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.Pias quickly undid the grating and slithered into the room with Yvette right behind him.It took their friends a frenzied second before they recognized their saviors, but a loud cheer rang out from two-score throats.Pias held up his hands for silence."Quiet! We're not safe yet-and if you ever want to be, you'll have to follow my instructions exactly.There isn't time for questions." Although it was Yvette's plan, they had both agreed that he would be the one to appear the leader; it might instill a trifle more confidence in the unenlightened."Someone take the blasters from those two guards," Pias said."They won't need them any more, and we certainly will.Who here knows how to use them?"Several hands went up, and there was a quick division of their weaponry.There were now five captured blasters plus Pias's ministunner; Yvette kept the blaster she'd been using and gave a, second to the Querida's Captain Bacardi, whom she then took aside and spoke to in private.As Pias gave out two more blasters to members of the ship's crew, keeping the last one for himself, he watched the captain nod silent agreement and slip off into the ventilating duct with Yvette.Pias took a deep breath.For the next half hour or so he'd be on his own.This would be a test of exactly how much leadership ability he had."Our next stop," Pias bellowed, making sure everyone could hear him, "is the kitchen.""Why the kitchen?" one man asked."We'll need supplies if we're going to last for the next four days," Pias said impatiently., "And the longer I have to stand here explaining, the less time we'll have to act.The pirates won't be expecting us to hit the supplies; they probably think we're so seared we'll head straight for a ship.Let's go, on the double.And if you see anyone who isn't one of us, attack first and ask questions later."They burst out into the hallway, where the alarms were sounding even louder.No one else was in sight at the moment, so Pias led his party down the narrow corridors to the supply pantry.Although the route was strange to him, his knowledge of the way the ventilating shafts went allowed him to find his destination.At one point a trio of pirates crossed their path at an intersection.They were surprised to see the prisoners traveling freely down the halls, but the surprise was short-lived-as were, in fact, the pirates themselves.The Newforester blasted them down without mercy in a single sweep of his gun, and his group continued on.The larder, not being considered a crucial spot, had been left unguarded during this emergency.Pias left two men at the door to serve as his own guards, then went into the storage area with the rest of his escapees.He spent the next fifteen minutes frantically directing his people which things would be best to take along and which would be best to leave."We'll need supplies for four days," he kept repeating."Empty those containers over there and fill them with water.Lots of fluids, that's what we'll need primarily.Liquid is bulky and hard to carry, so we have to devote most of our energies to that.Get some of the smaller, more compact foodstuffs-no,'not those cans, we might not be able to open them.Hurry, every second is precious!"When at last everyone was properly encumbered, Pias ordered another move-out.They were a little behind his estimated time schedule and he knew Yvette would be waiting desperately for him.He had to herd his group to the room that led to the spaceship docks, and he had to hope that Yvette had been able to carry out her end of the plan.While Pias had been preparing the prisoners for the march on the pantry, Yvette had taken Captain Bacardi aside."While they're off getting supplies," she said, "you and I have another job.We've got to steal a ship big enough to hold all of us.I know where their dockyards are.Come with me."The captain nodded and slipped into the ventilating shaft at Yvette's heels.The DesPlainian led him to the outlet into the ship room.Several pirates were now stationed here at their emergency posts."We'll have to get rid of them before we can do anything else," she said.Patting her own blaster, she added, "I hope you're not squeamish about using one of these."Captain Bacardi nodded and tightened his grip on the blaster she'd given him."Nothing's too much to use on these vermin," he said."I saw pirates space half my crew once.They won't get any mercy from me.""This isn't a vendetta, either," Yvette warned."We just want them out of the way_ as efficiently as possible.As soon as they're eliminated we put on spacesuits from the rack over there and go out to steal ourselves a ship.Understood?""Smooth," the captain nodded.Yvette unfastened the grating and, with a sudden violent kick, sent it flying across the room.The startled pirates within the dome looked up, their attention held for several seconds by the anomalous flight of the ventilator grill over their heads.By the time they could think of anything else, it was too late.Yvette and the captain emerged from their tunnel, prepared for a fight but also braced with caution.The room they were in was a transparent dome, with the deadly vacuum of space on the other side.Though the dome's material was tough enough to withstand even micrometeoroid impacts, a stray blaster beam could prove disastrous.It did not fit in with Yvette's plans to puncture the dome and destroy the entire pirate base by explosive decompression.Therefore, the two attackers did not fire at random as they might otherwise have done.They took their time to aim carefully at the surprised pirates, and each shot they placed was true.By the time the defenders could draw their weapons, the fight was essentially over; they themselves hesitated to risk a wild shot that might damage the dome over their heads, and the fraction of a second their indecision cost them was sufficient.Yvette and the captain were left alone in the dome.With the fighting over for the moment, the captain looked outside at the crowded spaceport field."Bozhe moi!" he exclaimed."They've got a whole navy of their own out there."Yvette had already gone to the racks that held scores of spacesuits and took one that was approximately her size.As she quickly clambered into it, she said, "Yes.Pick one that will hold all our people and let's get moving.Whatever ship you pick will have to be lifting off in half an hour."The long but necessary delay at the food lockers gave the pirates time to zero in on the location of Pias's group.As they made their way out toward the spaceship dock, the people from the Querida encountered much more resistance.Twice they were pinned down by enemy fire before they were able to kill their antagonists and move on.Three of the ship's company were cut down by blaster fire in the densely packed hallways.But Pias did manage to shepherd almost the entire contingent safely into the spacedock dome, and barricade the door behind them by moving some heavy equipment into place against it.It would take the pirates at least twenty minutes to get through.There was no sign of Yvette and the captain, but Pias refused to wait."Everyone take a spacesuit," he called, pointing at the racks to one side of the dome."It doesn't matter whether it's your size or not, you won't be wearing it anyway."A woman beside him gave him a startled glance."Then how are we supposed to get out to the ships?" As Pias followed her gesture with his eyes, he could make out two spacesuited figures loping across the spaceport field back toward the dome.That would be Yvette and the captain-or, at least, he hoped it was."We don't go out to the ships," was Pias's soft reply."We stay nice and cozy in there"--he pointed at the hole in the wall that led to the system of ventilator ducts--"while we wait to be rescued four days from now."There was rumblings of mutiny in the ranks, and many of the passengers were uncertain of the wisdom of Pias's plan [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]