Chapter 8

CHAPTER EIGHT

M aeve didn't like remaining behind while Gil and Daveed left the prison room with the first group but she could see Dr. Shane needed her help to process the freed hostages as quickly as possible. In the interests of getting them all out of the ancient temple as expeditiously as she could, Maeve forced herself to stay. The tremors underfoot were getting worse and the deity's rage was pushing against her consciousness harder and harder. She glanced at Baxtir's corpse across the room and wished she could tell the alien god his nemesis who'd taken over the temple was dead. No need for all these dramatic upheavals. Unfortunately, as she'd told the others previously, there was no way to communicate with the god. Either the many thousands of years of slumber after the temple was abandoned had affected his consciousness or perhaps he'd never possessed much sentience in the first place. According to her research, some gods and goddesses were elemental beings, close to the primeval. At any rate, she had no way to open a conversation.

"Done," Emily said, packing her medkit with practiced efficiency. She picked up her blaster and faced Jake. "Can we get out of here now?"

The strain in her voice was clear to Maeve and Jake obviously heard it as well because he drew his wife to him for a quick kiss. "You did great, doc." Glancing at Jayna, across the room, he raised his voice and said, "Go ahead of us, take point. Make sure we're clear at the outer door."

She saluted and ducked into the narrow corridor where Gil and the first group had exited the grim scene earlier. Jake and Emily herded the ex-prisoners together and got the men moving into the tunnel, with Jake as rearguard. Red took point as soon as the first civilian entered the tunnel and set a fast pace. From the rear, Jake reinforced the necessity to hurry, with more quakes emphasizing his urgency. This group of people were in pretty good shape, comparatively, despite their various ordeals as captives of terrorists and Maeve was pleased at how quickly they were evacuating. She was at the end of the column, next to Emily.

There was a violent sideways shift in the ground under her feet and a massive rumble. Maeve lost her balance and fell, bumping into Emily as she toppled over. The sound of the quake was so loud she couldn't hear herself think and dust filled the air. After two more massive tremors almost as big as the first, the shaking stopped and Maeve sat up gingerly to find herself at the edge of a massive pile of debris where the temple walls had fallen in. Any closer and she'd have been crushed by the falling rocks.

"You okay?" Emily asked, coughing from the dust in the air stirred up by the quakes.

"I'm fine, just shaky." Maeve hung onto her form grimly. This was certainly a test of her ability to remain an embodied person. The thought made her wince.

"Help me check the others then." The doctor scrambled over debris to get to the rest of their group, Maeve on her heels.

Jake and Red were fine, although both bore scrapes and bruises. The two security officers were engaged in trying to free one of the former prisoners from a pile of rocks where he was pinned by the leg. "We've got this," Jake said impatiently as Emily and Maeve ran up. "Go check the others."

Emily kissed his cheek and rushed to do as he ordered. Maeve had other priorities and forced her way through the group to the other side, anxious to determine if the corridor was clear enough for them to pass. She found out the answer immediately, making only a few yards of progress into the tunnel before discovering the way forward was completely blocked by fallen stones. Maeve was afraid the entire temple might have collapsed in this area and there was obviously no escape in this direction. They were blocked on the other side too and the prison chamber was a dead end, thanks to the collapse of the doorway in the first quakes.

She took a deep breath and briefed Jake. "We're trapped," she said quietly. "The corridor is completely blocked."

"Figured as much. Damn!" Jake was calm, obviously ready to work the problem. Not much fazed him..

"Can Owen and Jayna get us out?" Emily asked. "Blow a path through the debris?"

"We used up our explosives," Red said. "And we don't know the situation outside either. I'm sure our friends will try everything they can, if anyone survived out there."

"Is the subaural com working for anyone?" Jake tapped his ear and frowned. "Maeve, are you getting anything?"

She tried reaching out to Gil and then to Theo. "Nothing. The signal must be blocked." She tried to access her remaining drones outside the temple and again got no response. She had a few in here with her but they were useless in the current situation. Nonetheless, she ordered three of them to try to make a way through the jumbled debris and get themselves outside. She hoped the tiny robos could report back and at least there'd be fresh information and possibly communication with the rest of their team.

"We need to conserve the oxygen," Emily said. Turning to the group, who was watching the attempt to rescue the man caught by the falling wall, she said, "Sit down, control your breathing and don't talk. Our friends outside won't desert us, I give you my word, so do your best to relax. It'll slow your breathing. I'll be around in a few minutes to take care of any wounds, after we free this guy."

Maeve picked a relatively clear spot and sat cross legged, watching the continuing efforts by Jake and Red to free the trapped individual. There was nothing she could do to help and only so much room to work in the narrow space. She was torn. She could get herself out of this place immediately. All she had to do was dissolve her corporeal form and teleport to the portion of her mind which had become associated with the Valkyrie Revenge , in orbit above. Gil was safe, and his brother with him, so her job was done. On the other hand, Jake, Red and Emily were her crew and the safety of the men and women who flew on her ship was paramount. Even though they weren't on the Nebula Zephyr right now, Maeve found her loyalty unwavering. She couldn't abandon her crew. The rescued hostages had a more tenuous link to her and while Maeve admitted it was cold on her part, she wasn't motivated by the same driving need to save them. They weren't and had never been her passengers. As she studied the tired, strained faces, she reached hard for the emotions she ‘ought' to feel. She couldn't leave the freed prisoners behind either.

There was also the issue that if she had managed to become pregnant during her quick liaison with Gil at his hotel, Maeve was sure giving up the corporeal form would mean loss of the embryo. She was 99% positive she hadn't conceived, however. She might be in a humanoid body but she had an unusual depth of knowledge about every inch of it and all the biological subsystems which made up the form, much more comprehensive than humans could claim without elaborate sensors and scans, and there'd been no sign whatsoever she'd been quickening with a new life. The knowledge made her sad but she refused to believe she and Gil wouldn't have more opportunities to become parents. They hadn't even discussed the possibility and she had no idea if he would welcome becoming a father again after the tragedy of losing his only child years ago. He'd be a wonderful father, she was sure, but now wasn't the time to have the conversation. One more thing we really have to talk about once all this adventuring is done..

The last time she'd seen Lady V'terre, on Level 10 of the Nebula Zephyr, the Mellurean had been characteristically blunt. "We've done all we could to give you the body you and Gil requested, to experience life as a humanoid—it's up to you now. You have a driving need for perfection, Maeve, and you must accept the fact human life isn't perfect. There's no scriptwriter as there is for your beloved soap operas, no one to ensure the outcomes are exactly as you want them to be. You've got to accept that reality, and you have to expand your perspectives if you ever want to be stable enough in the corporeal form to maintain it. Humans are by their nature imperfect beings, which doesn't make them lesser—their emotions and decisions make them who they are. They're an energetic, worthy species with many admirable qualities. You want to be able to be with Gil Fleming, to be in essence human yourself, so you have to achieve the mental balance to carry the role off. Life has its ups and downs and situations don't always resolve the way we might prefer. You have to learn to work with change and lack of control over your environment and events. Otherwise you will be an AI in a humanoid body but still an AI, not a person as you wish to be."

"I can fix anything," Maeve had said rebelliously.

"On this ship, yes. In the wider world where you wish to dwell, no." V'terre shook her head and smiled. "Humans are a young, impetuous people and you, my dear, are even younger and more headstrong."

"Does this mean I can't ever walk free of my ship?" Maeve asked, knowing Gil couldn't stay on the Nebula Zephyr forever. He was human and mortal, unless the Mellureans swooped in one day to grant him a longer life on their world.

"For all practical purposes, yes. You need an AI anchoring structure relatively close at hand. It doesn't have to be this specific cortex, although this one works best since you're part of it. Any AI of sufficient complexity will do." V'terre held up one hand and Maeve's eyes were drawn to the pendant dangling on a golden chain from her graceful fingers. "Our final gift to you, as our help pertains to your becoming an independent sentient."

"What is it, besides beautiful?" Maeve stood patiently so the Mellurean could fasten the necklace behind her neck and then ran her fingers over the locket's surface. When it opened, revealing a representation of the Mellurean solar system done in precious gems and sparkling lavender enamel, she gave a little gasp. As she watched the interior vista was replaced with a swirling vortex, black, purple and blue flashes of light spinning around a sparkling core. "I never had any serious jewelry before." She'd amused herself by buying a few pairs of earrings and a bracelet or two at the shops on the ship.

V'terre put her fingers over Maeve's and closed the locket with a snap. "Only to be used in case of emergency. This is a fallback, to allow you to travel out of range of AI infrastructure and still have an escape if needed."

"How do I?—?"

V'terre exerted her mental powers and showed Maeve the way to shape her cerebral impulses to activate the tiny warp held inside the pendant and remove herself to another spot. "Pick carefully and visualize the destination in detail or you'll go to the Nebula Zephyr by default."

"From anywhere?" Maeve was startled, even though she knew the power of the Mellureans firsthand after all these years.

"We've designed it so you can take others with you," V'terre said, nodding her affirmative to the question. "In case you and the captain need rescuing at some point." Next moment the Mellurean Mind had disappeared from Level 10 while Maeve was still trying to stammer out her thanks.

Now, in the small safe space inside the damaged temple, Maeve looked at the people with her, coughing and hacking in the dust filled, hot air and wondered if she had enough power in the pendant to take all of them to safety. V'terre had probably never imagined this kind of scenario—how much margin of error was built into the miniature warp?

Deciding to aim for the clearing where the shuttle would land, which was also where the team had been dropped off hours ago to start this mission, Maeve rose to her feet. "I can get us out of here."

"How?" Jake asked from his spot next to Emily, who was doing her best for the injured man, now freed from the pile of rocks, but left with a crushed leg. "I'm used to you doing astonishing things, Maeve, but we're not on the ship now."

"I have surprises left to spring on you," she said, shaking her finger at him. "We need to be in a tight circle and all holding hands for this to work." Maeve didn't know that to be true. Certainly V'terre hadn't specified any procedure for using the pendant to rescue others besides herself but the idea sounded right to her. "We need to do this now before I lose control." If she devolved from the corporeal form, she'd revert to the Valkyrie Revenge , far above in orbit and Maeve was sure she couldn't go back to the caved-in temple from there. Not in any form which would allow her to save her crew members and the people they'd freed from the Jlonngi.

The urgency in her voice startled the others and they formed a tight group wither her in the center her. She took Jake's hand in hers on one side and Red's on the other side, not wanting to have physical contact with strangers. Closing her eyes, trying to ignore the new set of tremors occurring below her feet, Maeve concentrated on the mental pathway V'terre had shown her which would activate the pendant. She found it a challenge to keep her intention to bring the four ex-hostages with her since she didn't know them at all but she wasn't going to fail this test. Having made her decision to care about them and to rescue them, anything less was unacceptable.

She wanted Gil to be proud of her and if she lost the freed hostages in the process, she knew without a doubt he'd be unhappy. He'd wouldn't reproach her but he'd be disappointed.

With his approval as her impetus, she issued the final mental command to the pendant. Immediately her gut was full of butterflies and her senses were overwhelmed with inputs. Maeve felt herself dissolving, which held no terror for her but she heard Jake cursing, Emily gasping and shouting from others. She had no time or attention to spare for reassuring anyone. The best thing to do was to get them to safety without delay.

Gil brushed away a persistent blood sucking insect and adjusted his hold on the blaster. Impatience was rising in him and concern about their window for a safe extraction. What the seven hells was holding Jake and the others up? Owen had said something garbled on the subaural com about another collapse and there'd been no end of steadily increasing tremors, which did nothing to calm Gil's anxiety. He and Daveed and the other armed individuals stood at their posts, guarding the unarmed women and men but if the Jlonngi or even Main's men showed up, the firefight would be short and overwhelming. He simply couldn't withstand an assault from either group with the resources he had.

Theo kept calling, offering to make a run and pick them up, returning later for Jake, Maeve and the others, but Gil held him off. Allowing himself and the others to be extracted from danger, leaving Maeve and her group behind wasn't a move he'd agree to make. Jake's original plan had been a sound one and Gil intended to stick to it. He was concerned Theo, who could be impetuous, might decide he'd had enough of waiting and arrive on the scene anyway. If an unscheduled arrival happened Gil was resolved to send Daveed and the others to the Valkyrie Revenge aboard the shuttle while he would remain and wait for the rest of the group. In a way that might be better because he'd be free to rush to the temple and search Maeve out.

Midorri suddenly sat upright, gazing at the sky and chirruping as if greeting someone. Gil followed her line of sight but found nothing except the stars and the waning moons. Then there was a flash of illumination, like lightning although the sky was cloudless, and he watched Maeve, Jake and the rest appear as if they were standing on a cloud, only to immediately fall from a height of about fifteen feet.

"What in the name of space—" he said, preventing Daveed from moving forward. Being struck by one of the falling bodies would be bad for his brother and the newcomer.

Maeve and her seven companions tumbled to the ground, which luckily was fairly soft and covered in the lush tropical vegetation. One man screamed in agony as he hit but the rest were silent. Afraid of what he might find, Gil rushed to her, kneeling at her side. He was relieved to find her breathing, with a steady pulse. "Wake up, sweetheart," he said, brushing her tousled hair away from her face. "You're safe now."

Opening her eyes as if awakening from a deep sleep, Maeve stared at him blankly before she grabbed him and began kissing him wildly. "We made it, the pendant worked," she said in between frantic kisses.

Gil gathered her close, hoping to ease her anxiety. "Are you okay? Does anything hurt?"

"I'm fine," she said, making the effort to stand up. "Did I—did I manage to bring all of them? I knew you'd want me to rescue them all."

"I don't see Owen or Jayna," he said.

"Those two weren't with us in the collapsed rubble," Jake answered. Hand to his ear, he issued orders to Owen and Jayna, who were presumably still at their post at the temple. "Come running now. Maeve worked some miracle of her own and we're all here at the extraction point."

On our way , Owen replied. Things are getting hot here. Not only are the Jlonngi swarming but the ground is becoming unstable under the temple. There are steaming mudholes opening up and Jayna said she observed lava flowing from a fissure in the rocks when she did a patrol of the area.

"The deity is going to literally erupt," Maeve announced. "His anger has reached the breaking point and his power is activating a dormant supervolcano. We're not going to be safe at any distance—the planet needs to be evacuated."

Jake was already calling Theo. We need you, buddy, like ten minutes ago. The situation is deteriorating fast.

I'm actually on my way, was the pilot's response. I couldn't wait any longer.

"Are we surprised he jumped the gun?" Gil said out loud, with a laugh. "Is everyone okay?"

Emily had a big bruise on her forehead but she was tending to the man who had landed with a scream. "His leg was crushed when the temple collapsed and falling to the ground here didn't improve matters. I need to get him to sickbay immediately or we're going to lose him." She looked at Maeve. "What you did was amazing and absolutely the right thing. He didn't want to die entombed in the middle of the destruction, I'm sure."

"I'm sorry I didn't realize I was bringing us to arrive in midair," Maeve said. "I've never used the ability before. It was untested."

"Well it worked," Jake said, "Which is all I care about. Thanks."

Gil could feel tremors running through Maeve's body where she stood, locked tightly to him.

"I need—I have to—I can't stay here," she said to him in a voice barely above a whisper. "I'm sorry, I?—"

"Do what you need to do for yourself," he said immediately. "Can you get to the ship on your own?"

"Yes." Maeve stood on tiptoe to kiss him again, closed her eyes and next moment had dissolved in the cloud of sparkling motes, which rose into the night sky and disappeared in the blink of an eye.

Daveed moved closer to Gil. "There's a bit of explaining to be done, brother, when we have time. Is your girlfriend a Mellurean or something?"

"Or something is right," Gil replied with a rueful smile. "But I love her and she loves me and she organized this rescue mission we're standing in the middle of."

"Works for me." Daveed's answer was prompt and good humored. "I want you to be happy, big brother, but she seems a little…unusual."

"She makes me happy." The truth of his statement resonated in Gil's heart. "She and I were made for each other, in a way I can't explain right now but trust me, Maeve is the woman of my dreams and I'll be with her till the day I die."

"Which hopefully won't be today," Jake said, having come to stand with them. "Theo's on final approach and Owen reports he and Jayna will be here in five minutes. They're double timing it. Help me get the ex-hostages ready to move as soon as Theo touches down."

Gil and Daveed organized the group at Jake's request, assigning two of the ex-hostages to help carry the badly injured man to the shuttle, there being no antigrav litter. Then there was nothing to do but wait, which was the most nerve-wracking part of any operation.

"Can Maeve get any of her drones working again?" Jake asked Gil. "I don't know what's going on with her but I'd like eyes on the temple and as overwatch here."

Activating drones now , Maeve said on the com. Sorry, I should have done that sooner but I've been a bit preoccupied.

"Makes her seem more human," Jake said to Gil as the drone feed came online.

I'm sending out an all-planet evacuation warning , she added. No one here will survive the coming eruption of a supervolcano.

Gil appreciated her decision to advise the locals to leave but he could foresee the mass chaos which would occur as a result. There was no strong civilian authority to organize an evacuation so there'd undoubtedly be fighting for space on the few ships available, most of which were owned by criminals like Arturo Main. The gang boss was no philanthropist—he might evacuate a few who could pay dearly for the privilege or selected individuals he could use in some fashion. The other gangs were much the same.

"We have to remember this situation was caused by the actions of the Jlonngi cult," he said out loud, sure the others were experiencing the same dismay and anxiety. "It has nothing to do with us and our presence here. If Maeve could have talked sense into the ancient spirit, she would have but he—it—had no higher consciousness left to address, only chaotic rage and determination for vengeance."

Owen and Jayna burst into the clearing, running full out.

"There's a squad of tangoes on our tail," Jayna managed to gasp out as she leaned on Jake and tried to catch her breath. "Maybe ten minutes back. I think they were blindly fleeing the disaster at the temple but then their scouts ran across us—there was a nasty firefight and we escaped—and now the surviving gang members probably think we have a ship of some kind they can steal."

"Maybe twenty guys," Owen added as Midorri climbed him like her favorite obstacle course, perching on his shoulder with her tail wrapped around his neck for stability. "We bought ourselves time but not much. Where the seven hells is Theo?"

The scream of whining engines from the sky answered him and the shuttle came into view as a rapidly enlarging spot in the light of dawn. Theo was descending at a reckless rate but Gil knew he was pilot enough to handle his craft and the situation certainly was dire, calling for speed. He shepherded the others away from the area where Theo was likely to land as the shuttle came ever closer.

The ramp was emerging from the flyer even before the landing gear touched the soft ground and sank in an inch or two.

Come on, come on, Theo said on the com. You've got tangoes about to surround us and the volcano is about to blow too.

Jake released the ex-hostages in small groups, running across the turf with a Nebula Zephyr team member at their sides to provide assistance. The three women went first, followed by Emily, her patient and the two men carrying him. As the doctor ascended the ramp, there was a burst of blaster fire from the jungle.

"Not close enough yet," Jake said. "That'll change in a blink of the eye. All right, everyone, make a run for it."

He and Red remained behind, providing withering covering fire, directed into the surrounding jungle. Gil ran with Daveed, helping his brother move as fast as possible, He hated not being the last to board the shuttle but Jake was in command. Once he reached the ramp, he hunkered down in the minimal cover its struts afforded and shot at the lurkers in the jungle, trying to protect Jake and Red as they now ran for the flyer. The ramp began to close and Gil swung onto it, a near miss of blaster fire scorching his sleeve as he fought his way inside. Theo wouldn't leave anyone behind but he wasn't going to linger either. Gil stopped just inside the doorway, spinning around to resume shooting again as Red and Jake managed to work their way up the nearly closed ramp and fall into the flyer by his side.

Go, go, go , Gil yelled into the com as the Jlonngi soldiers, desperate to capture the ship, broke into the open.

Theo took the flyer up in a steep angle, the engines no doubt in the red zone as he applied power. Gil and his two companions had to cling tightly to whatever was handy to avoid being bounced like pinballs in the small boarding area and injured. He hoped the rest of the group had managed to get themselves into seats and strapped down but there was nothing he could do to help anyone right now.

We've got a lot of traffic ahead of us, Theo said, continuing his rapid ascent and adding new evasive maneuvers to his flight path. Maeve's warning about the volcano touched off a mass exodus all right and there's no flight control directing anything. I saw two collisions already.

Keep us from having the same fate, Gil said with a trace of humor in his voice. He was counting his blessings Maeve had persuaded Theo to join her team because the guy was a hot pilot before he'd moved into command of a Space Navy ship. His skills had obviously not grown rusty.

Count on that , Theo replied. Don't forget, my wife is there with you. I've got a lot at stake here.

Gil heard Theo call ahead to Maeve on the Valkyrie Revenge to get the engines spooled up and open the landing bay.

I'm busy right now , she said, voice tight. I'm repelling a boarding party who wanted to hijack us. Come in hot and wary.

Roger that. Don't shoot us though. Theo sounded half serious.

Hey, buddy, I used to be a battleship, I know what I'm doing here , was her snippy response.

The last portion of the ascent to the Valkyrie Revenge was tense. Gil managed to reach the cockpit and take the empty chair next to Theo, who was doing a masterful job of piloting. "Almost there," he said to the younger man.

"Almost doesn't count," Theo replied. The flyer jolted as it was struck by fire from another vessel and sirens wailed. Theo shut the alarms off with a savage sweep of his hand across the sensor board. "I don't need the distraction right now. Anything critical?"

"Nope." Gil kept his eyes on the readouts and vids, astonished at how many ships of all kinds had taken to the air to try and escape the planet. "I've never seen such a melee outside of a battle. It's definitely every person for themselves right now."

Theo wove his way over and around other ships, some of them massive, and there was no more incoming fire, which was a relief to Gil. He supposed the mass exodus worked in their favor to the extent neither the remaining Jlonngi or Arturo's gang could track him down in this unstructured flood of vessels. Now safely in space, they were clear of anyone trying to hijack the flyer for their own. "I'm approaching the landing bay now, Maeve," Theo said. "You think you could open the door for us?"

"Opening the cargo bay instead—there's damage to the landing bay," she said. "Do your best to make it work. I'm jumping to hyperspeed the instant you're aboard."

"Make it work, she says, like it's a simple maneuver." Theo swore as the Valkyrie Revenge appeared on the screens, dead ahead. There was quite a bit of hull damage and the cargo bay doors gaped open. A blasted hulk floated off to starboard which Gil assumed had been the aggressor's vessel. Maeve wasn't fooling with diplomacy or warning shots on this trip.

He watched in fascinated horror as Theo reduced speed to a crawl and gingerly brought the flyer into the mother ship, into a space where it wasn't supposed to be but there were no other choices. Breathing a huge sigh of relief as the flyer set down with a thump in the confined area Maeve had cleared out for them, Gil was jolted against the back of the co-pilot's seat as she made good on her vow to jump to lightspeed. He wondered if she'd managed to close the doors before jumping. It seemed she was in a hurry to get away from the chaos happening in near space around Pagettia Three.

And we're safe now , Maeve said over the subaural com in Gil's ear. Well on our way to Zebulon Six. I estimate three days travel to get there. Plenty of time to align our stories and decide what we want to tell the authorities and what we don't choose to share . Switching to the actual com, she added, "Welcome aboard the Valkyrie Revenge . We'll do our best to make your trip with us a pleasant one."

Gil had to laugh at her tone. This isn't the Nebula Zephyr , he reminded her subaurally.

The ex-hostages survived to become my guests and I always welcome new arrivals, she answered in a teasing tone. Are you going to debark now?

Taking her not so subtle hint, he took command of the situation. Jake had been in charge of the rescue mission and the combat operations but Gil felt it was now his duty to organize the logistics of fitting all these people into a ship not intended to hold them. Not to mention the need to get medical intervention going immediately for the man with the crushed leg and anyone else in need of more than first aid.