Free Alien Chronicles 3 - The Crystal Eye by Deborah Chester Page B

darkness, and Ampris could hear shrill screams from inside the structure.
    She looked around frantically, knowing she couldn’t stay pinned here under the ramp forever.
    She didn’t want to head for the barns. They were under security net, and the wall stood at its highest behind them. But she couldn’t go toward the house and gardens. And the main group of patrollers was between her and the gate.
    Picking her moment, she crawled out from beneath the ramp and hobbled toward the shadowy corner of the slave quarters. Pain stabbed through her crippled leg with every step, and she was gasping and whimpering by the time she reached cover.
    She sank down into the shadows, not sure she could keep going.
    A hand gripped her arm, and she jumped with a roar of alarm that was cut off as another hand clamped itself around her muzzle. Her heart was thudding inside her chest, but already she smelled a scent she knew as well as her own.
    “Goldie?” a familiar voice whispered to her. “It’s me.
    The hand came off her muzzle. She sighed in relief, trying to get her breath back.
    “Elrabin,” she whispered. “I nearly took your head off.”
    “Yeah, I know it,” he said while the firing continued. “We got to get out of this, and fast. They ain’t going to keep shooting up the house forever.”
    Ampris grinned in the dark. “You fired the shots from the garden.”
    “Hey, I be getting a better shot all the time,” Elrabin said proudly. “So where’s the back gate?”
    “Behind the house.”
    He swore. “That’s all?”
    The firing abruptly stopped, and a ringing silence followed it.
    Ampris and Elrabin clutched each other, both of them frozen while the patrollers ventured cautiously from cover and headed for the burning house.
    “Out of time,” Elrabin said against her ear.
    She nodded and pointed at the shuttle.
    “No way,” he whispered. “You going to—”
    A movement behind him made Ampris jump. She started toward it, but Elrabin blocked her with a swift grab at her arm.
    “Paket,” he whispered.
    She sagged against him, wiping the fur around her eyes. “Who else?” she asked, then felt a sudden stab of alarm that Foloth or Nashmarl might be here too.
    “Just us, see? Tantha wanted to come. I told her we couldn’t play no midwife in the middle of a rescue.”
    She grinned, but they were losing their opportunity. She tapped him on the shoulder, then Paket, and pointed at the shuttle.
    “You serious?” Elrabin asked her. “Who be flying that?”
    Ampris pointed at him.
    He started to yelp in protest, then cut off the sound. She could hear him making a faint, strangled noise. He shook his head. Exasperated, she pointed at herself, then yanked him onto his feet by the front of his coat.
    “Let’s go. Paket, stay close.”
    “We ain’t going to make this,” Elrabin said, but Ampris was already moving at a half-run, limping badly.
    In a moment Elrabin was beside her, gripping her arm and using his strength to partially support her. She threw him a grin of gratitude, and glanced over her shoulder at old Paket, who was gamely shuffling behind them.
    They reached the ramp and were climbing it when a shout rang out.
    Elrabin raised the side-arm, but one of the patrollers fired first. Paket grunted and fell against Elrabin, nearly knocking him off the ramp.
    He juggled the weapon in an effort to catch the old Kelth, and Ampris grabbed the side-arm from his hand and fired over his and Paket’s heads.
    A patroller screamed and went down.
    She fired again, and gave Elrabin a shove. “Get him inside. Now!” she ordered.
    Elrabin dragged Paket bodily into the shuttle, and Ampris followed.
    Return fire caught her in the arm, spinning her off balance. She staggered into the shuttle and hit the closure control.
    The ramp lifted with a whir of gears, and one more shot made it inside the shuttle, the slug of hot plasma nocking one of the struts while the slaves ducked and yelled in fear.
    Ampris knelt beside