PART 4
"Copythat, Warden, we just—"
"He'shelping them escape, you idiot! Where are your people?"
"Sayagain?"
"Theofficers on duty, Madden. Where are your men?"
"Idon't—" Madden's voice blipped out, then came back again."Whoever's in the medbay has it sealed down from inside." Nowhe sounded like he was trying very hard not to start stuttering, buthe wasn't doing a very good job. "I don't know how it happened,we were just—"
"Getin there now!"
"Youwant us to blast it open?"
"Whateverit takes."
"But—"cuthim off and turned back to the screens, her headache utterlyforgotten, superseded now by the pounding of her heart and therealization that she'd actually broken a sweat. Time itself seemedto have crystallized around her. On-screen, through the droid'sphotoreceptors, she could make out the forms of two inmates, an olderman and a boy not more than sixteen, both clearly visible as theyleaned in. CO Voystock stood in the background, making an adjustmentto one of the control modules. The GH-7's manipulator was extendingsomething—it looked like a hypodermic needle—toward the boy'schest.the distance she could hear the voices of guards outside themedbay, shouting commands and trying to get through theblast-doors.implacably, above it all, the mocking voice of the IBC'sfinest, Vesto Slipher, echoing in her head: You've never had anescape?all the times for the IBC to be conducting an impromptu audit,Sadiki thought, and fought the urge to drive her fist into theconsole in frustration. She tapped in a command and brought up theholofeed of the datacenter, hoping to find Dakarai, but her brotherwasn't there. Where was he?the medbay, the sound of blasters filledthe audio track, distorting through the droid's aural pickups.forthe first time, Sadiki Blirr realized that she was in real trouble.
MYTIME OF DYINGpower in the medbay was already out, and a cloak ofdarkness prevailed over its unfamiliar interior, save for the ambientglow of the diagnostic equipment, which cast a spectral blue glow onthe figures moving through it, single file.
"Holdit," Voystock whispered, raising his hand without looking back."That's far enough."glanced at him. He and Eogan were halfwayacross the medbay, creeping their way forward in almost totalblackness. "How long can you keep the main power out?"