Part 23 (2/2)

Sharon Kreig and Jay Ardamal double*timed it up the footramp and into the waiting executive transporter. By twos the rest of their squad followed, stowing their gear as the Staff Sergeant followed them in.

A coiling black ribbon writhed into being and floated in mid*air next to the Sergeant's head. 'You have the paperwork?'

'Affirmative, Legion.'

'Good.' The black ribbon gathered itself into a knot, turned inside out and was gone.

The osmotic field opened and the executive transporter lifted gracefully into s.p.a.ce.

Craig Richards finished his torchlit check of the power control systems and slammed the access hatch shut with an angry growl. Ergs were there aplenty: they just weren't being channelled anywhere. That meant the control circuits were down, and that meant a whole new set of checks was going to have to be made. What really cheesed him off, though, was the fact that the food reconst.i.tuters were down as well. He could really have done with a steaming hot beaker of He paused, his thought uncompleted. From deeper within the Power Bay came a sound. He frowned. The sub*standard systems Earth Central had seen fit to install in the Base made some weird noises at the best of times, but this... This was unlike anything he'd ever heard before. Craig scratched his head. 'h.e.l.lo? a.n.u.shkia? Who's there? Zehavi, are you sleepwalking again? Come on, stop playing silly b.u.g.g.e.rs, you're putting the wind right up me.'

The sound came nearer, resolving into a kind of low whispering. Flickering beams of dim light came with it, caressing the machinery which s.h.i.+elded their source from direct view. The light moved like smoke, or heavy gas not in straight lines, but floating ribbons... Or tentacles.

Craig reached into his pocket and caressed his lucky deck of cards, then felt around with his other hand and picked up a flat toolcase made of heavy*duty plastic. It wasn't much of a weapon but 'Craig! Craig Richards! Are you in here?' The voice came from outside.

Slipping the toolcase into his overalls, Craig backed away from the strange phenomenon.

'd.a.m.n right I am. And I'm coming out now.'

Without taking his eyes off the stacks of machinery which s.h.i.+elded the glimmer from direct sight, Craig walked quickly backwards until he felt the entrance hatch to the Power Bay thump into his shoulder. He jumped as a voice beside him said, 'Leave this lot, will you? The Doctor wants everyone back in Operations, p.r.o.nto.'

Craig turned to face Bernice and Teal. 'I can handle that,' he whispered fervently as he pushed past them and rushed off up the corridor.

Bernice glanced at Teal. 'What do you suppose is biting his his a.r.s.e?' a.r.s.e?'

The engineer shrugged. 'Your guess is as good as mine.' He gazed into the Power Bay. Apart from the light from Craig's torch, still propped where he had left it against the main power conduits, the chamber was dark and empty.

Christine stared in fascination at the being that had appeared in the medlab before her.

'You have the paperwork?'

'Paperwork?'

'My name is Legion.'

'What paperwork? Who what are you?'

There was a pause.

'I am the captain of Interstellar Mining Corporation vessel Insider Trading Insider Trading.'

'IMC!'

'Good.' There was another pause. The black construct before her split, spun into a thin loop, fleshed into a globe, flipped inside out to reveal a hovering pink ma.s.s, which detached itself from the main bulk and drifted some distance away. The black elements pa.s.sed through one another and recombined.

Christine stood. She said firmly, 'Well, thank you, Captain, for being so informative. May I have my clothes back now?'

'Of course. I would not want to return you to your female progenitor in what, from my briefings on human culture, I perceive to be an indecorous condition.'

Christine's face hardened. 'My mother!'

'Is responsible for IMC's presence here. Yes.'

It wasn't Piper O'Rourke but Tiw Heimdall that Bishop found on his excursion through the Base. The little man was standing in the middle of the Bridge terminus, head c.o.c.ked to one side as if he could hear something, fists clenched at his sides.

Bishop stopped a few steps into the chamber. Tiw didn't move.

'Trau Heimdall.'

Tiw's head turned slowly. He smiled thinly at Bishop. Something glittered with a golden sheen between his lips. 'Something comes, Adjudicator. My teeth they tingle.'

Despite himself, Bishop s.h.i.+vered when he heard the flat intonation of Tiw Heimdall's voice. He moved carefully into the chamber, glancing around at the curved walls, and the curtains of rock beyond. He drew his gun, letting it guide his eyes around the rest of the chamber.

'I can smell it.'

'What, Trau Heimdall?'

'Something... Something...'

Satisfied the chamber was empty apart from himself and Tiw, Bishop holstered his gun. 'Trau Heimdall, we must leave here immed...' His voice died away. 'Who said that?'

'I said nothing.'

Bishop drew his gun. 'Can you hear anything?'

'Smell something, I can. Like gra.s.s growing in the meadows, like thunderclouds gathering in the sky in the days before the weather control '

'Come on. We're leaving.'

'I think I will stay.'

'No!'

Bishop turned to face Tiw Heimdall. There was a dim light behind him, writhing slowly in the air. Bishop levelled his gun, but Tiw prevented him from getting a clear view of the target.

'Trau Heimdall. Move aside!'

Tiw slowly turned to face the phenomenon. 'Be not scared.'

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