Free The Fenris Device by Brian Stableford

where Eve and Ecdyon waited in the corner. Eve was seated now: Ecdyon was still standing, slightly behind her. Maslax grabbed Eve by the wrist, but only with two fingers, because he had the bomb-trigger in the same hand. He yanked at her. She stayed seated, freeing her wrist without difficulty. Maslax spun, and jabbed the gun into her face.
    â€œGet up!” he commanded.
    Eve sullenly rose to her feet.
    â€œWe’re going to Mormyr,” said Maslax. “Fast. Otherwise I’m going to kill her.”
    I didn’t know how far I dared push him. It was Eve’s life at risk, and, if he was as crazy as he seemed he might well kill her.
    â€œYou need her too,” I said. “I need her, if I’m going to take this ship down on Mormyr. I can’t do it without shots. She’s the only one who knows which shots to give me when.”
    â€œYou can tell the alien,” said Maslax. “I mean what I say. Any more trouble and I’ll burn her before your very eyes.”
    I shook my head. “Kill her and we’ll never get down on Mormyr. There’s just not time on a drop like that to give orders and explanations. It has to be done fast and smooth and exactly right. Without Eve, I’d never make it. I wouldn’t stand a cat’s chance. If you can read my mind then you know that’s true.”
    That caught him. It was a good line. I could see the doubt in his face, but I knew that he couldn’t admit that doubt in his own mind. He had to make up his mind now. Was Eve expendable or wasn’t she? Either way, I’d know. If he didn’t believe me, he’d keep using her. Either way, she’d stay alive.
    He sneered at me, and I knew the news wasn’t good. He threw my gambit back at me. “I can read your mind,” he said. “You can make it without the shots. You know you can make it. You think you’re the best there is. It’ll hurt you, but you can make it. We don’t need the woman. So make up your mind now. Do we go to Mormyr, or do I kill her?”
    â€œWe go to Mormyr,” I said.
    I turned back to the controls, set the hood back in position, and told Johnny what to do on the way to transfer. Even while we were building up to the transfer I was considering what a hideous mess we were now in. By taking the line of argument I had I had put myself in a difficult position. By claiming that Eve was necessary to the drop, I had tacitly, without thinking, conceded that a drop was an actual possibility. If I’d thought faster, I’d have claimed that the drop was impossible, and invited him to blow the ship, as one way dead was the same as another. But would that have worked? Wouldn’t he have begun to shoot one at a time? Would I rather try the drop than that? I thought fast, but no matter how fast, it looked as if I was going to have to brave the storms of Mormyr for a second time. And for what? For a crazy midget.
    Once I’d made transfer, I had a few spare minutes. I thought I’d try to reason with him. I had no great hopes, but I had to try.
    â€œLook,” I said, “it’s just not worth the risk. Even with Eve and all the shots just right, there’s only one chance in ten I can get down to the surface. And if I can’t hold her perfectly steady, she’ll tumble, and we’ll be stuck down there until we die. And that won’t take long, in those conditions. I know that ship might be worth a lot. But can’t you see that no matter how much it’s worth, it can’t be worth the risks we’ll be taking in trying to reach it?”
    I heard Maslax laugh, but I didn’t dare leave the hood while we were transcee in order to look at him.
    â€œIt doesn’t matter if your ship is down there for all time,” he said. “We can all come back in the Varsovien . I’ll even guarantee to let you go before I take the Varsovien back to Pallant. You’ll live, all of you, if