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COMPOUND MIND

Alexander did what it could to forestall the invaders

Legis XV&039;s arsenal had been locked out from the compound mind, of course No Imperial installation this close to the Rix would rely on the planetary infostructure to control its weaponry Physical keys and panic shunts were in place to keep Alexander froainst the Lynx or its landing craft But Alexander could still play a role in the battle

It h the eyes of security cah the ress of the Imperial troops as they storh intercoms to the two Rix co its intelligence, guiding them to harry the rescue effort

But by now, this last stand was er important to Alexander The rescue had come too late; it would be ie the co the planet&039;s infostructure

The Rix had won

Alexander noted the localinto the palace to reinforce the I commandos would soon be outnumbered hundreds to one But the compoundone of the coe the other

Alexander was secure, could no en froive up easily Perhaps a lone soldier under its direct command would prove a useful asset later in this contest

DOCTOR

Dr Vecher felt hands clearing the goo froain, another oyster-sized, salty re into his ue across his teeth Foul slivers squir the floor below hi, at whoever held his head

A h an open visor Her aquiline face looked old for a jumper, composed and beautiful in the semidarkness They were inside the hemisphere of a small stasis field

The ue, and a synthesized voice said, "Sir, heal"

She pointed at a forrasping the di his lungs had been accomplished

Before him, in the arms of a bloodsoaked Imperial officer, was the Child Empress She racked by some sort of seizure Saliva flecked the Elassy Her skin looked pale, even for a risen The way the Ee made Vecher think: heart attack

That didn&039;t erous as a cardiac event

Vecher reached into his pack and pulled out his raph around the E a der while the little device booted After alike a tiny metal cobra, and two quickneedles popped into the Eave blood pressure and heart rate, and the polygraph ticked through a series of blood tests for poisons, nano checks, and antibody assays The heart rate was bizarrely high; it wasn&039;t an arrest The bloodwork rolled past, all negative

Vecher paused with his hypo in hand, unsure what to do What was causing this? With one thumb, he pulled open the E a red stain The Child E from her lips When in doubt, treat for shock, Vecher decided He pulled a shock cocktail fro it to his patient&039;s arm The derm hissed, and the tension in the E," the Imperial officer said hopefully The man was an admiral, Vecher realized An admiral, but just a bystander in this awful situation

"That was only a generalized stabilizer," Vecher answered "I have no idea what&039;s happening here"

The doctor pulled an ultrasound wrap from the dropcase The admiral helped him wind the thin, metallic blanket around the Ean to forans, ca the spine, the shi else, just below the heart So out of place

He activated the link to theit reported connection failure Of course, the stasis field blocked transnostics upstairs," he explained to the marine corporal "Lower the field"

She looked at the ad itself The old man nodded The corporal shouldered her weapon and scanned the council chaenerator&039;s controls

Before her fingers could reach them, a loud boo for a target through the sudden rain of dust Another explosion sounded, this time closer The floor leapt beneath the doctor&039;s feet, throwing hie of the stasis field, and, looking down, he saw that thethe circumference of the field Of course, Dr Vecher realized: the field was a sphere, which passed through the floor in a circle around theh to rupture the marble where it was split by the field

Another pair of blasts rocked the palace Vecher hoped the floor was supported by so more elastic than stone Otherwise, their neat little circle of h to the next level, however far down that was

Screah the stasis field; a few decorative ele them A chunk of rock bounced off the black hemisphere above Vecher&039;s head

"Those idiots!" cried the ad us?"

Theone booted toe against the cracked

She pulled off her helmet and vomited professionally--as neatly as theonto the floor

"Sorry, doctor," she said "I can&039;t lower the field The ceiling could go any second You&039;ll have to do without any help for now"

Vecher rose shakily, nodding A metallic taste had replaced the salty strawberry of the oxycompound He spat into his hand and saw blood He&039;d bitten his tongue

"Perfect," he muttered, and turned toward his patient

The ultrasound as slowly getting thelike a live thing, tightening around her The shape below the Empress&039;s heart was clearer now Vecher stared in horror at it

"Damn," he swore "It&039;s" "What?" the admiral asked The marine took her eyes from the open council chamber&039;s doors for a moment to look over his shoulder

"Part of the syrouped blasts rained dust and stone fragments onto the field over their heads

Vecher simply stared

"But it shouldn&039;t be there" he said

PRIVATE

Private Bassiritz, who cale na minute cracks in the stone floor of the palace of Child Empress Anastasia Vista Kha bullets had rounded the corner before hiht and high-pitched screaround Fortunately, Bassiritz&039;s reflexes were rated in the top thousandth of the highest percentile of Imperial-ruled humanity, in that realm of professional athletes, stock ular characteristic had given hiled--not so ent as undersocialized, raised in a provincial sector of a gray planet where technology was treated with due respect, but the underlying science ridiculed for its strange words and suppositions The acadeht hi he would be an asset in any sudden, explosive combat situation, such as the one in which he now found hiRix projectiles had hit Bassiritz, nor had they, by the celeritous standards of the event, even coood too Throw a coin ten meters, and Bassiritz could run and catch it--the called side facing up in his sh Bassiritz&039;s reality with the tardy grace of glaciers, vast, dignified creatures who evidently knew a lot of things, but whose ly slow They seelass fell froroundcar suddenly hurtled toward theust of wind--and they flailed like retarded children Why not just react?

But this Rixwoman Now she was fast

Bassiritz had alo With the servos in his ared to keep it quiet, he&039;d crawled into a cunning position behind the Rixwoman, separated from her only by the translucent bricks that forarden The ene fire froh to let Bassiritz do the killing Their variguns pu up athe Rixwoman down, down, down She knelt and crawled, and her shadoarped and twisted by the crude, handblown shapes of the brickwork, but frole Bassiritz could see to shoot her

He set his varigun (a difficult weapon that forced Bassiritz to choose how to kill sole ballshot ofwas a mistake, however Just as Bassiritz never understood the relativistic equations thatvisibly with every visit ho of tiun missiles were slower than sound Bassiritz couldn&039;t understand how sound could have a speed, like his squad did

But the crack of his weapon reached the Rixwo sphere of ferrocarbon, and with Bassiritz-like speed she ducked The ball-shot shattered three layers of ornaet

And now the Rixwo bullets proved that, though she herself had disappeared All manner of shit was about to come his way Fast shit, maybe faster than Bassiritz

Bassiritz decided to s his pride and call on help froht hand he pulled a black disk fro a red plastic tab from the top, Bassiritz waited for the few seconds it took the disk to confirht meant that there was a man in it noee man who you couldn&039;t see Bassiritz stood and took the stance of one skipping a flat stone across water, and hurled the disk down the long hallway It glanced once against thethe sharp sound of a haht by a sudden wind

PILOT

Master Pilot Jocieneral tactical floater as easily as slipping on an undershirt Whatever grunt had thrown the floater had iood, steady spin, and the small craft&039;s fan drive accelerated without turbulence