Hell Hath No Fury
Part 2
Afterwards, Avon lay on his back. If his mind was working at all, it was generating only idle, random thoughts, a weak attempt to remember if ‘duty’ had ever been so all-consuming and so intensely satisfying. Curled up beside him, her head resting on his shoulder, Teyet was also still. Avon was just slipping into a contented doze when she stirred suddenly and announced, “Well, that’s that. It’s a boy.”
Shocked into wakefulness, Avon asked, “How do you know?”
“I just know,” she said.
“Like telepathy?” Avon couldn’t help thinking of Cally, the Auron aboard the Liberator. Aurons were telepathic, but he’d never heard of anybody being able to telepathically communicate with a cluster of cells that could only be seen under a microscope.
“Something like that.” Abruptly, she changed the subject. “My name’s Teyet, by the way. What’s yours?”
“Avon,” he murmured.
“Then that’s what I’ll call him,” Teyet said. “Avon.”
Remembering the Federation, Avon said, “No.” At her surprised look, he added, “That name is too well known.”
“All right,” she acquiesced, and then, just like that, the moment was over, the attraction gone. Teyet let go and moved away from him, and to his surprise, he found he didn’t mind the loss of contact. Still, Avon remembered that there’d been something about her … now what was it?
Sitting up and reaching for his trousers, he said, “You were going to tell me more about the computer you’re working on.”
Teyet turned to look at him. “You’re really interested?”
“Yes,” he reassured her. “I’m really interested.”
Teyet got up eagerly. As soon as they were both dressed, she led him out of the room and into the corridor, then used her palm to open a door to the outside.
“It’s over here,” she said. “In one of the buildings we’re not supposed to use anymore. They want us to save energy.”
It was night now, but there was still enough illumination from the other buildings for Teyet to find her way to the edge of the dome, where there was a smaller structure that was completely dark. She walked without hesitating to the door, which again opened to her palmprint. Lights came on as they entered.
“Here it is,” Teyet said proudly. She walked to the opposite end of the long table and reached for a kind of helmet. “I’m experimenting with controlling the computer using only brain waves, not speech or touch.”
“Show me,” Avon said.
“I’ve got some sensors set up, like surveillance cameras, and I’m practising switching between them,” she said, putting the helmet on. “Takes a bit of control … oh, there’s somebody now. That’s strange. What’s she doing there – no, it’s a man. Who is that? Is he looking for something? No, he’s putting something down. Here, do you want to try? Is that one of your friends? What’s he doing?”
She slipped the helmet off again and extended it to Avon, who put it on gingerly, not certain of what to expect. The room around him was replaced by a white blank.
“I don’t see anything,” he said.
“You should. Wait, let me try adjusting this.”
The white turned gradually dark, and then suddenly he could see the outlines of the buildings outside.
“Do you see him?” Teyet asked.
“No.” Avon turned his head from side to side. The “camera” view followed. There! Between two buildings was a shadow. “Yes! No, he’s gone now.”
“See if you can switch between sensors,” Teyet suggested, but Avon was already taking the helmet off again. “This could be quite effective.”
“When you think about it,” Teyet added deadpan, and Avon felt a true smile come to his face.
“Quite,” he agreed. “May I see the code?”
Pulling it up on the screen for him to peruse, Teyet asked, “You wouldn’t want to stay here, would you? It would be so nice to have someone to talk to about something besides weapons and babies.”
“No,” Avon replied shortly, already caught up in imagining how he could apply the technology to the Liberator. He barely noticed when the door behind them slid open and a woman rushed in. “Tra—oh. Teyet.”
Her voice went from concerned to faintly displeased. “You know this building’s supposed to be off limits! Why do you – never mind! You haven’t seen Travis, have you?”
“Travis!” Forgetting the computer entirely, Avon looked up.
The woman glanced hopefully at him. “Do you know him? Have you seen him?”
“If he’s got an artificial arm and an eye patch, yes, I know him,” Avon replied coldly, so that she would not get the impression they were friends. More to himself, he added, “I should have known he’d come here.”
“Travis – isn’t he the ex-Fed who wanted to stay?” Teyet asked.
“Yes, and I’ve been so worried about him that I even got someone to cover for me on-shift. He’s in transition, and when I came back, he was gone. He could be wandering around delirious!”
“Or contacting the Federation,” Avon suggested, and lifted his wrist to his mouth, pressing the communication button. “Blake, Vila, this is Avon, respond.”
“He wanted to stay!” the woman protested. “He wouldn’t contact the Federation, not once he’s started the transition!”
“What is this transition?” Avon asked, but the woman wasn’t listening.
“Oh, you couldn’t come help me look, could you?” she was begging Teyet. “Everybody else is either asleep or on shift.”
Teyet frowned, no doubt annoyed at the thought of being dragged away from her beloved computer. Avon knew exactly how she felt, and was surprised when she agreed anyway. “Yes, all right. Avon, you know what he looks like, could you help?”
“Where’s his ship?” But Avon was already thinking ahead to why Travis would be here at all. “No, wait, where was Lurgen buried?”
“Lurgen?” Teyet asked, not comprehending, and Avon remembered that she had not been part of the discussion between them and Cilla. But the other woman said, “I know where the grave is, but why would Travis be there? He’s already paid his respects, I took him there when he first arrived.”
“There’s something in the grave that Travis wants,” Avon said. He realized that his communicator had been silent the entire time, so he tried again, louder. “Blake! Vila! Respond!”
At last, Blake’s voice emerged from the teleport bracelet. “Avon, what’s wrong?”
Vila chimed in almost immediately afterwards. ”Avon, this better be good.”
“Travis is here,” he told them. “Meet me where we teleported down. I’ve got someone here who can show us where Lurgen is buried; I’ll bet we find him there.”
Teyet had already gone to a supply cabinet on one side of the room, and now she emerged with a torch in each hand. “We’ll need lights. It’s dark outside the dome. I’m sorry I’ve only got two.”
Avon took the one she offered, and as they jogged back to the building where they’d arrived, he asked the other woman, “What is this transition you keep mentioning?”
“It’s what happens when people stay here,” she huffed, struggling to keep up and speak coherently at the same time. Avon slowed down just a little, and the woman went on, “They’re sick for a while, but when they get better, they’re us.”
“What do you mean, you?” They had arrived at the building by then. In the illuminated interior, Avon could see Blake and Vila pulling on their final bits of clothing as they made their way to the door and came outside.
“They become Ferrons,” the woman started to explain, but Avon was no longer interested. “Take us to Lurgen’s grave.”
“Maybe Travis can do our digging for us,” Vila suggested as they raced to what had once been an airlock. It was wide open now, no barrier at all. The woman had taken the light from Teyet and now she led the way to her left, her torchlight bobbing up and down as she jogged. Out here, there were trees and bushes, but also a clearly defined path. Eventually, the trees gave way to a large, mostly clear area, and the woman went around to one side.
After they’d gone a few hundred meters, Avon saw a light flicker where a small bush had previously concealed it. He stopped automatically, switched off his own, then held out his arms to keep the others from surging ahead. Vila ran into his shoulder, almost knocking him over, but Blake managed to stop in time.
“Is that him?” Vila asked, thankfully in a whisper.
“It must be,” Blake said. “I’ll go around to the right, Avon, you go to the left. You’ve got the gun, I’ll distract him and you fire.”
“I’ll wait here, in case he comes this way,” Vila volunteered, taking the torch that Avon handed him. Avon drew the gun from its holster on his belt and moved in his assigned direction. Too late, he realised that the other woman had resumed running, and now he heard her call out.
“Travis? Travis, are you all–”
There was the unmistakeable sound of a shot, and then the thud of a body hitting the ground. Behind him, Avon heard Teyet loudly suck in a breath, but she didn’t scream. He hoped she’d have the sense to stay down as he continued to move quietly forwards. The woman had dropped her light when she fell, and in its small circle of light Avon could see Travis’ shadowy figure come towards her, still holding his gun. To one side, there was a shovel stuck upright in what Avon assumed was Lurgen’s grave. Apparently Travis had not yet started digging. Now Travis toed the dead woman with his boot, then straightened up and looked towards the dome.
“Good-bye, Blake!” Travis shouted suddenly, then reached for something at his waist.
Several things happened at once. Avon fired, Travis threw himself flat, and something exploded with such force that Avon was lifted off his feet and slammed into the dirt a good two meters away. There was suddenly enough light to see by, more than enough, but for a long moment, Avon was too dazed to make sense of anything. When he could finally focus again, his eyes were drawn to the source of the light. It stretched upwards in a great column of whirling reds and oranges, all the way to the stars.
“What the hell is that?” It was Vila’s voice, and then it changed from wonder to panic. “Blake! Blake’s been shot!”
Avon started to get up even as Travis snarled, “He won’t be the only one!” and a burst of pain in his right arm knocked him back again. Travis fired off another shot, which hit the ground just beyond his hand, and then another, which slammed into a nearby tree.
“No you won’t,” said Teyet, sounding as strained as though she were trying to pick up a great weight. Avon glanced over to where her voice was coming from and saw her on her knees, one arm extended in Travis’ direction. Her hand was empty, and he wondered why she thought she could stop Travis.
Travis fired at her, but she moved her hand upwards, and the shot went over her head.
“What did you do to the city?” Teyet demanded, still in that strained voice. “What did you do to my people … my computer?”
“Column bomb,” Travis replied, firing again and again and getting visibly more angry as each shot missed. “The explosion goes up and not outwards. Useful if you want to destroy something without affecting what’s right next to it … and there’s still something here that I want.”
He must have caught sight of Vila out of the corner of his eye because he turned suddenly and shot at the thief who’d tried to sneak up on him. The shot missed, but by a very narrow margin. Vila yelped and belatedly threw himself to the ground. Scowling, Travis turned back to Teyet . “You can’t keep this up forever. Any other questions before you give up and collapse?”
“Why aren’t you sick?” Teyet asked through clenched teeth. “She said you were going through the transition.”
Travis grinned. “I faked it. I didn’t drink the water. Now come on, stop it. I’ll kill the others, but I can let you live.”
Clenching his own teeth against the pain, Avon pulled his injured arm close to his body and got to his feet. He’d dropped his gun and it was dangling down behind him, still attached to the power pack at the back of his belt. He fumbled for the cord, trying to pull it up, and called out sharply. “Vila!”
Travis shot at him, but although they all missed, one or two of the laser beams came much too close for comfort. Avon felt the burn of one as it slid by his already injured arm, but he didn’t dare stop. He had to take advantage of the situation because Travis was right; Teyet both looked and sounded as though she were about to faint.
“You’re good. But can you stop it if I do this?” Travis asked suddenly, and lifted his left hand as well, firing simultaneously at Avon and Teyet with his gun and with the laseron that masqueraded as a gaudy large-stoned ring on his artificial hand. Still not in possession of his own weapon, Avon lunged at him anyway, and they fell together. They both got in a few blows, and then something harder and much more painful than Travis’s fist connected with the back of Avon’s head.
Part 3
Shocked into wakefulness, Avon asked, “How do you know?”
“I just know,” she said.
“Like telepathy?” Avon couldn’t help thinking of Cally, the Auron aboard the Liberator. Aurons were telepathic, but he’d never heard of anybody being able to telepathically communicate with a cluster of cells that could only be seen under a microscope.
“Something like that.” Abruptly, she changed the subject. “My name’s Teyet, by the way. What’s yours?”
“Avon,” he murmured.
“Then that’s what I’ll call him,” Teyet said. “Avon.”
Remembering the Federation, Avon said, “No.” At her surprised look, he added, “That name is too well known.”
“All right,” she acquiesced, and then, just like that, the moment was over, the attraction gone. Teyet let go and moved away from him, and to his surprise, he found he didn’t mind the loss of contact. Still, Avon remembered that there’d been something about her … now what was it?
Sitting up and reaching for his trousers, he said, “You were going to tell me more about the computer you’re working on.”
Teyet turned to look at him. “You’re really interested?”
“Yes,” he reassured her. “I’m really interested.”
Teyet got up eagerly. As soon as they were both dressed, she led him out of the room and into the corridor, then used her palm to open a door to the outside.
“It’s over here,” she said. “In one of the buildings we’re not supposed to use anymore. They want us to save energy.”
It was night now, but there was still enough illumination from the other buildings for Teyet to find her way to the edge of the dome, where there was a smaller structure that was completely dark. She walked without hesitating to the door, which again opened to her palmprint. Lights came on as they entered.
“Here it is,” Teyet said proudly. She walked to the opposite end of the long table and reached for a kind of helmet. “I’m experimenting with controlling the computer using only brain waves, not speech or touch.”
“Show me,” Avon said.
“I’ve got some sensors set up, like surveillance cameras, and I’m practising switching between them,” she said, putting the helmet on. “Takes a bit of control … oh, there’s somebody now. That’s strange. What’s she doing there – no, it’s a man. Who is that? Is he looking for something? No, he’s putting something down. Here, do you want to try? Is that one of your friends? What’s he doing?”
She slipped the helmet off again and extended it to Avon, who put it on gingerly, not certain of what to expect. The room around him was replaced by a white blank.
“I don’t see anything,” he said.
“You should. Wait, let me try adjusting this.”
The white turned gradually dark, and then suddenly he could see the outlines of the buildings outside.
“Do you see him?” Teyet asked.
“No.” Avon turned his head from side to side. The “camera” view followed. There! Between two buildings was a shadow. “Yes! No, he’s gone now.”
“See if you can switch between sensors,” Teyet suggested, but Avon was already taking the helmet off again. “This could be quite effective.”
“When you think about it,” Teyet added deadpan, and Avon felt a true smile come to his face.
“Quite,” he agreed. “May I see the code?”
Pulling it up on the screen for him to peruse, Teyet asked, “You wouldn’t want to stay here, would you? It would be so nice to have someone to talk to about something besides weapons and babies.”
“No,” Avon replied shortly, already caught up in imagining how he could apply the technology to the Liberator. He barely noticed when the door behind them slid open and a woman rushed in. “Tra—oh. Teyet.”
Her voice went from concerned to faintly displeased. “You know this building’s supposed to be off limits! Why do you – never mind! You haven’t seen Travis, have you?”
“Travis!” Forgetting the computer entirely, Avon looked up.
The woman glanced hopefully at him. “Do you know him? Have you seen him?”
“If he’s got an artificial arm and an eye patch, yes, I know him,” Avon replied coldly, so that she would not get the impression they were friends. More to himself, he added, “I should have known he’d come here.”
“Travis – isn’t he the ex-Fed who wanted to stay?” Teyet asked.
“Yes, and I’ve been so worried about him that I even got someone to cover for me on-shift. He’s in transition, and when I came back, he was gone. He could be wandering around delirious!”
“Or contacting the Federation,” Avon suggested, and lifted his wrist to his mouth, pressing the communication button. “Blake, Vila, this is Avon, respond.”
“He wanted to stay!” the woman protested. “He wouldn’t contact the Federation, not once he’s started the transition!”
“What is this transition?” Avon asked, but the woman wasn’t listening.
“Oh, you couldn’t come help me look, could you?” she was begging Teyet. “Everybody else is either asleep or on shift.”
Teyet frowned, no doubt annoyed at the thought of being dragged away from her beloved computer. Avon knew exactly how she felt, and was surprised when she agreed anyway. “Yes, all right. Avon, you know what he looks like, could you help?”
“Where’s his ship?” But Avon was already thinking ahead to why Travis would be here at all. “No, wait, where was Lurgen buried?”
“Lurgen?” Teyet asked, not comprehending, and Avon remembered that she had not been part of the discussion between them and Cilla. But the other woman said, “I know where the grave is, but why would Travis be there? He’s already paid his respects, I took him there when he first arrived.”
“There’s something in the grave that Travis wants,” Avon said. He realized that his communicator had been silent the entire time, so he tried again, louder. “Blake! Vila! Respond!”
At last, Blake’s voice emerged from the teleport bracelet. “Avon, what’s wrong?”
Vila chimed in almost immediately afterwards. ”Avon, this better be good.”
“Travis is here,” he told them. “Meet me where we teleported down. I’ve got someone here who can show us where Lurgen is buried; I’ll bet we find him there.”
Teyet had already gone to a supply cabinet on one side of the room, and now she emerged with a torch in each hand. “We’ll need lights. It’s dark outside the dome. I’m sorry I’ve only got two.”
Avon took the one she offered, and as they jogged back to the building where they’d arrived, he asked the other woman, “What is this transition you keep mentioning?”
“It’s what happens when people stay here,” she huffed, struggling to keep up and speak coherently at the same time. Avon slowed down just a little, and the woman went on, “They’re sick for a while, but when they get better, they’re us.”
“What do you mean, you?” They had arrived at the building by then. In the illuminated interior, Avon could see Blake and Vila pulling on their final bits of clothing as they made their way to the door and came outside.
“They become Ferrons,” the woman started to explain, but Avon was no longer interested. “Take us to Lurgen’s grave.”
“Maybe Travis can do our digging for us,” Vila suggested as they raced to what had once been an airlock. It was wide open now, no barrier at all. The woman had taken the light from Teyet and now she led the way to her left, her torchlight bobbing up and down as she jogged. Out here, there were trees and bushes, but also a clearly defined path. Eventually, the trees gave way to a large, mostly clear area, and the woman went around to one side.
After they’d gone a few hundred meters, Avon saw a light flicker where a small bush had previously concealed it. He stopped automatically, switched off his own, then held out his arms to keep the others from surging ahead. Vila ran into his shoulder, almost knocking him over, but Blake managed to stop in time.
“Is that him?” Vila asked, thankfully in a whisper.
“It must be,” Blake said. “I’ll go around to the right, Avon, you go to the left. You’ve got the gun, I’ll distract him and you fire.”
“I’ll wait here, in case he comes this way,” Vila volunteered, taking the torch that Avon handed him. Avon drew the gun from its holster on his belt and moved in his assigned direction. Too late, he realised that the other woman had resumed running, and now he heard her call out.
“Travis? Travis, are you all–”
There was the unmistakeable sound of a shot, and then the thud of a body hitting the ground. Behind him, Avon heard Teyet loudly suck in a breath, but she didn’t scream. He hoped she’d have the sense to stay down as he continued to move quietly forwards. The woman had dropped her light when she fell, and in its small circle of light Avon could see Travis’ shadowy figure come towards her, still holding his gun. To one side, there was a shovel stuck upright in what Avon assumed was Lurgen’s grave. Apparently Travis had not yet started digging. Now Travis toed the dead woman with his boot, then straightened up and looked towards the dome.
“Good-bye, Blake!” Travis shouted suddenly, then reached for something at his waist.
Several things happened at once. Avon fired, Travis threw himself flat, and something exploded with such force that Avon was lifted off his feet and slammed into the dirt a good two meters away. There was suddenly enough light to see by, more than enough, but for a long moment, Avon was too dazed to make sense of anything. When he could finally focus again, his eyes were drawn to the source of the light. It stretched upwards in a great column of whirling reds and oranges, all the way to the stars.
“What the hell is that?” It was Vila’s voice, and then it changed from wonder to panic. “Blake! Blake’s been shot!”
Avon started to get up even as Travis snarled, “He won’t be the only one!” and a burst of pain in his right arm knocked him back again. Travis fired off another shot, which hit the ground just beyond his hand, and then another, which slammed into a nearby tree.
“No you won’t,” said Teyet, sounding as strained as though she were trying to pick up a great weight. Avon glanced over to where her voice was coming from and saw her on her knees, one arm extended in Travis’ direction. Her hand was empty, and he wondered why she thought she could stop Travis.
Travis fired at her, but she moved her hand upwards, and the shot went over her head.
“What did you do to the city?” Teyet demanded, still in that strained voice. “What did you do to my people … my computer?”
“Column bomb,” Travis replied, firing again and again and getting visibly more angry as each shot missed. “The explosion goes up and not outwards. Useful if you want to destroy something without affecting what’s right next to it … and there’s still something here that I want.”
He must have caught sight of Vila out of the corner of his eye because he turned suddenly and shot at the thief who’d tried to sneak up on him. The shot missed, but by a very narrow margin. Vila yelped and belatedly threw himself to the ground. Scowling, Travis turned back to Teyet . “You can’t keep this up forever. Any other questions before you give up and collapse?”
“Why aren’t you sick?” Teyet asked through clenched teeth. “She said you were going through the transition.”
Travis grinned. “I faked it. I didn’t drink the water. Now come on, stop it. I’ll kill the others, but I can let you live.”
Clenching his own teeth against the pain, Avon pulled his injured arm close to his body and got to his feet. He’d dropped his gun and it was dangling down behind him, still attached to the power pack at the back of his belt. He fumbled for the cord, trying to pull it up, and called out sharply. “Vila!”
Travis shot at him, but although they all missed, one or two of the laser beams came much too close for comfort. Avon felt the burn of one as it slid by his already injured arm, but he didn’t dare stop. He had to take advantage of the situation because Travis was right; Teyet both looked and sounded as though she were about to faint.
“You’re good. But can you stop it if I do this?” Travis asked suddenly, and lifted his left hand as well, firing simultaneously at Avon and Teyet with his gun and with the laseron that masqueraded as a gaudy large-stoned ring on his artificial hand. Still not in possession of his own weapon, Avon lunged at him anyway, and they fell together. They both got in a few blows, and then something harder and much more painful than Travis’s fist connected with the back of Avon’s head.
Part 3