Only Human (37 page)

Nova nodded. They would let her talk to Kira!
She began to feel some hope.

An air car was waiting for them outside.
She blinked into the bright morning sun, looking to the walls of the plaza.
There was no sign of Tychon or her elfin friends anywhere. A Feydan rebel jabbed
a gun into her ribs to force her into the car and then took the driver’s seat.
She saw Tharron, Jelani, Pe Khoja and the K'lar woman climb into two other
vehicles.

"Nova!" A small body crawled over
her backrest to drop into her lap. "I knew you'd come back."

Nova hugged him closely. "Kira! Are
your all right? Did you have breakfast?" She switched to rapid Delphi
mainvoice. "Can you handle Jelani?"

"I do not know," he said.
"He scares me. I think I have hurt him." The corners of his mouth
twitched.

Good! Nova thought, but did not say so. She
would not ask Kiran to hurt Jelani. The boy still believed in good and evil,
that fine line between Union and rebel and who was who. If he was to be taught
to kill she would not, could not, be his teacher.

 "Kira, he is an old man. You are
stronger. Don't let him–" A sharp cuff into her side left her gasping for
air. Kiran flinched.

"Shut up with that, Human," the rebel
growled.

She hugged Kira closely, watching the town
pass by. Was she imagining round little faces peering from windows and door ways
as the short convoy passed? Was Tychon planning an ambush in these narrow and
crowded streets?

She nudged Kiran who looked up at her,
startled. Carefully, she raised her hand and tapped the neural node at her
temple.

"What if I hurt you, too?" Kiran
whispered, understanding her request.

"It doesn't matter. I'm not leaving
you alone with Jelani."

He reached up to hug her and she felt the
contact with his mind as soon as he had placed his small hand over her
interface. She nodded and smiled reassuringly.

The air cars reached the first runway of
Shad Areen's makeshift heliport. A guard raised an arm to stop them. Nova
peered out of a side window to watch the exchange between Tharron and some of
his men. The leader gestured furiously in all directions, finally turning to
wave at the waiting cars.

"What's the problem, boss?" Nova
asked hopefully when she had climbed out of the vehicle.

"Get them into the hangar and bring me
another plane!" Tharron roared. He forced himself not to look at Nova.
Doing so might fan his fury to the point of killing her. But Pe Khoja had
advised him to let her be. She could well be the lever they needed to deal with
the boy.

"All of the planes are sabotaged,
sire," a Terran at his side said.

Shouts from afar reached their ears. Nova did
not hide a smirk when a high-bridged cruiser leaned dangerously. Several people
scurried to a safe distance as the all-terrain landing gear buckled and the
ship sank to her knees, crushing her undercarriage.

"So you made some friends here,"
she heard Pe Khoja's voice close to her ear. When she turned she saw him
leaning against her car, looking amused. "Or could it be that Tychon came
to his senses, after all?" He smiled at Kiran and lifted him up to sit on
the skimmer. Kiran tried to climb on Pe Khoja's shoulders; apparently the
Caspian was no stranger to the boy. "I can see that you're not taking any
of this serious, Captain," Pe Khoja said, playfully trying to keep Kiran from
succeeding.

"What do you mean?"

He switched languages. "I got you
alone with the boy. If you had any idea who this Tughan Wai is you would have
strangled him with your bare hands. The driver would not have stopped
you." Pe Khoja looked toward his irate leader. "I'd better go and get
us another plane." He put Kiran on the ground and climbed into the skimmer.
"You are on your own, Human."

Nova could only stare after him as he
careened out of the airfield.

"Inside!" Tharron roared,
gesturing at the hangar.

The K'lar nursemaid took Kiran's hand.

"Don't you touch him!" Nova
hissed and tried to reach for the boy. A strong hand gripped her arm and she
saw him led away.

She turned. Fynn Bridger stared back at
her.

"Fynn," she whispered.

He stood wordlessly before her, looking like
a stranger without his Union uniform.

Before she could stop herself she flung her
hand toward his face. He made no move to defend himself when her hand crashed
hard against his cheek. It was the only comment she had about the career choice
he had made for himself.

She turned away and walked ahead of him to
the hangar.

The air around them shifted in a flash of
heat and light when a nearby air car nearby burst into flames. Something large
moved between them and the sun above. The ground around them seemed to explode
upward in chunks of pavement.

All of them looked up to see the Eagle
hover over their heads, its cargo ramp lowered where, incredibly, a Shaddallama
in a kilt was wielding a most deadly weapon. Greah whooped loudly and continued
to aim at the rebels that stood apart from those near Nova and the boy.

The K'lar woman picked Kiran up and raced
into the hangar. Most of the remaining rebels scattered to return the fire from
the ineffective cover of the building.

"Kira!" Nova started to sprint
after them when once again Fynn Bridger stood in her way.

"Get on that plane," he snapped.

"I'm not leaving Kira!"

He gripped her arm and shoved her toward
the Eagle now hovering close to the ground. "Go, dammit! You won't last
another hour here."

She saw two Centauri rebels rush toward
them, looking confused by Fynn's actions. Fynn aimed his gun and one of them
dropped to the ground. "Get on the fucking plane, Nova!" He
backhanded his gun across the other rebel's face. More of Tharron's men now headed
their way.

Nova whirled toward the Eagle's cargo bay. Greah
stood on the ledge, tethered to the interior by a long rope. He fired past her
at the rebels, missing her by nearly nothing. She dove head-first into the bay.

"Kira!" she turned back to look
across the airfield. She saw the hangar door slam shut and lost sight of Fynn
Bridger when the Eagle spun and rose from the tarmac. Someone raced out to
collect Jelani who still stood unmoving beside the wreck of the air car, seeing
nothing, hearing nothing.

Armed rebels were running toward them and
several skimmers approached from the city. They moved fearlessly, despite
Greah's well-placed fire. The surprise had worn off; they now remembered how Tharron
dealt with cowards.

"Go, go, go!" Greah shouted back
into the ship's interior.

Their takeoff was dangerously clumsy. Greah
was still laughing and shouting at their enemy when Tychon pulled the Eagle up.
Nova had to drag him inside so that they could pressurize the cabin. Tychon
locked the ship into a wide circle far above Shad Areen and focused the
surveillance system onto its airfield.

"Who was that man back there?"
Greah wanted to know.

Nova dropped onto the lounger, stunned by
what had just happened.

"Get in here, Greah," Tychon
shouted from the cockpit. "Keep your eyes on these screens," he
instructed. "If those dots start moving or blinking or if any new ones
show up, let me know. Those dots are planes, all that green stuff is
people."

Greah nodded earnestly. "And what are
those?"

"Robots, hardware, electric toilets
for all I know. It doesn't matter. Just call me if anything moves. Oh, also if
that turns red. It'll mean they've got something with a range to hit us up
here."

He left the Shaddallama in the cockpit and
went to Nova.

"I had to leave him," she cried. "I'm
so sorry!"

He sat beside her on the lounge. "We'll
go back in. As soon as we get some help. I've signaled the other Eagles.
Tharron is stuck in that hangar for now."

"He'll murder Kira before letting us
take him. And Carras'll blow that hangar up and us along with it! Why else
would he be here now?"

"I'll tell him to stand down. We've
still got a chance here."

"I should never have gone into Tharron's
hold."

"Probably not."

"Gods, Ty, what he did to Jelani!"

"Tharron?"

"Kira! I guess Jelani started to
condition him. But I don't think it's going so well for him. He looked half
dead. And Kira! He looks so..." she shrugged. "So old! It's like he
knows things he's got no business knowing. He..." she paused when she felt
a gentle contact, like a thought that wasn't her own.

Tychon noted the change in her expression.
"What is it?"

"We're in khamal," she said,
listening.

"Nova! You can't! If Jelani can't
handle it, who knows what it will do to you!"

"I'm not leaving him again, Ty."

"You will do it now!" Tharron
hovered over Jelani in what was no more than a storage room for old and broken-down
equipment.

"I cannot." Jelani stared at Kiran
huddled in a corner. The boy watched them silently.

"We will never leave here if you
don't. We're well outnumbered up there even if we make it past that woman. And
if we wait here long enough, the Union is going to land on us with both
feet."

The Shantir shook his head.

"Think of what you will
accomplish!" Tharron tried. "Your name will live forever! It is you
who can change history!"

Jelani did not reply. His mind relived
again and again the sight of Tharron as he had practically decapitated the
Terran rebel with his bare hands. What did the woman matter? But Tharron's rage
had exploded when he saw one of his own men help Nova escape. At least Kiran
had been in this room already and had been spared the sight.

Tharron strode toward Kiran. "Look,
boy, Shan Jelani is going to have a little talk with you. Then you'll do
exactly as he says."

"No."

Tharron crouched beside Kiran, ready to
strangle him. "You wouldn't want a whole lot of people to get hurt, would
you?" he said, experimenting with a gentler tone. "So, we'll have to
get rid of the bad ones. I will show you which planes are the bad ones and Jelani
will show you how to stop them."

"Stop them?"

"Yes, so they can't fly any more.
Nothing to it."

"I want Nova. Where is my Dadda?"

"You don't think they’d leave without
you, do you?"

Kiran shook his head.

Tharron turned back to Jelani. "You go
in there and do it. Now!" He paced to the door and looked across the
interior of the hangar. "If I don't have a plane here soon your heads will
decorate the end of a spike! Where is Pe Khoja?"

He stared at Jelani, fuming. The Delphian
had explained that, once in khamal, the Tughan would be a tool of his own mind,
as easily directed and controlled as a pistol. He would simply take over to
lead the Tughan into battle against their enemy.

But something had gone very wrong.

Jelani had initiated the khamal easily,
delighted with Kiran's capabilities. As a Shantir, he found his exchange with
the child most interesting. Even while the Tughan still lay dormant, Kiran
possessed a fine mind that would normally qualify him to apprentice to the
Shantirate. He would have been a wondrous addition to the guild!

Prodded by Tharron, Jelani had begun to
show Kiran those things that were new to the child. Certain abilities were
genetic, others had been given to him by the Shantirs of Delphi at his first khamal
gzali. Now Jelani fit the pieces into place to create the Tughan for Tharron.
He showed Kiran how a thing was destroyed and an enemy killed with a glance.
Most importantly, he showed him how he could absorb the knowledge and
experience of anyone he touched to enrich his own. It was then that something
went against the centuries-old dream of the Shantirs.

The Tughan asked:
Why?

Jelani was drawn into a battle of monstrous
proportions. He came to understand why the Tughan had to reach maturity within
controlled conditions before its release. Kiran had thrown a tantrum. Instead
of screaming his anger and confusion at Jelani, Kiran had directed his fury at
the Shantir's mind, unwilling and unable to understand his purpose. Jelani had
suffered.

Tharron leaned close to the Delphian, his
arm stretched toward Kiran. "Do it," he whispered.

Jelani came to his feet. Slowly, he
shuffled across the room to sit on the floor beside the boy.

"Kiran," he said, his voice
unsteady. "You can be good, is that not so? I know that your Dadda would
be very unhappy if he knew what you did last time. It is not nice."

 Kiran’s thoughts wandered to Nova. She was
on the plane and he understood that his father was nearby. She acknowledged his
presence and he began to feel a little reassured that, somewhere, a grown-up
was going to help him.