that?”
“Fair enough,” said Wolff, and sat back down.
“What?”
“I don’t wish to disembark here. I shall wait until this ship alights somewhere more promising.”
“You have no right to be on this ship!” Jed snarled.
“Ay. Same as tapeworms have no right to be in people’s digestive tracts.” Again, that irritating smile.
“I cannot disconnect this interference device with you here!” Jed thrust her hand toward Taggart’s device.
A stupid grin broke out on Wolff’s face. “I’ll turn the other way.”
“The typical idiotic remark I have come to expect from a man of your calibre.” Did he do this with the sole intention of annoying her? Why did the stupid, perverse man not get on with his own life and leave Jed to get on with hers?
“So I can’t leave until you have a heart-to-heart with your ship, and you can’t do that until I leave, and I don’t want to leave. This sort of deadlock is becoming a frequent situation round here.”
Jed looked at Wolff, then outside at the side of the docking pipe, then back at Wolff again. “What is it with you?” she spat.
“I will call a truce. I will leave so you can repair your ship, on the understanding that you don’t leave until I return.”
Jed narrowed her eyes. She hated having to yield to compromises like this. “I should have killed you while I had the chance,” she muttered.
“You can kill me now.” Wolff spread his arms out in jest, as though inviting her to shoot him. There was an ever-so-slight tension in his face.
Jed gave a sigh of exasperation.
“Ah, so you no longer have it in you?”
“Killing to prove one’s point is dishonourable. Killing in self defense is not.”
“As it is said, you will have to make a choice. You either take a step forward and kill me, or you take a step backward and give me some leeway.”
Jed tried to control the anger boiling up inside her. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. When she opened them, she looked up at the man standing, awaiting her decision at the other side of the bridge. “I leave when I have repaired the ship. If you have not returned by then, I leave regardless.”
“That will suffice.”
Jed shied away as Wolff reached his hand toward her. “Just go,” she said.
Wolff headed off into the main corridor. Jed closed the door behind him and knelt on the floor. She must forget Wolff now. The quicker she dealt with this, the better. Examining the connection, she knew she’d have to remove the code from the Shamrock ’s computer first then disconnect the device manually. Pressing her fingers against her interface crown, she prepared to go into mindlock with her ship.
Chapter 5
Carck-Westmathlon
Some gamble on chance with wealth untold,
And some reap the profits although,
Some lose all atoms in their hold,
So tread carefully, for fire lies below
Wolff stepped out of the Shamrock ’s starboard airlock into a tenebrous cylindrical corridor of unwholesome atmosphere. He sniffed at the air as he emerged from the branch to which the Archer’s ship was docked. Through the enhanced vision of his IR-UV bifocals, he saw a similar tunnel leading to a disused dendrite. A white-and-red sign marked its entrance. Wolff stared at the characters on it—some kind of danger warning. Beyond it, he made out a meshwork of hair-thin IR beams, stretching like a sparse web across the girth of the corridor. Dull glassy bulbs embedded in the walls suggested an automatic laser weaponry array. Wolff smiled to himself, and dipped his head to step through the widest interstice. Carefully, albeit rather desperately, he made his way to the opposite wall and urinated on it.
He examined what he could see of his new environment while he attended to his business. It appeared a standard docking pipe with localised gravity and no other branching corridors, with the usual obvious security systems, of course. How did a docking dendrite compare in fortification to an Archer’s
“Fair enough,” said Wolff, and sat back down.
“What?”
“I don’t wish to disembark here. I shall wait until this ship alights somewhere more promising.”
“You have no right to be on this ship!” Jed snarled.
“Ay. Same as tapeworms have no right to be in people’s digestive tracts.” Again, that irritating smile.
“I cannot disconnect this interference device with you here!” Jed thrust her hand toward Taggart’s device.
A stupid grin broke out on Wolff’s face. “I’ll turn the other way.”
“The typical idiotic remark I have come to expect from a man of your calibre.” Did he do this with the sole intention of annoying her? Why did the stupid, perverse man not get on with his own life and leave Jed to get on with hers?
“So I can’t leave until you have a heart-to-heart with your ship, and you can’t do that until I leave, and I don’t want to leave. This sort of deadlock is becoming a frequent situation round here.”
Jed looked at Wolff, then outside at the side of the docking pipe, then back at Wolff again. “What is it with you?” she spat.
“I will call a truce. I will leave so you can repair your ship, on the understanding that you don’t leave until I return.”
Jed narrowed her eyes. She hated having to yield to compromises like this. “I should have killed you while I had the chance,” she muttered.
“You can kill me now.” Wolff spread his arms out in jest, as though inviting her to shoot him. There was an ever-so-slight tension in his face.
Jed gave a sigh of exasperation.
“Ah, so you no longer have it in you?”
“Killing to prove one’s point is dishonourable. Killing in self defense is not.”
“As it is said, you will have to make a choice. You either take a step forward and kill me, or you take a step backward and give me some leeway.”
Jed tried to control the anger boiling up inside her. She closed her eyes and inhaled deeply. When she opened them, she looked up at the man standing, awaiting her decision at the other side of the bridge. “I leave when I have repaired the ship. If you have not returned by then, I leave regardless.”
“That will suffice.”
Jed shied away as Wolff reached his hand toward her. “Just go,” she said.
Wolff headed off into the main corridor. Jed closed the door behind him and knelt on the floor. She must forget Wolff now. The quicker she dealt with this, the better. Examining the connection, she knew she’d have to remove the code from the Shamrock ’s computer first then disconnect the device manually. Pressing her fingers against her interface crown, she prepared to go into mindlock with her ship.
Chapter 5
Carck-Westmathlon
Some gamble on chance with wealth untold,
And some reap the profits although,
Some lose all atoms in their hold,
So tread carefully, for fire lies below
Wolff stepped out of the Shamrock ’s starboard airlock into a tenebrous cylindrical corridor of unwholesome atmosphere. He sniffed at the air as he emerged from the branch to which the Archer’s ship was docked. Through the enhanced vision of his IR-UV bifocals, he saw a similar tunnel leading to a disused dendrite. A white-and-red sign marked its entrance. Wolff stared at the characters on it—some kind of danger warning. Beyond it, he made out a meshwork of hair-thin IR beams, stretching like a sparse web across the girth of the corridor. Dull glassy bulbs embedded in the walls suggested an automatic laser weaponry array. Wolff smiled to himself, and dipped his head to step through the widest interstice. Carefully, albeit rather desperately, he made his way to the opposite wall and urinated on it.
He examined what he could see of his new environment while he attended to his business. It appeared a standard docking pipe with localised gravity and no other branching corridors, with the usual obvious security systems, of course. How did a docking dendrite compare in fortification to an Archer’s
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