Traveler in the Dark

47

Martham rapped on the bridge door. "It's me, Liu. I've got Oxwell."

After a moment, the door slid open and Martham yanked Alice in behind her. Liu winced at the gore on her face and lingered by the door as Martham tied her down to a chair.

"Where's Chione?" he asked at last.

"Al Jahi is dead." Martham's tone was flat, but she passed a hand over her eyes to wipe away sudden tears that even she hadn't expected. "We were separated. Oxwell attacked her." She thought she should feel like kicking the woman or jamming the stick farther into her eye, but Martham only felt a dull, sapping sadness. None of these people had been what she would call "friends", but they had been decent. And competent. Which was high praise in Martham's world. An uncommon trait in her experience. More. They had believed in what they were doing. Even Emery. Her doubts had been rational ones, even if her conclusions had not. They had all been on the same team. Until Oxwell snapped. And Martham and the others had followed right along where she led.

"Turn on the feed, Liu. I've got to see if we can find Emery. I couldn't see her from the lock, but maybe there's a chance."

"Shouldn't have left her," slurred Blick. Sweat clung in dozens of sparkling beads over his face and chest. The bandages she'd put over his wounds were damp and a sickening pale yellow.

Martham moved toward him. "Flaming Core. You look awful."

"I'll survive. Beck won't though, if you don't find her soon. She's been out there over half her suit time now. If she hasn't given up yet, she's thinking about it."

"It's on," said Liu, emerging from beneath his console. He clicked his feed on. "Emery, are you there?"

"Yes, Liu, is that you? I can't tell you how good it is to hear your voice." Emery's voice broke slightly and Liu exchanged a pained look with Blick.

"Stars, Beck, I'm glad you're there. We made a terrible mistake. Hold on, we're coming out to get you—"

"No! No, wait," said Emery, "Something is wrong with Alice. You're all in danger. You need to—"

"We know. We have her now."

"She didn't hurt anyone, did she? I'm not too late am I?"

Liu closed his eyes and Martham turned away. "It was for the greater good," shouted Alice. She subsided, hissing with pain.

"Just let us come get you, Beck. Is the— is Issk'ath still with you?"

"Issk'ath is here. It's staying with me, Liu. It isn't the threat you think—"

"I know. We were wrong. Blick tried to tell us, but we thought— I just wanted to protect us."

"I understand," said Issk'ath. "I am strange. Unknown. With motivations that might have been opposed to yours. I am not an acceptable risk. Not a friend."

Liu was silent a moment. Emery saved him from awkwardness. "You don't have to rescue us," she said. "We're in the infirmary. I'm just waiting for the door to cycle."

"How?"

"It's a long story. It's such a relief to hear your voice, Liu."

"I'm going to come down there, just in case something goes wrong with the door. We'll get you out."

"Okay. I'm just— don't turn off the feed again, all right? I just want to hear voices. I need to know someone's out there."

"I'll talk to you the whole time. I promise," said Liu. "Just let me find the toolkit and I'll be down."

"I'll play you out," said Blick, his fingers slowly flicking through the feed. A moment later Airlock Lovers crooned over the feed. Emery laughed. "It's good to hear you laughing, Beck. You had me worried a few hours there," he said, closing his eyes.

"Shouldn't be you," said Martham as Liu opened the door. "You need to stay and fly."

"The Wolfinger is on course. We won't be in range for several hours. I don't need to be here until then."

"It's safer here. Let me go."

"Safer? What have I got to worry about? Oxwell's here. You have her tied up pretty tight. And with that wound— I don't think we'll need to worry about her."

"What about the robot?" asked Martham. "It could still be behind all this. Something made Oxwell snap—"

"It wasn't the robot. Look, back in the equipment lock I was wrong. It has never shown any animosity toward us."

"It's a machine. It never showed anything toward us."

"That's not true. It seems to care a great deal about Emery. And us. It put out a potentially disastrous fire. It could have let us die. Or pushed Emery out into space these past few hours." Liu paused for a second. "Besides, do you know anything about bypassing environmental controls?"

"No," admitted Martham.

"Then I'm the only one who can get that door open if it's stuck. So it has to be me. Nothing's going to happen. Issk'ath had several chances to kill me, in particular, in the past several days, but I'm still here. Look after Blick. And maybe— do something about Oxwell's eye. I know neither of us wants to, but she is a human being, Martham. Nothing should suffer like that."