sent Kosta's teeth locking together. Ornina shouted something

and grabbed for her restraints; Kosta got to Hanan first, without any clear memory of having left his seat. ”What's wrong?” he shouted over the din, dimly aware that he was once again weightless-the Gazelle, clearly, was no longer under power.

”His exobraces,” Ornina shouted back, trying to get her hand into Hanan's s.h.i.+rt. ”They're misfiring-overloading the sensory nerves. Got to shut everything down.”

Kosta swore, trying to remember everything he'd learned at the Inst.i.tute about Empyreal electronics. There wasn't anything that even remotely touched on this sort of thing. Helplessly, holding Hanan's pain-curled arms as steady as he could, he watched as Ornina finally got to whatever cutoff switch she was trying for. The arms went limp, and Hanan gave a long, trembling sigh. ”G.o.d,” he muttered, the word just barely audible. ”G.o.d, that hurt.”

”You'll be all right,” Ornina told him, her face tight. ”Jereko, help me get him down to the medpack.”

”Never mind me,” Hanan insisted, trying to shrug their hands off. He succeeded only in flailing uselessly against Kosta's shoulder. ”We've got to get the Skyarcher before it's too late.”

”Stop that!” Ornina snapped, pus.h.i.+ng his arm away from the restraint release. ”You need help.”

”So do Hova and Rafe-”

”They'll get it,” Kosta cut him off, popping the strap on his side of Hanan's seat. ”Ornina and Chandris can handle the s.h.i.+p while I get you below. Fair enough?”

A surge of pain came and went across Hanan's face. ”All right,” he gritted.

Kosta wedged a foot under the edge of the chair and took Hanan's arm, feeling the muscles trembling under his hand as he got the arm around his shoulders. ”I'll need a few minutes at half a gee or less,” he told Ornina, hauling Hanan bodily out of his seat and fighting hard against the fat man's inertia. ”Can you do that?”

”a.s.suming we have any control at all, yes,” she said grimly, wedging herself into Hanan's seat. ”You know how to work a hunters.h.i.+p medpack?”

”I do,” Hanan said before Kosta could answer. ”I'll be there with him, remember?”

”Well, then, get there,” she snapped, giving her brother one last look before turning back to her board.

Hanan turned slightly watery eyes to Kosta and gave him the ghost of a smile. ”The hospital, officer, and step on it.”

It took some effort, even at half a gee, to manhandle Hanan onto the medpack table. But Kosta managed it, and under Hanan's guidance got it programmed.

He had completed the procedure, and Hanan was starting to fall asleep, when the gamma-ray cloudburst abruptly dropped off to more or less normal levels again.

The intercom, when he tried it, was inoperable. He considered heading back to the control cabin to find out what was going on, but even though Hanan seemed all right he decided it wouldn't be a good idea to leave him alone.

And so he sat there, watching the glowing green lights on the medpack and listening to Hanan's steady breathing.

And tried to think.

Chandris was sitting in Hanan's usual seat when Kosta arrived in the control cabin. ”How are we doing?” he asked her.

She turned to look at him, her eyes flat and dead. ”We're going home,” she said, turning back to her work. ”How's Hanan?”

”He's all right,” Kosta told her, moving forward to drop into the seat next to her. ”Ornina says he's not in any danger.”

”She probably told you, then.”