Winds of darkness - Part Four

		(c) 2001, Wirewolf
		(Rewritten 2/1/99)

  The maintenance tunnel Sengual led them through was longer then Redics had 
expected, or hoped.  While Zanth and the Yrboti had no trouble moving around, Redics 
found the ceiling was a few centimeters too low for comfort.  He had to walk with his 
head constantly tilted to one side.  At least I'm walking and not crawling, he thought.

  They came to an intersection that branched off in three new directions.  Sengual didn't 
hesitate.  He headed for the left branch.  It was fairly obvious to Redics that Sengual 
either worked in these tunnels or had reason to travel them frequently.

  Moments after turning into the left tunnel, Sengual came to a sudden stop.  He made a 
noise that sounded like a confused grunt.  Redics looked around him, wanting to know 
what the problem was.

  Barring their way was a heavy piece of plate metal that had been securely welded to the 
floor and ceiling.  The distorted area around the welds still gave off the familiar smell of 
ozone and heated plastics.  The plate had been installed very recently.

  "What's that for?" Redics asked.  Zanth translated, but no answer came.  Instead, 
Sengual reversed direction and went back to the intersection.  He took the right branch 
this time.  Redics and Zanth followed.

  It wasn't long before they found an identical blockade across the tunnel.  Sengual stared 
at it for a long moment.  Redics felt his chest tighten.  The implications were making 
themselves clear.  He didn't bother to wait for the Yrboti to turn around.  He headed for 
the central branch of the intersection.

  Thirty meters down the central branch, he met the same obstacle.  A large welded plate 
blocked the way.  He turned and found them behind him, staring at the heavy plate.  
"What does this mean?" he asked.  "Are we trapped in here?"

  It took a moment for Sengual to respond to the flat voice coming from the comm in his 
hand.  He waved weakly at the barricade and muttered something.

  "Hey!"  Redics said loudly.  "Use the comm, remember?"

  Sengual looked at him blankly.  He gazed at the device in his hand for a moment.  "I 
don't understand.  There's no reason."  He looked at the welded plate again.  "It's against 
the safety regulations."

  "Can we get past it?"

  Sengual shuffled past him and laid a gnarled hand on the plate.  He rapped it lightly 
with a knuckle.  It didn't ring with the usual sound of metal, but instead sounded a 
disturbingly solid thump.

  "Hull material," he said.  It had the sound of finality about it.

  "Redics," Zephanthus said quietly.

  "No."  Redics looked at his companion.  "There has to be another way out.  We'll find 
it."  He addressed the Yrboti in a firm voice.  "There has to be a way out of here."

  Sengual stared at him while Zanth rendered.  For a long while, no one moved.  Redics 
shook his head.  He felt the stirrings of anger and he couldn't decide which was the best 
target, the plate or Sengual's addled head.

  "Can you think of any weak spots in these tunnels where we might break through to a 
room or another tunnel?  Do you have any kind of deck plans we could look at?"  Redics 
was mildly surprised he hadn't yelled.  He certainly felt like yelling.

  Sengual's head turned to face back the way they had come.  He took a tentative step, 
then another.  He stopped.  He looked back over his shoulder at the human.  His eyes 
were alight with the fire of his younger days.

  "The lockers," he said.

  Later, with the decks around them cluttered with an assortment of tools that had been 
evicted from their storage locker, Sengual ran a small plasma torch along the back wall 
of the cavity.  He had identified this locker as the one closest to another access tunnel.  It 
only remained to be seen what lay behind the back wall of the locker once the metal was 
pried away.

  Zephanthus stood some distance down the tunnel.  The smoke thrown out by the torch 
was too much for his still-sensitive eyes and nasal linings.  He hoped the wrinkled man's 
idea would work.  He wasn't claustrophobic by nature, but the idea of being stuck in the 
tunnel until someone happened to find them was an uncomfortable one.

  He heard a metallic clunk, followed by an exclamation.

  Redics pushed his way further into the locker, then withdrew.  He yanked out the 
smoking metal plate that had been the back of the locker and let it fall to the deck.  He 
and Sengual waved their hands, trying to clear the bluish smoke out of the way.  The two 
of them peered intently into the cavity.

  Redics pointed.  "What's that?"

  Sengual stared into the hole, his eyes squinting against the remaining smoke.  He turned 
and picked up a long metal rod with a delicate mechanism on the end.  He turned the tool 
around and reached into the locker with it.  There was a dull thumping sound as he 
rapped something with the tool handle.

  The Yrboti backed out and set the tool down.  He spoke quietly.   "It's a bracing strut.  
Too thick to cut."

  Redics looked into the locker again.  Then he looked at Zephanthus.  "Zanth," he called.

  Zanth pushed his head against his companion's leg.  He felt a hand rubbing the side of 
his face, just behind the whiskers.  "What do you think?" the human asked.  "Can you get 
through that hole?"

  It still stank in the locker, but he stuck his head in for a look.  Just behind the hole 
Sengual had cut was a blank wall of metal.  It looked like the same material that had 
been welded across the hall.  It didn't cover the entire opening, though.  About one-third 
of the hole was clear.  The edge of the wall ran at a slant from the center of the bottom to 
the left corner of the top.  The opening at the bottom left corner revealed nothing beyond.

  Zanth pulled back out.  "I can get through.  Easily."

  "How about us?"

  He looked in the hole again, sizing it up.  He studied the Yrboti.  "He can," he declared, 
then hesitated.  "I...I don't know about you."

  "Good enough," Redics told him.  "We need a light.  Ask Sengual if there are any 
around here."

  Sengual was able to provide some small hand held wand lights.  Zanth delicately held 
his in his mouth.

  Poking his head past the cooling edges of Sengual's torch cuts, Zanth looked into the 
empty space beyond.  About two meters below him was a floor that seemed to be made 
of parallel pipes.  To his left and right were odd shaped tunnels intersected by ducts and 
conduits.  Directly across from him was another blank wall.

  He jumped down as carefully as he could, but the shock of landing jarred the burr in his 
left foreleg.  He snarled, pulling the leg against his chest.  His wand light fell to the floor, 
nestled between the raised half- rounds.  When the pain subsided, he tried to get his light 
back.  He couldn't reach it, though.  His muzzle was too blunt and his claws were 
too curved.

  A heavy thump announced the Yrboti's arrival.  The small alien looked up at the human 
poking his head though the hole, then down at the frustrated tundra cat.  With only a 
moment's hesitation, he reached down and retrieved the wand light for Zanth.

  "Thank you," Zanth said before taking the light in his mouth again.

  They both looked up at Redics.

  Redics knew he was in for some serious discomfort when he tried to worm his shoulders 
through the hole.  He tried to take it slowly, but found the hot stinging pain of his wound 
didn't want to subside when he stopped moving with his shoulders twisted.  He realized 
what he had to do.

  "I'm going to push through all at once," he told them.  "I'll probably fall once I'm clear."

  Zephanthus warned Sengual.  Instead of moving back, the Yrboti leaned against the 
wall under the hole and raised his arms to try and catch Redics.  Zanth also moved under 
the hole.  He reared up next to Sengual, putting his forepaws as far up the wall as he 
could.  Tipping his head down, he braced himself for a sudden weight on his wide 
shoulders.  They waited.

  Zanth didn't look up when he heard the hoarse shout from Redics.  He hissed as the 
shout turned into a long, rough howl of pain.  He almost looked when the sound abruptly 
stopped.  A second later, a tremendous weight slammed into the back of his neck, 
sending a shock down his spinal column.  His legs buckled and he went down under both 
Redics and Sengual, who had caught the human's head.  The impact had driven the 
Yrboti to one side, causing him to fall onto Zanth as well.

  Redics rolled off Zanth.  He lay panting and grimacing until the pain finally eased off.  
When he opened his eyes, he found Zanth's head hovering over him.

  "How much do you weigh, anyhow?" his companion asked.  Redics chuckled.  He heard 
the torch going again and looked for Sengual.  The Yrboti was cutting another hole in the 
wall opposite the one they had come through.  Smoke roiled around him.

  Once he was standing, Redics picked up Zanth's wand light for him.  The impact had 
made him drop it again.  He watched Sengual work.  He listened to Zephanthus complain 
about the smoke.  He thought about T'yonnosh and what he might be doing at that 
moment.  Another metallic thump echoed down the tunnel, followed by a grunt of 
satisfaction from the Yrboti.

  "I found it," Sengual called.  "I found the #."

  Whatever it was he had found, the Yrboti was excited enough to move through the hole 
without waiting for the edges to cool.  Seconds later, light shone through the hole from 
the other side.  Zanth moved through the hole next.  It had been cut close to floor level, 
so he had no trouble avoiding the hot edges.  Redics followed him.

  The room they were in was small and well lit.  At first, he wondered where Sengual had 
led them.  Then he spied a fixture that was unmistakable.

  He had to laugh.  They had survived the explosion, avoided decompression, found a way 
out of the trap in the maintenance tunnels, and now took momentary shelter in an Yrboti 
bathroom.  Fitting, he thought, in a twisted sort of way.  A bit anticlimactic, though.

  Sengual opened the door and led them out into a chamber that washed away any 
thoughts of anticlimax.

  They found themselves on a walkway that ran around the inside of the largest interior 
chamber Redics had seen in his life.  He leaned against the railing and gazed up and 
down the enormous shaft that he guessed ran the entire width of the cylindrical station.  
Through the center of the shaft was a group of four huge pipes.  The pipes were held in 
place by braces and spotted with what looked like pressure regulators of some kind.

  It was eerily quiet except for the faint hum of machinery.  The near silence was matched 
by the near colorless paint on everything.  The pipes, the chamber walls, the catwalk, all 
of it was painted an off-white.  It made Redics think of hospitals.

  Sengual strode around the catwalk.  Redics and Zanth stayed with him.  "What is this 
place?" Redics asked as he looked down the shaft.  The echo of his voice whispered back 
at them.

  "Liquid balancer," was the terse reply.

  Of course, Redics thought.  A large spinning mass needs a centrifugal equalizer to 
redistribute that mass when it is changed or its center shifts.  In order to balance the 
station when a ship docked, or even when people or equipment moved within the station, 
some heavy liquid would be pumped from a central reservoir to tanks on the opposite 
side.

  Looking up the shaft toward the core of the station, Redics decided he was impressed.

  Sengual came to an alcove in the wall of the shaft.  Inside were several control panels.  
He ran his gnarled hands over a few switches.  He stared at a small display in the center 
of one console.  Turning, he faced Redics.

  "They are gone," he said.

  "Who' s gone?"

  Sengual waved a hand at the console.  "The two technicians who are assigned to these 
controls.  They didn't log out.  They are just gone."

  This was looking less to Redics like political embarrassment and more like an 
engineered strike at some unknown target.

  "Has any damage been done to the equipment?" Redics asked, eyeing the controls.

  "No.  All the systems are in order."

  It was strange.  The explosion, the blocked maintenance tunnels, and now missing 
equalizer technicians.  How did these pieces fit together?

  Redics shook his head.  This was not his immediate concern.  He still had to get to the 
docking ring.

  "Is there a way to the docking ring from here?"

  The Yrboti looked at Redics, as though noticing him for the first time.  He glanced at 
the controls a moment longer, then led them further around the walkway.  He stopped at 
a set of lift doors and pressed the control pad.  Immediately, the doors opened.  The three 
of them filed in.

  "This lift will take us to the docks," Sengual said as he pressed the pad on the inside.

  Nothing happened.

  As Sengual grew puzzled, Redics sighed and leaned his head against the lift wall.  Once 
again they were blocked.

  Sengual abruptly shouted, slamming a thin hand against the lift wall.  He hadn't 
bothered to speak into the comm, but Redics got the feeling he knew what had been said.

  "Is there another way?"

  For a moment, Sengual didn't respond.  Then, slowly, he brought the comm to his 
mouth.  "There is an emergency crawlway in the alcove.  But it will be sealed, like the 
others."

  Redics frowned.  "Do you know that for sure?"

  Sengual looked at him.  His thin, wrinkled face was tightened with, Redics assumed, 
despair.

  "It must be," he said.  "It also leads to the docking ring, and someone doesn't want us 
going there."

  Sengual's words hit Redics with surprising force.  The Yrboti was exactly right.  All the 
passages they had found that connected to the docks had been sealed off by someone.  
But why?

  Again, Redics had to leave the mystery for more pressing concerns.  He took hold of the 
alien's scrawny arm.  "We have to try.  I have to get to my ship."

  Sengual didn't look convinced, but he left the useless lift and walked back to the alcove.  
There, he opened a panel in the wall.  Looking in, they could all see the meter-wide hole 
in the floor.  Actually, they couldn't see it because it was covered by a plate of metal 
welded to the floor.  Sengual gently tapped the plate with his knuckles.

  It rang.  He hesitated barely a second before striking harder.  A loud ringing echoed in 
the small space.  "It's steel plate," he exclaimed.  "Thin enough to cut."

  Again the torch was put into action.  Redics and Zanth gave him room while he opened 
the hole.  They were looking at each other, thinking the same thing.  It was Zanth that 
spoke their thoughts first.

  "I can't climb down that little hole."

  Redics frowned, staring at the Yrboti's back.  "We'll think of something."

  There wasn't much time to think of something.  Sengual made quick work of the steel 
plate.  After the edges cooled, the Yrboti pointed to the hole and said. "Do you want to go 
first?"

  Redics and Zanth crowded into the space over the hole and looked down.  A straight 
shaft with metal rungs was the only thing to be seen for perhaps a hundred meters.

  "There's a problem," Redics told their guide.  "There's nothing for Zanth to hold onto 
going down."

  Sengual looked at Zanth.  "Can't he use the rungs?"

  Redics blinked.  He looked at Zanth, a tired smile forming.  "He wonders if you can use 
the rungs."

  "No, I can't," Zanth answered for himself.  He held up a forepaw and extruded his 
weapons.  "I have claws, not fingers."

  Sengual looked at the rungs again.  "But can't you-"

  "No!  He can't."  Redics didn't wait for the tundra cat to translate.  He put a hand on the 
furred shoulder.  "I have an idea.  Tell him to go first."

  As Sengual climbed down into the emergency crawlway (Redics wondered why it 
wasn't called a climbway), Zanth paced nervously.  After Sengual went Redics.  "Come 
on, Zanth.  Follow me in."

  "I  can't."

  "You have to."

  Redics got his lower body into the hole and motioned Zanth to follow him.

  "Redics, I can't do it."

  "Zephanthus, I won't leave you up here.  I need you to stay with me.  Now just back up 
to the hole and I'll guide you in.

  "Redics-"  Desperation was making Zanth's whiskers twitch almost spasmodically.

  "I'll guide your feet onto my shoulders.  I can brace my back against the wall and you'll 
just stand on top of me."

  "You've only got one good arm!"

  "Zanth!"  Redics was losing patience.  He reached up to caress Zanth's ears.  "I don't 
need my arms.  All the weight will be on my legs and back.  I take a step down and let 
my back slide down the wall.  I might use my arm to guide me a little, but that's all."

  Zanth looked down the hole.  "It's going to be awfully hard on you."

  "Well, I didn't say I planned on enjoying myself."  Redics grinned.  "Now turn around 
and back into the hole.  I'll help you."

  Zanth did as Redics asked, but not without first muttering, "I'm not made to go 
backwards."

  Redics moved down the rungs until his shoulders were even with the floor.  He stood 
with his legs locked and his back pressed against the wall of the shaft.  With his good 
arm, he grabbed the rung at chest level.  With some grunting and swearing, he moved his 
left arm up to the rim of the hole.  Looking up, he could see Zanth's back end.  Not the 
most aesthetic point of view, he noticed.  He pushed that thought from his mind as Zanth 
took a tentative step backward.

  "I'm right here," he assured the tundra cat.  "Left foot first."  He put his left hand around 
Zanth's left leg, just below the hock.  Zanth stretched that leg out behind him, over the 
hole.  Redics guided him, placing the wide hind paw onto his shoulder.  With more 
grunting and swearing, he grabbed the rung in front of him with his left hand and reached 
up with his right.

  "Now bring the other one over slowly.  Concentrate on your balance."  He grasped 
Zanth's right leg.

  Zephanthus looked over his shoulder.  "Redics-"

  "Come on, Zanth.  We have to do this."  Redics gave Zanth's ankle a reassuring squeeze.  
"This is the only way we can find T'yonnosh."

  Zanth's right foot came off the floor.  The unsteady shift of weight made him lash his 
tail in an effort to balance.  He heard as much as felt his tail slap across Redics' face.  The 
human didn't complain.  He only said, "Steady, Zanth, steady."

  With both hind feet planted on the shoulders of his human companion, Zanth found 
himself in the unpleasant position of sinking rump-first into a hole.  It took all his self-
control to stop himself from clawing for a purchase on the metal floor.

  Once Zanth's shoulders were below the rim of the shaft, he had no choice but to pull his 
forelegs in to his sides.  This caused him to overbalance and he wound up leaning back 
more than he wanted to.

  "OW!  Zanth!  The claws, the claws!"

  After a moment of panic, Zanth got his balance back.  He willed himself to set his hind 
claws and gave Redics a contrite apology.

  "Zanth, you need to sit down.  You' re trembling."

  "No, I'm not.  You are."

  "Zanth, just sit the best you can.  And hook the rungs with your forepaws.  You can help 
balance us."

  Still feeling awkward, Zanth lowered his body until he was literally sitting on the base 
of Redics' neck.  With his paws partly curled around the ladder's rungs, he was able to 
keep his upper body erect.  "How's that?"

  "Perfect," Redics grunted.  His head was pressed forward by the bulk of Zanth's belly.

  The tundra cat looked down.  He could hear Redics' breathing become labored.  "Are 
you all right?"

  "Just concentrate on your balance," Redics said tightly as he took a step down.  "This is 
going to be harder than I thought."

  Below them, Redics could see Sengual swiftly moving down the ladder.  With a strained 
grunt of laughter, Redics assumed the Yrboti wanted to be out of the way in case they 
slipped and fell.

  Several minutes went by in a monotony of careful steps and aching muscles.  By the 
time he judged them to be halfway down, he had to stop.  His legs were quivering and 
pain was starting to shoot up and down his spine.  The point where his lower back met 
the wall felt as though much of its skin had been rubbed raw.

  It didn't take long for Redics to realize that resting didn't help, not with the pressure still 
on his neck, back and legs.  He started moving down again.

  Zephanthus could tell how much supporting his weight was taxing his companion.  He 
knew there was nothing he could do to help, and that made him feel worse.  He prepared 
himself to make a grab at the rungs, even with his teeth, if Redics slipped and fell out 
from beneath him.  He would do whatever it took to keep from landing on Redics and 
hurting him further.

  Fortunately for both of them, they reached the bottom of the shaft without incident.  
Redics put his feet on solid deck with a gasp of relief.  "Safe now," Sengual told him.

  The opening at the bottom of the shaft was similar to the opening at the top.  To get out, 
Zanth hooked his wrists around a rung, grabbed another in his mouth, and lifted his feet 
off Redics' shoulders.  He let himself dangle painfully until Redics could move out from 
under him, then let himself drop.  Zanth moved out of the shaft, shook himself and ran a 
rough tongue over his whiskers.  He hated the taste of metal.

  Zanth nosed his companion in the ear, his sign of affection.  "Thank you."  Redics sat on 
the floor, panting.  He nodded, scratching the point of Zanth' s chin.

  "Anytime."  He looked at his friend, amusement mixing with the relief.  "How much do 
you weigh, anyhow?"

  When he had his breath back and felt a little stronger, Redics looked around him.  
"Where are we now?"

  "Auxiliary control room," Sengual said.  Indeed, the large room was full of consoles like 
the ones in the alcove they had left.  It was empty of people, save themselves.  The Yrboti 
walked to the doors and opened them.  "The docks," he announced.

  That got Redics to his feet.  He and Zanth walked out onto the docks, hoping to find 
T'yonnosh and the Ti Phorus.

  "What?"  Redics' breath hung cloudy in the frigid air.  His aches and pains were 
momentarily forgotten and replaced by disappointment and confusion.  "These aren't the 
docks we're moored at."  He looked at Sengual.  "Where on the docks are we?"

  "Maintenance bay.  This is where the tugs and workpods are kept."

  There were Yrboti everywhere.  Most of them were moving about and talking 
animatedly.  Many of them wore coldsuits.

  Looking around, Redics noticed the dock seals here were not the kind used for 
passenger ships.  Where there should have been columns of support machinery, there 
were only raised platforms with horizontal openings.  Those Yrboti who weren't talking 
were moving around the platforms with tools and diagnostic equipment.

  Being here wouldn't help them get to the Ti Phorus, Redics knew.  He asked Sengual, 
"How far away are the other docks from here, the ones for passengers and cargo?"

  "That depends.  Where is your ship docked?"

  For a moment, Redics' mouth hung open.  "I, uh, I don't remember.  Exactly."

  Sengual gave him a look that he couldn't read.  "Do you remember the registry 
number?" he asked patiently.

  Redics frowned, vaguely offended.  "Of course."

  "Follow me."  Sengual led them to an information terminal along one wall.

  As they walked, Redics noticed a few of the Yrboti were watching them.  Their 
expressions were hidden behind filter masks.  He wondered what they knew about the 
situation and if they would possibly consider telling him if he asked.

  "The floor's cold," Zanth observed.

  "Huh?"  Redics looked down at the deck.  There were a few patches of crystallized 
water vapor scattered around.  Looking up, he noticed the patches were directly under the 
huge air vents that fed the docks.  He knelt briefly and touched the deckplates.  The heat 
from his fingertips was leeched out in only seconds.  He shook his hand and pressed his 
fingers against the palm to get some warmth back.  He looked at Zanth.

  "Don't worry.  I'm a tundra cat, remember?"

  Redics smiled faintly.  Actually, he had forgotten Zanth's kinship with the cold.

  Sengual entered an access code into the dock terminal and was given a menu.  Redics 
told him the Ti Phorus' registry number, and the Yrboti went to work.  It wasn't long 
before an overview of the docking ring came up on the display.  Several of the sections 
around the ring were flashing in orange.  Sengual stared at the display, looking shaken.

  "Where is it?" Redics asked.

  Sengual pointed to a spot about a third of the way around the ring from the symbol for 
the workpod docks.  A small dot flickered fitfully, as if uncertain the ship in that berth 
existed at all.

  The Yrboti mumbled something.  Redics looked at him, only now noticing the man's 
distress.  "What's wrong?"

  Sengual said nothing.  Instead, he pointed to the flashing sections of the docking ring.  
Redics studied those sections a moment, but couldn't make out enough of the display to 
understand what it was trying to tell him.

  "What does that flashing mean?"

  He heard the quiet rumble-cough of Zanth posing his question, and the softer mutterings 
of his Yrboti guide.  Then he heard the heartless voice of the collar translator say, 
"Breached."

  Redics stopped breathing for a moment.  He studied the display again.  The flickering 
dot was between two breached sections.  There was no way they could reach the Ti 
Phorus.

  **************************

  T'yonnosh's stomach was starting to protest, a reaction to the stress he was feeling.  He 
had run as thorough a scan of the station as he could, twice, without finding any evidence 
of his friends' presence.  Alarmed at this, he had scanned the debris field that was slowly 
expanding out from the station.  He had found dozens of bodies floating in the tumbling 
debris, but none matched the ID profiles of Redics or Zephanthus.  Confused and 
worried, he had then run some calculations of the sensor array's performance.

  Now, at least, he knew the reason for his failure.  The damage to the sensors had 
drastically reduced their range.  He was only getting a complete reading on the nearer 
half of the station.  The display of the further half was being extrapolated from the partial 
readings the sensors were getting.  When he asked for a display of the raw sensor data, he 
saw large, unreadable pockets where the damaged sensors couldn't penetrate.

  T'yonnosh frowned.  To read those areas, he would have to undock and move to the 
other side of the station.  'Or let it come to me, since it rotates'   He wasn't sure he wanted 
to leave their assigned berth.  If Redics and Zanth made their way back and found the 
berth empty... but no, he realized.  They weren't in the half of the station he had scanned, 
therefore they must be in the other half.  That made it unlikely they would return anytime 
soon.

  He decided to take the chance.  It only took a moment to break the datachannel between 
the Ti Phorus and the station.  Since that was the only service coming through the dock 
connections, all that remained was to disengage the docking clamps.  He lightly touched 
the controls and gave vocal confirmation.  In the quiet of the cockpit, he could hear the 
faint sound of the Ti Phorus' mechanical grapples retracting.  An indicator turned green.  
He then sent the signal to the station's access arm for disconnect.  Nothing happened.

  He tried again.  There was still no response.  He checked the airlock's external sensors 
and found the access tube still connected and pressurized, the datachannel probe still 
socketed, and the mechanicals still locked onto the Ti Phorus' anchor studs.  The docking 
arm refused to let go of them.

  T'yonnosh held back some choice words.  He glared at the displays, trying to keep his 
ears up.  There was a way around this, he was sure.  'Maybe,' he thought,  'if I can get into 
the dockside computers and feed the command in from there...'

  It was hard to concentrate on his work.  He kept thinking how much better Redics was 
at getting computers to do what he wanted, and that made him focus on his friend's 
absence.  Before long, T'yonnosh had managed to work his way to a central menu for 
dock services.  He chose the engage/disengage selection and ran into a brick wall.   
'Authorization Code', asked the program.

  With the Ti Phorus' computers fully functional, it wouldn't have been a difficult task for 
him to get around the code prompt, but with the system all fuzzy it might be somewhere 
between arduous and impossible.  He would need help, and he knew someone who might 
be able to assist him.

  T'yonnosh carefully got himself standing and headed for the lounge.  At the doorway of 
the cockpit, he paused.  He studied Vages a moment.  "The lieutenant has a medikit in 
the lounge," he said quietly, "if you need any help.

  The human's stiff reply caused T'yonnosh's browline to rise.  He wondered where the 
Golimunite would have heard a genemorph-specific obscenity, especially one so sexually 
suggestive.  He almost laughed at the thought of Vages' reaction were he to comply with 
the human's angry request.

  In the lounge, T'yonnosh took a moment to look over the group he had taken aboard.  
Lt. Criess was talking to the Yrboti woman who had clung to T'yonnosh through most of 
their short journey.  Leaning against the woman was a child, an Yrboti boy he hadn't 
noticed before.  The Pashii and the Thurnockt were both using the workstations to 
contact someone.  Sitting in two of the large chairs were a pair of solid-looking human 
women, talking quietly between themselves.  Off to one side, watching everyone else, 
was the other human male.

  Turning his attention to the Pashii and the Thurnockt, he asked, "Have you been able to 
contact your staff, or anyone else?"

  The battered Thurnockt, sporting bandages and a salve compress, looked at him.  "I 
cannot find them.  Those I have talked to are confused and afraid.  No one has heard any 
official reports.  The channels are flooded with calls.  It is chaotic."

  T'yonnosh nodded.  It was much as he had expected.  While he thought on this, Lt. 
Criess stood, facing him.  "I believe its your turn for first aid."

  "In a minute."  T'yonnosh held up a hand to address the group.  "I think it would help if 
we knew each other's names, since we will be together for a short while.  My name is 
T'yonnosh, and I am co-owner of this ship.  If you need anything, let me know and I will 
do what I can."  He looked at the lieutenant expectantly.

  "I am Lt. Donald Criess, of the ICCN Alvarado."

  The Thurnockt spoke next.  "I am Kip Ash Vect-Du.  I am the Vice Minister of the 
Outworld Relations Council of Thurnoc."

  "Nnominiuess Hvesseff," said the Pashii in her soft, almost musical voice.  "I am an aide 
to the Ambassador of Ve'chthen, what you call Pashiin."

  One of the sturdy looking women stood.  "I am Keidu, of the clan Deyerrow, the planet 
Gervan III."  She gestured to the other women, saying, "This is Kalu, also of the clan 
Deyerrow.  We are decksisters on the freighter Deyerrow's Trust."

  T'yonnosh nodded to himself.  He had heard of the way Gervans ran their shipping 
businesses, using entire families of one clan or another as crew.  Freighter crew would be 
born, live, and die aboard their ships.  This, the Gervans claimed, ensured loyalty to the 
ship, the company, and most importantly, to the clan.

  T'yonnosh looked at the other male human.  He was sitting on the floor against the wall 
by himself.  He hesitated a moment before saying, "Uh, I'm Benjamin Poll.  Are we 
really...uh, safe here?"  T'yonnosh said, "Yes, we are."

  The Yrboti woman spoke up.  She was obviously feeling much better.  Without the 
previous panic seizing her, she was able to speak more clearly, although somewhat 
slowly.  "My name is Astazhia.  I am a member of the Resources Management 
Committee of Outreach Station."  She looked at the silent boy leaning against her.  "I do 
not know this one's name.  He has not yet spoken."  The boy's eyes were wide and he 
seemed to be trembling slightly.  Mild shock, T'yonnosh thought.  He couldn't blame 
him.  He still felt shaken himself.

  Astazhia addressed T'yonnosh.  "Have you learned anything new?"

  He shook his head.  "I've been trying to locate my companions, but I've had no luck.  I 
think you could help me, though."

  "How is that?"

  "I need to move this ship halfway around the station to continue my search.  I can't get 
the docking clamps to release us without an authorization code.  Do you know this 
code?"

  After a thoughtful moment, Astazhia said, "No, but there should be another way to do 
it."

  "Will you help?"

  She gave him a smile that looked more like a grimace.  "Of course."

  Vages was poking listlessly at the controls again, listening to the repeated warble of 
denial from the computer.  He turned briefly when T'yonnosh and Astazhia entered the 
cockpit, then studiously ignored them.

  T'yonnosh sat down and showed Astazhia what he had tried to do.  She leaned over his 
seat and offered some advice.  He tried her suggestion, but still nothing happened.

  "If you want to get away from the station," Vages suddenly spoke up, "I know a way."

  T'yonnosh pursed his mouth and gazed at his hands a moment.  He thought about it, 
then decided asking would be worth it if the human was speaking the truth.  "How?"

  "Full thrusters.  Break the seal."

  T'yonnosh closed his eyes.  His patience with this person was about used up.  "No."

  "Why not?  Other ships did."  Vages' tone was challenging.

  T'yonnosh faced him, glaring angrily.  "I will not risk killing others just to get what I 
want!"

  Vages launched himself out of his seat and snapped, "You're weak!  You'll never have 
the strength humans do!"  He stalked out of the cockpit.

  T'yonnosh's ears hurt fiercely.  They had laid themselves flat and refused to come back 
up.  He felt a hand on his shoulder.

  "Do not feel badly," said Astazhia.  "He does not see that the strength to kill is truly a 
weakness."

  "I know," T'yonnosh said softly.  "There are many things he doesn't see."

  Astazhia pointed at the display screen.  "Bring up the main dock menu again."

  After he did, she pointed to a flashing icon in the lower left corner of the screen.  
"Toggle that.  That's the symbol for emergency procedures aboard the station."

  They found themselves staring at another menu with basically the same choices as the 
dock menu, but with one major difference.  All the choices were tagged with an 
'Emergency' icon.  T'yonnosh chose the engage/disengage selection again.  This time the 
screen went blank for several seconds.  A string of characters scrolled across the screen, 
then vanished.  They were replaced with the prompt, 'Berth #?'

  Feeling hopeful, T'yonnosh entered their assigned berth number.  The station computer 
accepted it, hesitated, then printed 'Berth A6-34/c seal confirmed-Disengage ?'

  T'yonnosh brought the docking thrusters on line before choosing the disengage option.  
The airlock monitor showed decompression of the seal.  The data-channel probe was 
released and the clamps retracted.  The relative motion indicators showed the Ti Phorus 
being thrown away from the station at a tangent.  He worked the thrusters until he had the 
ship hanging motionless off the spinning ring of the docks.  He kept an eye open for 
debris that might collide with them and scanned the other half of the station as it rolled 
by.

  They weren't there.


**************************
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