"Because she would have stopped me from completing my a.s.signment. What are those implements on your suit?"

"Tools to open the lock."

"Take them off. Drop them on the floor."

Dana obeyed. He tossed them from him, not watching where they landed, but when he threw the cutting laser, it landed two-thirds of a meter from his foot.

Darien's hand did not relax.

"What was your a.s.signment?" he asked, wanting to know, wanting to keep her talking because it would give him time to think. She didn't know what the cutting laser was, that was good, but she could cut him in two with her own pistol before he had time to get to it.

"To destroy the Yago Net." She leaned back against a bulkhead.

"How are you going to do that?"

"I'm a computer technician," she said. "That part's real. It took me two hours to program this monstrosity to blow itself up."

"What are you?"

She smiled. "I'm a cop." She still sounded like Rhani.

He snorted disbelief. "Since when do cops run around destroying sector property?"

Her eyes glittered anger. "_You_ say that? You were _on_ it. It's a symbol of power and of evil, it facilitates a vicious trade, it serves only to increase the profits of a slaver family -- its very existence is immoral!" She glanced for a split second at the drugged man.

Dana said, "It's no worse than other prisons."

"No other prison is Zed Yago's private playground."

Dana edged a centimeter closer to the cutting laser. "I thought you loved him."

"You were supposed to think that. So was he. I didn't love him; I f.u.c.ked him. It's different."

"Is your hair really that color?"

She laughed. "Of course not. Though it's close. My skin isn't this color, either, and I don't usually sound this husky. It takes a while for the dyes and the conditioning to wear off. I'm a weapon, Starcaptain. I'm an Enchantean, and I was a computer tech at Federation Headquarters till I was picked and primed and pointed at Zed Yago."

"Pointed by -- "

"It was Michel's idea. He figured: to destroy the chain, break the strongest link. The weak ones will fall apart of their own accord. Rhani Yago is the strongest link in the slave trade, and the way to break her is to take Zed away for good. At first they were going to send a man to do it, but the psychologists decided that would be too dangerous. Zed hurts men, but he's never hurt a woman. The man, of course, would also have looked like Rhani Yago."

"Why not just a.s.sa.s.sinate him?"

"That wouldn't have done it. We considered it, but the psychologists said she would have remained only more determined to keep the slave system going."

Dana edged two centimeters closer to the cutting laser. "If we'd a.s.sa.s.sinated _her, he'd_ take over, and he would be worse, don't you think so?" Dana could not help agreeing. "Besides, killing is immoral."

"Too bad," Dana said. "If it weren't, you could have a.s.sa.s.sinated them both." "You're right," she said, with evident regret. Her eyes narrowed. "If you feel like that, why are you here?"

"Rhani Yago sent me here to find out what was wrong."

"Oh. Then you're still a slave." She glanced at the wall behind his head.

"This station's going to blow to pieces in twenty-five minutes," she said. "I'm shinnying on the shuttle. You want to come along? I'll take you. You can't have any loyalty to the Yagos."

Dana looked at Zed, still slumped in the chair. He hadn't stirred again.

There was a trace more color in his cheeks than there had been before. "What about him?"

"He can stay here." Darien Riis' voice was very cold. "The Net blows, he blows with it."

"You don't care at all? You feel nothing for him?" As he asked it, Dana wondered why he cared to know. "He loved _you_."

"No!" said Darien. She pushed her hair back with her left hand. "I feel bad about the Skellian. I didn't want to kill her. But him" -- she looked at Zed for more than a second before fixing her eyes on Dana -- " he didn't love me. He loved the image I was, he loved his sister in me."

"But wasn't that exactly what you wanted him to do? If they made you look like Rhani -- "

"Yes. That's what we wanted. The Enchanter labs are good, aren't they?"

She regained her pedantic tone. She tilted her head a little. "It worked perfectly, too. He was very easy to manipulate."

Dana wondered at the courage it must have taken to turn Zed Yago into a s.e.xual tool. The thought of it -- of willingly sharing the bed of a man you knew to be a practiced s.a.d.i.s.t -- made his b.a.l.l.s hurt and his skin crawl.

"Well," said Darien Riis, "are you coming with me or not?"

Dana smiled. "I don't have much of a choice," he said. "I don't want to be dead." When was she going to ask him how he had gotten to the Net? Maybe he could knock her out, carry her to _Lamia_, carry Zed to _Lamia_, get the f.u.c.k out of range in twenty minutes ... Part of him whispered: Never mind Zed. Leave him. Warn Tori and go. If you have to rescue someone, rescue the cop...

Why? he wondered. Why this terrible hatred of the Yagos, of the Net, of Zed? Michel A-Rae had created it, fueled it -- he wondered what had birthed it in _him_. Darien Riis wouldn't tell him if she knew, which he doubted...

Tori Lamonica's voice came clearly through his suit communicator. "Dana, are you still alive in there?"

Darien's pistol swung for him. Leaping at her, Dana grabbed for her wrist, pinned it. She fought him. He leaned close to yell in her ear, "That's just -- " He gasped and leaned backward, almost losing his grip on her hand, as her elbow aimed for his throat.

"You son-of-a-b.i.t.c.h!"

"Listen to me," he said, starting to close with her. She stepped back and nearly took his head off with a sweeping side kick. He leaped backward and nearly tripped. She kicked him again. Sweet mother, she was fast! Tori was shouting at him through the suit mike. He moved in and trapped Darien's wrist again. She yielded, and her right arm relaxed. He heard a thud, as if something had fallen. Suddenly Darien's left hand blurred upward, laser in her fist, the pistol pointing not at him but out at the room. Dana saw Zed on the floor. He was aiming the cutting laser. Dana dived out of range. Light beams flashed, and Darien dropped. Zed Yago screamed and curled his body in agony, his head straining on his neck. He breathed in huge gasps, "Ah-hah, ah-hah."

"Shut up a minute!" Dana shouted into the suit mike. Tori shut up. He stood, rubbing his knee where it had hit the floor. He limped to Zed. The Net commander looked up, and Dana swallowed. The light beam had struck Zed's outstretched hands. They were claws, blackened and burned, bizarre skeletal things. The pain from them had to be unbelievable. He could not see why Zed was still conscious.

He knelt. "Zed, can you hear me?"

Amber eyes blazed into his. Zed croaked, "Get out."

"I've got a ship," said Dana lamely.

Zed's face twisted in spasm. "No."

"d.a.m.n it, this ship's going to blow in fifteen minutes! Tori Lamonica's at Hole Four, in _Lamia_. Let's -- I'll carry you there."

"No."

"You want to die here?"

Zed's face spasmed again, not from pain; his mouth made a grotesque and terrible smile. "Yes." He looked past Dana to Darien's body.

"You're crazy," said Dana. "Rhani sent me here to get you and I'm going to do it, if I have to stun you with her stun gun and take you out over my shoulders."

Zed started to reach for him in reflex rage. He curled, sobbing at the pain. His face writhed. Dana watched. He was sweating terribly; the suit was having trouble keeping up with it. The same internal voice that had spoken before spoke again. It said: This is payment; this is right. Remember what he did to _you?_ But the sweat rolled down his sides like water over rock, and he kept having to swallow.

Before he could change his mind, he rose and went to Darien's corpse.

Yanking the stun pistol from her belt, he returned to Zed and held it out. "I mean it." He checked the dial and turned it to a one-hour stun.

When he looked up, Zed was on his knees. "No," he said. Dana reached to help him. The Net commander snarled, and staggered, una.s.sisted, to his feet.

Keeping his hands in front of him, he walked toward Hole Four. Dana stayed behind him. At the closed door, Zed stood aside to let Dana open it.

"Tori, I'm bringing in an injured pa.s.senger. Get some anesthetic spray and get ready to cut loose. This station's going to blow to bits in ten minutes."

"Clear," said Tori.

Zed went ahead through the lock. Twice he stopped and leaned on the wall.

Tori had _Lamia's_ door up; she was standing at the door, anesthetic spray in her hand. Her face paled as Zed walked in. "Sweet mother," she said, and aimed the spray. As it hit the charred flesh, Zed sobbed and nearly fell. Dana caught him under the armpits, and half dragged the Net commander to the lowest of a three-tiered bunk. He put Zed into it. He felt the jog as the lock tube coiled into place, and scrambled to the navigator's chair. "Five minutes," said Tori.

"d.a.m.n it, if a hunk of that thing hits me it'll slice the hull like cheese. If only we could Jump -- " But they couldn't Jump. Unlike some planets, Chabad was not in a hypers.p.a.ce current. Dana had no idea what happened to ships that tried to use the Drive when not congruent to a current; n.o.body did. If anyone had tried it, they had not come back from wherever they had gone.

"Accelerating," Lamonica said. "Hold tight!" Dana took a deep breath.

Tori flashed him a grin. He let it halfway out. The ship hummed. He was pressed into the seat, harder, harder, his muscles began to scream -- Tori was pushing the ship to the limit. Ten gees. He watched the gauge climb. Twelve gees.

Fifteen gees. The blood began to drain from his head and settled in his feet. If the thrust exceeded fifteen gees, he would certainly black out. He saw red: There goes a capillary, he thought.

The thrust stayed at fifteen gees for fifteen seconds, until the numbers on the compscreen said they were a quarter of the distance back to the planet.

Then Tori slowed to one gee thrust. She used the compensator to reduce the gravity to three-fourths gee. Dana stretched as the pressure subsided. "Better check your patient," Tori warned. "Stars." He hurried to Zed's bunk. The Net commander's eyes were open.

Blood trickled from his mouth, but he was conscious. Grabbing a cloth, Dana wiped the blood away.

"Bad?" he said. "You want more anesthetic? A pill?"

"No," said Zed. He sat, very slowly. Dana marveled at his strength. "I.

Just. Bit. My. Tongue."

Across the room, Tori said, "LandingPort Station, this is _Lamia_. Tell Chabad our mission's completed and we're on our way home."

"Clear, Starcaptain. Congratulations on your success. We'll notify -- "The voice broke off into a muttered oath.

A second voice, thinned with awe and incredulity, said, "Jesus G.o.d."

Tori punched the unit to silence. She said, "I guess we know what that was."

Tori set course for the Abanat Main Landingport.

There was nothing for Dana to do. He went to the food unit for water and a food bar. Glancing at the silver-and-blue suited figure in the bottom bunk of the right-hand tier, he raised his voice. "Zed? Do you want a narcotic?"

_Lamia_'s medikit, like the kit of any MPL starship, was equipped with several different narcotics.

"No."

Dana walked to the bunk. Zed was paper-white. His facial muscles twitched. Fluid dripped from his hands. The sheet was damp. His pupils were pinpoints; pain lines like gullies ran from the corners of his mouth. It was easier to look at his face than at the fingers that stuck out from his wrists like sticks out of a fire, coated thickly with hardened spray. His eyes were dull. Suddenly his brows went up. He croaked, "Make. You. Feel. Good?"

"No!"

Zed's eyes closed. His body heaved. Eyes locked shut, he said, "Make.

Call. For. Me."

"What call?"

"To Tam Orion. Message to -- Sai Thomas. Medic. Main Clinic. Tell her -- " he fought to breathe, sucked in air, continued, "bring burn trauma team. Get Ja. Narayan. Name's important. Narayan. Surgeon."

"Why?" asked Dana.

Zed said nothing.

"If you want me to call, tell me why."

The air hissed through Zed's teeth. His face contorted harshly. _Make you feel good_? The mocking question teased Dana's mind. The stench of burned flesh pervaded the cabin like the smell of some drug. He had hoped to see Zed Yago thwarted; he had not expected to see him helpless and hurting. It did not make him feel good. It made him want to be sick. He looked at the wall clock. Tam Orion could be home in bed. The clock was calibrated in Standard. He had forgotten how to think in Standard. He had forgotten how to think. He was tired.

He walked to the navigator's chair, working it out: it was not quite dawn over Abanat.

Chabad bulged in the vision screen. He switched to audio communications.

"Abanat Flight Tower Control, this is _Lamia_, MPL48; home registry, Nexus; pilot and owner, Starcaptain Tori Lamonica; navigator, Starcaptain Dana Ikoro; pa.s.senger, Zed Yago. Permission to berth?"

"Permission granted, Starcaptains. We've been expecting you to call."

"Thank you, Flight Tower. Request for personal communication to be delivered to chief pilot Tam Orion from Zed Yago. This is urgent. Message to be relayed to medic Sai Thomas at the Abanat Main Clinic. Please bring a burn trauma team to the Landingport to meet us, and a surgeon named Ja Narayan. This communication's important, Control."

"Clear, Starcaptain. It will be delivered. Please keep your computer locked in." "b.i.t.c.hin' Control," said Tori.

Dana rubbed his eyes. His head felt thick. With longing, he thought about ten hours' sleep. He went back to Zed's bunk. The burned man had not moved. As Dana leaned over him, his eyes opened. "I made your call," Dana said.

Zed's mouth flickered in what might have been a smile.

Tori brought _Lamia_ in like a snowflake on a breeze. As they settled into the black, powdery surface of the Flight Field, the com-unit said stridently, "_Lamia_, this is Port Administration. We understand you have a casualty in there. We have a medical team standing by. Please open up."