at me for a moment, and I saw the same look of fear flicker over every face on the bridge. Then she took a deep breath, nodded, and turned to face the front. She started giving smooth orders, and her other selves replied in calm, steady voices.
After a few moments, Captain Molly said, “If you aren’t here to . . . I mean, if you can’t help, why are you here?”
“Because you’re here,” I said calmly. “Least I can do is stand with you.”
“If she wins . . .” Captain Molly swallowed. “You’ll die.”
I snorted and flashed her a grin. “Best thing about being a spook, grasshopper. I’m already dead.”
“Quadrant three is collapsing,” Communications Officer Molly reported. “Quadrant two is at twenty percent.”
Captain Molly bit her lip.
“How many quadrants?” I asked her.
“Four,” she said. “Since, you know. Quadrants.”
I wanted to say something about decimated, but I didn’t. “We’re in quadrant one?”
Captain Molly nodded. “I . . . don’t think I can stop her, Harry.”
“Fight’s not over until it’s over, kid,” I said. “Don’t let her beat you. Make her work for it.”
Science Molly said, in a firm tone, “Death is not the only consequence here. Should the Corpsetaker prevail, she will have full access to our talents, abilities, memories, and knowledge. Even though we have spent the last months distancing ourselves from others to insulate against a situation such as this one, the Corpsetaker could still inflict considerable damage on not only our friends and family, but on complete innocents. That is unacceptable, Captain.”
Captain Molly looked from Science Molly to me and then said, “The fight isn’t over yet. Prepare the Omega Bomb, but do not deploy.”
“Aye, aye,” said Science Molly, and she stood up and strode to the other side of the bridge—and an old wooden cabinet beside an old wooden door.
I blinked at it. “Wow. That’s . . . kind of out of theme.”
Captain Molly coughed loudly. “That? That’s nothing to worry about. Pay it no mind.”
I watched Science Molly get a device the size of a small microwave out of the old cabinet and push one button on it. Then she set it on the console next to her.
“Um,” I said. “Omega Bomb?”
“The Corpsetaker doesn’t get me,” Captain Molly said in a firm tone. “Ever.”
“And it’s in that old wooden cabinet because . . . ?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” said Captain Molly dismissively. “Ensign, bring up the screen for quadrant two.”
I eased away from Captain Molly as she kept commanding the battle, and went over to stand next to Science Molly. “Um. The captain doesn’t seem to want me to know about that door.”
“Definitely not,” said Science Molly, also in confidential tones. “It’s a need-to-know door.”
“Why?”
“Because if you know about it, you’re one of the ones who needs to know about it,” she replied calmly. “And if you don’t, it’s better that you not know. The captain feels you’ve suffered enough.”
“Suffered enough?” I asked. “What do you mean?”
“I have nothing further to say on the subject,” said Science Molly.
“It’s my fault,” Ensign Molly said. “Sorry. Look, I don’t mean to, with the cabinet and the door, okay? But I can’t help it.”
You ever get that feeling you’re standing in a room full of crazy people?
I got that feeling. It isn’t a very nice feeling.
I stared at the door and the old wooden cabinet. It wasn’t a particularly outstanding door in any way—a standard hanging door, if rather old and battered. Ditto the cabinet. Both had been stained a medium brown, apparently a very long time ago. Both were covered with dings and dents, not as though something had tried to break them down, but simply from years and years of use.
They looked sort of familiar.
I studied the door and the cabinet thoughtfully, glancing occasionally at the big old CRT as quadrant two buckled under the Corpsetaker’s assault. The fighting had been fierce, but she still hadn’t revealed herself, and Molly hadn’t managed to kill her with the nukes or the assault would have ended with her. Another quadrant went, and Captain Molly detonated another set of massive nuke constructs. Then a third, and more nukes. Neither of the second pair of detonations was followed by a massive scream, the way the first one had been. Molly had bloodied the Corpsetaker, presumably, but it hadn’t been enough.
“Dammit,” Captain Molly said, clenching one fist and staring at the screen. “She’s got to be near now. But where?”
The streets outside were so full of battling constructs that