Only Human (11 page)

Tychon went down the steps again to study
the basement ceiling. Two stone pillars supported the floor above, which was
made of some sort of composite. “The stairwell and the door frames will be
sturdier than the walls and floor. You can jump from the top of the stairs to
the hall door."

"Sure," Nova said, understanding
his plan. Both of them dropped their heavy outer garments, no longer in need of
disguise. "Should hold as long as we step only on the jambs. We’re
probably safe on the stairs when the ceiling comes down."

"Or maybe the whole building'll come
down!" Anders exclaimed. "Have you thought about that, woman?"

"Probably," Tychon said.
"But she knows how to take orders. Do you have another suggestion,
Captain?" When Anders did not reply, he motioned Nova to go ahead.
“Percussion charge, I think. Let’s not start a fire.”

Nova switched her pistol to her left hand
and retrieved a new weapon from among the folds of her robe. She aimed at the
bottom of one of the pillars; Tychon took the other.

"Mark."

Anders ducked when the supports exploded in
a cloud of dust and flying bits of masonry. For a moment nothing much happened,
but then the floor above began to groan under the weight of those waiting in
ambush. Tychon scooped Anders off the steps and hefted him over his shoulder.
He lurched drunkenly for a moment before finding his balance. They raced up the
stairs as the ceiling caved in, bringing with it the startled Rhuwacs. Nova
fired into the avalanche of bodies, feeling like she was poking into something
nasty, like a nest of rats. She kept firing as she burst from the cellar door
and leaped for the hallway, avoiding what was left of the floor boards.

Tychon followed, slowed by the burden he
carried. Anders had closed his eyes tightly, wishing he had a gun and the
strength to aid their escape. He felt like a large target fixed onto the
Delphian's back.

In the hall, Nova stood against a wall to
let Tychon hurry past, shooting at Rhuwacs huddled in doorways. She moved after
him, stepping backwards, her gun blasting into the rebels' hiding places.

Something whizzed by her head, lifting
strands of hair in its wake. Nova glanced around to see a metal arrow embedded
in the wall behind her. A Rhuwac now stood in the middle of the hall, fitting
another quarrel into his crossbow.

“Flash!” she yelled in Delphi mainvoice,
unsure if Tychon had made it out of the building yet. She slapped the butt end
of her pistol into her palm. A quick twist of the barrel activated her wide
flash. Her finger squeezed the trigger. A blinding flash of light ground into
her eyes despite the hand she had clapped over them. When she looked around,
the Rhuwacs lay dead, dying or blinded forever. She whirled around to join the
others in their retreat across the square outside. She heard angry shouts,
could almost feel enemy fire bite into the stone walls around her. She kept her
eyes on Tychon’s figure, aware that from several points to the right and left,
unseen allies held back the Rhuwacs that followed.

Ahead now she saw some of the large, robed
natives waiting in the sandblasted alley. They held two of those furred mounts
that she had seen earlier. Even from here, she could see the whites of the beasts'
eyes as they pranced nervously amid the noise and confusion of the battle. It
had apparently not occurred to anyone that she had never navigated a non-mechanical
vehicle in her life.

Tychon slung Anders across a saddle,
climbed aboard the skittish animal and galloped toward the waiting planes. Nova
sighed. Well, today was a good day to learn to ride. She motioned one of the
men to help her. He lifted her quickly and threw a single rein to her before he
slipped away into the murkiness to help cover her retreat. Desperately, Nova
prodded the animal with heels and hands, glad that it was at least pointed in
the right direction. With a squawk, the beast jumped forward and then picked up
speed. Nova laughed out loud in fear and hope. She bent low over its neck to
present a smaller target, wondering where the brakes were.

They made it out of the alley and into the
open where the Eagle waited, obscured by drifts of sand. Happily, she saw some
of the natives run toward her, intent on stopping the galloping animal. She
slid off its back and raced into the ship's open cargo bay.

* * *

Once aboard the Eagle and away from K'lar,
Anders was stowed in Tychon's bunk, sponged relatively clean, and examined for
damage by a strangely silent Nova. His nose was broken under a thickly swollen
yellow and purple bruise but none of his injuries were particularly
threatening.

"You'll be fine, Captain. You need
sleep. And food. Sleep first."

He looked up at her, still keyed up from
the escape and basking in the sure safety of the Eagle. "When I saw you
flying down that staircase I thought I had died and was seeing angels." He
grinned at Tychon who had entered the cabin with a drink in his hand. "You
wouldn't know what an angel is, you heathen."

"You are calling
me
a
heathen?"

"Who's the bird?" Anders took the
cup, still looking at Nova.

Tychon frowned. "My senior and only
officer, Captain Nova Whiteside, Hunter Class Pilot."

"Aw, go on," Anders yawned.
"She's much too pretty to be risking her neck with you out here." He
sank back into his pillows. "What do you need a Hunter for on this bucket,
anyway? Must be nice, having your own..." He was asleep.

Tychon snatched the cup from his hand.
"That worked fast, didn't it? I may have put too much in that."

Nova gathered the medi-kit and returned it
to the tiny galley. Tychon found her there, staring vacantly into the cold
storage compartment.

"Are you all right?"

She shrugged. "Tired, but wound up.
Was a big day. I'm not exactly fond of shooting people, whatever their
cause."

"They were only Rhuwac."

"Is that how you deal with them?"
she said, thinking of the guard whose neck he had broken. "With your bare
hands?"

He shrugged. "It did not feel as good
as it should have. It never does." Tychon took Anders' unfinished drink
and propelled her to the lounger. "Here, drink this, it will help you
relax."

She followed his advice, knowing she would
not find sleep without it. "Don't you ever get uptight? You never seem to
be out of control."

"It’s… unseemly for a Delphian. We try
to keep our heads together."

She was silent for a moment, beginning to
feel drowsy. "What’ll you do when you run out of Rhuwacs? Will your mission
be accomplished?"

He shrugged. "This is my life, Greenie.
There is nothing I want on Delphi."

She stretched out on the lounger. "But
it's home. You must miss it."

"Sometimes. My mother often complains
that I'm not home enough."

"Home," Nova mumbled. "I've
never had one of those."

He took the glass from her unresisting
fingers and pushed her sleeping figure away from the edge of the bed. When he
had covered her with a blanket he retreated to the cockpit and programmed a
course for Anders' base on Delphi.

Under his touch, Eagle Seven soared
noiselessly, its converters absorbing the cold vacuum as a whale consumes
plankton. He would cross the reach tomorrow; at this point he doubted that he
would find the state of serenity he needed to make the jump.

But Tychon did not yet crave sleep. As
always, the dim silence of the cockpit soothed and, as always, he was amazed by
the comfort that the thin shell of his ship provided against the dead emptiness
outside.

Two people now slept peacefully in this
shelter, uncaring of the power that hurtled them onward. Their trusting
presence aboard made the vigilance of the Eagle all the more awesome. Tychon was
happy to share this wonderful piece of machinery with them, this machinery that
had been his home for years.

Tomorrow, the ship would awaken them as it
had been told to do. Nova's cheerful restlessness would enliven the in-flight
days when solitary comfort could otherwise turn easily into loneliness. Anders,
Tychon knew, would bring laughter and a welcome break from routine.

Smiling, he wondered why he had preferred
to fly alone for so long.

* * *

Anders had recovered enough after a long,
healing sleep to join Tychon and Nova for breakfast. Nova chuckled when he
entered the main cabin dressed in some of the Delphian's clothes. Both shirt
and pants were too long in sleeve and leg while looking uncomfortably tight
about the waist. But he looked rested, his blond hair cropped back to mere
stubble, and a ready smile was on his lips.

"Are you laughing at my attire or my broken
nose?" He bent over the reflective surface of the map table that also
doubled as dining area.

"Your nose can be repaired," Tychon
reminded him, sipping tea. "You will just have to live with that body of
yours."

Anders turned to Nova. "And what are
you doing with the friendly giant here? Us Humans not good enough for
you?"

Nova glanced at Tychon, embarrassed.

"Space slop!" Anders exclaimed.
"I never dreamed I'd ever be happy to eat freeze'n nuke again! No way did Ty
cook this. He's inept. Will you marry me, Nova?"

"Eat slow if you want to keep it
down," Nova warned, amused and concerned. "And Tychon did make
that."

"You wouldn't believe the shit they
serve on K'lar," Anders chewed slowly, savoring the precooked, nutrient-balanced
meal. "Has sand in it. Seriously, they can actually digest the stuff!
How's that for roughage? Can't say I liked it there much. Had a couple of
cellmates for a while but we didn't have any cards. And the Ruwwies aren't much
for playing Lo-G ball, not like Tychon Of The Mighty Backhand here. Wasn't a
total loss, though." He drained his cup and held it out for more.
"Happen to overhear back there that they're planning an assault on Targon.
Search and destroy, mainly. I doubt that they've a definite target."

“Targon! When?"

Anders shrugged. "Didn't come up.
Soon, I suspect."

"Do they know that you know?"
Nova asked.

He shook his head. "Didn't let on that
I knew their language." He leaned toward her. "I speak Grunt, you
know."

"I'll send a report," Tychon said
and left the table.

"So, tell me, Nova, how about taking
up commission on my base? It's on Delphi but we've got some Humans there. None
as pretty as me, though, once I get my nozzle fixed. It'll be a party!"

She shook her head, smiling. "I like
this work."

He leaned back, slapping the tabletop in
mock exasperation. "Risking your butt every day with this madman? Not
healthy at all. Come stay with us on Delphi. You can trade laser burns for
politics. That's practically the same thing. It'll be a vacation compared to
this."

"I hardly know you!"

He winked. "You will."

Tychon returned from the cockpit.
"Don't listen to any of his exhaust. He has more women than he can keep
organized and I need an able pilot more than he."

"Yes, but I'm out of Terrans and your
blue beauties won't come near me."

Tychon shrugged. "They have good
taste." He lifted a hatch to the engine chamber. “I’ll be cleaning sand
out of my filters for a while. Try not to run off together.”

Anders smiled after him affectionately,
then leaned back toward Nova. "So you two kids aren't playing nice-nice?
Is that all you are to him? An able pilot?"

"Of course that's all! What are you suggesting?"

"The moment I saw you two together I
thought you were making it."

She rose. "We're not making anything.
He can hardly get his wife out of his head."

"Delphians mate for life,” Anders
shrugged. “But that doesn’t make him a monk. You two might as well get cozy."

She cleared the table by stacking their
trays in the recycler. "You are getting awfully personal."

He pointed at himself. "Do I offend? I
am merely trying to be objective."

"And interfering."

"Is it because he’s blue?"
Anders' voice suddenly carried a nasty chill. For the first time this morning
the smile had left his face. "Because he's Delphian you think I'm talking
nonsense? Because his hair is blue? Because he'll live longer than you? Not on
this job; you guys are on a suicide ride. So they can play with their heads
better than we can. What difference does that make? I've known Ty for a long
time. He looks at you in a way he looks at very few people. He just has no use
for most of us, Human or otherwise."

She picked up some of the weapons they had
used yesterday and placed them on the table. He began to disassemble one of
them, looking for traces of K’larn dust in the works.

“Well maybe that is it,” she said. “I am Human.
I know how Delphians feel about off-worlders. He has no use for me, either.”

“If you’re going to work with him, you’ll
need to stop trying to figure out what he’s thinking. Delphians have a knack
for hiding what’s going on in their heads. You won’t ever know what he’s
feeling if he doesn’t want you to.”