Horizon Alpha by Douglas R. Mason

Author:Douglas R. Mason [Mason, Douglas R.]
Format: epub
Tags: Science fiction
ISBN: 9780345221797
Publisher: Ballantine Books
Published: 1971-02-12T00:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER SIX

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Tired as he was, Gunnar Holt could still evaluate a tone of voice. Now that he could see the set whole and steady, he could also see that, size and color apart, there was nothing familiar about the suits worn by the reception party. They were very sophisticated items.

Visors were clear plexiglass, with the air-change function housed in a deep collar, like a thick ruff. Legs were corrugated and ended in high-laced ankle boots with thick foam rubber soles. At the waist there was a broad belt hung about with pouches. Men on either side of the spokesman had drawn bulbous hand guns, of a type he had never seen even in illustration.

Shesha Haddon asked huskily, "How do I get to be here?"

Holt said, "Don't worry about that. Everybody has to be somewhere. We've arrived at Woodslee and it looks as though a party from Alpha are paying it a visit. How do you feel now?"

"Better every minute. Thirsty, actually."

"This will save us a lot of time, we can go up with them."

Taubman's voice cut coldly into the dialogue. "You will be the man Holt and the woman Haddon, who have caused a disturbance on Horizon Delta. Do you seriously think we could tolerate your activities in Horizon Alpha? You are already outside the law. One of the objectives of this mission is to finish the job that the special force has failed to do."

Shesha Haddon, still feeling confused, said, "What's he talking about? What does he mean?"

"Nothing good." Holt took her hand, moving slowly and making the intention plain. He spoke to the center man.

"You know about us. Then you will know that we do not belong on Horizon Delta. Everything we have done has been toward finding a way out. The damage has come from the mechanical marvels that tried to stop us. If you know so much, you will know that is true. Now that we see you, it is even more plain. We belong on whichever horizon you have come from. What can be wrong with that as a proposition?"

"Your opinion is of no importance. You are deviants. Eugenically tainted. You belong nowhere. You have canceled any rights you might have had, by your actions. As representative of the law enforcement division, my ruling has legal force. Hicks, Grove. Kill them."

Holt felt the nudge of a sixth sense before the payoff and had shifted his grip to the girl's shoulder. He shoved hard and threw himself sideways. Two meters of clear space opened between them, and twin searing jets flared away through the hole in the bulkhead. A girl's voice from the end of the line called sharply, "Stop! You can't do it, Guy."

A tin-can clatter from outside the hatch made a further diversion. Taubman said, "Wait!" He stepped out of the semicircle himself, carefully keeping from masking the line of fire, and looked through the hatch.

Holt, on hands and knees and feeling like a dog, saw him take a dull-gray palm-sized ovoid from his belt and speak to it.

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