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Working together like this, on their own, had provided them with their first real
opportunity to talk in private.
Then, as they finished up and wiped their hands on a dirty rag, Trask, Millie and
Jake appeared from the rear of the minibus; and behind them the Old Lidesci, holding
his damaged ribs with one hand... and his machete in the other!
'People ' Trask began to speak, only to pause abruptly as Garvey leaned into
the front of the minibus and brought out two machine pistols, one of which he handed to
the precog. And:
'Right,' said the telepath, his voice trembling, uncertain, and very frightened. 'You
said "people", Ben, by which you mean me, Ian, Lardis, and Premier Turchin. We are
people, all right, that's sort of plain to see but it's equally obvious that you three aren't!
Not any more. And we're pretty damn sure that Liz wasn't, either.' As Garvey talked, the
Old Lidesci gave the one group a wide berth, sidling carefully around them to stand with
Garvey and the others.
And for several endless moments there was silence... until Millie said, 'Well, go
on, then get it over with.' And she was so calm, so quiet, that her words sounded like
thunder over the pop and crackle of burning timbers.
Then Lardis spoke up, and said, 'If you'll just let me walk away, I think I would
rather do that. And gladly.'
Trask looked at him and said, 'You? I would have taken bets that after all you've
seen and done, you'd be the first to act. And while I wouldn't like it, I'd certainly
understand it.'
Sheathing his weapon, Lardis answered, 'Aye, I've known bad times, but there
were good times, too. And I remember Harry. He was different.'
'I remember Harry, too,' Trask replied. 'And I know he wasn't all that different, not
at the end. But I let him live.'
And then the precog spoke up. 'All my life,' he said, 'I've considered this talent of
mine a curse until now.' And turning to Garvey he went on, 'Put your weapon down,
Paul. You seem to have forgotten even as I had momentarily forgotten that we're all
going to be in this to the end. All of us together.'
'But I want to stay the way I am,' said the telepath, shivering for all that he could
feel the warmth of the fire.
'Then read our minds,' said Trask. 'And if you discover any positive threat in what
we're thinking, pull the trigger.' Then he turned to Millie, hugged her again and asked
her: 'How is it you are so damned eager to die?'
'I'm not,' she answered. 'But how will we live? And if this is the end of us as we
were and if we have to go then I'd like to go cleanly.'
Jake had limped forward a pace and disappeared! Stepping out of the Möbius
Continuum slightly to Garvey's rear, he snatched the machine pistol from him in a move
that was one continuous blur, the incredible speed of the Wamphyri! And taking out the
magazine he looked at it, frowned, and growled, 'Empty?'
'That's right,' said the telepath, as he backed off a pace. 'Because I was afraid I
might use it without giving any of you a chance to... well, to explain.'
'What's to explain?' said Jake. 'But what I would like you to explain: how come
you'd fireman's-lift me out of trouble if you were only going to kill me later? And
incidentally, that's why I haven't killed you!' And then, looking at the gun again, 'Do you
have a full clip?'
Yes,' said the telepath, reaching into his pocket to show Jake a full magazine.
'There, then,' said Jake, giving him the gun back. 'No good having the
ammunition if you don't have a fucking gun!' Then he groaned, went to his knees, put a
hand to the back of his head, looked at his sticky crimson fingers and said, 'People
and I really do mean people, all of you I think you'll have to get by without me for a
while.'
With which he fell flat on his face...
_
_
Concussed, the Necroscope lay in the back of the minibus, cared for by Goodly, with
Garvey looking on, while Lardis sat hunched in a corner looking dour. Apparently
drained of energy, Premier Turchin slept where he sat, his head lolling on his chest.
Ben Trask, ever the indefatigable leader, drove through the night, locked-on like
a missile to the hearse and its alien occupants how many miles ahead? and guided
by Millie who sat beside him.
After a while, the five who were still conscious conversed, tersely at first, but
gradually falling into old routines, patterns of long-accustomed speech that sprang
automatically from years of knowing each other, friendship, and... mutual trust?
That was how it had used to be, anyway.
And while they weren't forgetting couldn't possibly have forgotten the
desperate nature of their situation, they certainly tried their best.
As if from far, far away, Jake could hear them... but then, he could hear diverse
things, discernible to no one else. Deadspeak whispers came rolling in off a sea of fog,
and there was a constant pounding in his head and faint cries of frustration, despair
even of mental degradation, madness from somewhere deep inside... but not Jake's
pain and not his despair.
His madness, then?
No, not that either, though certainly his psyche felt like it was being torn in half,
with both halves pulling in opposite directions.
Seeming to recognise various ethereal voices, Jake listened to the dead awhile.
The ones he knew were muted, shouted down or whispered down by the Great
Majority, who were actually in the majority now; for all of those who had been undecided
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