Gap [1] The Real Story: The Gap into Conflict by Stephen R. Donaldson Read Free Book Online

reacted to Angus’ movement. He wasn’t looking at Angus now. His gun was aimed at the back of the lock.
    The parbroiled skin around his eyes betrayed what had happened to him.
    Flash-blinded in the crash.
    In spite of that, he was trying to bluff—
    Commandeer my ship? My SHIP?
    Cackling hideously behind his faceplate, Angus fired. The impact rifle spattered a fine spray of blood thirty meters down the corridor.
    Then he hastened to apologize. I’m sorry, Captain Davies Hyland, he said in gleeful courtesy. You can’t have my ship.
    There were a few pieces of the captain’s body left on the floor. Angus kicked them out of his way and went looking for the other two survivors. He was starting to feel much better.
    The bridge was in this part of Starmaster. He went there first—carefully, surveying each corner and passage with his rifle before he risked it, because he had no way to find those two people except by hunting them down. His caution was wasted, however: he didn’t see anyone until he reached the bridge. And there the man hunched over the helm console was in no condition to threaten anyone. He was dying where he sat—internal bleeding, Angus guessed. Nothing to worry about.
    Angus pushed the man out of his g-seat. New pain made the man cry out; but it also brought his eyes into focus, which was what Angus wanted. Laughing inside his suit, he blasted the man to pulp and splinters, a splash and smear of blood on the floor.
    One more to go. Then air filters. Food lockers. A line to the water tanks. And everything else worth taking.
    The ship’s datacore would have been worth taking, of course. But one look at the bridge computer told him the datacore had already been destructed. Staunch Captain Davies Hyland had probably taken care of that automatically, while his ship was still falling toward the asteroid. So that his precious codes and contacts and orders and even specs wouldn’t survive to be used against his masters.
    Fuck Captain Davies Hyland, Angus thought. Fuck him everywhere. He’s got enough holes in him for that.
    Cheered by this observation, Angus pushed a body out of his way and sat down at the scan station. The secondary systems which ran the locks were still operating; that implied parts of the ship still had a bit of juice. This console was one of them. Refocusing short-range scan inward, he used it to locate the last survivor.
    There: in a room the scan computer identified as the auxiliary bridge.
    That made him snarl under his breath. From the auxiliary bridge, it might still be possible to fire on Bright Beauty.
    Hurrying now because he knew where his prey was and didn’t need caution, he went to finish off the last of Starmaster’s crew.
    Under the circumstances, his concern for his ship was greater than his desire to inflict pain. He broke into the auxiliary bridge fast with his rifle ready, intending to shoot first and think later.
    Morn Hyland stopped him without lifting a finger; without threatening Bright Beauty; without so much as reacting to his entrance. Instead, she stared through him with stark, blank horror on her face, as if she could see something so ghastly that it blinded her, making him invisible to her.
    In the first few minutes, he didn’t even notice his own surprise at finding a woman when he was expecting a man.
    Although he knew there was no one else alive on the ship, her fixed stare had the power to turn him around in an effort to see what had appalled her.
    Nothing. Of course. She was the only one here. There weren’t even any bodies. She’d come through the explosion and the crash without having to watch any of her crewmates die.
    Something like a worm of suspicion crawled through Angus Thermopyle’s belly. He tightened his grip on his rifle as he confronted her again.
    Apparently she still couldn’t see him. Her eyes remained nailed to her personal horror, ignoring his movements as if he were too insubstantial to impinge on her vision. She was in shock. If