Logos Run (44 page)

“No,” the sensitive objected stubbornly. “It wouldn’t be right. Boost him up there . . . Or would you like to be standing there arguing with me when Socket blows?”

Rebo made a face, urged Tepho through the first hatch, and muscled the other man up the ladder. And it was there, on the escape pod’s threshold, that the technologist launched his backward kick. The blow struck the runner in the face, which caused him to lose his grip, and fall backward into the corridor.

Tepho laughed triumphantly as he scooted into the four-person pod, and was reaching for the controls, when Norr fired the power pistol up through the open hatch. She wasn’t an especially good shot, not by Rebo’s standards, but the range was short. The energy bolt punched a neat little hole through the technologist’s throat and left him gasping for air. Rebo had recovered by then. He scrambled up the ladder, grabbed the front of Tepho’s shirt, and jerked him out through the hatch. There was a meaty
thump
as he hit the deck.

Norr felt no sense of guilt as she was forced to step on Tepho in order to access the ladder and join Rebo inside the vehicle. They heard the voice begin to announce that one minute and twenty seconds remained, but the sound was cut off as the hatch cycled closed, and an even shorter countdown began. There was barely enough time to strap themselves in before the escape vehicle blew itself free of Socket, and the couple became weightless.

Meanwhile, back aboard the space station, Tepho struggled to breathe. He was still trying to come up with a plan to extend his life when Socket exploded into a million pieces. There was chaos on the surface of the planet as the tides ceased to exist, the phib tidal generators failed, and the oceans went on a rampage. Eventually, after all of the destruction, the phibs and norms might be forced to contemplate some sort of truce and find ways to cooperate with each other.

But for Rebo and Norr, there were other problems to consider. Would they travel to Esperance? And attempt to backtrack the technos to their hidden star gate? Or was that a waste of time without Socket to facilitate the transfer? And what about the great starships? Could they take passage aboard one of them? And thereby find their way back to Seros? That seemed like the best hope.

Finally, after a rough-and-tumble journey through the planetary atmosphere, a red chute deployed. The escape pod slowed and rocked back and forth before it finally smacked down on an azure ocean. Fresh air flooded the tiny cabin as the off-worlders opened the top hatch, stood on their seats, and eyed their surroundings. The escape pod rose as a huge swell rolled in to lift it up, and it managed to remain stubbornly upright as the mountain of water fell away. Days, if not weeks would pass before the ocean found its new equilibrium, and the tidal storms stopped. Rebo could see fluffy white clouds, a circling seabird, and a point of land off in the distance.

Norr thought about Seros, the hand-to-mouth existence she had led there, and wondered if she would see the planet again. Or even
wanted
to see the planet again. But then, as Rebo put his arm around her shoulders, the sensitive knew it didn’t really matter. Finally, having wandered halfway across the galaxy, she was home.