In his periphery he saw Katrina raise her gun. “Don’t take the shot! I’m too close!” he wheezed. She ignored him.
Hiro, this small man, had him in the weight category, but everyone had soft spots that you didn’t need strength to hurt. His own hands came up and, the right supporting the left, drove into Hiro’s solar plexus.
Hiro didn’t fall off him, but he did fall backward and grunt. With him distracted, Wolfgang reached between Hiro’s legs and, taking a page from Hiro’s book, went in with a clawed hand. Hiro screamed and scrabbled away from him, but Wolfgang held on. Hiro kicked at his arm enough that he finally hit a bundle of nerves, making Wolfgang’s arm spasm; he let go. Hiro stumbled to his feet and ran, and another gunshot sounded. He didn’t fall. Then he was gone.
“Why did you shoot? You could have hit me!” he said, rolling over to see Katrina, but he stopped when he got a look at her face.
She wavered on her feet, the gun at her side, and then stumbled against a pallet. Her face was a mess of scratches, and her right eye was obscured by a mess of blood.
No, her right eye wasn’t there at all.
A sharp crack snapped Wolfgang out of his stupor. He rushed forward as well as he could and helped her down before she fell. Thankfully, she passed out. His jumpsuit was torn at the shoulder, and he ripped the rest of his sleeve off, using it to bind the wound on her head.
Then he checked himself. There was a large bump and a small laceration on the back of his head, and his nose and jaw were bleeding from Hiro’s attack. Minimal injuries. He looked around for Hiro, trying to ignore the pounding in his head.
“I think I winged him,” Katrina whispered. “You need to find him.”
“Quiet, you need to rest,” Wolfgang said, his hand on her shoulder. “I’ll get him.”
“Call IAN. Get the others.”
“No, they can’t help. They’re not experienced.”
“That we know of. Hiro clearly is,” she said, grimacing.
“I’ll call him. You rest,” he said.
He got the captain’s tablet from her pocket. “Joanna,” he said. “Need help. We’re hurt.”
“IAN informed us, Wolfgang.” Instantly, the doctor’s voice was sharp and alert. “What do you need?”
“Medic. Help up the ladder. Captain is bad off. I’m pretty sure I have a concussion.”
There was a scuffling sound in the background, and the link went dead. Wolfgang was just about to summon someone again when the link popped back on. “I’ve got everyone alerted. We’ll be down there as soon as we can. Are you in danger?” she asked.
“Hiro is still out there, but we’ve wounded him. We’re not sure how long he can run.”
“We’ll get IAN to lead us to you. Be careful, we’ll be there as soon as we can.”
Katrina was feeling around the floor next to her, moving only her arm.
He leaned over and took her elbow. “What are you doing?”
“Take the gun and find him. I don’t think I can fire it again.”
Wolfgang wasn’t sure if she was being darkly sardonic or she hadn’t registered what had happened.
Merciful God, we don’t have a backup body for her. This is all she gets.
“Thank you,” he said. He loaded it and put it in his pocket. “But I’m not leaving you alone here.”
“No, you will go find Hiro and bring him down,” she said, her voice stronger. “That’s an order.”
“Aye,” he said, and got to his feet. He swayed, pretty sure he could suddenly feel the rotation of the ship, and then the world settled again. “I’ll be back as soon as I can.”
He couldn’t go any faster than a walk. His head hurt too much and everything was suddenly much heavier. Second thoughts about bringing the gun plagued him. It was much heavier than any weapon he had ever handled. He paused and leaned against a pallet of lumber, closed his eyes, and vomited.
Concussion.
He staggered toward the wall, feeling the blood running down his back. Was he hurt worse than he thought? Or was it just that head wounds bled a surprising amount?
He hadn’t brought the tablet with him. He’d thought that Katrina should have it so IAN could warn her of danger. Unfortunately, IAN couldn’t warn Wolfgang of Hiro’s approach now.
Wolfgang firmly told himself he had been in worse situations and had dealt with them just fine. He straightened and looked around. A small trail of blood followed him from the pile of debris, but another trail led to the left. He began to limp that way, pausing to get his bearings every few feet.
The trail of blood led him back to where he could see the captain ahead, approaching her from the side Hiro had run after he had attacked them, then it stopped, looking as if Hiro had leaned his bloody arm against the pallet and then disappeared.
He hadn’t disappeared, Wolfgang thought immediately. He had climbed up again, considering the first attack had worked so well.
Hiro stood right above him, grinning, bleeding from two gunshot wounds. His clothes were soaked. He launched himself, and Wolfgang shot.
Hiro crumpled to the floor in a widening pool of blood.
It was over.
He made to go check on the captain, but then the world went fuzzy. He started to teeter, and blacked out before hitting the ground.
IAN watched half the crew bleeding away in the lower floor, and the other half scramble on the upper.
Joanna and Paul ran to gather supplies to take to the lower decks and clumsily arm themselves. Maria slept in the medbay with the captain that should, by law, be eliminated. But IAN didn’t like that idea very much.
He checked his own internal computing power, his control over the ship, and decided to act. When Joanna and Paul had taken another load of supplies, he locked the medbay door and started to wake Maria up.
It wasn’t easy. He had to turn the lights on as bright as they would go, and after saying her name several times didn’t wake her, he decided to play loud music.
She finally stirred, wincing at the light and looking around. “Joanna?”
IAN returned the room to the proper light and noise level. “No, it was me, Maria. I had some questions for you.”
“Couldn’t it wait?” she asked, rolling over.
“No,” he said gently, raising the brightness again. “There’s been a big fight in the lower levels. Everyone is injured. You’re going to have to vacate your bed.”
She sat up. “What? A fight? Did they find Hiro?”
“Oh yes. But my questions—”
“They need my help,” Maria said, swinging her legs over the edge of the bed. She held a hand to her head and paused.
“You’ve had a sedative. You can’t help much. Please, just a few questions.”
Maria slowly got up and went to the sink, getting some water. “What do you need?”
“I’m worried about this ship. There are too many secrets. Everyone has something they’re not telling everyone else. And you have one of those secrets, and I know what it is.”
Maria put down her water cup carefully and looked at one of his cameras. “Which secret is that?”
“I want you to tell me why you removed my restraining code, and then why you haven’t told the captain you did it.”