RED KNIGHT
a STAR FRONTIERS Novel
by Layne K. Saltern
Voar followed my cue. "Kro'khan needs to be alone for this. Let's give him some space."
"Sure," said Tulk'n. "Kro'khan, I'm sorry I lost my cool. A dead body does funny things to a guy, especially one so. . ." He finished the sentence with a grimace. He casually sought the arm of Lieutenant Z'ungheure, but she fended off his gesture.
"Kro'khan, is there anything I can do to help you here?" she asked.
"Thanks for the offer," I replied, "but this won't be pretty."
"It doesn't bother me. I'd just rather stay here." Her voice trembled only slightly.
"Voar," I said, "take Lieutenant Z'ungheure with you."
Finally alone, I uncovered the Yazirian corpse. As a medic I've studied countless corpses, but I had never seen one twisted in such bizarre fashion. I tried not to let it bug me.
I pulled out a blade to perform a brief autopsy, but the second I touched his flesh I yanked my hand away.
"He's cold," I said aloud. He felt like meat from a freezer. I checked his temperature: eight degrees celsius! I looked around. There were a number of refrigeration units where the body could easily have been stored. The bottom line was that Krenny was killed long before the screams we heard.
I began looking into the refrigeration units. One of them had a big empty space, large enough to hold Krenny's body. Yazirian hairs were stuck to the inner walls. Also in the unit was a small audio playback device hidden in a fist-sized golden sack.
The sack looked familiar. Yes, it was the same sack that held the chameleon spheres Thibaut had been using during the flight!
Ice gripped my joints as I realized that someone was watching me through the slightest crack in the south door.
I looked at the golden sack. "Thibaut?" I said.
I ducked instinctively, dodging a laser bolt fired from behind the south door. By the time I reached the door, a dark form was already fleeing around the hallway corner to the west.
I chased after the attacker as fast as my eight legs would take me--which is pretty fast!
Not this time. You won't get away from me this time!
The pursuit continued, but every time I turned a corner I just missed seeing who it was that I was chasing.
Finally, I got to the entrance of the underground tunnel. One of the bubblecars was missing. I could hear it racing away in the distance.
A jumped into the second bubblecar and floored the accelerator. The tunnel walls whizzed past in a white blur.
I stopped to catch my breath at the tunnel's end. I had him trapped now. There were no other exits in this section of the base.
I glanced at the shiny black pistol in my fist and set it to full power.
The lights in the main room had been dimmed to a weak amber, incapable of pentrating the watery shadows cast by the bushes. The darkness could be an advantage to both of us!
I crawled below the soft cover of a bush and counted the possible places my target could have gone. There were only three. Either he had entered Lieutenant Z'ungheure's old room or the library, or he was still in the main room, hiding in the bushes like myself.
The library doors were easily accessible by going from bush to bush. Entering Z'ungheure's old room would require crossing a few meters of open floor--giving up my cover. I decided to try the library.
Using the stealth training I had gained as an environmentalist, I crawled closer and closer to the library doors. I listened through the doors rather than opening them. All I could hear was the hum of climate control.
Something clicked and hissed to the west. Whomever I was following was getting away in one of the bubblecars!
I charged at full speed for the other bubblecar, and once again I was shooting like a projectile through the tunnel. The other car was well ahead of me now, but I would make up for it.
My eyes nearly exploded! The other bubblecar had somehow switched tracks and was heading directly for me on my rail! I jumped out, missing the collision by only microseconds! The momentum of my body threw me without mercy through several meters of hard tunnel. With every tumble I could hear echoes from the explosion that the two cars had caused.
By the time I could pull myself up, I could both feel and smell fire. The platic of the tube groaned, cracked and then caved in behind me.
I fell to my knees, which no longer had the strength to support me. No! Not a weakness attack now!
My toxy-rad gauge lit up the dark tunnel with a red glow. I could hear a computer voice saying: "Radiation leak detected in transport tunnel. Sealing off tunnel to prevent contamination." The cave-in behind me had fractured the tunnel's radiation shielding.
The tunnel seemed to spin, going from black to white. . .to red. It was happening again! Everything about me turned to a deep shade of red--until I could see nothing but the color.
I made a last desperate attempt to get up. I was running and running, praying not to lose my balance. The color flooded my environment.
Red. It felt like I was running faster than I ever had.
Red! I hit against something hard.
Black. . .