"Oh, it's you," the woman said. Lasers lowered around them. The woman tapped something on her wrist. "Tell the Captain we found them. Come on, Tana. Let's get out of this damned cold."
"Marka," Tana said. She finally recognized the voice of the head of security on The Belgium. "Is that you under all those layers?"
"Huh," she said, shook off her hood, and uncovered her face. "Sorry. Can we go now?"
"Yeah. Please."
Tana took Krisin's arm. He had started to slow again, and Lisel moved up to join them. Then he stopped and looked around.
"Marka, how many guards did you bring?"
"Eight -- oh."
There were nine.
"Drop your rifles and strip out of your hoods now! I want to see your faces!" Marka ordered. She had grabbed a laser pistol from her jacket pocket and swept in a semicircle. "Now!"
Rifles dropped, and people began to quickly uncover their faces except the one of their right who was fussing with his hood.
Tana shouted and leaped at the man, knocking him down --
While the person beside him drew a laser pistol and aimed at Krisin, of course.
"Sorry," she mumbled to the person who was floundering under her and threw herself at the person with the weapon.
No, not a wise move.
However, it drew the woman's attention. She had a steady hand, aiming --
A ball of snow plastered itself over the woman's goggles, momentarily blinding her, though she still fired. Tana had thrown herself in a different direction. The laser fire mostly missed her. At least it hit the already wounded leg. More snowballs flew, but the assassin began firing the laser in return, and the battle ended.
Krisin had disappeared, and she couldn't find Lisel, either. That left her as the only visible enemy, and the assassin spun as she started to scuttled away on all fours --
The woman laughed. Tana stopped and looked back at her, determined not to be shot in the back while running away.
The woman had pulled aside her mask. She smiled with casual indifference as she took aim.
Tana had no idea how Krisin had gotten up in the tree.
He gave the loudest cat-like yowl Tana had ever heard from him as he leaped down at the assassin. Tana started to cry out in protest. However, the sound had not only drawn the woman's attention but also set another bombardment of snowballs startling her --
Right before Krisin landed on the woman. Even Tana winced as the woman went down and did not get back up after Krisin stood.
"That's much better," he said.
By then, Marka had arrived and was cuffing the still wobbly assassin, and Ret had come to deal with Tana's leg.
"Why didn't you just shoot her?" Tana demanded.
"The rifles are just for show. No power sources," Marka replied with a snarl. "Some stupid bitch of a local pointed out that we are colonists --"
"Blonde? Every third word is historical?" Lisel asked as he crossed to Krisin.
"That sounds like her," Marka agreed. "Sally?"
"That's her. I stopped listening to her."
"I vote we take her with us and drop her on the farthest outpost of humanity, in a truly historical setting," Tana suggested.
Tom nodded in agreement.
They were still careful going the rest of the way to the hotel. The local guards did not reassure them, but Marka and her people kept close around them.
They were inside -- which wasn't reassuring, either, until Captain Dundas and all of First Shift command showed up.
It would have been a sweet reunion if Sally hadn't shown up, racing down the hall with guards following her.
"Stop them! Colonists! Illegal!" Her shrill voice seemed to fill the vast entry hall with a sound like metal shredding. Tana wanted to turn around and, if not teach her a lesson in politeness, at least tape her mouth shut.
"Tana --" Captain Dundas called her attention back. "And the rest of you. Behind us. Now."
Tana sighed and moved to obey, but Dundas leaned closer to her as she neared. "She's not working alone. Keep watch."
Well, that was better. Tana spread the word to Marka and then to her companions. By then, another woman with her own guards was coming behind them --
"My mother," Tom warned. "Councilor Jakeville and her personal guard. And they have working lasers."
Sally never heard what Tom said since she was screeching as loud as possible, some words not even coherent. Jakeville patted her son on the arm, signaled her people to spread out, and then walked up through the crowd and stood by Captain Dundas.
They had a full three heartbeats of silence.
"How dare you," Sally snarled, which was a little better than the screech. "How dare you stand with these aliens against humans --"
Tana took a deep breath. It did not help.
"You dare to call us aliens?" she finally answered and with more calm than anyone, including her, had expected. "Why don't I bring you a were or two? Or maybe a were mother ship --"
"They aren't real," Sally replied, fixating on her this time.
"What?"
"Oh, don't pretend with me, missy. We know the colonists have created the were to try to cow us into letting you aliens rule sweet mother earth and destroy it."
It wasn't just Tana who stared this time. Krisin was making odd little ... well, kitten sounds that Tana feared were going to break out into a whole-hearted laugh. Tana, though, wasn't amused.
"How about if we just step back and let the were come, since the deaths of more than a thousand colonists guarding you mean nothing," Tana replied, her voice gone hard. She stepped closer, and Lisel and Krisin didn't try to stop her.
And Sally wasn't smart enough to back away.
No comments:
Post a Comment