Part 53 (2/2)
”Order acknowledged.”
Bea and Lescar were both staring at him now, in a way that he had never seen either of them look at anyone or anything before. Obviously they were each realizing in their respective ways some portion of the truth. Gabrielle's face as yet showed nothing but animal relief, as the berserker obediently stopped its approach.
He was not going to take the time to try explaining or justifying himself now. Instead he issued orders.
With Lescar's and Bea's help the Prince got Gabrielle and the still-breathing Templar guard into his flyer.
Taking the driver's seat himself, on manual control, he set off at once for Sabel's old laboratory. Some of the machines should be there already, in accordance with Harivarman's earlier orders, setting up a command post for him.
The three women were in the back seat, Bea working efficiently at being a nurse. To Lescar, sitting beside him, the Prince explained en route why he was moving out of the house so quickly. Besides avoiding the presumed electronic bugging there, the transfer should make it harder for the Templars or dragoons to zero in on him with any missiles or other deadly tricks.
Lescar agreed mechanically, as if he might not really know or care what he was agreeing to. Meanwhile he stared out his window at the controller that paced beside the flyer, keeping up with it. Only now, Harivarman thought, was the little man really beginning to understand just what his master had done.
Explanations were in order, of course, but they would have to wait.
When Harivarman eased the vehicle to a stop near Sabel's old lab, a berserker unit was already on guard outside. And the controller, stopping beside the car, reported that in accordance with the Prince's orders the place had already been given a security check.
The controller stayed right behind him as he went inside; here the doorway happened to be large enough. Bea came after it, giving it a wide berth but looking as if she might already have accepted its presence.
She spoke for almost the first time since he had rejoined her. ”I want to send that vehicle to the base hospital, with that girl in it. She might live then. Will it be shot down if I do?”
The Prince opened his mouth, closed it, then looked at the controller. ”See that it's not,” he ordered.
”Order acknowledged.”
”That takes care of half the problem. Program the pilot not to fly, Bea. Maybe it can drive into the base on the ground without the Templars shooting it up . . . are you going with it?”
Beatrix moistened her lips. ”I'm staying with you,” she said.
Harivarman turned a little shakily to look at Lescar-but of course, in Lescar's case there was no need to ask.
He turned to the controller, and demanded from it a report concerning the machine that was sent to extricate Chen s.h.i.+zuoka from his house arrest.
”It has proven impossible to locate the life-unit Chen s.h.i.+zuoka as ordered. Efforts continue.”
”d.a.m.n. I thought they had him in confinement, near the base.”
”A search of the designated area failed to locate the life-unit Chen s.h.i.+zuoka. A wider search is proceeding, as rapidly as possible under the constraints that you have placed upon my operations.”
”Those constraints must be observed. Carry on.” The Prince turned away from the thing, and went to Gabrielle where she was sitting on the floor in one corner of the large and almost empty room. Maybe he thought, trying to rouse her from her shock, he should have sent her off with the wounded Templar girl.
But Harivarman had mental reservations about the flyer's being allowed into the base, whether it stayed on the ground or not. Most likely the Templars would shoot it up.
”Life-unit Harivarman.” The Prince turned, slowly. He had never ordered the controller to call him sir.
”What is it?” He had the feeling that it was about to tell him that the game it had been playing was over now, that he and those with him were about to die.
”Why,” it asked him, ”are you especially interested in the life-unit Chen?”
He stared at it. What next? ”What do you care why? If it makes any difference, I think he may have information that I'm going to need.”
”It is only that I must allocate resources and set priorities among the various commands that you have given.”
”Carry on as best you can. Right now I have yet another job for you. Setting up some communications.”
And presently, through a juggled communications relay that he hoped would be impossible to trace, the Prince, sitting in his new command post, managed to make contact with the base commander in her headquarters.
”I'm back at my post somewhat early. I keep my word, you see.”
”Harivarman, where are you?”
”In a safe place, for the time being, Commander. As you are.”
”What do you mean by that?”
”That you won't be hurt, and that no more of your people will be hurt, as long as you follow my orders from now on. But you're good at following orders, so you should survive.”
Realization grew on her only slowly. ”You've done this, then. Somehow. d.a.m.n you.”
”It became necessary, Commander. You see, I really had no choice. I understand that necessity, a lack of choice, excuses anything.” It gave him great pleasure to throw some of her own words back at her.
It came as no surprise to find that the pleasure did not last.
Chapter 13.
”I never got to go to a university,” Olga Khazar was saying, almost wistfully.
”I'm not sure you missed much,” Chen s.h.i.+zuoka said. His feeling at the moment was that his own efforts to obtain an advanced education had never done him any particular good.
He was into practical learning now. He had discovered that if he set one chair on top of another and then leaned the tall double ma.s.s of them against the control of the door-intercom of the hotel room that was his prison cell, he could keep the intercom unit turned on steadily. Olga Khazar had again been left on duty outside, and she was willing to talk to him almost continuously. None of the other guards who had so far taken their turns watching over him in his various rooms of confinement had been anywhere near as communicative as Olga was, and she was not going to stay on guard forever. He wanted to benefit from her presence while he could. For Chen, having some kind of regular contact with the world was practically a necessity.
”Looks quiet out there in the hall now,” he commented. ”Where's everybody?” He had been locked up in this room for several hours now, and had already realized that at least some of his fellow recruits from the transport were being housed in nearby rooms; Chen had been able to hear some of their voices, half-familiar, pa.s.sing his door from time to time.
Olga, trim-looking as usual in her uniform, mean-looking pistol on her hip to show that she was on guard duty, was leaning against the wall outside. Through the intercom Chen could see her little image complete from head to toe, along with a little bit of wall on either side. Her posture was unmilitary, he supposed, but right now probably no one could see her but himself. She said: ”Right now I think they're all out on the firing range.”
”Already? They've only been here a couple of days. I thought that kind of thing came later.”
”It's three days now since your s.h.i.+p got here. We like to start people early with weapons. It's a big part of being a Templar. What were you studying at the university?”
”I thought I was going to be a lawyer.”
”I wish I had a chance like that. I come from Torbas.”
”Aren't there any lawyers on Torbas?” Chen knew it was perhaps the poorest of the Eight Worlds. Olga only shrugged and looked sad. Chen tried to think of what he might say to Olga to console her for being born in poverty and missing out on a university education, but at the moment he felt too envious of her to be able to come up with anything useful along that line.
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