CHAPTER SIX

     This scene had been played out countless times before:
one of the Lovely Angels rushing headlong into some
disastrous course of action while the other chased after and
tried vainly to talk some sense into the girl.  The big
difference this time was that the roles were reversed.
     "Will you just explain this to me?" asked Kei as she
tried to keep up.  "Why are we going back?"
     After Yuri had cleaned the blood off her face, she had
immediately ran to her quarters and grabbed her still-
unpacked bags.  Kei had been unable to get her to stop long
enough to answer questions and was chasing her up the
boarding walkway, back to the spaceport.
     Yuri answered without looking back.  "I saw Tarc, Kei.
It's all true.  Everything he said."
     "How did you see him?"
     "I don't know, but I did.  MacPherson or Nag'Sharath or
whatever she is, she's holding him in a cryochamber in her
office.  It says `Tarc Meridian' on it."
     "You were probably just hallucinating!"
     "I was NOT hallucinating!  And I'm gonna go get him."
     "What?!" Kei grabbed Yuri's hand to stop her.  Yuri
stopped dead in her tracks, then did a 180 and headed back to
the _Lovely_Angel_, just as fast.  Kei turned to run after
her, confused as hell.  "So you've changed your mind?  Good."
     "No.  We just..."  Yuri paused, trying to remember the
odd feeling that had run through her when Kei had grabbed her
hand.  It had seemed so clear, but now, mere seconds later,
it was fading.  "We have to arm ourselves.  I think."
     "Well, that's always a good idea," agreed Kei.  "But
let's go back to this `go get Tarc' thing."  They reentered
the ship and headed for Yuri's quarters, past a curious
Mughi.
     "Do you want to leave without him?" Yuri asked as she
walked into her quarters.  She placed one of her bags on her
bed, opened it, and pulled out her uniform.
     "Well..."  Kei thought about that.  It had been bugging
her.  She actually caught herself missing him every now and
then.  But Tarc had left *them*, hadn't he?  Why should they
risk their lives to--
     Kei's thoughts were rudely interrupted when Yuri's bra
hit her in the face.  "Sorry about that," Yuri apologized.
The brunette had already stripped to the waist and was busily
removing the rest of her clothes.  "Well? Are you going to
change or just stand there and watch me?"
     Kei rolled her eyes.  "Fine, whatever.  I'll go change."
Kei walked out of Yuri's quarters and headed toward her own.
A moment later, Yuri heard her shout.  "MUUUU-GHI!"
     "Mughi?"  Yuri wondered aloud.  "Why would she call for
Mughi?"  Yuri fastened the top on her two-piece 3WA outfit
and went to see why.
     She found Kei in a storage area near her quarters, where
they had stashed the cryochamber after Tarc had been taken
out of it.  Only it wasn't there anymore.
     Mughi had beaten Yuri there, and the large, cat-like
animal was sniffing the empty space.  "Well?" Kei asked the
Angels' pet.  "What happened to it?  You were supposed to be
guarding the ship, remember?"  Mughi meowled and gave Kei a
grin.
     "Worthless furbag," muttered Kei under her breath.
     "A-hah!"  Yuri shouted triumphantly.  "See!  What'd I
tell you?!  MacPherson must have it!"
     "Then how'd she get it?!  Mughi may be lethargic, but
there's no way they could've taken something that big off the
ship without waking him up, and if he'd been drugged, we'd
know it by now, right?  So what'd she do, wiggle her fingers
and make it reappear in her office?"  Kei twiddled her own
fingers in a sarcastic demonstration.
     "Maybe.  Tarc keeps saying she's a demon.  She probably
has some kind of sorcerous powers."
     Kei stared at her partner, dumbfounded.  "You feeling
okay, Yuri?"
     "Huh?  Of course I am, why?"
     "Well," Kei said, "it's just that you're usually so
rational, and--"
     "You think I'm losing it?" said Yuri, angrily cutting
her off.  "Let me refresh your memory, Kei: We found a 78-
year old ship by accident, with a frozen man on board who
claims to be the last of a race of mystical avengers.  Since
then, we've both had visions of ourselves as other people,
we've both seen the man vaporize two other men with a crystal
sword after turning one into some kind of creature, and I've
nearly been killed after I hacked into a computer and found
myself inside what was probably MacPherson's head!  NOTHING
about this has made sense from the moment it started!  And
you want me to be rational?  I've tried!  It hasn't worked!
Maybe there *is* no rational explanation, Kei!"
     Kei opened her mouth to give a snappy rebuttal, realized
she didn't have one, and closed it again.  "Oh, hell.  Guess
I'll go change."

     They soon arrived, uniformed and armed, at the multi-
leveled parking garage where they had parked the rented car
they'd been driving since they arrived.  Close had been nice
enough to arrange a spot on the first level, so they didn't
have to bother with the elevators.  Although there were
plenty of other cars on the level, Kei and Yuri seemed to be
the only people present.
     "Must not be rush hour," Kei commented, looking around.
"Where'd we park?"
     "Over here," said Yuri, pointing toward a six-wheeled
blue convertible.
     "So what are we gonna do when we get back to the tower?"
Kei asked.
     "Well, first we need to find some way to get into
MacPherson's office.  Then I thought that once we got Tarc
out of the cryochamber, we'd ask him what to do."
     "Hmm.  I guess that doesn't make any less sense than--"
Kei caught a glimpse of movement near the railing where the
second level overlooked the first inward from all sides.  A
split-second later, she recognized it.  "YURI, GET DOWN!"
     Kei forced Yuri to the ground.  A pulse beam hissed
through the space where Yuri's head had been and made a coin-
sized crater in the pavement.  In a flash, Kei had her gun
out and fired, hitting the sniper between the eyes.
Spasming, he fired a few shots skyward as the impact knocked
him on his back.
     "God damn it, they're *armed*!" came a shout from above.
"To hell with the property damage, mow them down!"  The rest
of the snipers revealed themselves, ringing the Pair on the
second level.  Kei and Yuri ran for the wall underneath
the point where Kei had killed one, weaving back and forth to
present poor targets.  They reached their destination,
dodging pulse beams, and dived behind another car for cover.
     Kei's heart soared.  Finally, a crisis she understood!
There were bad guys up there and they were shooting at her!
She could deal with this!  The return of normalcy to Kei's
universe made her so giddy that she nearly lost track of her
surroundings.  She ducked as one of the gunmen fired...

                          *   *   *

...and the crossbow bolt buried itself in the wall behind
her.  Jiliora cursed.  As much as she loved her sword, it was
useless in situations like this, where the enemy was
attacking from a distance.
     <Efera seems to be taking this well,> Jiliora thought.
The raven-haired sorceress was calmly digging in her suit for
some item that could the help the warriors out of their
predicament.
     Jiliora opened her mouth to ask her friend what she had
planned, when something occurred to her.  She bit her tongue.

                          *   *   *

     "AAH!"  As Kei had hoped, the sudden pain jolted her
back to reality.  Yuri looked oddly calm, and Kei figured she
knew why.  She grabbed Yuri by the shoulders and shook.
"Yuri!  Snap out of it!"
     Yuri started.  "Oh!  I...I lost myself again."
     "Yeah, me too.  Got any ideas as to how we're going to
fight the *real* bad guys?"
     Yuri drew her hand from where she had been searching her
uniform.  The Bloody Card was in it.  "Maybe I had the right
idea all the time," she mused.
     Kei looked at the Bloody Card with her usual distaste.
Although she'd never admit it to Yuri, the thing scared her
half to death.  Monowire-sharp and self-propelled, once in
the air it didn't care who it cut.  Only Yuri's skill as a
thrower kept the two of them from being sliced just as bad as
the enemy.  Still, this was a desperate situation if ever
there was one.  Kei swallowed.  "Throw the damn thing."
     Yuri did just that, putting spin on the Card to keep it
diving and swooping at the gunmen for several seconds.  One
of them made the mistake of batting at it and lost a thumb
for his effort.  In the brief panic that followed, another
gunman shot one of his colleagues.  Kei and Yuri used the
distraction to scurry back to their car.
     As she leapt into her seat, Kei tapped her earring to
open a comlink.  "Mughi!  Get the Lovely Angel ready to--
WAAH!" Kei yelled, as the car jumped forward, pitching her
into the back seat.  "Dammit, Yuri, who said you could
drive?!"
     "If you wanted to drive, you should've gotten into the
driver's seat!  Now hold on!"  Yuri floored it, throwing Kei
into the back seat again, after she had almost made it back
to the front.  Then Yuri stomped on the brakes.
     Kei went hurtling head-first into the front seat, her
obscenities muffled by the seat cushion.
     "I almost forgot," Yuri said.  She stuck her index and
middle fingers in her mouth and whistled.  The Bloody Card
broke off from its swooping and headed straight for its
owner.
     "Dammit, Yuri!  Will you make up your mind--YAAH!"  Kei
ducked as the Blood Card zipped past her to be caught between
Yuri's index and middle fingers.  Yuri hit the gas again and
they were off.

     Mughi was having problems of his own.  He had been
enjoying one of his frequent long naps when he was awoken by
the sound of the hatch signal.  He yawned and lumbered
through the ship at a leisurely pace until he reached the
main hatch.  He opened it.
     Outside was a man dressed in a security uniform.  Behind
him was a very muscular man wearing sunglasses, whom the
Angels would've recognized immediately.
     The smaller man began talking as soon as the hatch
opened.  "Excuse me, sir, but I'm going to have to ask--huh?"
He stared at the furry animal that had opened that had opened
the door.  Mughi cocked his head and stared back.
     The muscleman spoke up.  "Ignore the animal.  We are
here to collect the pilot."
     "Yeah, right, right."  The officer spoke to Mughi.  "If
you don't mind, we'll just step inside and talk to your
master."
     Mughi *did* mind.  His sensitive nose had gotten a whiff
of the bodyguard, and although he couldn't place the scent,
he knew he didn't like it.  He let the men know how he felt
with a low growl, baring his teeth.
     The smaller man backed off a step and Mughi hit the
switch to close the hatch.  In a blur, the bodybuilder had
his hands in the door and began forcing it open.  Mughi
slashed at the man's hands with his right foreclaw and was
rewarded with a satisfying scream as the hands were quickly
pulled away.
     It was at this point that Kei's voice came over the
Lovely Angel's intercom system.  Mughi knew he'd done the
right thing and felt a little proud as he started to trot to
the bridge.  Then he yelped as his right forepaw hit the
floor.  He stopped to examine it.  The paw was swollen, and
the fur was matted with some dark substance that didn't smell
like blood.  Reflexively, he licked it, and spat at the
taste.  Favoring the paw, he limped the rest of the way to
the bridge.
     Once there, he climbed into the command seat and keyed
in the code to open the door to the hangar.  Nothing
happened.  Mughi wasn't too surprised.  He knew now that the
beings who ran this place were his enemies, and enemies don't
cooperate.  Mughi activated the _Angel_'s laser cannons, and
sat back to wait for his enemies to comprehend what he had
done, and to open the door.
     Still, nothing happened.  Now Mughi *was* surprised.
He knew his ship was powerful, and he knew the simple steel
walls of the hangar could not possibly stand up to even one
shot from the laser cannons.  He thought for a moment, then
guessed that they were hoping just to slow him down a little.
He shrugged, and hit the fire switch.
     The lasers hit a force-field which briefly became
visible as the blasts ricocheted off to return to the _Lovely
_Angel_ from all directions.  The shockwave knocked Mughi
onto the floor, bouncing painfully.  He crawled back to the
console and queried the computer for a damage report.  The
armor was holding, but it couldn't take the backlash it would
receive from a blast even slightly more powerful.
     Frustrated, Mughi paced the bridge, still favoring his
sore paw.  His mistresses were in trouble, and he couldn't
get to them.  He thought about leaving the ship and fighting
his way outside, but quickly abandoned the idea.  He didn't
think he could fight his way through scores of people with
guns, at least not with a sore paw.  Then Mughi stopped as he
remembered a game his redheaded mistress liked to play with
her enemies.
     The game was called "chicken", and it could be played
in a number of different ways.  Dropping a live grenade on
the floor and seeing who runs first, for example.  Or putting
the _Lovely_Angel_ on a collision course with another ship to
make it change course.  Or just interrogating a prisoner by
pulling a headband over your eyes and firing randomly in his
direction.  Mughi thought he'd come up with another
interesting way to play the game.
     Climbing back into the command seat, he first disengaged
several safety overrides.  Then he activated the main
engines, putting them on a build-up to escape velocity
thrust.  If he tried to use the thrust to escape the force-
field, he knew he'd just crush the ship.  But if he let the
engines continue to build power until they went critical and
exploded, he figured he could take out the entire spaceport
as well.  He reclined in the chair and waited for his enemies
to figure that out.
     The answer wasn't long in coming.  After a few minutes
had gone by, and the engines' hum had become a deafening
high-pitched whine, the hangar doors slowly began to open.
Mughi grinned and reached for the switch that would
harmlessly purge the engines.
     But before he could touch it, he was lifted out of the
chair by one hand and thrown against the opposite wall.
Mughi shook his head to clear it and looked up into the eyes
of the man whose hand he had slashed.  The sunglasses the
man had been wearing were gone, revealing eyes that were jet-
black, without whites.  Black blood dripped from the man's
wounded left hand onto the floor.
     Fear gripped Mughi.  He arched his spine and bristled
like a cat, baring his teeth and snarling.  He backed away as
the man slowly approached.  When Mughi realized he had been
backed into a corner, the instinct to survive overcame him
and he pounced.
     The man was not prepared for Mughi's strength and was
knocked onto his back.  Mughi grabbed the man's head between
his forepaws and began banging it against the floor.  This
proved to be a useless maneuver, as the man seemed unaffected
by the blows and quickly rolled Mughi over and pinned his
forelimbs.
     When he had so easily knocked the man over, Mughi had
guessed that the man had no experience in fighting animals.
Now he was sure.  In the man's eagerness in to pin Mughi's
"arms", he had overlooked the fact that Mughi had two other
limbs with claws just as sharp.  Mughi pushed down with all
his strength, and disemboweled the man.
     Instead of dying like he was supposed to, the man
instead shrieked at the top of his lungs and climbed to his
feet.  The gash Mughi had opened in the man's abdomen began
to spread.  Flesh started to fall off in clumps, revealing
something inhuman and scaly underneath.  The man's face split
open as it transformed into something else, something with a
much larger mouth and much longer teeth.  The hands were
likewise changing, talons pushing their way through flesh
that was quickly sliding off and slopping onto the floor.
     Mughi took a long look at what was coming into being
in front of him, and snapped.
     Mughi's race was not naturally intelligent.  That
quality had been given him by the 3WA's genetic engineers.
In the wild, creatures such as Mughi were hunters, dangerous
creatures who survived through the ability to kill anything
that threatened them.  The creature in front of Mughi was
definitely a threat, the likes of which he had never seen
before.  Mughi knew only one response.
     He pounced again, saliva flowing from his gaping jaws.
Mughi once again knocked the thing to the floor, this time
clawing and biting at anything he could get ahold of.  The
beast's talons tore into him, but he ignored the pain.  He
was beyond it.  He was swallowing the very juices that had
caused his paw to swell, but he didn't care.  Nothing
mattered but the kill.
     Blood sprayed the bridge, some of it the beast's, some
of it Mughi's.  The two rolled in the wet, sticky mess,
clawing, biting, tearing.
     At last, the creature made a fatal mistake.  Mughi
manuevered on top of it, got his teeth into its neck, and,
with a monstrous effort, tore its throat out.  Mughi howled
in victory as black blood sprayed his face.
     Mughi panted heavily as the adrenaline wore off, and
sanity returned.  With a different kind of terror, he
realized that the engines were seconds away from detonating.
He pulled himself up to the console, and hit the purge
switch.
     Unfortunately, with such a powerful buildup, the purge
was now far from harmless.  In fact, it was sufficient thrust
to send the _Lovely_Angel_ taxiing out-of-control across the
spaceport tarmac.
     Mughi tried to bring the ship under control, but found
himself too weak.  The fluid that had made his paw sore now
coated his body.  It was in his wounds.  He had even
swallowed a great deal of it.  He made a feeble attempt to
activate the brake, then slid off the chair.  He whined
softly as he fell unconscious.

END CHAPTER SIX