o ed4c3e33dafa4d72 (17 page)

eyelids open again and glanced over at the cybot that would monitor the ship while he

and the crew were in Extended Sleep.

"Make sure Dr. Yul's compression tank is activated," Cree instructed thèbot.

"`For some must watch, while some must sleep; so runs the world away,'" the cybot

agreed. It waved a gallant arm toward Dr. Yul's sleeping compartment for she was the last

one to enter the E.S.U. "'Good night, good night! Parting is such sweet sorrow, that I shall say good night `till it be morrow.'"

Dr. Yul pursed her lips and climbed into her E.S.U. Whoever had programmed the

cybot's responses and personality had a wicked sense of humor. She liked to read Terran

literature, herself, and the quotations from the playwright, Shakespeare, never failed to

amuse her since they were always right on target with whatever the duty thèbot needed

to perform.

"`To sleep perchance to dream: aye, there's the rub'," thèbot sighed as he ran a swab over the Med Off's arm in preparation to injecting her hyper-sleep.

"I don't dream," said Dr. Yul.

"`True, I talk of dreams which are the children of an idle brain, begot of nothing but

vain fantasy'," agreed the cybot.

As the Siliplex hatch of her sleep unit clicked into place, Dr. Yul wondered again who

had programmed the AIU. She would have been astounded to learn that it had been

Kamerone Cree who had given thèbot its distinctive personality.

Troilus, as thèbot had been named, ambled over to the ship's computer, checked the

readouts, punched in a few commands, sighed as heavily as any human ever had, then

hunched its shoulders as it strolled to the Captain's E.S.U. It stared down through the

Siliplex for a moment or two, sighed again as though the weight of a world was on its

shoulders, then released the lock on the sleep unit. As soon as the rush of the vacuum seal

broke, the Reaper came fully awake.

"`So every bondman in his own hand bears the power to cancel his captivity'," the

cybot said sagely, holding out its hand. "`This is the short and long of it.'"

ABC Amber LIT Converter

http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

ABC Amber LIT Converter

http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

Cree grasped the steel-like hand and climbed out of the unit. He stretched then glanced

around. "Everything working properly? Everyone sleeping?"

"Às quiet as a lamb'," thèbot pronounced. It ambled off, taking its place at the

console.

"You found nothing wrong, did you, Troi?" Cree asked.

"`But yet I'll make assurance double sure, and take a bond of fate.'"

"Someone sabotaged the guidance system the last time out," Cree muttered as he sat

down in his command module.

"`Something is rotten in the state of Denmark,'" Troilus agreed, nodding. "`Thou can'st not say I did it: never shake thy gory locks at me.'"

Cree snorted. "I know the Resistance was responsible, Troi."

"`Things without all remedy should be without regard: what's done is done,'" thèbot advised.

"I intend to make gods-be-damned sure it doesn't happen again."

"`Lay on, MacDuff, and damn'd be him that first cries, "Hold, enough!",'" the cybot declared dramatically.

"Aye," Cree snarled. "And the gods help her when I find out who she is!"

THE TERMINATION of the four rogue Gatherers he had been assigned to find and

eliminate went as it was meant to: with precision and with as little trouble as possible.

The retrieval of the targets that were his secondary assignment, however, did not go quite

as well as planned. The five women had simply stared with horror at the tall man in the

black jumpsuit when he had appeared out of thin air. When he advanced toward their

leader, all but the oldest of the five had scattered like chickens before a hawk. She held

her ground, looking at him with something more like amazement than horror.

"Who the divil are you?" she'd demanded.

"Don't give me any trouble and I won't harm you," Cree had responded.

He had lifted his hand and a high-pitched buzzing sound erupted uncomfortably in the

women's ears. A light so bright it momentarily blinded them, so piercing, they had to

squeeze their eyes shut against the pain. When next the women opened their eyelids, they

had been greeted with a sight that had rendered even the youngest one speechless.

"You are under my authority now, and you will do as you are told or I promise you,

you will regret it," said Cree.

"I knew good and damn well you were a divil, young man!" the youngest one piped up.

She looked around them. "Where the hell have you brought me and me chums?"

"Leave off, Mary Francis," the oldest of the group said with exasperation. She took in the huge circular room, the banks of twinkling lights on the computer consoles, the

uniformed crew watching her, and grinned. "It's a bloody UFO!" she said in awe.

"Like hell it is!" Mary Francis pronounced. She walked up to Cree and punched him in the chest with a stiff finger. "What kind of harebrained piece of shit is this?"

"I've read about these kinds of abductions," the oldest said, gazing about her with obvious excitement. "Where are we going, then, lad?"

"Right back where we were!" Mary Francis declared. She jabbed Cree again. "And right this minute, too!"

Cree reached up, took the finger poking him and pulled the woman against him. "Do

that again and I will take it as an invitation to what you'd like me to do to you except I

ABC Amber LIT Converter

http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

ABC Amber LIT Converter

http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

won't use my finger!"

Mary Francis gasped, her mouth sagging open. She jerked her hand back and scuttled

away from him, joining the other four women who were huddled together near the

E.S.U.'s.

"Where did you say you was taking us, boy?" the oldest asked.

Cree flung her a glance. "I didn't, but you are going to my home world. Rysalia Prime."

The old woman nodded knowingly as though she had heard of it. "And how far from

our home is this Rysalia place and how come I can understand you?"

Cree scowled. "Because I am speaking to you in Terran English," he grated. "While you are asleep, you will assimilate Rysalian High Speech so you will be able to

communicate with us in our language."

"I will not be doing any sleeping!" Mary Francis hissed. She folded her arms over her skinny chest. "I can assure you of that, young man! I will stay awake until we get there!"

The Reaper's face split into a nasty grin. "I'd like to see that," he threw at her. "It will take us a little less than two and a half months to reach FSK-14."

The oldest woman's eyes leapt with speculation. "That's a few million miles away, ain't

it, lad?"

"Over three billion miles," he corrected.

"I think I'm going to enjoy this," the oldest woman said.

"I'll do my best to see that you do," Cree was shocked to hear himself say.

"What's your name, lad?" she asked, smiling at him.

"Cree," he replied. He surprised himself again when he realized he was smiling back at her.

"Cree what?"

"Kamerone Cree," he replied.

"That sounds like a good Celtic name," she concluded. "I like it.

Cree laughed. "I'll tell my father you approve," he responded and ignored the stunned looks of his crew. He held out his hand. "Now, let's get you settled in the sleep unit."

The old woman put her hand in his. "I guess it would be too much trouble to let me sit

by the window and watch the stars go by," she lamented.

Cree shook his head. "We'll be going into warp drive and your body wouldn't be able to

handle it."

"I'm not going anywhere!" Mary Francis barked.

"Oh, shut the hell up, Mary Francis McGivern!" the older woman spat. "I'm so bloody tired of your bellyachin'!"

Cree chuckled, further shocking his crew, then swept the little old lady up into his arms

and laid her gently in the E.S.U. The genuine laughter, if shocking to his crew, confused

him even more. He moved out of the Med Off's way as she leaned over the old woman to

inject the hypersleep drug.

"This will sting a little, but not for long," Dr. Yul told her.

"Oh, my!" the old woman exclaimed as the drug started racing through her frail body.

"That's a bit like good Irish whiskey, huh, lad?"

"I wouldn't know," he answered, bringing down the lid on her sleep unit. He smiled at her through the Siliplex, then placed his fingertips on the surface in what he hoped would

be conveyed as a gesture of comfort. It pleased him as she lifted her hand and placed it

beneath his before letting it drop heavily to her side

ABC Amber LIT Converter

http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

ABC Amber LIT Converter

http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

Sister Mary Joseph Kelly looked up into the handsome, Gaelic-looking face hovering

above her own and winked. The lad had the look of a black Irish rogue if she'd ever seen

one! she thought as she drifted away. "A bonny Irish outlaw, is that one," she whispered as she succumbed to the Extended Sleep.

CREE LAY awake in his sleep unit, his hands behind his head. He was unaware that

he was smiling softly or that his thoughts had been consistently on Bridget Dunne since

leaving Docking Bay 9 two and a half months earlier. Idly, he wondered what she was

doing; how she was spending her confinement in his quarters. He knew there was plenty

to do, a myriad of entertainment in his Vid-Com unit to keep her occupied. And with one

exception, he had not denied entrance to any visitors who wished to see her, although he

had made sure the Vid-Com would not allow Bridget, herself, to leave his quarters.

There had been plenty of Terran food programmed into the replicator. She would not

lack for nourishment. Even staple goods, vegetables, meats or the like which she wished

to cook for herself could be brought in from the Ministry's warehouses.

He turned his head and looked at the old woman lying across from him. She, like

Bridget, was from a Terran race called the Irish. As best he could ascertain, the Irish were

a race not unlike his own dam's: Chalean. Some of the words, and their meanings, in the

Irish Gaelic language were identical to Chalean High Speech. No one had been able to

explain to him how that could have happened, but he suspected that many generations

before the catastrophe that killed Rysalia's female population, the Chaleans had found a

way to Terra and had left behind a part of their culture.

Lying there, watching the old nun sleep, he wondered why—after the targets' safe

retrieval—he had risked capture one more time to return to the convent from which he

had extracted Sister Mary Joseph and her little staff. His reason bothered him and he sat

up in his unit. "I can't sleep," he told thèbot as the Artificial Intelligence Unit shot him a curious glance.

"`There is occasions and causes why and wherefore in all things.'" Troilus told Cree.

"Aye." Cree sighed. "À poor lone woman,'" he quoted

"YOU WOKE me earlier than usual," Dr. Yul complained.

"`Better three hours too soon than a minute too late,'" the cybot giggled.

Dr. Yul waved thèbot away and climbed out of her unit on her own. She went

immediately to the Terrans' units and checked the readouts.

"I've already checked," Cree told her.

Dr. Yul nodded. "The AIU woke me too soon."

"Ì'll use you for my mirth, yea, for my laughter, when you are waspish.'" Troilus

pouted.

"Stupid `bot," Dr. Yul accused him.

"`Your wit's too hot, it speeds too fast, `twill tire,'" the cybot insulted her.

"That's enough, Troi," warned Cree. "Leave her alone."

Troilus sniffed and began to amble away from the Med Off, moving its mouth as

though it were a cow chewing a cud.

"What are you doing, Troi?" Drewe called out.

ABC Amber LIT Converter

http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

ABC Amber LIT Converter

http://www.processtext.com/abclit.html

"Èating the bitter bread of banishment,'" it replied sorrowfully.

Dr. Yul checked on Sister Mary Joseph last. She looked down at the old woman for a

long moment then turned to look at Cree. "I'm afraid I don't understand altruism in the

Terran race, but you do have to respect those who are willing to give their lives for others, don't you?"

"Aye," Cree replied. Thinking that was the main reason the Empire had sent for this particular target, he wondered if they had not done wrong in taking the old woman from

where she was needed most.

"We will be able to prolong her life another fifty to sixty years on Rysalia Prime," Dr.

Yul stated. "Think of all the good she will do for the Terrans of her faith who are

despondent."

Think of all the good she could have done on her own world, Cree found himself

thinking. He mentally shook himself, astounded at his line of thought. Such rationalizing

was becoming worrisome for he had never before allowed himself to consider the

feelings of the Terran females on FSK-14 or anywhere else for that matter. Women were

to be used and discarded, certainly not worried over. That he did so now, concerned him

greatly. A Reaper could not afford to think of things like that. A Reaper had to detach

himself from his mission, from his surroundings, and never,
never
form attachments of any kind.

"Captain?" Drewe called out. "I'm getting fluctuation readings on the LRP. Have you changed the modulations on the navigational system?"