Hellstrom's Hive

“Now he has a gun,” Hellstrom said. “That’s great! That’s just great. Is he a superman? Less than half an hour ago he was in the central breeder section. I was assured we had him trapped there and now—now I’m told he has knocked out two entire search teams eight levels higher!”

Hellstrom sat almost at the middle of the aerie’s observation arc, directly behind the observer at the center position. The chair he occupied was his one concession to a body demanding relief from its mounting fatigue. He had been active now for most of twenty-six hours and the aerie clock showed just past 4:00 A.M.

“What are your orders?” the observer in front of him asked.

Hellstrom stared at the observer’s head outlined against the glowing screen. My orders?

“What makes anyone believe my orders have changed?” he asked. “You are to capture him!”

“You still want him alive?”

“More than ever! If he’s really this resourceful, we need to mingle his blood with ours.”

“He’s obviously out in the main tunnels again,” the observer said.

“Of course! Tell the searchers to concentrate on the elevators. He’s had a long climb. He’ll be tired. Concentrate every search team in the upper levels along the elevators. Have them scan every car and knock out any doubtfuls. I know—” Hellstrom held up a silencing hand as the observer turned in shocked alarm. “It can’t be helped.”

“But our own—”

“Better we do it than leave it to him. Look at what he’s done. He obviously has his stunwand turned to maximum and doesn’t know much about it. He’s killing workers close up with it. I feel the same outrage as all of you over this, but we must remember that he is panic stricken and he doesn’t know what he’s doing.”

“He knows enough to stay out of our hands!” someone behind Hellstrom muttered.

Hellstrom ignored the sign of discontent and asked, “Where is that female captive? I ordered her brought up here almost an hour ago.”

“She had to be revived, Nils. They’re bringing her.”

“Well, tell them to hurry.”