Read Online The Fenris Device by Brian Stableford - Free Book Online Page B

the Swan . It was the barrel of Maslax’s gun. He was leaning over my shoulder, looking at the instrument board. I flipped up one corner of the hood and looked at him.
    â€œWhen are we going to get to Mormyr?” he grated. He had been netting impatient while I was otherwise occupied. I could see that he hadn’t liked to interrupt me while I was busy, but I could also see that he was angry. I swiftly debated the possible answers I could give him, and decided that the truth would serve.
    â€œAt our present velocity, you mean?” I said innocently.
    â€œThat’s right,” he said.
    â€œOh,” I said pensively, “I’d say...about a year and a half.”
    I was hoping that he was going to get hopping mad, and perhaps relax his guard enough for me to grab the gun and stop him getting to the trigger, which was back in his pocket.
    But he didn’t get mad. His face just drained of its color, and he looked to be feeling very cold. He took the trigger out of his pocket and he showed it to me.
    â€œI’ve had enough of your sense of humor,” he said. “If we don’t reach Mormyr soon I’m going to blow this ship like I blew the last. I’ll give you exactly half an hour.”
    I could have made Mormyr in half that time, but I saw no point in telling him so. I thought it was time to test his reserve a little.
    â€œYou weren’t aboard the last ship when it blew,” I said. “You can’t blow the Swan without blowing yourself with it. Now you and I both know full well that you won’t do that.”
    He chuckled. It was a horrible sound. I thought he was just trying to scare me.
    â€œYou don’t understand, do you?” he said.
    â€œWell,” I said, “I can’t read your mind, but....” Thoughts began to strike me then, and I paused. If this crazy man really could read minds, how was it that he didn’t know that I was heading for Mormyr at a snail’s pace? How come it had taken him so long to figure out which switch turned on his suit caller? He could no more read minds than I.
    â€œYou can’t read minds,” I said, half bemused, half accusing.
    Unexpectedly, I got the reaction I’d been hoping for before. Hut there was no chance of taking advantage of it. He leaped backward from the cradle as if he’d been stung. I watched his fingers whiten around the barrel of the gun, and for a couple of seconds I almost believed that I was shot. But neither beam nor bullet came out of the gun. He’d moved his finger from the firing stud at the last moment.
    â€œI can read your mind,” he said, his voice thinning out into a hiss. “I know exactly what’s coming out of your mind.”
    â€œTell me,” I invited.
    â€œHate,” he said, putting some hate of his own into the way he said it. “Hate and fear.”
    â€œWell,” I said, keeping outwardly calm and as offhand as was possible. “I must admit that you’re not exactly my favorite person at this particular moment in time, and I’m quite willing to concede that the way you’re waving that gun around is a little worrying. I might describe my mental state as apprehensive. But I’m not radiating hate and fear, now am I? Be reasonable.”
    â€œHate,” he said, and his fingers whitened again as he squeezed the gun barrel, burning me to ash in his imagination—but only in his imagination. “Hate and fear.” He was still hissing slightly. But his voice was trailing off into a whisper.
    â€œYou can’t read minds,” I told him flatly. “You can’t read a single thing in my mind.”
    Be careful, warned the wind. He’s crazy. He thinks he can!
    Maslax looked at me as if I were a poisonous snake. “I need you,” he said. “I need you. To take me to Mormyr. You’re the only man who can. But I don’t need anybody else.”
    He stepped back, half turning to