Farthest Space: The Wrath of Jan (11 page)

At least he kept telling himself that.

Vaish busied herself tying up the five women on the floor, who had only been knocked unconscious.
 
She informed Steven she’d told the big cat to keep its claws sheathed, but even so he was amazed the force of that big paw hadn’t killed any of the women.
 
Apparently the cat had just been playing with them, like a housecat with a ball of yarn.
 
She’d sent the cat out of the cave, which was just as well, because its strong, musky scent had filled the enclosed area in an unpleasant way, and the cat itself had taken up a great deal of the available space.

Once the cat was gone, Fred set up forcefields around the main section of the cave to keep out any of the other women who had fled.
 
After a half unit of trying, Steven managed to break into the Noo’dis’ts’ computer system—he might not be good for anything else, but he was still one hell of a hacker—and was ready to implement his plan to get the
Arisia
back.

“You’re absolutely sure you can alter my voice?” he said to Fred.

“Trust me,” Fred said, his voice echoing in the cavern.
 
“To them you’re going to sound just like Jan.”

“Great.”
 
He turned back to the computer.
 

At that moment, the power flickered, and the forcefields went down.
 
Steven heard bare feet echoing on the stone floor, approaching at high speed, and a high voice shrilled, “From hell’s heart I stab at thee!”

He turned to see Jan running at him, her D cups bouncing, her face distorted with rage.
 
In one of her four hands she clutched a long, sharp knife, which would certainly be handy for stabbing at him, from hell’s heart or otherwise.
 

Vaish calmly limped between them, balled her fist, and swung her arm.
 
Her fist connected solidly with Jan’s chin, and Jan collapsed to the floor, senseless.

“Damn,” Steven said, impressed.
 
“That’s one hell of a right hook.”

“I realized I had best intervene,” Vaish said, her voice tart.
 
“Since you can’t be trusted to defend yourself against a naked woman.”

“Trust me, when it comes to defending myself against a woman with a knife, I have no sense of chivalry.”

“I’m not accusing you of chivalry.
 
I know better.
 
I’m implying you were too busy studying her breasts.”

“Ah.”
 
Steven stared down at the inert heap on the floor thoughtfully, then looked back up at Vaish and grinned.
 
“Nope.
 
I’d rather study yours.”

To his amusement, she flushed violet.
 
Steven grinned.
 
“Tie her up and gag her, Vaish.”
 
He looked over at the lifepod.
 
“Fred, how’d she get the forcefield down?”

“The same method I used,” Fred said, sounding embarrassed.
 
“She used her recording device to emit a frequency that interfered with the forcefield.
 
I was able to restore power almost instantly, though, which is why none of her followers made it through.”

“Can you make sure it doesn’t happen again?”

“I’m cycling the forcefield harmonics.
 
It won’t happen again.”

“Great.”
 
Steven noticed that Jan was secured.
 
He turned back to the console.

“Okay, Fred.
 
Let’s rock and roll.”

He flipped open the channel and began to speak, trusting that Fred’s wizardry could turn his baritone voice into a convincing soprano.
 

“Arisia, this is Jan.
 
We have captured McNeill and await your arrival.”

“Understood, Jan,” an alto voice replied.
 
The signal fluttered and broke up briefly, then stabilized.
 
Steven suspected the ship’s communications weren’t running well without Fred.
 
“We will be within rematerialization range in one unit.”

Rematerialization?
 
Not a good idea, Steven thought.
 
He didn’t trust the process in the least, and besides, if he and Vaish were brought onto the ship in that fashion, they’d be helpless while their atoms were reassembled.
 
They’d be instantly captured and thrown into the brig.
 
And he’d be back to being used as a stud.
 
Not at all what he had in mind.

“There’s been a change in plans,” he said.
 
“I want you to land the
Arisia
on the planet.”

There was a puzzled silence.
 
“Why?”

“I’ve discovered something interesting that we should explore further.”

There was a pause, during which Steven held his breath.
 
“Very well,” the voice said at last, and he exhaled in relief.
 
“We’ll be touching down in approximately three units.”

Steven disconnected.
 
“Great,” he said over his shoulder.
 
“Now we just have to find some weapons, board the ship, take them by surprise, and reclaim the
Arisia
.
 
Piece of cake.”

“Of course,” Vaish said.
 
“Piece of cake.”

Vaish and Steven stood concealed behind an outcropping of rocks and watched as the round gray bulk of the Arisia touched down, some distance away.
   
“How exactly are we going to get on board?” Vaish inquired.

“I’m hoping much of the crew will disembark.”

The communicator on Steven’s belt crackled to life.
 
“Jan?
 
Jan, where are you?”

Steven opened it and spoke, his voice still altered by Fred’s electronic wizardry.
 
“I’m in the cave.
 
Have your crew join me there.”

Sure enough, twenty women filed off the gangway and headed toward the cave.
 
Vaish growled under her breath.
 
“Genetically engineered superior intelligence, my ass.
 
These women were genetically engineered for absolutely nothing but big—“

“Vaish.
 
Are you jealous?”

“Hardly,” she said disdainfully.
 
“I have perfectly adequate breasts, but I also have a brain to go with them.
 
The two are not mutually exclusive, you know.”

“Yeah, I know.
 
And I’ve recently discovered I prefer women with both.”

She felt a rush of warmth in her cheeks and looked away, back at the women.
 
They all walked into the cave.
 
As the last one stepped out of sight, there was a sudden flare of light at the cave’s mouth.

“Fred has put up the forcefield,” Steven said.
 
“They’re trapped, along with the other group of women.
 
Time for Phase Two.”

“Right.
 
That’s the phase where we get our heads shot off.”

“That’s my girl.
 
Always with the positive.”
 
He flashed his grin at her, and she tried to tamp down the rush of warmth she felt at being called “his girl.”

Looking down at her weapon, she made a show of checking it for power.
 
Their weapons were primitive, to say the least.
 
Jan’s people had managed to construct particle weapons from the raw materials Steven had marooned them with, which showed that they weren’t completely brainless, but there was no guarantee the guns would work properly.
 
Even so, they were a vast improvement over metal pipes.
 
She holstered the pistol and awaited his command.

Steven looked across the purple grass at the
Arisia
, a look of love and longing on his face.
 
“Now,” he whispered.

He dashed for the spaceship, and she hobbled on his heels.
 
A few seconds later, when they got to the gangplank, she was surprised to see it was still open—either the women were all too busy doing their nails to watch the monitors, or Fred had managed to block their monitors somehow.
 
She sincerely hoped it was the latter… she didn’t like to think a group of complete morons had managed to take over the
Arisia
.
 
If that were the case, they very badly needed to do some drills with the crew.

Assuming the crew was alive.
 
She decided it was better not to think about that right now.
 
She limped up the gangplank behind Steven, their booted feet echoing on the metal, and they emerged in a familiar corridor.

It was empty.

“No guards,” Steven said out of the corner of his mouth.
 
“How convenient.”

“Maybe it’s a trap,” she ventured as they jogged down the white-walled corridor together.
 
Every step sent a stab of pain through her leg, but she did her best to ignore it.
 
She couldn’t afford to be self-indulgent just now.

She noticed the ivory carpet beneath her feet was streaked with dirt.
 
Without Fred, the drones obviously hadn’t been able to clean the ship.
 
Doubtless the other functions of the ship were suffering without the artificial intelligence, too.

“Could be a trap, I guess,” Steven admitted.
 
“Or maybe they’re just not too bright.”

“You know, you’re a lucky guy.
 
Most people have archenemies that challenge them, archenemies that test their wits.
 
You, on the other hand, have an archenemy that isn’t bright enough to locate her thumb without a map and detailed directions.”

“Jan seems bright enough.
 
Maybe she’s simply cursed with dim associates.”

A particle beam suddenly lanced from a cross corridor.
 
They jumped apart and lunged for cover, diving into doorways on either side of the corridor.
 
“Or,” Vaish suggested, firing down the corridor, “they were simply waiting for us.”

Steven aimed his weapon and fired.
 
“That seems like a distinct possibility.”

Conversation lagged as they continued to fire.
 
Vaish noticed with surprise that there appeared to be only one person firing at them.
 
She had expected a large group, and the fact that there was apparently only one person guarding the ship made her more suspicious than before.
 

A few moments later the fire from down the corridor ceased.
 
Steven lowered his weapon.
 
“Looks like we got her.”

“Or she’s trying to lure us out so they can shoot us.”

“Could be.”
 
Steven stood up and stepped out into plain view.
 
Vaish held her breath, but nothing happened.

“Yeah, I think we definitely got her.”

She stepped out of the alcove and saw a body lying on the metal planking some distance down the corridor.
 
“You are so damned lucky,” she grumbled.

“Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.”
 
He holstered his pistol.
 
“Come on, let’s see if we can make it to the bridge.”
 

*****

No one attacked them on the way to the bridge.
 
Since Vaish’s ankle was still too painful to allow her to climb a ladder, Vaish and Steven went up by way of the lift.
 
Vaish half expected it to stop halfway up and trap them, but nothing of the sort happened.
 
They drew their weapons and waited, then leapt onto the bridge when the lift doors opened.