Sooner Dead (Gamma World) - Mel Odom [83]
Impatiently, the first time Hella had seen that emotion in the fractoid, Scatter stepped in front of Pardot. “I want to know about the other being. I want to know—” He didn’t get any farther.
Pardot raised a hand and placed it in the center of Scatter’s chest. An azure energy blast arced from Pardot’s hand and blew the fractoid back a dozen feet, taking two security guards down with him.
“What are you doing?” Hella’s hands already formed weapons, and she took a step forward.
Shifting to her, Pardot lifted his hand, and his second blast slammed into her and lifted her off her feet. She never felt herself hit the ground.
Pain, way too familiar, jolted Hella back to wakefulness. She sat up in darkness, then realized she was under a tent. Her hands morphed into weapons before she drew her next breath.
“Easy, Red.”
Focusing on Stampede’s voice, Hella blinked and gave her vision a moment to adjust to the gloom. He sat cross-legged in the tent with his rifle across his knees.
“What happened?”
“Pardot shot you.”
“I remember that.” Hella morphed her hand and ran it across her chest, but all she felt was the familiar hardness of the chain-mail shirt. “With some kind of energy weapon.”
“He calls it a disruptor. It’s supposed to temporarily fry your synapses. Render you unconscious. He said it was nonlethal.”
“I’m surprised you didn’t kill him.” Hella sat up. The disruptor had been nonlethal, but the experience felt only just.
“I might have but I knew you were still alive, and if I opened up on Pardot, Riley and his people would have killed us both.”
Hella looked around the tent, but they were alone. “Where’s Scatter?”
“They have him.”
“What are they doing to him?”
“I don’t know.”
“Is he still alive?”
“I’m pretty sure that he is.”
“Why?”
“They wouldn’t have gone all this way to just kill him.”
“What are we going to do?”
Stampede’s ears twitched. “We haven’t been fired. They still need us. At least that’s what I was told. And Pardot is willing to overlook your bad behavior.”
“What bad behavior?”
“Pulling weapons on him
Awfully generous, isn’t he?”
“Not a bit. He’s desperate. He still needs a guide, and we’ve got him this far.”
Hella held her aching head. “Why did Pardot shoot Scatter?”
“Because he felt threatened.”
“Scatter wasn’t threatening Pardot. We saw Scatter catch a dragonfly on the wing. If he’d wanted to hurt Pardot, it would have been done before anyone could stop it.”
Stampede sighed. “Pardot hasn’t seen Scatter catch dragonflies. He said he felt threatened, and I’ve given that some thought while I’ve sat here and listened to you sleep.”
“Thanks.”
“If I’d been Pardot, out in the middle of unfamiliar territory the way he is, confronted with something he didn’t know enough about that was suddenly up in his face, I’d have felt threatened too.” Stampede fixed her with his gaze. “You would have too, and you’d probably have responded in the same fashion.”
“Pardot shot me.”
“You moved on him too quick, Red. He told me he just reacted and wasn’t thinking clearly at the time.”
Hella knew the explanation was logical, but she felt protective of Scatter. She also knew that her feelings compromised her. “You heard what Pardot said about having seen another metal man?”
Stampede nodded. “I did.”
“I don’t suppose he said anything more about that?”
“No, and I get the feeling that he’s not going to be very forthcoming with any more information.”
Taking another breath, Hella decided to try what she’d learned from Scatter. She put her hands on her head and rubbed her temples, trying to create the healing rhythm. After a moment the buzzing sensation kicked in, and her headache went away. She smiled.
“Better?” Stampede eyed her speculatively.
“Yeah.” Hella peered through the open tent flap. “I know you’re probably ready to leave Pardot and the rest, but I want to stay long enough to figure out what they’re going to do with Scatter.”
“I know, Red. So do I. But hanging around these people is going to be dangerous in a lot of ways.”
“Scatter has taught me things about the nanobots. I’d like to see what