Dragonback 06 Dragon and Liberator (15 page)

"I am," Taneem said. "You'll need to get higher up against the
wall."

"First things first." Alison pulled out the comm clip that Taneem
had been wearing during their hangar raid on Brum-a-dum and clipped it
to the K'da's ear. "Just so I don't feel left out," she said. "No, wait
a minute," she went on, frowning. "That won't work, will it? You have
to go two-dimensional to get over the wall."

"Why not try putting it in my mouth?" Taneem suggested.

"Oka-a-y," Alison said slowly, pulling the comm clip off Taneem's
ear. The K'da opened her jaws, and Alison set the device inside between
the rows of sharp teeth. "Be careful you don't swallow it."

Taneem nodded and flattened herself again across Alison's skin.

The comm clip didn't reappear. Apparently, it was indeed going
along for the ride.

Something even Jack probably doesn't know
, she thought as
she pulled over one of the lifepod's chairs. Climbing up on it, she
pressed her back against the wall above the door, twisting at the waist
to give as much connection as she could to the area of the air duct.

She felt a flicker of sensation, and Taneem was gone.

Alison hopped off the chair, praying silently as she turned on her
own comm clip. Even Draycos had never tried falling off into such an
enclosed space before. If Taneem had miscalculated even a little . . .

"I'm in," Taneem's voice came softy from the comm clip. "Heading
forward."

Alison exhaled silently. "Be careful," she murmured.

"Don't worry," Taneem said. "I will."

It was the third time Taneem had been inside the
Advocatus
Diaboli
's ventilation system. The first time, she remembered, she'd
been nervous and confused and more than a little frightened. The second
time, just a few days ago, she'd been only a little nervous, but very
quiet and cautious.

This time, she found the ductwork felt almost like a second home.

Which wasn't to say she could abandon caution. Far from it. The
ship had suddenly come alive, with crew members and Malison Ring
mercenaries moving quickly through the corridors or settling themselves
into various rooms. Whoever this person was who was pretending to be
Jack's uncle Virgil, he'd stirred up a stingbug's nest.

By now the alarm had been silenced. Fortunately, there was enough
commotion and conversation around her that she didn't have to worry too
much about being heard. Still, she made sure to peek through each
grille before she passed.

The bridge on a seagoing vessel, she remembered from the
Essenay
's
encyclopedia, was typically on the upper part of the deck. The
Advocates
Diaboli
's bridge, in contrast, was buried away in almost the very
center of the ship. It was on the middle deck, a little ways forward of
the computer and ECHO room.

She reached the room to find that Neverlin had already arrived.
"So far, he hasn't tried anything fancy," Frost was telling the other
as Taneem eased her way to the edge of the nearest grille. From her
position she could just see Neverlin and Frost, standing behind a pair
of men in white uniforms seated at a control board. "He definitely
hasn't activated any of his weapons."

"And you're sure it's really Virgil Morgan?" Neverlin asked.

Frost snorted. "I'm not sure about anything," he said. "It could
be the Tooth Fairy for all I know. But he
is
alone out there."

"Are we sure about
that
?" Neverlin countered. "We don't
know what K'da look like on an IR scan when they're plastered across a
human body."

"
We
know," a whispery voice replied. A very alien voice, of
a type Taneem had never heard before. "I have studied the readings. The
human is alone."

Neverlin turned around. "I see," he said, his voice subtly changed.

Carefully, Taneem moved forward a few more inches, trying to see
the being who had spoken.

There, standing behind Neverlin and Frost, was a Valahgua.

There was no doubt in Taneem's mind that that was what this
creature was. His head was wide and flat and bony, like a sphere that
had been squashed down from above into a flattened disk. Dark eyes
peered from beneath a brow ridge, and short tentacles writhed at both
corners of his wide mouth. His body was wide and long but oddly slender
from front to back.

The upper arm she could see was thick, splitting at the elbow into
a much thinner forearm plus a muscular tentacle about the same length
as the forearm. The hand at the end of the forearm was clenched into a
fist, preventing her from seeing how many fingers he had. His legs were
short and considerably thicker than even his upper arms.

The overall effect was as if someone had taken a legless crab and
attached it to a wide door, then added limbs salvaged from an elephant,
a human, and an octopus. It was a strange and rather ridiculous
combination, and under other circumstances Taneem might have been
tempted to laugh at it.

But these were the people who had made war against the K'da and
Shontine. The people who, not content with driving them from their
homes, were plotting with Neverlin and Frost to utterly destroy them.

There was no reason to laugh. No reason whatsoever.

"Fine; so he's alone," Frost said impatiently. Apparently, he
wasn't as impressed or intimidated by the Valahgua as Neverlin was.
"Can we get on with this before the entire StarForce comes roaring down
on us?"

"Calm yourself, Colonel," Neverlin said. He gestured to one of the
men at the control board. "Go ahead, Captain."

The other man nodded and tapped a switch. "This is Arthur
Neverlin," Neverlin called. "Who is this?"

"Hello, Mr. Neverlin," a voice came over the bridge speaker. "This
is Virgil Morgan. I understand you need me."

Taneem felt her crest stiffen. It was Uncle Virge's voice, all
right. Which meant that the person they'd detected aboard had to be
Jack.

But what in the whole rainbow did he think he was doing, marching
up to Neverlin's front door this way? And if the Valahgua was right
about Draycos not being in there with him, where was he?

The last time she and Alison had heard from Uncle Virge, Jack had
been in jail on Brum-a-dum. Had something happened during their prison
break?

Was Draycos dead?

The thought sent an icy flood of fear and horror through her. If
Draycos was gone—if it was just her and Alison and Jack now—

She took a careful breath.
Panic freezes the will
,
Draycos's words whispered through her mind.

She would not panic. Whatever happened, whatever
had
happened, she would not panic. Draycos would want it that way.

"Your information is a bit out-of-date, Mr. Morgan," Neverlin
said. "Your safecracking skills are no longer required."

"I didn't say you needed my safecracking skills," Uncle Virge
said. "I said you needed
me
. Tell me, how secure is this
transmission?"

Neverlin glanced at Frost. "Secure enough. Why?"

"Obviously, because what I have to say is highly private," Uncle
Virge said. "Let me lay it out for you. You've come into possession of
one or more safes previously owned by a pair of symbiotic species. For
convenience, let's call them, oh, the K'da and Shontine. Inside that
safe or safes are supposed to be coordinates showing where a fleet of
these beings will be coming into the Orion Arm. You with me so far?"

"Very much so," Neverlin assured him, his voice gone cool. "And
not
supposed to be
. The coordinates
are
inside."

"What's inside are a set of numbers," Uncle Virge corrected. "No
one said they were the actual coordinates."

The Valahgua made a strange gurgling sound. The tentacles around
his mouth were writhing like startled stumpgrubs suddenly brought into
the sunlight. "In fact, our friends here
do
say that," Neverlin
countered. "Are you suggesting they're wrong?"

"I'm
saying
, not suggesting, that the K'da and Shontine
were smarter than you realized," Uncle Virge said. "Turns out there's a
modifier that has to be factored into the coordinates you found."

"An interesting story," Neverlin said. "Where exactly did it come
from?"

"A little bird told me," Uncle Virge said. "A gold-plated,
sharp-toothed bird named Draycos."

"And you came all this way just to give us this information?"

"I came all this way to
sell
you the information," Uncle
Virge corrected. "More precisely, I came to sell you the location of
the modifier data."

"Which is where?"

"Don't worry, it's close at hand," Uncle Virge said. "It's hidden
in that impressive-looking ship you've got lying off your port-side
bow."

"Of course it is," Neverlin said. "And you'd like us to all go
aboard so you can show us?"

"
You
don't have to go if you don't want to," Uncle Virge
said. "Give me an escort and I'll find it myself."

"Very generous of you," Neverlin said. "Tell me something, Mr.
Morgan. After six months of dodging us, why are you suddenly being so
cooperative?"

"Because I've come to the conclusion that you're going to win,"
Uncle Virge said. "I like being on the winning side."

"It pays better?"

"Absolutely," Uncle Virge agreed. "On the other hand, you're only
going to win if you actually locate the fleet."

"Of course," Neverlin said. "Would you care to tell us how you
found us?"

"
And
where exactly your nephew and his K'da friend are?"
Frost put in.

"Who's that, Colonel Frost?" Uncle Virge asked. "Hello, Colonel.
Don't worry about Jack and Draycos. I've sent them off on a wild-goose
chase that should keep them out of the way until it's all over. As for
telling you how I knew about Point Two, I'd be happy to. But only
face-to-face."

"You can speak freely," Neverlin assured him. "I trust my
associates completely."

"That's nice," Uncle Virge said. "Unfortunately,
I
don't.
So do I get an audience with the new soon-to-be Master of the Universe?
Or do I turn around and fly home?"

"Leaving us to wait for the refugees at the wrong spot?"

"Something like that."

Neverlin's lip twisted. "One moment."

He gestured, and the uniformed man touched the comm switch.
"Colonel?" Neverlin invited.

"It's a trick," Frost said flatly. "He's up to something."

"I agree," Neverlin said. "The question is, what?"

"He wishes access to the K'da/Shontine vessel," the Valahgua said
in his whispery voice. "That is obviously the motive behind this
so-called modifier he claims knowledge of. You will
not
permit
that to happen."

"Don't worry, Lordhighest; he's not getting anywhere near it,"
Neverlin assured him. "But I will admit to being intrigued. Colonel,
instruct the fleet to prepare for immediate departure. We'll leave as
soon as Mr. Morgan is aboard."

"We're taking him with us?" Frost asked, frowning.

"Him and the
Essenay
both," Neverlin said. "You have a
problem with that?"

"Transporting a suspicious ship to Point Three?" Frost retorted. "
Yes
,
I have a problem with it."

"Would you rather we negotiate with him here at Point Two?"
Neverlin countered. "Giving anyone he may have talked to time to catch
up with him?"

"I'd rather blow him out of the sky and be done with it," Frost
said.

"That would be the wisest move," the Valahgua said.

"Perhaps," Neverlin said. "But as I say, I'm intrigued. Captain,
signal all ships to prepare evasive patterns to Point Three. Each
commander is to lay out his own course, with arrival six days from now."

The Valahgua alien rumbled somewhere inside his wide head. "I
protest this plan most strongly," he declared. "We now take six days to
reach Point Three? You had said it would take only four."

"It would," Neverlin confirmed. "But I think a couple of extra
days of being undetectable by anyone else in the universe wouldn't be a
bad thing right now."

"It could be a very foolish thing," the Valahgua retorted. "The
K'da and Shontine could reach the rendezvous in as few as nine days."

"Which will still give us plenty of time," Neverlin assured him.
"It's only a couple of hours from Point Three to the rendezvous."

"Is it truly?" the Valahgua asked. "What if this human has heard
truly from the K'da?"

"He has a point," Frost said. "Once we're on ECHO we'll be out of
communication with the rest of the fleet. If Morgan isn't lying, and if
the rendezvous point actually turns out to be more than three days away
from Point Three, we won't make it in time."

"Then they'll just have to wait for us, won't they?" Neverlin said
tartly. "But they won't, because Morgan is blowing smoke. I'm sure of
it."

"Then destroy him as the officer suggested," the Valahgua said.

"Not until I find out what flavor smoke he's blowing," Neverlin
said. "Colonel—"

"You risk this mission for mere curiosity?" the Valahgua
interrupted.

"I risk nothing, and this is far more than mere curiosity,"
Neverlin said coldly. "This man knew where Point Two was. I need to
find out what else he knows. Before he dies. Colonel, have two of your
Djinn-90s escort the
Essenay
here. While they do that, contact
the team on Driftline and tell them to skip Point Two and head directly
to Point Three once they've collected the Rhino-10s."

"Yes, sir," Frost said. "What about the
Foxwolf
?"

"What about it?"

"We still have only the single shift of my men aboard," Frost
reminded him. "Do you want to swap the other two shifts back in?"

"What's your recommendation?" Neverlin asked.

For a few seconds Frost stared at the displays. "I'd say no," he
said. "If Morgan has some trick planned, I don't want to be in the
middle of a personnel change when he springs it."