Part 37 (1/2)

Flint kept a tight grip on his laser pistol as he slowly lowered it. He hoped Norton wasn't smart enough to ask Flint to drop it and kick it over. Flint wanted to catch Norton as he came to fetch the pistol himself.

Norton watched with a half-smile on his face. Then he glanced at the console, which was clearly his goal. Flint wondered if Norton would bother to return to the Moon, or if he would kill everyone and take the Emmeline Emmeline out of the solar system. out of the solar system.

”Now,” Norton said. ”We're going to-”

He stopped and tilted his head, obviously listening.

Flint listened too. Scuffling in the corridor. Voices came with it.

The other six had arrived.

Norton turned slightly. ”Wait, everyone,” he said. ”I don't want you to get any closer. You-” Flint saw his only opportunity.

”-don't quite understand what's happening here. Our pilot-”

He raised his pistol.

”-and I are having a stalemate. He-”

Fired.

Norton must have seen the shot from the corner of his eye. He twisted slightly and leaned away. The shot caught him in the arm-the arm holding the disc-and Norton's hand jerked upward. The disc flew from it. Norton kept twisting, then tripped, and fell into the hallway.

A woman screamed, and one of the men shouted something unintelligible.

The disc rose toward the ceiling. Flint hurried forward, thinking he might catch it, and didn't reach it in time. He winced as the disc clattered against the floor.

Norton sat up, his face gray, and scrambled for the disc, but Flint reached it first. He s.n.a.t.c.hed it with his free hand, unbalancing himself.

Norton grabbed Flint's foot and pulled him over.

Flint landed on his back, the air rus.h.i.+ng from his body. He clutched the disc in one hand, the laser pistol in the other, and tried to sit up. Norton still had a firm grasp on his foot. Flint gasped for air, seeing black dots across his vision.

The other six came into the room.

”Stop him!” Norton screamed. ”He's kidnapping us.”

But they didn't move. They stared at the whole tableau as if it sent them back to the helplessness of their childhood.

Flint finally sat up and aimed the laser pistol at Norton. ”Let me go,” Flint said.

Norton's grip grew tighter.

”Let me go or I will kill you this time,” Flint said.

”And contaminate all of us?” Norton asked.

”If I have to,” Flint said.

Norton let go. He used that hand to brace himself, his skin going even grayer.

”You don't know how to use that disc,” he said. ”It's dangerous.”

Flint didn't answer him. Instead, he looked at Weiss, who stood in the front of the group.

”Would you people be kind enough to hold him down?” Flint asked.

”What did he do?” Weiss asked.

”I'll replay it for you,” Flint said. ”Just help me first.”

Apparently, that was the right answer-the fact that they had come upon the attack and the fact that Flint's system had made a recording of it seemed to convince the group to take Flint's side, not Norton's.

They surrounded him. Two of the men held him down, careful not to touch the smoldering hole in his shoulder.

Flint stood. He carefully set the disc on the console, then reached under it and removed one of the pairs of handcuffs he kept in the c.o.c.kpit. Then, holding the laser pistol in one hand and the handcuffs in other, he walked toward the group.

The seven of them watched him walk across the c.o.c.kpit as if he were twenty times larger than he was. Their eyes were huge, their mouths thin. Even Marcos, the beautiful one, no longer looked sculpted. She looked frightened.

The men continued holding Norton, and he too watched as if he couldn't believe what he saw. The air smelled faintly of burned flesh, and Flint knew he would have to take care of Norton's wound.

”Turn him for me, will you?” Flint asked.

The men helped Norton up. Norton was hurt worse than Flint had thought. The pistol had shot all the way through his arm; the back of his s.h.i.+rt was scorched.

Flint looked up. A matching scorch mark marred the panels near the door.

Norton staggered slightly, and Flint tightened his grip on the laser pistol, although he didn't bring it all the way up. He wasn't sure if Norton was staggering from his injury or faking a loss of balance as a way to get to Flint's laser pistol.

”Hold him carefully,” Flint said, not relinquis.h.i.+ng the pistol.

He snapped one lock on Norton's right wrist, then without using his other hand, snapped the other lock on Norton's left wrist.

”All right,” Flint said. ”You can let him go.”

Norton staggered again. His skin was even grayer than before.

”He needs treatment,” Vajra said.

Flint nodded. ”Let's get him to the brig and we'll do what we can for him there.”

”You have a brig?” Weiss asked.

Flint shrugged. ”This s.h.i.+p has all sorts of surprises.”

But he wasn't going to share what they were. He didn't say anything. Instead, he went back to the console and picked up the disc.