Read Online Omega Games by S. L. Viehl - Free Book Online Page B

transport, and detain.”
    “Usually.” The word hardly comforted me. “How can they be stopped if they are not?”
    His eyes went gray. “Let me worry about that.”
    I prepared to argue the point, but the sounds of grinding metal grew louder. I fastened the breather over my mouth before closing the suit’s helmet.
    “Can you hear me?” I said over the suit com.
    “Yes.” He closed the collar gasket on my helmet. “Turn around.”
    Reever and I had just enough time to check each other’s seals before we were flung across the cabin into the breached air lock with every bit of debris that was not secured.
    As a viselike device attached itself to my leg, I looked out through the open air lock panels. The security drones had not bothered to board the ship; they had simply reached in with their grapplers extended to And drag us out they did, lifting us from the deck so that our legs dangled several feet from the planet’s surface.
    The drednoc holding me brought me up to its cranial case and scanned my helmet. “Identify,” it said in Jorenian.
    I barely remembered in time what Reever had told me. “I am Resa,” I said, borrowing my old friend’s name again. “Our ship’s engines malfunctioned, and we were forced to land here. We are not armed.”
    I hoped the natives were friendly toward accidental visitors. Before the rebellion on Akkabarr, the harsh winds of my homeworld forced down many ships. Any crash survivors were killed, and their faces, along with those of the dead, were skinned and delivered to the Toskald as tribute.
    “Terran, female,” the machine soldier said, switching to that language. “You are claimed under colonial charter by Mercy House.”
    Claimed and mercy were two good words. Under the circumstances, ones that I liked very much.
    “Terran, male,” the drone holding Reever said. “You are claimed under colonial charter by Games Master Drefan.”
    “I don’t think they’re going to harm us,” Reever said. “We may be considered salvage, or property, until we can identify ourselves to the colonists.”
    “Wait,” I said as the drone holding me and two others began to move in one direction, and the one with Reever and its companions went in another. Both went toward the colony domes, but Reever’s drones were headed toward the west section, while mine turned to the east. “We are together, husband and wife. We can’t be separated.” They did not stop. "Duncan.”
    “Don’t fight them,” Reever said over my suit com. “They are taking us to different domes. As soon as I can free myself, I will come for you. I will find you.”
    That was the last thing I heard him say as the drones separated and took him out of com range.
    The drone carrying me and two others traveled across the plain to the largest of the eastern domes. We entered the pressurized shelter through a series of airtight corridors. In each corridor we were scanned and subjected to various forms of intensive biodecon, including energy sweep, vacuum, and surface spray. Although the drednocs were not living beings, and would be difficult to contaminate, they were treated as if they were as alive as me.
    Something was very wrong here.
    At last we entered the main area under the dome. The colonists had built their shelters in various sizes on elevated foundations, forming walkways beneath them. This collection of shelters ranged from single-level dwellings to more elaborate multiplexes.
    I was brought to the largest structure, near the center of the dome, and taken on a lift to the lowest level. There the drednocs escorted me to a large empty room, where we waited for several minutes.
    My com relayed a warning buzz indicating the low level of oxygen in my air tank. I tried to persuade the machine soldier holding me to release me from its grip so that I could remove my helmet, but it did not respond. My lungs had begun to burn when at last someone living came in.
    The small, dark female who came to stand in front of