Flinx Transcendent_ A Pip & Flinx Adventure - Alan Dean Foster [137]
Weapons drawn and leveled, Port Security was closing in around him and his associates. If he gave the word, the speaker would trigger the package and obliterate them all, members of the Order and security personnel alike. While undeniably dramatic, such a gesture would be useless, futile, and worst of all would focus attention on the surviving members of the Order. That would be counterproductive, the Elder recognized. If nothing else, a peaceful surrender might at least preserve some anonymity and deflect attention from those who would remain free to continue the necessary work.
Moments later, as he was being placed in restraints, he reflected that his life would soon be over anyway, albeit long before the coming cleansing arrived from the far reaches of the intergalactic void. His only regret was that he was not going to live long enough to experience that great day. That gratification would be bequeathed to others. The Order would go on, until its watchfulness was no longer needed. As he and his colleagues were taken away he consoled himself with the knowledge that the efforts to eliminate the singular impeder were probably unnecessary anyway. Nothing could stop, or slow, or hinder the inexorable arrival of the Purity. Nothing!
It bothered him, though, that he could not stop himself from occasionally glancing skyward in the direction taken by the recently departed shuttlecraft.
“It's a beautiful world.”
Clarity expressed her feelings as the shuttlecraft began the long drop surfaceward. Her reaction upon glimpsing the view on the shuttle's monitor was identical to Flinx's upon his first sight of Booster so many years ago.
“It is.” Reaching over from the pilot's drop seat, he took her hand and squeezed it gently. “Mostly ocean, and the one big continent where we're headed. A nice place to live—if you're a Tar-Aiym. They're built a lot heavier and more solid than we are.”
She glanced over at him. “It looks inviting on the readouts. A lot of free helium in the atmosphere, but otherwise perfectly breathable. What's wrong with it?”
From the seat behind her Tse-Mallory offered an explanation. “It's just a bit breezy,” he told her.
“When Bran and Tru and I were here before,” Flinx explained further, “we had to locate the Krang from orbit. Now that we know its location I'm going to try and set down close enough so that we can reach it by skimmer, instead of having to use a heavy land vehicle. Which is important, because the Teacher doesn't carry a crawler.”
“I'm sure there'll be no—oh!” She let out a short gasp as the shuttle rocked violently and her lounge protectively locked her down.
“Breezy,” Tse-Mallory quipped from behind her.
Though he was not nearly as good a pilot as Atha Moon, who had managed the first humanx landing on Booster, Flinx's shuttle had the advantage of more advanced electronics. As they passed through the upper jet streams the ride smoothed out, the ship's systems compensating for the incessant winds. The rest of the descent held steady enough so that, when the concentric crescents of the ancient city below finally came into view, Clarity and Sylzenzuzex felt safe in leaving their seats to enjoy the nonelectronic view out the main port.
Immediately, they found themselves drawn to the towering, dull yellow-white, rectangular pyramid that soared skyward from a bluff near the center of the city. It dominated everything, natural and artificial, as far as could be seen in any direction.
“Is that it?” Clarity's tone was subdued. “The Krang?”
Though the shuttle was more or less flying itself, Flinx kept his attention on the instrumentation in case his input was needed. “Three