The Iron Maiden by Piers Anthony Read Free Book Online Page B

hand, and she realized that she had gone into a kind of trance of horror.
    She had killed!
    Her brother did what had to be done. He got them out of the chamber, leaving the dead pirate there, and closed its door, and hauled the dead woman over it so that the other pirates would not find their companion. Then he got her into the next cell, with Helse. “Play dead!”
    The three of them played dead. It wasn't hard, for they were covered with gore. Spirit was sobbing, but she struggled to keep it quiet, so that she would not be heard above the tumult elsewhere in the bubble.
    Hope held one of her hands and Helse held the other, providing silent comfort. It helped.
    No one looked in on them. Finally it was silent in the bubble. They heard the lock closing as the pirates departed.
    Now they came out to see what remained. It was awful. All ten women and 27 children were dead. Now their total complement was 45 children.
    The following days were nightmare, as they cleaned up the disaster. Hope and Helse, being the oldest, hauled the bodies out to join the men. Hope became the den father figure, and Helse the den mother.
    They organized it to provide comfort to any child who needed it. Spirit helped, and found that comforting others helped her too. The whole group became like a single family.
    The children rebounded surprisingly swiftly. It wasn't that they had lost their grief and horror, but that they were, perforce, in survival mode. They spread out to do what had to be done, to clean and operate the bubble, finding solace in the hard work. They cried often, but were starting to smile again too. The family concept lent them all strength. Everyone understood everyone.
    And they oriented on defense. They had a big meeting in the bubble commons, and thrashed it out. Every child participated; no child was denied a fair hearing. They knew they were all in this together, and that the price of failure was brutal death.
    They settled on a three stage program. Stage One was professional innocence; they would be cute and sweet and beg the intruders not to hurt them, giving the pirates a chance to be decent. Stage Two was to fight; Spirit had a whistle, and when she blew it, every child would bring out a weapon of some sort, be it a sharp knife or only a hard nail, and attack the nearest pirate, going for the eyes and the crotch first.
    They rehearsed with pirate-sized dummy figures, so that even the smallest child could do some mean damage in that first instant of surprise. With luck they would overwhelm the pirates. They would not stop until all enemies were dead; that was another lesson learned the hard way.
    If that did not work, they would go for Stage Three. This was the dreadful one. One of the toilet tank's release bolts had been weakened, set up so that it could be bashed off, letting the fecal matter fly. But its automatic safety lock was jammed open, so that the entire bubble would be blown out in moments, and all unsuited occupants would die. Helse would say “Do it!” and Hope would go out the rear airlock, climb around to the bolt, and do it. All the others would have that little time to get suited and hidden in their cells. With luck the pirates would not catch on in time. They would be vulnerable because they couldn't rape any girls while being in space suits.
    They practiced diving into their own suits and sealing them instantly. They held frequent surprise suit-up drills. They knew how much time they would have from the “Do it!” moment, and made sure they could get prepared within it.
    Then, ready for anything, they got bored. There needed to be a distraction, because bored children were mischief, and there was still a distance to go before they found sanctuary. So Hope and Helse decided to get married.
    That appealed to the children. It would make it even more like a family. Spirit was put in charge of operations, and she was delighted; she had gotten over her jealousy of Helse, knowing how much Hope needed her. Hope