This is a fan translation of Emperors of Illusions (Императоры иллюзий) by the Russian science fiction and fantasy author Sergei Lukyanenko. The novel is a sequel to Lukyanenko's Line of Dreams (Линия грёз) novel and can be considered a fan fiction of the original Master of Orion game.
Chapter 8
Sayelah saw them from afar. The older human, the one he had assumed to be Kay Dutch, approached the information terminal and entered a query. He waited for a reply, then passed a hand over his cheek. He looked at the registration counter pensively. Their eyes met.
For the first time in his life, the Mrrshan felt ill at ease. His psyche was very stable, as it was for all members of his race. But this fleeting gaze brought death with it.
Sayelah's eyes found Jaires among the staff. But his partner's confident nod did not make him feel any calmer.
He suddenly thought that slow and steady rise up the caste ladder had its own undeniable advantages.
"Good day," the "traveling salesman" from Kailis was already at his counter. "I flew in yesterday… do you remember? How is our ship doing?"
Sayelah diligently entered the query into his terminal. He spread his hands; such human gestures always had a calming influence on them.
"The fueling has not yet started; you were not in a hurry."
"I am now. Speed up the process."
"That is impossible."
"I will reward you," the "traveling salesman" was still in character.
"It's technically impossible. All the fuelers are at the landing field…"
"I can teach you. You take a symbol of any fueler on the screen, modify the directive, enter the urgency category…" the "traveling salesman" gave him an ingratiating smile. "And stay alive."
The barrel of a Hornet was staring Sayelah's belly through the fragile barrier of the registration counter. The Mrrshan felt the fur on his back rise.
"Quickly," the human commanded coldly. He no longer felt the need to stay in character. Sayelah touched the sensor screen hurriedly, obeying the command. He had a momentary temptation to send an empty fueler to the small ship… but this human knew the procedure too well to miss it.
He sent the nearest fueler to the Grasshopper.
"Good boy," the human approved. "What alerted you?"
Jaires seemed to not yet realize what was happening.
"The walk," Sayelah forced out. "You move like a killer."
"I am a killer," the human agreed. His young partner came up behind him.
"Slight problems," the human said without turning. "Everything is under control and is being fixed."
The young man turned and looked around.
"Quit spinning," the man said dryly. But it was too late; Jaires had already felt that something was off. Out of the corner of his eye, Sayelah saw his friend starting to move through the crowd.
"Who is tracking us?" the human continued his interrogation.
"Just me. I wanted to figure it out," Sayelah was hoping that his tone was convincing enough. It was good that the human language allowed him to lie without much effort.
"You're either a fool or a liar," the human informed him. "And you don't look like a fool."
"Don't move!" Jaires's shout caused the crowd to scatter away from the counter. "I have you at gunpoint!"
Sayelah saw a momentary struggle in the human's eyes, which cost him what was left of his self-confidence. Then the human lowered his weapon. Jaires, holding two smart pistols in his hands, continued to stand five meters away. The smart guns, set to paranoid mode, maintained a steady aim at their targets.
Sayelah relaxed and said, "In the name of the Mrrshan Territories, you are under arrest. Your fates will be decided by the interspecies tribunal."
"You're playing a dangerous game, kid."
"Silence!"
Sayelah stepped away from the human hurriedly. He realized he ought to stop the fueling process of the Grasshopper, but he didn't want to approach the terminal again.
More people from the staff were approaching. A few Mrrshans, who happened to be nearby, were watching the events in confusion. Tourists, as if completely lacking in self-preservation instincts, had surrounded Jaires and the detainees, pointing cameras at them.
"What's going on?" the shift supervisor grabbed Sayelah by the hem of his vest. "Inspector Sayelah!"
"This is an arrest," the Mrrshan bared his teeth. This was his moment of triumph. "According to the agreement between the Empire and the Territories, we have the right to arrest human criminals on our planets…"
"Are you the officer here?" the killer took a step forward. He'd changed his image once more; Sayelah knew enough humans to be amazed at the ease of his actions. The manner, the tone, the word choice… he was no longer a small company's traveling salesman. More like a top-level executive of a corporation like Setico.
"Operations Shift Supervisor Alex Lykov. What's happening here?"
"Mr. Lykov, this is a misunderstanding… I tried to engage in small talk, while awaiting registration. For some reason, a simple phrase—"
"What phrase?" Lykov frowned. Conflicts between tourists and Mrrshans from the staff were a rare occurrence. Mrrshans knew how to ignore small mistakes made by humans."
"We were talking about families, children, and I congratulated him with his firstborn son… I've got a son of my own…" the human turned and nodded at the young man. At the same time, he gauged the position of the armed Mrrshan.
The shift supervisor grimaced, as if from a toothache. There were still some humans who knew nothing about Mrrshan sexual stereotypes…
"Sayelah, Jaires, calm down!"
"He's lying! He…" Sayelah barely kept himself from shouting. The nonexistent insult, which had now been spoken, was now real.
"But I really am glad that you have a son."
"Silence, you idiot!" throwing a hateful gaze at the man, Lykov dashed to Jaires. "Disengage your weapons! This is a mistake!"
"Step aside, homo!" Jaires screeched. His pistols, losing their targets, started twitching in Mrrshan's hands.
The human gave Sayelah a single brief smile. The Mrrshan jerked away, suppressing a desire to leap under a table.
"My name is Kay," the killer stated, turning. The Hornet, which was again in his hands, phewed loudly, expelling a charge of hot plasma.
The explosion merged with the screams of the tourists, who had finally realized the danger of what was happening.
Kay gave Sayelah another glance. There was no hatred in it, he was merely figuring out the level of danger. The result was deadly only to the Mrrshan's ego.
"Live," the human said. He lifted the Hornet and flipped the power setting to maximum with a finger. A full charge of the heavy blaster flew over the Mrrshan's head, and the far corner of the hall, where the ground control equipment was located, was drowned in flames.
Panic swept the spaceport far quicker than the fire.
Sayelah, still stuck in a stupor, was standing and staring at Kay. The human went up to the shift supervisor without looking at the scattering tourists. The man was lying on the floor, his right hand gripping the stump of his left arm, which had been severed at the elbow. Kay bent down and ripped the service access card from Lykov's belt. The shift supervisor didn't even notice.
Kay didn't even dignify the smoking bloody mess that had been Jaires with a glance.
Then Kay's young companion, who had been only staring detachedly up to this moment, reached for the Bumblebee in his shoulder holster. Sayelah had noticed the spaceport security guards a little earlier, but that changed nothing. The first level of the spaceport, where they were located, was filled with the distraught crowd. The guards, trying to get down from the upper levels, looked like targets in the transparent elevators.
The blasts from the Bumblebee fused into a burst. A moment later, the loud discharges of the Hornet joined them. The melted glass of the elevators fell on the floor in a fiery rain.
Without looking back at Sayelah, Kay and the young man ran to the service door that led to the landing field.