“I don’t know! I was experimenting with it, I didn’t build it!” Ritter made himself smaller where he pressed up against the wall.
Nirro stared at the lifeless body before him and for a moment, Ethan thought he was going to crush the extraction device in his hand.
He didn’t, though. He tossed it onto the counter and bent down to the guard, looking for signs of life.
One of the guards in the passageway finally stepped inside, crouching beside his friend, and then shouted something at Nirro.
The rebel leader shook his head, but Ethan guessed he was being blamed for the death.
The guard remonstrating with him stood suddenly, his gaze caught on the box containing the remaining three balls, and he swept it off the counter with a shout.
The box hit the ground, and the balls went flying. Ethan heard them bounce, and it seemed as if they shot randomly around the room.
But he knew better.
He didn’t look down, keeping his gaze up and on the Caruson and Ritter, but he felt the nudge as two of the balls hit the side of his hand.
He guessed the last one had found Velda when she lifted her hands up off the floor at last and pressed them together, fingers entwined.
Nirro seemed to remember they were there, looking over at them and then dismissing them as the guard shouted in his face.
He rose to his full height, lifting his laz, and shouted back.
With a snarl of outrage, the guard remonstrating with Nirro turned on his heel and as he stormed out of the room, he casually shot Ritter.
The scientist was already up against the wall, and he slid down, and Ethan thought he was dead, not unconscious.
At least that one guard had upped the laz strength.
It was something to keep in mind.
The sound of laz fire and shouting was suddenly clear, coming from down the passageway.
The Caruso had decided to turn on the Cores. They had already been distrustful, and then Linao had let it slip they were still in talks with the Caruso establishment.
“Stay.” Nirro pointed to them both, scooped up his fallen soldier’s laz, and walked out of the med bay.
The door closed behind him and for a moment there was silence.
Ethan guessed it wouldn’t last long.
29
“Dowe give them time to take each other out?” Velda asked, stepping away from the wall.
The bodies of the guard and Ritter made her deeply uncomfortable but there was nothing she could do about them right now.
“Couldn’t hurt to let them go at it with each other for a bit.” Ethan glanced at her. “The alliance didn’t last long, did it?”
“It seemed to escalate very quickly.” Velda had gotten the impression Linao had regretted showing her hand to Nirro. She’d wanted to find out what he knew about the balls too much, and she’d let on the Cores were still dealing with the Caruso government in the process.
That turned out to be a hard line for the rebels, one they did not hesitate to make clear.
“Linao should have kept her mouth shut,” Ethan agreed.
“Unless she was deliberately trying to stir up trouble between the rebels and her father.” That might make sense. She had misjudged Nirro’s reaction to it, though. Badly.
“You think it’s possible the Caruso do have a box of silver balls from that ghost ship?” Ethan asked.
