Dushau

Paralyzed in this vision, Krinata was stu

Simultaneously, one of the Lehiroh collected Frey from where he'd been tossed as another pulled Krinata up, tilted her over his shoulder and ran for the ramp into the yacht, followed in close order by all the rest of the escapees.

By the time they had taken out the yacht's onboard guards, Jindigar was on his feet, leaning heavily on Storm. No one had spoken to the three of them, had barely looked at them, making no attempt to communicate with them, as if they were a constituted Oliat.

Jindigar led them to the bridge, panting, bleeding from a shallow cut over one eye, limping slightly from a wrenched muscle. Gathering the triad, one hand on Krinata's left shoulder, one hand on Prey's right, he caught their eyes. Krinata felt an odd dizziness as she looked into their eyes and into her own from theirs. But it closed a circuit, and her breathing calmed. Horror receded.

Gradually, awareness of looking into her own eyes faded, and she was herself looking at them. "Adjourned," said Jindigar. "Best I can do right now." His head drooped, and he let go of Frey to hug Krinata. "I almost lost us. I'm sorry." He hugged Frey. "I wish I had, your talent!"

All business, then, he stumbled toward the control stations, tumbled into a chair and surveyed the instruments. Trassle was already working over a board, next to Terab. As Krinata found the captain's chair, Rinperee slid into a navigating station.

"Arlai?" asked Krinata, sca

"I have her. It will be as if you were at my helm, Krinata." But his voice sounded strained.

While the passengers secured themselves, Krinata studied the controls with rising panic. "None of this looks familiar." She'd learned Truth's boards, but had never studied piloting.

Jindigar said, "I studied the schematics, remember?" His voice held a burr of tension, and it seemed to echo in her mind. He leaned across Terab's station and flipped switches in front of Krinata. "Arlai? Ready?"

"Do you see the vacuum telltale?"

"It's on. We're tight."

"That's what my reading says. No time for a full check. They're trying to grab control of the bay doors back from me." The bay doors opened, and they swooped out into space. Terab and Trassle cheered. Jindigar drew his knees up to his chin, visibly shuddering. Krinata felt as if gun muzzles were trained on her back.

"Twelve minutes," said Arlai. "I'm moving out of orbit to track and lock on. We'll detime in tandem. Rinperee?"

She'd taken a board behind Krinata. "Stand by."

Krinata shivered as the hairs on her neck stood up. Jindigar raised his head to watch her as she worked with Arlai to set the course. "I'm sorry I couldn't make the Dissolution. I will as soon as we're clear."

It was as if she were touching the fields of a magnetic bottle. Her skin crawled. "Krinata, don't lose your nerve now. It's just a leakage—"

"What's leaking?" Her voice shook.

"Joint awareness. I judge they're preparing to fire on us. That's logical."

"Confirmed," said Arlai. "Beamca

Krinata's heart leaped, as if it would tear holes in her chest, her whole body wanting to lunge to Arlai's aid. Jindigar straightened, then drove his fingers over the board before him, pulling up an image of Frey somewhere back in the yacht. "With me! We've got to take out the guard onboard Truth before we get there, or Arlai will have to do it!"

Krinata saw Frey swallow hard and agree. Jindigar turned to her, and when their eyes met, she tumbled back into nightmare, three diverse scenes—a fourth lurking darkly as Desdinda fought back to consciousness somewhere—and she said, hearing her voice echo oddly, "What can we do?" • "Imp," said Jindigar. "A mad piol is a match for most men. Imagine the look on that man's face if a bundle of claws, teeth and fur attacks him." His voice echoed oddly, too, but even after he stopped, the idea flowed through her mind in vivid pictures.

She knew Truth's bridge, knew how Imp would find the man sprawled as Jindigar had, legs protruding from an access panel, probably wearing green polka-dot pajamas. She saw the whole thing as Imp, fed up with this intruder, worried at the man's bare toes until he crawled out to bat at the pest. Imp went for the throat. The man threw the spitting ball of fur across the bridge to land in the captain's chair. But Imp launched himself again, and the man ran for a weapon.

Arlai slammed emergency bulkheads shut, herding the intruder while Imp harried his heels all the way. At the last, Imp threw himself on the man's back, and the man careened into a wall smashing Imp hard. The piol slid down limply as the man, bleeding now from several superficial cuts, opened the hatch marked weapons and stalked into the dark, tumbling head over heels into the aft refuse bin. Arlai had changed the label just in time.

Her daydream was shattered when the deck bucked under her. "Screens up!" said Arlai in his business voice, then added, "Imp isn't seriously hurt, and I've only lost a few sensors." In another tone, he added, "Jindigar—"

Krinata felt the multiawareness fade as Jindigar adjourned them again. He answered Arlai, "Not now." He folded in on himself, groaning. In a sidewise flash, she saw his teeth were paling.

The next shot rattled them hard, but shields held.

"I've taken a hit," a

Krinata heard herself, but didn't believe her own words, nor the sudden icy calm in her voice. "I'm going to have to fire these guns, Arlai. Can I do it? Maybe it will keep them from firing at us long enough to get away."

"I'm not permitted weapons, Krinata, nor is your onboard programmed into them," answered Arlai, and she detected true regret in his tone. "Your fire control is on manual. But Jindigar's at that board. Targeting is by digital calculators and non-Sentient live-tools."

She had to try. She locked her board to Arlai and scrambled around to Jindigar's station. The big Dushau was huddled with his feet on his seat and his head buried between his knees. He was shaking violently, as if in a fit. She could feel a ragged blackness eating away at the periphery of her awareness. It had Desdinda flavor, a mad distortion, growing with every passing minute.

"Arlai, show me what to poke when," demanded Krinata.

A display lit on her board, the orange light turning Jindigar a sickly color. One of the switches on the display began to flash. "This is your fire-control rack. One, Three, and Five are armed. Aim by centering this screen mechanism." Cross hairs appeared over the image of Timespike, and the centering controls lit up. Any idiot could do it.

"Timespike is recharging and maneuvering for advantage. You have eighty seconds before they can hit you six times with their beamers while sending three more missiles after me. The

yacht will buck when you fire—it has lousy gravity control. You've got seeker missiles, Krinata—three hits could totally destroy that battleship, which carries a crew of six hundred. I've taken another hit. Rinperee, give me those numbers quickly or I won't be able to program them. I've got onboard tires."