Footfall

We’re finally fighting back! No, the United States is fighting back, Arvid corrected himself. Never mind. What have they got? Can they win? Can they even catch us? The spin was gone. Gravity was a feather-touch aft. Thuktun Flishithy’s drive took time to build power, but it was possible that the ship could simply outrun the Americans.

“Tashayamp. Query: you usually have warriors with you?”

“For this breath the warriors have better things to do!” Her tone was sharp. The fithp could enunciate, could decrease the air escaping with the words, when they wished. “Here we are.” The key she used was a bar of metal; the lock was magnetic, as Arvid had established long ago. The hatch swung out. “You have sufficient padding, but acceleration may come from abnormal directions. Be careful. Grip when you can. You will be as safe as any fi’ aboard. Now go in.”

The others watched as Arrid swung his body around the edge of the hatch. They saw him grip Tashayamp’s trunk, brace his feet, and pull her digits loose from her handhold.

Tashayamp shrieked. Her first impulse wasn’t to crush Arvid Rogachev; it was to tether herself. Her hampered digits wrapped around the edge of the hatch. Dmitri leapt from below. He crashed into her like a fullback. Then Arvid and Dmitri were pulling her trunk in two directions, pulling her through the hatch. And the hatch was still open.

Tashayamp recovered. Arvid found himself flying. He curled himself into a ball; struck padding; struck again with less force; uncoiled and leapt again. The others had got the idea. Mrs. Woodward and the children huddled in a corner. Jeri, Dmitri, Nikolai looked to be tangled in Tashayamp’s digits. Arvid snatched at her harness as he passed, climbed around onto her back. He found the buckle and loosed the harness.

Straps and a pack. Arvid opened the pack and swung. The contents flew wide. Tashayamp was screaming, thrashing, drifting much too near a wall. If she could anchor her feet in the padding

He swung around her belly, caught the wall with his feet, and kicked away, toward the middle of the cell.

The fi’ seemed to be tiring. Arvid joined the others at her head. “Push them in here,” he shouted, and grasped a digit that writhed like a fire hose…

Five minutes later, a furious fi’ female glared at them over the edge of a bag. Straps were tight around her ears. Dmitri moored other straps behind her forelegs and tightened them. He cast loose and studied the situation thoughtfully. “Is there a reason to betray our true motives now?”

“Thuktun Flishithy is under attack,” Arvid replied. He heard Jeri gasp.

“Right on!” Alice shouted.

“By whom?”

“American. One carrier with missiles and smaller spacecraft. Our last chance, Dmitri. The fithp cannot follow us into the ducts. We fight there!”

“I see. Agreed.” Dmitri spoke rapidly in Russian.

“No,” Arvid said.

“No, what?” Jeri demanded.

“It is State Security!” Dmitri shouted in Russian.

“He wishes to kill this fi’,” Arvid said.

Jeri said, “Hey!”

Mrs. Woodward said, “You wouldn’t.”

“Do you think those straps will hold her helpless?” Dmitri shouted. “And so do I, but what do we know? Kill her. Think of India and kill her.”

“Over my dead body,” Jeri said. She moved closer to Tashayamp.

Dmitri shouted in Russian.

Arvid replied. “I will think with what organs I choose. I grant you command, but not in this. Think, Dmitri. Thuktun Flishithy is under attack.”

“By the time they find the Teacher’s mate, we will be beyond their reach. There is no need whatever to kill her.”

“You let women think for you.”

“He doesn’t need women to tell him what’s right,” Carrie Woodward said.

“I like Tashayamp!” Alice said emphatically.

Dmitri looked about him. Arvid, Alice, Jen, and Mrs. Woodward were between him and the fi’ … who had stopped thrashing because of an understandable interest in the topic of conversation.

“Arvid, you may regret this, but it is done. Now let us be gone! Mrs. Woodward, take the children to the Garden. It is never locked, and you should be safe there, if anyone is safe anywhere. Nikolai, Arvid… with me. Jeri? Alice?”

“Both of you to the Garden,” Arvid ordered.

“Wes! What about him?” Alice cried.

Dmitri snorted contempt. “Have you any idea where he is? Forget Congressman Dawson. He is untrustworthy, he has proved it again and again.”

Alice shrugged angrily. “I don’t like you very much.”

“Imagine my concern. You are unreliable. Go to the Garden with the others.”

“Damn right.”

“I’m coming with you,” Jeri told Arvid.

“Mother—”

“You go with Carrie. Arvid!”

Arvid studied her face, and nodded.

“Do as Carrie says,” Jeri said. She slapped Melissa on the rump. “Now get moving.”

They set Tashayamp spinning in the middle of the cell and left her that way. They set off forward along the corridor. The first grill they passed, Arvid unscrewed the wing nuts and led half the party inside. The rest continued.

42. THE MEN IN THE WALLS