There was only one person I could think of who might be able to alter the course of my destiny. I headed over to Turovs office on Gold Deck and tapped on her door.

She took her sweet time opening it. As a man with only forty-odd minutes left to breathe, I felt her delay in my bones.

"McGill?" she asked when she finally answered the door. She appeared to be surprised to see me. "What do you want?"

"May I come in, Imperator?"

She considered for a moment then waved her hand in resignation. "Very well."

She moved behind her desk and fooled with a pile of computer scrolls and her tapper. I stood at attention in front of her, waiting. After a full minute pa.s.sed, I lost my cool.

"Sir?" I asked. "Ive only got a few minutes left to make my case."

"What?" she asked, distracted. "Oh yes, the conviction. Very unfortunate. Now, if youll excuse me, McGill, Ive got a battle report to-"

"No sir," I said. "I cant excuse you. I have to talk to you. There are certain realities between us that must be resolved before I surrender myself to the Nairbs."

"What realities?" she asked, but I could see I had her attention. Her eyes were on me, and they were hooded and distrustful.

"I know about your key-since I found it in the first place. I could tell the Nairbs about it."

"I doubt they would listen."

"Are you willing to take that chance?"

She pinched her pretty mouth into a tight line. "This kind of weaseling is unseemly," she said. "Take your punishment like a man. You deserve it, even you must admit that."

"No less than you do," I said, and I found I had raised my voice a fraction. I was almost yelling-I couldnt help it. "You helped push Xlurs air car off the roof back at Central, same as me. You ordered me to pull the trigger, in fact."

"Slanderous statements. Wild accusations made by a desperate criminal in his final moments."

"Thats not-"

"Not true? No, of course it isnt. But thats what the Nairbs will be told. There is no evidence to support your wild charges. Even Xlur himself never made a complaint. You have nothing, McGill."

"Well then..." I said, thinking fast. "Just agree to one thing, and I wont bother to press further. I wont make any accusations at all."

"Name it."

"Revive me when the Nairb ship leaves the system. This doesnt have to be a permanent thing. Put me back on the line in Winslades cohort. The Nairbs will never notice."

Turov heaved a sigh and for the first time she looked troubled.

"Im going to lay my cards on the table, James," she said. "If you were anyone else, Id lie to you. Id a.s.sure you that I was going to revive you. But I cant lie to a man of honor such as yourself. The truth is that I cant allow you to return to life."

"Why not?"

"The Nairbs already figured out that something improper happened the last time. If it happens again, that becomes more than a mistake. It becomes a conspiracy. A flagrant disregard for the justice system. They could drag all of Earth into the mess. Can you understand that I cant take that risk?"

What hurt the most was that I could see her point of view. It wasnt fair, but if a single man had to be permed to save all of Earth-well h.e.l.l, Id do the same thing.

"So Im screwed," I said, "thats what youre saying?"

"Yes. Im sorry."

I drew myself up and saluted.

"Goodbye, Galina," I said. She flinched at the use of her first name, but made no complaint. I marched out of her office. Her eyes lingered on my back as I left, I could feel them, but I didnt look back at her.

I took a pinnace to the Nairb ship minutes later. My commanders had it all ga.s.sed up and ready to go-very considerate of them.

Moving as quickly as I could through airlocks and security points, I was stripped of weaponry and deposited on the Nairb ship. Checking my chronometer, I had about twenty minutes to go when I arrived.

They didnt even have an escort to greet me. Instead, there were yellow arrows on the floor to guide me to the processing center.

The gravity was light, putting a spring in my step as I followed the arrows like an animal being led to slaughter.

It galled me a little that the Nairbs were so certain of their power and supremacy they hadnt even bothered to put me under guard. It was insulting. I knew from experience that they liked to stay in their offices, but youd think they could come out to take a personal interest in their prisoners.

I followed the arrows for several minutes. Id been in Nairb ships before. They were big, empty affairs. Chambers echoed with nothing in them. Id always wondered what else they might be used for under different circ.u.mstances. Maybe the overly s.p.a.cious ships were built to impress, or maybe they were just examples of wasted tax credits and misallocated funds. Either way, they were lonely places to wander for a convicted man.

When I reached the processing center, I was greeted by a familiar face. Claver was there in one of the witness seats off to the left.

The processing chamber itself consisted of four projectors aimed at a circular scorch-mark on the deck. I could only imagine that I was supposed to stand there and let them burn me down to atoms.

Nairbs fiddled with the controls, and the projectors slewed and tracked upward a bit. I think they were adjusting their execution machine for my considerable height.

"Welcome to the end of the line, McGill," Claver said. "I hope you dont mind if I watch justice as its being served."

"Not at all. I think Ill join you."

Careful not to enter the central execution area, I circled around the chamber to approach the witness gallery. Claver stood up in alarm and watched me suspiciously.

"What are you doing? Your place is right there. See that burn-mark in the center? The floor there is made of stardust. Material so dense it cant burn. The projectors are powerful and quick. Dont be afraid. You wont feel a thing."

"Im not afraid," I said truthfully. I gave him a little grin.

We both stood about five seats apart in the gallery. I waved for him to be seated and took a chair myself. The Nairbs ignored both of us while fooling with their equipment and barking at each other in their odd language.

"See?" I said. "Nairbs can count. They know I still have about fifteen minutes to report. They dont care what I do until then."

Eyeing me distrustfully, Claver sat down slowly. Then we had ourselves a good, old-fashioned stare-down. It made me feel happy to see worry in his face. He thought he had the tiger caged-but he wasnt absolutely sure of it.

Claver finally shrugged and tried to relax. We watched the Nairbs go about their work. I reflected that in the old days, prisoners were often treated to the sight of watching their executioners build gallows to hang them with. The difference here was a matter of speed and efficiency. I only had a few minutes left.

What would it feel like to stand there and be blasted into a wisp of white-hot plasma by multiple intersecting beams of energy? Probably, it wouldnt feel like anything at all. One second Id be standing there, and the next Id be a puff of expanding steam and dust particles. I tried to tell myself Id been through worse-because I had-but somehow that wasnt good enough.

"Youre going to stand there and let them light you up?" Claver asked.

"Thats the plan."

"I can wait for that," he said, crossing his arms.

"So can I," I said, relaxing and leaning back in my chair. It creaked with my weight. It wasnt shaped exactly right for a human, but it worked well enough. I took my boots off and put my feet up on the back of the chair in the row in front of me. I did my best to look like a man who didnt have a care in the world.

-38-.

Claver tried to match my performance, working hard to look like he didnt care-but he failed. He looked nervous, and I thought I saw a trickle of sweat run down his cheek. He kept eyeing me, my bare feet, and the execution system.

Finally, he couldnt take it any longer.

"I know you, boy," he said. "Youre as dumb as a sack of hammers, but youve always got an angle. What are you trying to pull off? I dont accept for one second youve come here to submit to execution."

In a way, his att.i.tude bugged me. He had no honor, so he automatically a.s.sumed others were the same way. In the past this flaw in his character had allowed me to manipulate him. Deciding to have a little fun before I died, I narrowed my eyes and put on a nasty grin. Then I slid my hand into my jacket pocket.

"You want to know if Ive got a surprise coming, is that it?" I asked. "Youre just the man Id like to show this to-"

Clavers eyes widened as he stared at my hand in my pocket. "Hold on! Hold on! Easy now, big fella! Weve got a misunderstanding here, thats all. Im on your side."

I hesitated. I had nothing in my hand other than a half-eaten chocolate bar Id kept after yesterdays lunch. For laughs, I twisted my fist around inside my jacket so the rectangular shape bulged oddly under the fabric. Claver watched this display with equally bulging eyes.

"Youve always been a man whos willing to die for a cause, I get that," Claver said, talking fast. "But this isnt the time. I can help you out. I know what you want-you want to blast this ship to h.e.l.l and back, dont you?"

Admittedly, I was taken aback. So thats what he thought? That I was some kind of suicidal, walking bomb? I tried to think of a way to play off his misconception, but I couldnt think of anything good.

For fun, I kept playing the part hed given me, looking mean and fondling my chocolate bar. s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g with Claver was the only source of joy I had left.

"You guessed it," I said in my meanest, crazy-redneck voice.

"Okay, Im with you," he said. "In fact, its a good plan. We cant keep talking here, though. They might get suspicious. Ill just-"

He got up to leave, but I shook my head and stood up with him, my fist big and round in my jacket.

"No Claver," I said. "Youre not going anywhere. Youre part of this show."

"You should let me help you out-"

"I dont need help, or tricks," I said. "Youre going to die, old man. Right here with me. Look me in the eyes. Im the last sight youll ever see."

"Hold on! Let me make you an offer."

"What are you talking about?" I demanded.

"Ill revive you after you blow up this ship," he said. "Thats the least I can do. Give me your data-Ill do it, I swear. Just let me get off this vessel before you activate your detonator."

I pretended to think about it, enjoying myself.

"Dont worry about my next revive," I told him. "Ive got that covered. But you-it sounds like you dont have any way to get out of this."

He looked nervous. "What do you think? That Im some kind of wizard?"

"Right," I said thoughtfully. "The only revival machines in frontier systems are those brought in on big ships. That means our legion battlewagons and this Nairb Prefects vessel. Once this ship is gone, thats it, because Im betting Turov isnt sweet on you right now. At least not enough to bring you back to life on her ship."

He didnt answer, he just grimaced. As I thought about it, I understood his position. He was worried about getting permed himself. That fear had caused him to jump to conclusions about what I was up to. Fear, plus my reputation for reckless behavior in situations like this one, had made my bluff work.

"Maybe we can make a deal, but I doubt it," I said. "Youre right, I could let you escape being permed. But what can you do for me? Right now, Im liking things the way they are. Im thinking I can solve two problems with a single push of a b.u.t.ton. Youre gone, the Nairbs are gone, I come back later-everythings perfect."

My thumbnail played with the wrapper and dug into the chocolate a little. He watched and sweated, trying to think of something he could do for me.

"Youre going to have trouble getting away with blowing up a Nairb ship," he said. "Its one thing to inconvenience a Galactic by killing him, but a whole Imperial ship-thats worth real credits."

"You only have a few minutes left, Claver."

"You cant have brought and placed a bomb on your own," he said. "Turov has to be behind this. But why?"

The answer to this came to me easily. Glibness in lying is a gift, one Ive been blessed with all my life. You can ask anyone from my old elementary school days for confirmation on that point.

"The Nairbs have too much evidence aboard," I said. "Turov figures we cant let them finish their report and send it to the Core Systems on a deep-link."

"Right, right," Claver said, buying it all. "The Prefect will report in the second he has the case closed up, and youve been executed. Nairbs dont like wasting money on services, and deep-link relays are expensive-especially all the way to the Core Systems. One big blip of data is what theyll use, and youre here to stop that transmission."

His ideas surprised me a little. Was I really such a big deal that the Nairbs were going to confirm my removal from the cosmos all the way back to the Mogwa? That seemed bizarre to me. Id always figured I was small-potatoes to the Galactics.

Claver snapped his fingers and grinned. "Ive got it. Your plan is flawed. You cant just blow this ship up with a conventional nuke. There will be an investigation eventually. Theres no way around it. Theyll trace the radioactives to Earth. What you need is a false trail, a scapegoat."

I was listening but frowning. I didnt know exactly where he was going with this.

"Listen, listen," he said, beginning to raise his voice. "Ill let you finish your mission. Turov will be proud. Im just going to change the circ.u.mstances a little."

"Okay, but hurry the h.e.l.l up."

He beckoned me to follow him. Figuring I had nothing to lose, I pulled my boots back on and left the chamber.

The Nairbs took some notice of this. They barked after us. I was pretty sure they were pointing out I only had about ten minutes left before my execution. I waved and nodded then disappeared into a pa.s.sageway, following Claver.

I knew that, in a way, the Nairbs didnt care what I did. They were bureaucrats, not sheriffs. If I didnt report to their execution chamber, theyd grind on, slowly turning their wheels of justice. Theyd draw up new charges, maybe expanding them to include the rest of the legionnaires in the system. Theyd then order more people to submit to their will.

That was the trouble with Galactic Law, if you didnt give in, theyd just up the ante and come after you again. They were relentless, and I honestly think blindly applying the law to others was the greatest joy in their sorry existences.

Claver and I began to run the second we were out of sight. We took big strides in the light gravity, our boots thumping on the deck as we charged down a long pa.s.sage. We came at last to the docking area where a strange ship was attached to the Nairb vessel. It had to be Clavers ship.

I grabbed his shoulder when he got to the hatch and started to climb in. "We cant just run from the Nairbs," I said.

"Thats not the plan, dummy! Let go of me."

"Ill go in first," I said, yanking him back. I didnt want him zipping away or pulling a gun on me.

Inside the ship, Claver had the oddest collection of c.r.a.p Id ever seen crammed into a small vessel. It was a smugglers ship-that much was obvious. There were loose jewels in buckets, powders in bags, guns packed in crates of oil-he had it all.