Fall of the White Ship Avatar by Brian Daley

weapon for Lord Marcus from thin air, Marcus and Vinzix made some rapid, soft-spoken exchange intertranslated by the robo, the two of them peering this way and that. Floyt and Alacrity hunkered to the ground, watching.
    Albrecht manipulated another nexus, layering energy warp and woof around it, to give Marcus a weapon like a long double helix of bright plasma, a DNA lightning bolt. Marcus balanced it in his gauntleted hands, scanning the undergrowth, then went up over the top of the hill. Vinzix disappeared back into the treeline. Albrecht seemed to debate for a moment, then floated off after Vinzix. Alacrity was tentatively relieved, fairly certain that Albrecht had no special detection or hunting capabilities—witness the fact that he wasn't all over Alacrity and Floyt already. Likely, Albrecht could keep efficient track of only those people wearing player's gauntlets.
    The would-be killers would play out the drama very carefully, Alacrity knew. The Windfall cops are sticklers. It's gonna have to look like a sporting accident for those two to get away with murder.
    But Marcus and Vinzix had a good shot at it; all they'd have to do, if they got Alacrity and Floyt, would be to move the remains up to the target area. If the killers phonied up the evidence right, there was every chance the police would buy the story that way, of two ignorant offworlders stumbling into the line of fire. That would eliminate Alacrity as a problem, leaving them his proteus and all its information, if they could crack it. Still, the assassination attempt seemed rushed, and he wondered why.
    Vinzix and Marcus had no other choice now; attempted murder was a high dive on Windfall. Alacrity still couldn't figure out why they hadn't waited though—strung him along a bit more, or even gotten file:///C|/Documents%20and%20Settings/harry%20kruis...y%20-%20Fall%20of%20the%20White%20Ship%20Avatar.htm (51 of 242)23-2-2006 17:03:12
    [Fitzhugh 3]-FALL OF THE WHITE SHIP AVATAR
    Floyt and himself offworld somewhere, where murder was easier.
    Alacrity touched Floyt's shoulder and pointed; they moved off downhill and to the right. With no idea what the hunters' plan was, their best bet was to try to disengage, slowly and cautiously exfiltrating the area, then make their way to some nearby human outpost.
    Alacrity figured that when Lord Marcus and Vinzix found their prey had eluded them, they'd try to get a jump in the matter of accusations, perhaps accuse the duo of attempted fraud or extortion or something that would similarly torque the jaws of the Windfall police. And Marcus had a houseful of identical concubines to back his testimony.
    We'll dip that nacho when we come to it. Alacrity thrust the worry from his mind. The thing now is to keep from getting sent to Holo-target Heaven.
    On the plus side, Alacrity knew that Marcus and Vinzix must be awfully edgy; they'd gambled on a quick kill and lost. They apparently couldn't carry more than one thunderbolt at a time, and Albrecht couldn't be with both of them at once. If one of them missed or used up his shot, it might take some time before the robo could rearm him; that had to give the old man and the humanoid some upstanding neckhair.
    Alacrity lifted his head, craning for a view. Marcus Perlez might be hard to see, but Vinzix, with the gleaming Albrecht hovering near, should be easy to spot. Alacrity caught a silvery glitter farther downslope, almost directly along the path he and Floyt had been following. Vinzix must have been telepathic, a very good hunter, or astoundingly lucky.
    Just then there was a crash from over the hill, in Marcus's direction. Floyt and Alacrity hit the dirt and froze.
    Marcus called out, "Albrecht! Albrecht! Come here to me!" from a spot close to the top of the rise. Then,
    "Vinzix, stay where you are and be alert! I thought I saw them, but it was only a duffroller. They're somewhere close though! I can feel it!"
    The two friends could hear a running translation coming from the near