This is a fan translation of Line of Dreams (Линия грёз) by the Russian science fiction and fantasy author Sergei Lukyanenko. The novel can be considered a fan fiction of the original Master of Orion game.
Chapter 3
A sharp-nosed tanned girl was sitting under a tree. From a distance, she seemed to be resting. Only the uncertain movements of her hands, which couldn't seem to reach her face, revealed the truth.
Kay bent over the girl. He had gotten lucky, having once again chosen to land the flyer in the clearing. It was rare for Taurian children to be shot with a stunner, and it wasn't difficult to come to the correct conclusion.
"Don't try to speak," he said. "Your higher functions will come back later."
With one hand, he straightened the girl's skirt; with the other, he swiped a few large ants from her face. His movement was almost tender.
"You're Artie's friend, aren't you?"
The girl nodded.
"Did they take him?"
Another weak nod.
"Is there an ambush in the house?"
An uncertain gesture: maybe a "yes", maybe a "no". Kay took the metallic disk from the girl's shoulder. An inertialess force "leash"…
"Do you want to help me?"
The girl nodded vigorously.
"When I enter the house, slowly count to ten and turn on the "leash". Got it?"
Kay pressed the girl's hand on the button, switched the device's safety off, and attached the "leash's" carabiner to his belt. He could only hope that the belt had indeed been made from genuine leather and would be able to handle the rip.
"Don't be afraid," he told the girl, rising to his feet. "They have nothing against you. Just press the button, okay?"
In the silence of the endless gardens, Kay Dutch walked to the house, to kill.
"Get ready," Ahar said. His metal skirt chimed, when he took a position by the door. Kadar stood across from the entrance. A trembling wave passed through the Argument, which had sensed its owner's anxiety.
"Only idiots use intelligent weapons," Henrietta Fiscalocci said.
The door opened, and Kay entered the hall. He saw a thin man with a polycharger, pointing at his head, the home's owner, sitting peacefully in the chair, and a Bulrathi, who was standing to the side.
"Don't move," the man with the polycharger said.
"I give up," Kay said. "Don't hit me."
Henrietta raised her eyebrows in surprise. Kadar chuckled. Bulrathi emitted a disappointed grunt.
"Where is your weapon, human?" the Bulrathi asked.
"On my belt, behind me."
Ahar slid around Kay. His paw passed around his waist.
"There is no weapon here."
"It's there," Kay said calmingly. Sensing a trap, the Bulrathi froze.
"He's got something in his shorts pocket and by his armpit," Kadar said, glancing at the Argument's screen, but the Bulrathi wavered.
"There is a metal attachment on your belt," he said finally. "What is it?"
"You'll understand soon," Kay gave a friendly smile to the man with the polycharger. His nerves were obviously at their limit, which could prove fatal. As could the girl's unexplainable delay.
He shouldn't have had trusted a child.
…Rachelle was trying to press the button for the third time. Her muscles refused to obey, and her fingers kept sliding off the smooth surface. She bit down on her lip, tasting blood, and the sharp pain shook her numbed nerves.
The "leash" shuddered, generating the thin strand of a force field.
"Shoot him," the Bulrathi ordered. Kadar pulled the trigger.
At that moment, the invisible cord reached Kay. He was jerked so hard that he doubled over. He had been taking a risk by attaching the "leash" to his belt.
But it had been worth it. The mountain climbing "leash" not only pulled a falling man up, but it also generated a shield capable of holding back a sizable rockfall. The Bulrathi, who had been standing behind Kay, felt a hit, as if he'd run straight into a concrete wall. He was dragged in front of Kay, hitting every obstacle on the way. The polycharger's stun beam vanished uselessly.
Retired ISS Colonel Henrietta Fiscalocci burst out laughing, watching the disappearance of Kay and the alien. Kadar threw a maddening glare at her and dashed to the door.
"Don't… don't hit me…" the old woman repeated Kay's words. She was once again gripped by a fit of laughter. But she still stood and pattered over to the window.
The "leash" had delivered Kay and the Bulrathi to Rachelle's feet. The girl jerked, trying to crawl away, when a furry body slammed into the tree, after plowing the soil on the way. Kay, who had been covered by the shield, leapt to his feet first. The Bumblebee had fallen out of his holster somewhere on the threshold of the house, but the Convoy, which he had purchased for Arthur, was strangely intact. He pointed the weapon at the Bulrathi.
Even half-stunned, Ahar was still a Bulrathi, who were the most frightening warriors of all organic lifeforms. Before Kay was able to fire, Ahar's paw shot out, grabbing Rachelle by the waist. Blood came out wherever his claws scratched her body. The Bulrathi was holding the girl in front of him, covering the most vulnerable spots of his body.
Holding the Convoy in his stretched hands, Kay was quickly moving the weapon, trying to aim at the organs whose damage would result in instant death.
Keeping his diamond-shaped pupils on him, the Bulrathi was shifting the girl's limp body in synch with him. This strange duel continued for no more than three seconds, telling the opponents everything they needed to know about one another.
"Haey, buul," Kay sad. "Uronkh-a, buul? Mat Kay."
A shadow of a surprise ran down the Bulrathi's face.
"Cich, khomo? Ahhar mit, khomo."
"Ahhar? Zhet? Dort Ahhar, Vyol Ahhar, Shivukim Ahhar? Mit Kay Dutch, Shedar-nek."
The Bulrathi rose to his feet, still holding the girl.
"Shivukim Ahhar, Ursa. Khaa nit."
"Let the girl go," Kay said. "I'll drop the gun, and we'll continue."
"Drop it," the Bulrathi agreed.
"Shivukim Ahhar, din Ursa."
"I swear," the Bulrathi said.
"Hur?"
"Mit din Ursa, khomo." Fury could be heard in the Bulrathi's high-pitched voice. Kay swung his hand, throwing the Convoy into the grass. With the same ease, the Bulrathi tossed the girl on the ground.
"You shouldn't have done that," Kay said.
Kadar couldn't believe his eyes. Kay Altos and Ahar were walking side-by-side between the trees. They came out onto a small clearing and separated by several meters…
"Unified Will," Kadar whispered. "He just wants to fight!"
He lifted the Argument. The polycharger started aiming at the figure, half-covered by trees.
"I'll kill you," Kadar promised Kay. "I will, not you."
"I was mistaken," the old woman turned away from the window. "Kay will kill the Bulrathi, not you. Do you want to see how you're going to die?"
Her tone was more convincing that her words. Kadar turned, trying to aim the polycharger at Henrietta. Unfortunately for him, the intelligent unit, after it had managed to lock onto Kay, didn't understand him. The Argument stubbornly bent the barrel, trying to track its former target.
"Like this," the old woman finished. Something squeezed in her fingers, which looked like a short pencil, clicked quietly. A thin jet of flame struck Kadar's face.
He continued to scream for as long as he still had his throat. But that didn't last long.
"A weapon should not be smarter than a person," Henrietta said thoughtfully, spinning a hot pyrocartridge in her hands, an old tool of the Imperial terror groups. "Then again, it's not hard to be smarter than one."
She threw the pyrocartridge onto Kadar's headless body, to the hysterically jerking Argument 36. There was nothing valuable in the single-shot flamethrower: a thin ceramic shell, some pyrogel, a focusing nozzle, and a fuse. Once, they had been produced even in pasta factories, if the Empire needed weapons more than it needed pasta.
"Before I kill you," the Bulrathi said, "who are you, Kay Dutch from Shedar's Second Planet?"
"A Super."
The Bulrathi bared his teeth, "This complicates…"
Not finishing speaking, he rushed forward. Simply, without any feints or lunges; just a quarter of a ton of muscles, tough hide, and instincts honed by evolution.
Just as easily and simply, Kay performed a short series of strikes to the body, focusing more on speed than effectiveness. Two of the strikes hit home, but the Bulrathi ignored them.
Then again, Kay hadn't been counting on that.
"Ktar," the Bulrathi said. He was slowly pressing the human from the clearing. Among the trees, despite his great bulk, he would have a deciding advantage, since his ancestors had once lived in the woods.
Kay Dutch stopped. It seemed as if the insult had disrupted his composure. The Bulrathi bared his teeth and ran forward. He wasn't scared of the dying strikes the self-confident human could deal him.
There was only one strike, into the spot between the rib plate and the left abdominal support muscle. The Bulrathi took one more step and stopped. The paws, which he had spread for a final embrace, started to quiver.
"Oh-o-o-o…" the Bulrathi half-moaned and half-sang.
Kay stared at him for a second. Then he pushed him in the chest a little. The Bulrathi collapsed onto his back. His body was convulsing.
"Does it feel good?" Kay inquired, crouching over his fallen foe.
"Lim…" the Bulrathi whispered.
"Who are you working for?"
"Nrap-po."
Kay didn't know what "Daytime Watchers" meant, but it wasn't hard to guess. Just in case, he clarified, "Who took Arthur?"
"Isabella Kal… Incedios ISS…"
Kay whistled. The blonde bitch had tracked them down through fifty parsecs, the Darlok prison, and the Silicoid assault.
No one went after those who had merely fled passive surveillance with such determination.
"Bravo, Kay, bravo."
He turned around. The old woman nodded approvingly, "It's been a long time since I've seen such sweet handling of aliens. Do you know about the shock points too?"
"Yeah." Kay rose, since the Bulrathi's jerks had become too sweeping. "Where's the other one?"
"In aTan… or nowhere. For some reason, I think he's nowhere."
The Bulrathi stopped convulsing.
"I wasn't the one who brought them, Kay," Henrietta said. "I don't deal with aliens… or those working with them."
"Was there someone else?"
"A Meklar. A well-transformed mechanist girl. A stubborn chubby guy. And a blonde girl as their commander… Are you going to cut off his ears?"
"What?" Kay was dumbfounded.
"The ears. The bear's ears. It's your lawful trophy… a valuable talisman. They say it increases male potency."
"I'm good. Shit!"
Kay kicked the Bulrathi and ran towards Rachelle.
