Deathstalker (54 page)

“What happened when they finally met?” said Hazel.

“No one knows. None of them were ever seen again. Head for the coordinates, Oz. Put us down as close to it as you can.”

The ship shook again, and then steadied itself. “That was the last remnants of the outer hull, Owen,” said the AI. “All we’ve got left now is the basic shell. I’ve managed to steer us into a glide path that has steadied our descent, but unfortunately we now have a new problem.”

“Hit me with it,” said Owen resignedly.

“I cannot continue to hold this ship together and pilot us in for a safe landing. The moment I release my hold on the ship’s systems to compute a landing, they’ll fall apart so fast it’ll make your head spin. But if I don’t work out an exact plan for our landing, we are going to end up scattered over a hell of a lot of jungle. I’m open to suggestions, including prayer.”

Owen realized everyone was looking at him and shook his head quickly. “Sorry, people, I just bought the ship. I haven’t a clue on how to fly it. That’s what I put Oz in for. Hazel, you’re a pilot. Why don’t you take over?”

“Because I’m not qualified to handle anything this complex. And in a situation like this, a little knowledge is a dangerous thing. Ruby?”

The bounty hunter shook her head. “Same as you. You need an expert.”

“Then I guess it’s down to me,” said Random. “As always. I’ve flown everything else in my time, I don’t see why this should be any different. So here I come again, to save the day.”

“That won’t be necessary,” said Tobias Moon in his inhuman buzzing voice. “I’m a Hadenman. I have experience as a pilot, and I can interface directly with the ship’s computers. You haven’t flown a ship in years, Random, and you are not what you used to be. Logically, I have to be the better bet.”

“I’m supposed to trust my life to a Hadenman who thinks he can talk to computers?” said Hazel. “Great. Wonderful. Why don’t I just shoot myself now and get it over with?”

“Stop complaining, or I’ll help you,” said Owen. “Moon, we’re in your hands.”

The Hadenman nodded briefly, his face impassive. He closed his glowing golden eyes, and his breathing slowed until it was barely perceptible. Owen watched him closely. He was desperate to do something, but all he could do was watch and hope. The Hadenman’s voice suddenly sounded through all their comm implants.

“I’m patched into the flight computers through my implant. Hang on to something. The ride’s about to get a bit bumpy.”

The ship rolled sickly from one side to the other as the engines suddenly roared with new life and purpose. The lights flickered and grew dim, and a side door blew open. Flames burst into the lounge from the inferno in the next compartment. Owen threw himself aside, and the heat of the flames’ passing scorched his bare face and hands. Jack Random tried to close the door, but the heat drove him back. Hazel and Ruby Journey picked up the drinks cabinet between them and advanced on the flames, using it as a shield. They pushed back the flames, but couldn’t let go of the cabinet long enough to make a grab for the door. Owen plunged forward, put his shoulder to the door and slammed it shut. Hazel and Ruby wedged the cabinet against the door to keep it closed, and then all three collapsed on the shaking floor.

Owen studied his hands carefully. They were red and smarting, but didn’t seem to be actually burned. He’d been lucky. He looked up sharply as the roar of the engines faltered
and then cut out. The ship dropped like a stone. Owen’s stomach lurched, and he looked round for something to grab onto. The sudden quiet was deafening, and the fall seemed to go on forever. And then the engines roared to life again, slowing the descent like a kick in the pants. The
Sunstrider
slowed and slowed, and then the engines cut out again, and Owen knew that was the last of their power. The ship crashed into the top of the jungle, smashing through the trees. The impact picked Owen up and threw him against the wall, and that was the last he knew of the landing.

His head ached, but he could hear the crackle of flames nearby, and he knew that was important. He opened his eyes, wasted some breath on a few curses, and then forced himself back to his feet. The floor was steady again, though at something of an angle, but his legs weren’t. He stamped his feet and shook his head to clear it. He’d be weak later, when there was time. He looked around him, coughing painfully as the thickening smoke irritated his lungs. The fire in the next compartment had blown away the door and what was left of the drinks cabinet and had taken a firm hold on one wall of the lounge.

“Oz, talk to me! Status report!”

There was only quiet, and the rising roar of the flames. He heard someone coughing close at hand and stumbled forward through the smoke to find Hazel trying to drag a semiconscious Ruby Journey toward the far door. He grabbed hold of Ruby’s leathers, helped haul her over to the door and kicked it open. There was only a flickering light in the corridor beyond it, but the air seemed clearer.

“Head straight on, and you’ll get to the main airlock,” said Owen, fighting to control his cough. “You get your friend out; I’ll bring the others. Move it!”

Hazel snarled something in return, but he’d already turned away. He raised his cloak up over his mouth and nose and plunged back into the smoke. It was already so thick he couldn’t see more than a foot or so ahead of him. He found Jack Random by almost falling over him. The old rebel was crawling along the floor, down where the smoke was thinnest, but he’d lost all sense of direction. Owen helped him up and got him to the far door. He sent Jack after Hazel and Ruby and then hesitated in the doorway. Tobias Moon was still in there, but Owen didn’t know if he had it in him to go
back into the smoke again. His lungs were aching and his head was swimming. If he went back into the lounge again, there was a good chance he might not be able to make it out again. And Moon was a Hadenman, after all. Just as Owen was only an outlaw. He swore dispassionately and went back into the smoke.

Finding the Hadenman was easier than finding the others; he was still where Owen had last seen him, sitting wedged in his corner. Owen tried to pick him up and was startled at the man’s weight. He could barely move him. Augmentations, no doubt. He tried again, and still couldn’t lift him. Owen struggled with the unmoving form and cursed it between coughs. Air was getting scarce, but he hadn’t come this far to leave the Hadenman behind and run for the door. He boosted, and new strength flooded through his muscles. He pulled Moon to his feet, draped an arm over his shoulder and headed to where he thought the far door was. The smoke was everywhere now, thick and smothering. It was like walking at the bottom of a great gray sea. He could feel the heat of flames on both sides of him. And then Hazel was suddenly there with him, adding her strength to his, and between them they got the Hadenman out the far door and down the narrow corridor beyond, and finally out into the clearer air of the main airlock. The door slammed shut behind them.

Owen leaned back against it as he dropped out of boost, and the last of the strength went out of his legs. He dumped Moon unceremoniously on the floor and sat there beside him for a while, coughing foul stuff up out of his lungs. After a while he felt strong enough to raise his head and look around, and wasn’t surprised to find Hazel sitting next to him, looking almost as bad as he felt. Ruby Journey and Jack Random were sitting together, a little way apart. They had their guns in their hands, and although they both looked a bit pale, they were keeping a watchful eye on the outer hatch. Tobias Moon lay flat on his back, eyes closed, breathing steadily. Owen sniffed.

“Nice landing, Moon. Sure you couldn’t have shaken us about a bit more?”

He stopped talking as he realized how harsh his voice sounded. His throat felt as though someone had scoured it out with wire wool. Hazel looked at him sardonically.

“We’re down and we’re still alive. Anything else is a bonus.
Any idea why Moon is still out? He doesn’t seem injured.”

“Beats me,” said Owen. “I can’t get any response out of Oz, either. Maybe they were both knocked out when the computer systems finally crashed.”

“Actually, I’m conserving power,” said the AI through Owen’s comm implant. “Moon pretty much drained the ship’s batteries getting us down. I’m going to have to go offline for a while, Owen. The ship’s a mess and so am I. Short of a complete refit and rebuilding, this ship’s not going anywhere, and neither are we. Unless you’ve fallen in love with this planet and decided to settle down here, you’d better pray that someone at the Last Standing is feeling hospitable.”

“How badly are you damaged?” said Owen.

“Don’t ask. You don’t want to know. You’re not far from the Standing. About half a mile, north northwest. Walking distance under normal circumstances, which these aren’t. In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s an oven out there, and it’s just going to get hotter as the day goes on.”

“What about the air?” said Hazel.

“Your lungs are about to go slumming, but it won’t kill you. There are a lot of other things out there that’ll take care of that. For the moment, the local wildlife is giving you plenty of room, but there’s no telling how long that’ll last. I’m getting readings on lifeforms everywhere, from very small to extremely large and everything in between. Can’t give you any details; the sensors took a real battering.”

“Any recommendations?” said Random.

“Yes. Shoot yourselves now and get it over with. From what I can make out, everything out there that moves is attacking everything else, whether it moves or not, and eating it. Damn place is a slaughterhouse. No signs of intelligence or cooperation, just if it moves, jump it. Reminds me of Imperial politics on a larger than usual scale.”

“Nice place you’ve brought us to, Deathstalker,” said Ruby.

Owen thought hard. There was only one course of action that made any sense, but he couldn’t help hoping he could come up with something less obviously suicidal. Unfortunately, he seemed to have backed himself into a corner, tactically speaking. He looked round at his companions and wondered if his face was as grim as theirs.

“We can’t stay here,” he said bluntly. “
Sunstrider
is falling apart at the seams, and I think it would be in all our best interests to be a long way from here when it finally goes critical. Given the unfriendly and downright homicidal nature of the local wildlife, I think our best bet is to make a run for the Last Standing and hope we can find some sanctuary there.”

“Let me see if I’ve got this right,” said Ruby in her cold, even voice. “We’re going to fight our way through half a mile of alien carnage and slaughter in order to reach some ruin that’s been deserted for hundreds of years? If it’s there at all? That’s our plan?”

“Got it in one,” said Owen.

“All right,” said Ruby. “I’m up for it. I could use a little exercise.”

Owen gave her a hard look, but she didn’t seem to be joking. “It may not be all bad news. According to Family legend, the Last Standing is supposed to be a massive structure with considerable technological defenses. Assuming we can get past those defenses, we should find my ancestor still there, held in stasis. If we can wake him, I’m sure he’ll help.”

“There’s a lot of ifs and maybes in all that,” said Hazel. “I don’t have much faith in legends anymore. The last time we went looking for one, we found him.” She looked severely at Jack Random, who glared right back at her. Hazel sniffed and turned back to Owen. “Come on, Owen, what are our chances, really?”

“Not good,” Owen admitted. “But all the alternatives are worse.”

“I seem to be hearing that a lot just recently,” said Hazel. “Ever since I joined up with you, in fact. I should have stayed at home and become an accountant, like mother wanted. There’s always work for an accountant, and people very rarely shoot at them. Or maroon them on savage planets with no table manners.”

“Oh, I don’t know,” said Random. “I can think of quite a few accountants I’d have cheerfully dumped somewhere unpleasant. Right next to the lawyers.”

Owen looked across at Tobias Moon, who was still lying flat on his back, dead to the world. “He’d better wake up soon,” Owen said flatly, “because I’m damned if I’m carrying
a great lump like him through half a mile of homicidal jungle.”

“We could always use him as a shield,” said Ruby. “Or a battering ram.”

“If I didn’t have such a good nature, I’d stay unconscious and let you carry me,” said Tobias Moon, without lifting his head.

Owen looked at him severely. “Eavesdroppers rarely hear well of themselves.”

“I believe that’s the point.” Moon sat up slowly. “Everything seems to be functioning again. Hopefully we can find some energy crystals at the Last Standing. I used up most of my reserves getting us down in one piece. Not a bad landing, if I say so myself.”

“I’d hate to be on one of your bad ones,” said Random.

“You’re alive, aren’t you?” said Moon.

“Enough chat and friendly banter,” said Owen. “It’s time we were moving. Oz, how long have we got before the
Sunstrider
goes into meltdown?”

“I should leave right now,” said the AI. “I’m going to have to shut down, Owen. You’ll have to struggle on without me. If you find compatible hardware at the Standing, download me into that. Otherwise, you’re on your own. Try not to gel yourself killed.”

“I’ll do my best,” said Owen. He wanted to say something more, but the words wouldn’t come. Ozymandius had been with him since he was a child. He’d never had to cope without the AI before. “I’ll be back for you, Oz. One way or another, I’ll be back.”

“If we’ve finished with the tender goodbyes, perhaps we could get a move on,” said Ruby. “You’re the one who said the ship is going to blow.”

Owen nodded curtly and moved over to the outer hatch. “Oz, anything nasty out there?” There was no reply. Owen bit his lower lip. He really was on his own now. He drew his gun and put his ear to the metal of the hatch. It was uncomfortably warm to the touch, suggesting the onboard fires were getting closer. He couldn’t hear a thing. The metal was too thick. A passing Investigator could have been slaughtering a brass band out there, and he wouldn’t have heard anything. He looked back at the others. “Stand ready. Hazel, get over here by the manual release. When I give you the nod, open the hatch.”