It might be a good idea to rile him, Madelaine thought.I need a distraction.
Dirk’s expression shifted to fury. “I was the better choice!”
“Why? Because you could have servedyourneeds and desires so much easier if she’d gone along withyourpersonal program?
“I suspect you would have chained her up in her own ship and kept her mouth taped shut, only trotting her out in public when required to fetch the parts of the device until you didn’t need her anymore.” They’d moved a couple of steps in the right direction, inches at a time, as Dirk seemed caught up in defending his foolish beliefs.
“You don’t know that. Besides, she’s not without liability. She only agreed to become the Paladin Courier because she didn’t want her little sister to have all the glory! She’s a self-serving, glory-seeking publicity hound and not the virtuous soul you think she is.”
“Liar!” Madelaine screamed.
She’d wanted to save Natalie from the program from the very beginning. She and her sister were the last female descendants of the family with the right DNA to collect, assemble and deploy the device. That was how they’d kept Madelaine in Paladin training, by threatening her with the immediate conscription of her little sister if Madelaine didn’t cooperate. So she had.
“Don’t listen to him, Madelaine,” Jack said, putting an arm around her shoulders and moving her a few inches closer to the Mechanism. “He’s a sniveling crybaby and not worth your justifiable anger.” Pressing a silent signal into her arm, he told her he’d battle with Dirk while she ran over and loaded the device.
“I love you, Jack,” Madelaine said. She turned and kissed him. All they need to do was subdue Dirk and load the device into the Mechanism. Once the clock started, she just had to do a few twists with the silver bauxite nugget and done.
They were going to win.
“Oh, that’s so sweet,” Dirk said sarcastically. “Gag me. The two of you are not worthy of the glory you seek. But it doesn’t matter. I’m not going to let you have it anyway.”
Dirk lifted a large gun he’d pulled from his robe and pointed it at them. He took a strange device from a pocket and held it up. It looked like a large key fob or maybe a small garage door opener.
Jack moved half a step right in front of Madelaine, as if shielding her from the gun and whatever Dirk had in his other hand. Her gaze was focused on the problematic gun.
“What are you going to do, lock your car doors from here?” Jack asked. “Wow. You reallyarethe man with all sorts of important power. Should we call you King of the Door Locks now?”
When she peered over Jack’s shoulder to get a clearer look at the item in Dirk’s hand, Madelaine gasped. It was a resonance disruptor.
She stepped to one side of Jack. “No! Don’t do it—”
Dirk sneered as he slammed his thumb on the switch. Energy screamed through the chamber. The Mechanism groaned. Crystal conduits crackled as if ready to work. Ancient gears moved slowly onward. The socket hollow lit up as if ready to receive the device.
And, most importantly, the space above the socket lit up with a countdown clock. It was set for only two minutes. Just like in the rendering.
Jack grabbed Madelaine’s arm. “What is happening?”
“He’s started the Mechanism! Do you see the countdown clock? Usually, it won’t start until the device is inside the socket.”
Dirk laughed. “When the countdown clock hits zero, the Mechanism locks up. Since the device won’t be inside, it will never launch.”
He raised his pistol higher and aimed it at Jack’s chest. “Now, the two of you will remain right there, well away from the Mechanism. Soon, the galaxies will begin again with me at the helm of a new and better society.”
Boom!
The loud sound came from behind Dirk, making him and his gun spin away from them. Something huge dropped from the ceiling, knocking Dirk to the floor.
Smoke exploded everywhere. Blue and black with sparks of blue writhing across the floor, the walls, the Mechanism.
Madelaine lost sight of the timer.Space potatoes!
The smoke thickened. Like in The Burnt Saint Exchange, when they’d made their escape with their bauxite fuel cubes from Crooked Halo Station. Clearly, Veyre was here to help them, but the smoke needed to go.
Madelaine shouted, “No smoking up the mine shaft, Veyre! I can’t see the countdown clock.”
“Fair point. Sorry about that.” Veyre somehow sucked all the smoke back into himself.
Dirk had scrambled to his feet. He lifted his gun and fired at Veyre. Energy bolts blasted past Veyre.
