Part 26 (1/2)

ma.s.sive weapons trained on the estate. It fired a first shot at the outer wall, to establish range.

The huge bricks collapsed into dust.

The Rainbow Dawn forces had their defenses up now, and a lucky shot took out the stabilizers in the nearest gunboat. It wobbled away. its com- plement of Navy fighting men dropping out of it in escape harnesses,

”Fire! Fire!” screamed Sankley, and was nearly bowled over as three panic-stricken Peomers rushed for the main gate.

A single blast from the dreadnought took out a large part of the south wall and shattered what remained of the windows.

Another blast from the dreadnought and another quadrant of the courtyard wall fell.

On the opposite side, the guard station no longer seemed much protection for Jessine. She ducked through it, into the outer court.

She looked around for a place to hide and, finding none, she turned east, away from the attacking Navy craft.

Jessine heard the next volley of firing and saw another section of the house heave, blast and fall to pieces. She kept going toward the outer walls, seeing only a few running Peomers and one exhausted Zambretic servant sitting on the gra.s.sy slope, gasping for breath and pounding

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Chelsea Quinn Yorforo

the turf with all four of his fists. Another explo- sion behind her sent Jessine running for more protective distance between her and the main fortress.

A second dreadnought appeared, this one holding back, its cannon trained on the fortress, hovering in case more might was needed.

Jessine reached the breach in the walls and hesitated. She was safe from Rainbow Dawn now, but what of the Navy? What might Admiral Sclerida have in store for her if she remained within the grounds of the Orchid?

The dreadnought fired again, and this time the west side of the Orchid blew up. Without another qualm Jessine slipped through the gap- ing hole in the wall into the verdure of Horizon Park.

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Chapter 9.

Wiley was groggy from physical and emotional shock. He wiped his hand across his forehead, subconsciously trying to rub away present reality and return himself to the familiar round of wealth and privilege in which he'd spent his life until this terrible day.

The armored aircar didn't have windows, but

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Wiley could see the forward vision screens past the shoulders of the driver and co-driver. The vehicle was slanting down toward a huge sky-colored dome in which the aircar's own reflection raced toward Wiley s eyes at redoubled speed.

They shot through the barrier into dimness rather than shattering impact. The dome was a polarizing bubble rather than a material wall.

The s.h.i.+eld not only protected the interior from observation, it combed sunlight and de- creased the degree of illumination beneath the dome. German eyes were adapted to much lower light levels than those of humans -

And almost all the figures Wiley saw within the domed enclosure were Germans. There were hundreds of the aliens, driving equipment, unloading cargo and performing maintenance on the dozen or so stars.h.i.+ps on the ground within the domed starport. Perhaps there were more: the enclosed area was so large that moving figures were lost against its scale.

'This is Haiken Maru headquarters, isn't it?”

demanded Wiley pugnadously. ”I know it is! The bubble north of the city is Haiken Maru head- quarters!”

One of the Cernian guards blinked twice at him. The others didn't give even that much acknowledgement.