Ghost Legion Read Free

human life-forms in
the neighboring galaxy. Xris had encountered a Corasian computer
system one other time before on a mission with the late Lady Maigrey
and he knew what to expect—a system that was out of date and
primitive. He called up inventory.
    The Corasians kept strict records. The "meat" was a
valuable commodity, to be shipped out to those planets in dire need
of either food or slave labor—or slave labor that would
ultimately become food. Each "carcass" was numbered when it
arrived and carried that number through to final consumption.
    Xris located the number—her number. Activating his own internal
computer, the cyborg brought up the diagram of the locker tunnels,
studied the screen embedded in his wrist, and located her cell. One
level up and three compartments down, to the right. He moved, just as
the red glow began to light the far tunnel behind him.
    He found her—that was the easy part. Now for the hard. She
wasn't alone. She was inside a cell with five others—a man and
two women and two children.
    Xris shorted out the force field, walked into the cell.
    Dull-eyed, stupefied with terror, the six stared at him. They didn't
believe in him ... at first. Then she recognized him. Her eyes
widened, color flooded her pale cheeks. Her lips parted. She rose to
her feet.
    The others didn't know him, but they understood. Hope lit their eyes.
The kindest thing he could do for them was to end it, swiftly.
    "Sorry," he said. "I can only manage one."
    He reached out, took hold of her, pulled her to his side.
    "If my team was with me, I could—"
    He stopped. Explanation was time-consuming, unnecessary.
    "My children," pleaded the man, shoving a pair of ragged,
sleepy, and frightened kids toward Xris. "It doesn't matter
about me, but take them with you. Please, for the love of God—"
    She was pleading with him, too. Urging him to take the others, no
matter that it would endanger them all. And there was no arguing with
her.
    A needle flicked out of the palm of his mechanical hand, punctured
her skin. She was startled at the sudden sharp pain, but before she
could cry out, he shot her full of the drug She sagged against him.
Her eyes closed; her body went limp.
    He picked her up with his mechanical arm, thinking, The last time I
touched her with this hand, she flinched.
    "Shoot us, then," said one of the women, gathering the
children close, holding them tight. "That's the least you can
do."
    Yeah. It was. It would take time, time he didn't have. But it was the
least he could do. Xris took aim and shot them, shot them all.
    Then, carrying her in his arms, he headed for the exit.
    A red glow flooded the tunnel, blocked the way. The Corasians opened
fire. Laser light flared around him.
    "Hit," came a synthesized voice. "Two kills."
    "Damn," Xris muttered.
    He holstered his lasgun, checked the clock, shook his head. He had to
get out faster. He needed to cut at least forty seconds off his time.
    Deactivating the dummy in his arm, he dropped it to the floor and
crossed over to the control panel located on a far wall of the target
range. He hit a switch. The red glow died. The holograph people and
the children disappeared. Forty seconds. Where the hell was he going
to pick up forty seconds?
    A blue light began to blink above the door.
    "Visitors," the synthesized voice informed him.
    Xris looked out the observation window, saw two people—at least
he guessed one was a person—standing in the hallway. Raoul and
the Little One.
    The cyborg muttered a curse beneath his breath. He hadn't expected
them back this soon. He had planned to be long gone before they came.
    He considered sending them up to report to Harry; then it occurred to
the cyborg that Harry was probably the one who'd sent them down here
to report to him. If Xris refused to see them, they would grow
suspicious, and the last thing Xris wanted was to rouse suspicions in
these two—particularly the Little One. Best to