The Omega Cage (27 page)

He was sinking.

"
Juete
!" he screamed.

And sank beneath the surface.

"
Run
!" Dain yelled.

Scanner was already moving. Juete turned and began to sprint. Dain caught her hand and, despite his limp, urged her forward, faster.

"Get behind that rock!"

They stumbled behind the oblong block of lava, sprawling next to Scanner. Then there was an explosion that rocked the ground. Lava sprayed past, flinging melted rock in a thick sheet.

"The suit," Scanner said.

Juete understood. The power reactor of the exoframe Stark had worn had exploded.

A rain of metal and rock snowed down around them. Part of a human hand landed a meter away from Juete. She screamed.

Dain turned her. "Don't look," he said.

"Don't look."

Chapter Twenty-Nine

The rest of it was, comparatively, almost easy.

Scanner nursed the wounded cart back to life. It took several hours to reach what civilization the spaceport offered.

Civilization was run by computers.

Scanner found an access port and had passes issued to them. If anybody was curious about how they looked, nobody spoke of it: the passes indicated that they were a priority-cleared party and that to delay them was a mistake.

What they stole was a Confed Military shuttle, big enough for a dozen men, but small enough to pilot easily. Amid the hails from the tower demanding clearances, the ship lifted. "To hell with the noise restrictions," Scanner said.

They were almost into sling pattern when the com buzzed again. Somebody who had the private codes wanted to talk.

Scanner glanced at Maro. Maro shrugged. "Go ahead."

The lean face of a Confed commander lit the screen.

"Karnaaj," Juete said softly. But they had not opened their transmitter to send on visual mode: he couldn't see them.

"This is Karnaaj. Who is lifting in my ship?"

Scanner laughed.

"Give him a picture," Maro said.

The circuit-rider's fingers danced over the control board. "Done."

They watched Karnaaj's face turn gray when he saw the visual. "You!"

"That's right. Us," Juete said.

"But—but—Stark…"

"His fighting machine ran out of luck," Maro said. "So did he. And it looks like you might have the same problem."

"You'll be blasted from the sky!"

Scanner said, "Not by anything the Confed's running in this sector." He tapped the droud on the side of his head. "You've got a massive computer failure. Commander. Even the killsats are taking a rest."

Karnaaj slumped back in his chair.

"Give our regards to the Confed," Maro said. "I think you'll be talking to them real soon."

"Wait," Karnaaj began. "Wait, please—"

Scanner killed the connection.

In the silence save for the muted roar of the lifters, the three looked at each other. "We made it," Juete said.

"Looks like it," Maro said.

Scanner grinned. "Ain't that a spin?"

They all began to laugh as the stolen ship cleared the atmosphere of the planet Omega, to fly into galactic history.

Nobody had ever escaped from the Omega Cage.

Until now.