Planet X - Michael Jan Friedman [77]
Suddenly, he found Archangel barring his way. “Where are you going?” the mutant asked him.
“To a shuttle bay,” the captain responded, though he need not have said a thing. Then he gave Archangel a look that made him move out of the way.
The lift doors opened and Picard got inside. But he didn’t get inside alone. The mutant came with him.
As the doors closed, Archangel turned to him. “You’re going after that cluster missile, aren’t you?”
The captain didn’t return the winged man’s scrutiny. “As it happens,” he said, “I am. Computer—Shuttlebay One.”
The lift began to move.
“Take me with you,” said Archangel.
Finally, Picard looked at him—his expression a skeptical one. “Why would I do that?”
“Because I can help,” the mutant told him. “I may not be a hundred percent, but I can probably fly at peak efficiency for a short period of time. With a little luck, I can make it to the missile and disarm it.”
The captain shook his head. “We don’t know anything about the technology that went into it.”
“But we will,” Archangel insisted. “When we’re up close and personal with it, you’ll scan it with those high-powered, sophisticated instruments of yours and figure out what makes it tick.”
“Even so,” said Picard, “the friction created by its passage through the atmosphere will render it too hot to handle.”
“Can you slow it down?” the mutant asked.
Picard glared at him. “Yes, with a tractor beam. But if you make a mistake? And the device explodes in your face?”
Archangel smiled a taut smile. “Then you’ll have one less annoying X-Man flying around your ship.”
“This is not a laughing matter,” said the captain.
His eyes blazing, the mutant pounded his fist against the side of the lift. “Listen to me,” he demanded. “I know we’ve had our differences. And believe me, I’m not apologizing for anything. But we both know there’s liable to be fallout from that cluster. Even if you detonate it in the air, every Xhaldian within a hundred miles could be caught in its drift.”
Picard wished Archangel was wrong about that. But there was a chance that what he was describing would come to pass.
There could be fallout. In that case, the captain’s sacrifice would have been for nothing. And the worst part was, he would never know if he had succeeded in saving Verdeen.
As he regarded the winged man, the muscles rippled in Picard’s temples. “We have had our differences—you’re right about that. Unfortunately, I don’t have so many options that I can afford to turn one down.”
“Then you’ll accept my offer?” asked Archangel.
The captain grunted. “Don’t make me regret it.”
The lift doors opened a moment later, revealing Shuttlebay One. Together, Picard and the mutant headed for the nearest pod.
Chapter Twenty-eight
SOVAR WATCHED HIS brother walk away under the silvergray sky. For just a moment, he was tempted to let Erid have his way. Then he realized he couldn’t do that.
Overtaking his brother, he placed himself in the youth’s path. “Blood of the ancients,” he pleaded, “just listen to me for a moment.”
“Go away,” said Erid.
“I won’t,” the lieutenant insisted.
“You had no trouble going away before,” his brother reminded him, shifting the weight of the half-conscious woman in his arms.
“That was different,” said Sovar. “It was something I had to do. But I can’t leave you here like this, at the mercy of those Draa’kon. Come with me, brother. I can help you.”
Erid shook his head. “I don’t need your help.”
“You do,” the security officer insisted. “You don’t know what you’re up against in these aliens.”
“Don’t you think I’ve seen what they can do?” his brother railed at him. “Don’t you think I’ve seen the transformed they’ve dragged into their vehicles?”
“Then what are you waiting for?” Sovar wondered. “Let me take you someplace safe. Let me—”
“There is no place safe for me,” Erid spat.
He held his chin up, displaying the purple veins popping out of his neck. He wriggled the fingers that were glowing with a soft, yellow light.
“I’m a freak, can’t you see that?” he demanded. “I’m a monster. Just ask the government that put