The Valiant - Michael Jan Friedman [17]
Finally, he turned to Tarasco. told you , he said in that strangely expansive voice of his, you cant stop me, Captain not any more than an amoeba can stop an elephant .p>
And with that, he extended his hand toward Tarasconot casually, as he had before, but with a certain resolve. The meaning of the gesture was clear. He intended to finish the captain off this time.
Tarasco fired at Agnarsson again, producing another stream of electromagnetic force. But the engineer wasnt daunted by it. He simply raised his chin and withstood the barrage, and retaliated with a spidery lightning flash of his own.
Fortunately, the captain was ready for it. Ignoring the crushing pain in his ribs, he ducked Agnarssons attack and rolled to his right. Then he came up on one knee and fired again.
The engineer actually smiled. Im getting stronger with every passing second , he observed. You should have done something about me a long time ago. Now its too late .
Tarasco saw the wisdom in the remark. He should have done something a long time ago. He should have done the hard thing, the heartless thing, and destroyed Agnarsson as soon as he tampered with the ship.
But that didnt help him now. He had to find a way to slow the monster down, to give himself and his crew a fighting chance
Suddenly, it came to him.
As the engineer raised his hand again, the captain fired his laser pistolbut not at Agnarsson, against whom it wouldnt have done any good. Instead, he trained his beam on the deck below Agnarssons feet.
After all, this was the weapons roomand the Valiant boasted two kinds of weapons. One was atomic. The other was a laser cannon system supplied with power by heavy-duty conduits.
And as luck would have it, one of those conduits ran directly under the spot where Agnarsson was standing.
It took a moment for Tarascos beam to punch through the deck plating. The tactic caught the engineer by surprise, causing him to stumble. But he didnt understand what his adversary was up to, or he would have removed himself from the room immediately.
As it was, he simply levitated himself above the ruined spot in the deck. Youre grasping at straws , said Agnarsson, looking regal and supremely confident, his technical training obviously forgotten. Whatll you do next, Captain? Try to bring the ceiling down on my head ?
He had barely gotten the words out when Tarascos beam found its unlikely target. Without warning, a gout of blue-white electroplasma rose up and engulfed the engineer.
Agnarsson writhed horribly in the clutches of the energy geyser. Finally, with a prolonged snarl, he hurled himself out of harms way and landed on the deck with a thud.
However, the engineers exposure to the deadly electroplasma had taken its toll. He was curled up in a fetal position, his clothes burned off, his skin and hair blackened and oo/ing with blood.
But his eyes still glowed with that eerie, silver light. And as Tarasco looked on, Agnarssons flesh began to repair itself. Despite everything, he and his power had survived.
The captain bit his lip. It wouldnt be wise to try to launch the engineer into space a second timenot at the rate his strength was coming back. And he could think of only one other option.
Cradling his damaged ribs, he raced across the room to the intercom grid. Then he pressed the pad that activated it.
This is Tarasco, he gasped. All hands abandon ship immediately. Repeat, all hands abandon ship.
There was no time to elaborate, no time to explain. There was only enough time to issue the order and hope his people would follow it, because Agnarsson was already healed enough to focus his thoughts.
That was clever , the monster reflected through the haze of his pain. But how many conduits can you open without destroying your ship ?
The captain didnt allow himself to think of the answer. Instead, he aimed his weapon at the deck below Agnarsson and fired again. This time it took a little longer for him to pierce the surface and reach the conduit, but the result was just as spectacular.