Battle of the Ring Read online

  Lenna nodded absently. She was too busy thinking ahead to what she should do next to truly appreciate that she was actually aboard the Methryn, and the only uninvited guest the ship had seen in her eighteen thousand years.

  -8-

  Lenna stared as she stepped down out of the transport. The smooth inner panels of the bay doors had folded shut to form the featureless deck on which she now stood, still cold with exposure to space. The walls of each side of the bay were filled with racks of two different sizes, the smaller holding transports such as she had just ridden while the other held capture ships and a large type of transport. They were lifted into place by rectractable handling arms such as the set that held her own transport a meter above the deck while five crewmembers in white armor trimmed in black hurried to service it.

  “Here!” a voice called from behind. She turned quickly, and the pilot tossed her bundle into her arms. The weight nearly knocked her over backward, and she strained to get it under control before the Starwolves noticed that she was not as strong as themselves.

  “Are you going up to the bridge?” the pilot asked as he leaped down beside her. He started toward a shelflike area at one side of the bay, and she thought it best to join him until she could slip away.

  “If we are getting under way soon, I should be there,” she answered, recalling Consherra’s duty as helm.

  “We will be getting under way immediately. They were waiting for me.”

  “I should be in my armor, but no time now,” she said with a touch of regret. In fact, she was wondering if she could hide out easier if she could get herself into a suit or armor, letting the lower arms hang free. She had not yet considered that the Starwolves spoke a language of their own.

  “Have you heard what the trouble is?” the pilot asked as she stopped before the lift door to press the call button. “I was wondering what Velmeran had to say.”

  “Oh, I have not seen Velmeran since I left on port leave,” she answered quickly, and it seemed to her a very good answer. She did not even know if Velmeran had left the ship. She certainly had not seen any Starwolves she had thought might be Velmeran.

  The transport pilot, however, found that a very astonishing answer. Kelvesan, with their insatiable curiosities, were natural if benevolent gossips. They were also remarkably gullible. If Velmeran and Consherra were avoiding each other’s company during port leave...

  The lift snapped open and they quickly stepped inside, the pilot setting the controls for his own destination and then on to the bridge. The doors snapped shut and the lift started off with its customary lurch, causing Lenna to stagger. This lift was the fastest she had ever known.

  “Valthyrra does need that overhaul,” the pilot observed, smiling.

  Lenna only nodded. She had good luck with this particular Starwolf, but she was beginning to think that she had been with him too long. Sooner or later he was going to ask her something and she was going to say the wrong thing. Or, worse yet, the real Consherra was going to be standing on the other side when that door opened. She did not know that he was sharing her game by speaking Terran to her. Then it seemed that the lift began to pick up speed like a fighter going into battle. As the stress increased she moved slowly backward until she was leaning against the rear wall of the lift. Still the force continued to build, until she released her bundle to concentrate on fighting the crushing pressure. Flying alone and empty, she had occasionally pushed her freight shuttle to G’s as high as this, but she had always been supported by a cushioned seat. The Starwolf might have been immune to those stresses, standing idly by the door. But he was aware of her distress, and was regading her closely.

  “Are you well?” he asked. “The Methryn is accelerating to starflight, but we are pulling no more than thirty G’s.”

  Thirty? Only her Trader heritage kept her conscious during this, unprotected and penned against a metal wall. The pilot suddenly realized what the problem was. He stepped over to her and lifted up her cape, and discovered exactly what he expected not to find. He checked her quickly for weapons, retrieved her bundle, and returned to the lift controls. Pressing a button, he leaned slightly forward to the speaker.

  “Attention, bridge!” he said sharply. “Cut acceleration. I repeat, cut acceleration immediately. Class Two intruder alert. Intruder has been apprehended on lift five.”

  He looked over at Lenna, who smiled weakly. The next moment she collapsed to the floor as the stress of acceleration disappeared.

  “This is Valthyrra Methryn,” came the reply momentarily. “Do you consider the intruder to be under control and not dangerous?”

  “No problem here,” he replied. “I suspect this to be a stowaway rather than a spy or saboteur.”

  “Very good. I am bringing you straight up to the bridge.”

  Velmeran knew that something was wrong when he felt the Methryn cut acceleration and he was on his way to the bridge immediately, so that he was there within a minute of Lenna’s arrival. He was starting up the steps to the upper bridge when he looked up and saw Lenna, pale and shaken, seated at the Commander’s console while Mayelna, Consherra, and Valthyrra’s camera pod faced her from three sides. Realizing exactly what had happened, he turned and retreated quickly the way he had come.

  “Just a moment, Velmeran,” Mayelna called after him.

  He paused and reluctantly returned to the upper bridge. Ignoring Lenna, who was staring at him in complete astonishment, he smiled sheepishly and shrugged. “She followed me home, Mom. Can I keep her?”

  “Ah, so you are the mysterious young Starwolf who inspired this lady to attempt the foolhardy,” Mayelna said.

  “You... you are Velmeran?” Lenna asked incredulously, even paler than before. “The Velmeran?”

  “Of course he is,” Mayelna answered irritably. “Who did you think he was?”

  “Well, he said that his name was Sergei Rachmaninoff,” she explained.

  Valthyrra nearly popped her lenses. “Sure, and I’m Fanny Mendelssohn!”

  Mayelna glanced up at her impatiently before turning back to the girl. “Were you not aware that he was a Starwolf?”

  “No, not until he killed the assassin. I knew that something was odd about him from the start, but I was too busy wanting him to be a Trader who would get me off-world.”

  “Velmeran told me – briefly – of his exploits, although I suspect that he deemphasized certain points where you were concerned. Did you really believe that he would want you?”

  “Oh, no!” Lenna insisted. “I’m not following after him now. He has been a good friend, but I cannot pretend to love him, and he has told me often enough that he has a mate of his own. I just wanted to see this ship.”

  “You surely knew that you could not avoid detection for long.”

  “I never meant to. I just thought that if I could get on board, you would have to keep me.”

  “Oh?” Mayelna looked mildly surprised. “And do you have any idea what we should do with you?”

  “Well, there seems to be a number of options,” the girl replied. “At the best, you might let me go along for the ride until you find a good place to leave me – preferably a Trader. At the worst, you’ll pitch me out the nearest airlock. But the way you’re building to speed, I know that you’re not going to take me back where you found me.”

  Mayelna actually chuckled. “You think you know us very well.”

  “No, Commander,” Lenna said. “I know your reputation, and I believe it. But I also know that it’s an act. You’re Starwolves and I’m of Trader stock, and that makes us first cousins at least. But that’s all that I can say in my defense. I knew that I was asking for trouble.”

  Mayelna regarded her, not unkindly, for a moment, then turned to Velmeran. “Vel aveyssa Jvayralkon tras ayressan?”

  Velmeran shrugged. “Val Jvayralkon aveyr. Aveyssa von len tresdon, schayrkonarran, dverron aveyssa von thryverdaison aval, val laeron, faern leivayrdhay Ireykon.”

  Mayelna considered that a moment
before looking at Valthyrra, who nodded her camera in agreement. Consherra, for once, seemed to have no opinion to offer. At that moment the Methryn made a smooth transition into starflight.

  “Well, it seems that you are going along for the ride,” Mayelna said at last. “Unfortunately, you picked a very bad time. We are in something of a hurry and we need to make the best time we possibly can, so you will have to sit there and take a few very high G’s. Consider that your punishment. After that, Consherra will show you to your cabin and indicate the areas of the ship you may visit. The Methryn really is not a warehouse of secrets, so any place you are told not to go is for your safety. Remember also that the deck plan of this ship looks like an explosion in a kite-string factory.”

  “Thank you, Commander.” Lenna sighed in relief.

  “Just behave yourself, if it is... humanly possible. Velmeran. Valthyrra. Shall we take a little walk?”

  “Walk?” Valthyrra asked. “Walk? Who can walk?”

  Mayelna sighed. “Just send one of your evil eyes to my cabin.”

  Velmeran and the Commander descended the steps together, leaving Lenna to stare in helpless astonishment. She felt a disturbing sense of unreality as she sat pinned in her seat, gasping for breath under the burden of crushing forces while everyone else walked about in complete ease. The Starwolves had solved the problem of moving about under acceleration by adjusting the ship’s artificial gravity one step ahead of the G’s of acceleration, which would otherwise throw all loose objects toward the back of the ship.

  “How did she get on board, anyway?” Velmeran asked as they made their way from the bridge.

  “How else?” Mayelna asked in return. “She presented herself at a transport and asked to be brought to the ship. She looks enough like us that she looks remarkably like a Kelvessa pretending to be human. She told the pilot that she was Consherra – “

  “Consherra?” Velmeran interrupted.

  “Well, yes. I suspect that was the only name she knew to give. She probably learned just enough general information from you to give the right answers to a few questions. And there was a good measure of the old Kelvessan gullibility. The transport pilot just assumed that no one but a Starwolf would want aboard a Starwolf ship.”

  “Gullibility?” Velmeran asked. “Such as how you not only pardoned her but gave her the run of the ship?”

  “Blarney, they used to call it,” Mayelna mused. “There must have been more Irish settlers on that world than Scottish. Only an Irishman can use the plain truth like she does the way other men lie. We have a protective instinct, and she seems to have a talent for making the most of it. I seem to recall that you threw someone through a wall to protect her.”

  “I did it because he was a Union agent sent to harass the Kanians, and because he pretended to be half Kelvessan,” Vel-meran said defensively.

  “And then I should pardon someone who pretends to be a real Starwolf?” Mayelna asked.

  “It is a simple matter of intent. How did she give herself away?”

  “G’s.” She shrugged and turned the corner, only to find herself face-to-face with one of Valthyrra’s remotes. She drew back.

  “Hello,” Valthyrra said. “What is taking you so long?”

  “We were talking,” Mayelna said curtly, and turned back to, Velmeran. “Where did you get that ridiculous idea of dressing up as a human, anyway?”

  “That was your suggestion,” he reminded her.

  “Was it?” She paused a moment to reflect. “Well, even good ideas can go wrong. As that may be, stowaways are the least of our worries now.”

  Mayelna herded the two ahead of her, down the side corridor and into her own cabin. The door shut behind them, and it did not open again for several hours.

  Lenna sank into the Commander’s seat like melting butter after half an unrelenting hour of acceleration. Her system was, in fact, designed for this type of stress, but it had been too long. Flying freight had not been enough to prepare her for this. Consherra was there immediately with a drink, a pill, and something to eat.

  “Take this,” Consherra insisted, offering the pill and the drink. “Our medic Dyenlerra wants to find out if it will kill you.”

  Lenna paused in the act of taking the pill to look at it closely. “Is this Starwolf medicine?”

  “No, strictly for human consumption,” Consherra assured her. “You might be our first uninvited guest, but we pluck humans out of wrecks all the time. I also have bread and cheese.”

  Lenna accepted the light meal and leaned back in the seat as she waited for her strength to return. Consherra had remained at her side nearly the entire time. Lenna could see now that she had been lucky to get away with pretending to be this girl for as long as she had.

  “If that was holding back, what kind of G’s do you people normally take?” Lenna asked.

  “In normal cruising, about the same,” Consherra explained. “When we are in a real hurry, we still hold off at about forty-five. That is about all we can take and still be able to move about easily. Emergency accelerations are something quite different. The most I have ever known was about one hundred and forty, and I was flying at the time.”

  “Do you fly this ship often?” Lenna asked, rising unsteadily to peer over the front of the Commander’s console at the helm station on the middle bridge. “Are those manual controls retracted under the central monitor?”

  “Of course. You can fly this ship like an overgrown fighter. Valthyrra flies herself for the most part, although I get to set runs from time to time. But I hardly ever touch the manual controls. I really spend most of my time assisting Mayelna and Velmeran in running this ship, not flying it.”

  Lenna frowned. “I think that I would prefer a Trader, if you’ll pardon my saying so. I’m more interested in flying than giving orders.”

  “I can understand that. How are you feeling?”

  “Fairly good, actually,” she said, rising and stretching her arms. “I am getting a bit cold, though. I’ve done some serious sweating this morning, and not all of it from the G’s. You do keep this place a bit cool.”

  “Did you bring a change of clothes?”

  “I did come prepared for a wee bit of a stay,” Lenna remarked guardedly.

  Consherra smiled. “If you are able, I will show you to your cabin now. You can change and rest a bit there. I will come for you again when it is time for you to eat, and then I will show you about the ship... before you take a notion to wander off on your own.”

  Lenna was shown to a cabin that she considered luxurious by the standards of space travel. There was carpeting on the floor and real wood paneling on portions of the wall, with a small kitchen and a regular bathroom. Her first thought was for a shower, for she was eager for the feel of hot water on sore joints and muscles as well as to rid herself of the heavy layer of makeup. Valthyrra had prepared the room for her, turning the thermostat up as high as it would go. But she had no desire to be wet and naked in an environment that was now only slightly uncomfortable, and she had some doubts about what the Starwolves would call hot water. But she did find that she could get water hot enough to suit her, and letting it run with the door partly open steamed the small bathroom to a bearable level. She did wonder what a shower was like in high G’s. Apparently that was taken into consideration; the door shut and locked so tightly that the shower needed special ventilation.

  She really did not care to rest afterward, testimony to her ability to recover quickly from such stresses, not to mention the fact that she was entirely too excited. It was thrilling to think that she was alone in a ship full of Starwolves – a community of Starwolves, as it were, and all her very own. It was as well that she did not need to rest, for Consherra returned for her soon after she was dressed.

  “You do not look quite so Kelvessan as you did before,” she said, pausing just inside the door to regard the girl closely.

  “Makeup,” Lenna explained. “I know how to use it. It might be that my eyes no longer seem quite
as large.”

  “That must be it,” Consherra agreed, although she did not sound entirely certain. “I am glad that you have returned to native costume. It is something of a treat, having an alien visitor on board. I especially want to show you to the little ones. They have never seen a human before.”

  “These clothes were made for Kanis, where it’s mostly as cold as it is here,” Lenna said. She had been looking at the Kelvessa nearly as intently. Consherra had been in armor before, but now she wore white pants and tunic that formed the quasi-uniform of a Starwolf officer. In a way she looked far more alien now, since these clothes did not mask but emphasized her alien features. More than anything, that second set of arms, which did not appear so out of place with the heavy armor, now stood out prominently.

  The first thing Lenna learned was that there was no division of night and day on a Starwolf carrier, since Kelvessan did not sleep. As a result the meals were not divided into breakfast, lunch, and the like, just three dinners a day. Unfortunately, the dining hall was mostly empty; the last meal was only just over, having been delayed until the Methryn was in starflight.

  After that the tour began in earnest. Lenna saw everything of importance from the cannons retracted into the shock bumper in the nose of the ship to the fighter bays in the rear, with everything, including the cavernous holding bays and the Methryn’s immense generators, in between. Her favorite part, predictably, were the fighter bays, where every fighter had been brought down to the decks to final servicing.

  Lenna’s tour ended in the Methryn’s school complex. When she was told that the first level consisted of ages from three months to three years, she had envisioned infants. That was hardly the case. Young Kelvessan, even at only three months, were perfect miniatures of the adults, long-limbed, wiry, and strong, well able to walk, run, and talk. They were also, in Lenna’s opinion, irresistibly cute.

  There were only twenty-one students in this age group, fewer than she had expected. She calculated that to be about one hundred and thirty children out of a population of two thousand, a very small percentage, although, because of their long life expectancy, it did represent a very modest population growth. In this first level the young were taught reading, writing, and simple mathematics, and an introduction to Terran, their second language. By the time they ‘graduated’ at the age of eighteen, every Kelvessan had a surprisingly broad and extensive education, and they had yet to receive special training in their chosen fields.