The men, true to form, quickly overcame their initial shock. They began looking at each other and nodding. A few moved into position, ready to surround the approaching woman. Several picked up rocks, too many to shoot.
Kate, never breaking stride, held up her scanner and pressed a button. Another huge roar went up, heads swiveled toward the sound. The blast came from just outside the village. Prevailing winds carried some of the dust and smoke toward the crowd.
"Stay back, or I'll blow you to hell," Kate said, waving the scanner to make sure they knew who was responsible for the explosions, which she hoped were completely out of the range of their experience.
Kate was bluffing, of course. She could never kill any of these people. She had two more hidden C4 charges, both outside the village. All she had to do was make them fear her for just a few more minutes, and she just might be able to get her team away from here.
"Release the Earth women!" she shouted.
She fired off another hidden charge, this time on the other side of the village. With each blast, however, the effect on the aggressive men seemed to diminish.
Niktus glanced uneasily at Beth, then looked across the crowd and caught Gorshun's eye. Niktus could tell from his expression he wasn't about to release his new slave. Gorshun yanked hard on Greta's leash to warn her she'd better not move.
The men continued to surround Kate. One tall man to her right slipped a rock into his hand and flung it before she could spot him. The rock bounced off her helmet. She turned and fired, stunning him to the ground. A humanoid directly in front of her sidearmed a rock while she was distracted and struck her forearm. She gasped and nearly dropped her phaser. She shot him as well.
Kate was becoming desperate. The men were not cowering at all. Now she understood how Ally had been taken so easily. Despite her modern weapons, she was outnumbered. She might be able to hold them off for a little while, but soon a rock would hit her face or her hand, and she'd be helpless.
She whirled and fired at the first sign of movement, dropping men who approached or tried to stone her. By now, the first men she had stunned were slowly getting up, letting the others know that the blinding white blasts weren't fatal. Kate glanced down and checked her phaser. It was half depleted already. If they didn't back off and let the crew go soon—
Suddenly, another phaser blast split the crowd. Gorshun screamed and pitched forward. Greta stood there, phaser in hand, swinging around in an arc as the crowd fell back. She ran to the edge of the platform and tossed an object up to Jorja.
Jorja recognized it as a phaser immediately and caught it in mid-air. Klasdor, standing with his mouth open, snapped it closed and charged her. Jorja didn't have time to reprogram the phaser, so she dropped down and spun, extending a leg out. Klasdor tripped over it and fell headlong into the ropes. Jorja jumped up, slapped her finger over the grip scanner, and punched in the code while the angry fighter struggled to his feet. He turned and bellowed as he thundered at her again. The engineer dialed in a "3," raised the gun, and fired at near-point-blank range. There was a blinding flash of light as the fighters collided. Jorja bounced off as the huge body of Klasdor crumpled to the ground.
The crowd gasped. These women seemed to be sorcerers! Pitus, taking in the events with horror on his face, turned and ran toward his hotel.
Jorja signaled to Beth, who turned and grabbed Niktus' arm. "Please, master. Don't get hurt. Let me go," she said.
He opened his hand as if the leash was a deadly serpent, and Beth ran toward Kate.
The men surrounding the captain fell back when the second, then the third mysterious weapon appeared in the Earth women's hands. The women formed a circle, their backs to each other, forcing the men back even more.
"Where's Egerton?" Kate shouted.
"Come on!" Beth said, leading the way toward the hotel.
The crowd parted, uncertain now as to what to do. Many glanced over to see the unconscious form of Klasdor in the ring and decided the wisest course would be to let them go.
The astronauts rounded a corner in time to see Pitus run up the steps into the hotel. "Come on! We've got to hurry!" Beth shouted, not knowing what Pitus might do to Ally.
They burst through the door and stopped dead. Pitus held Allyson in front of him, a crude knife pressed against her throat.
"Drop your lightning sticks, or I'll kill her," Pitus said.
"Do as he says! You guys just go without me!" Ally implored.
Three phasers were raised higher to point at his head, which towered above the frightened woman. Beth held up her hand. "Wait. Let me talk to him," she said.
She approached slowly. "Look, Pitus. All we want to do is get out of here and go home. We don't want to hurt you. It wasn't supposed to end up like this," Beth said.
Pitus shook his head. "I need her," he blurted out. "Niktus was right. She knows numbers. Without her, I cannot make profit."
"Sure you can. She's told you what you need to do. Just follow her advice," Beth said soothingly, aware of the hair-trigger tempers behind her. "Besides, you don't want it getting around that you listen to a slave, do you?"
Uncertainty crossed his face. He shook his head imperceptibly. His pride would not allow that.
Kate heard noises and turned to see the crowd approaching. "We have to go, doc," she said urgently. "Company's coming."
"Let her go, Pitus. You don't want to kill her. Then you'd never make a profit," Beth said.
"I paid good money for her!" Pitus said.
Jorja spoke up. "Tell Keltar that with my profits from the fight, he should buy your slave first. He and I have an agreement. You will make profit," she said.
He hesitated. "This is true?" he asked.
Jorja nodded.
"All right," Pitus said.
Jorja suspected that he just wanted a way out. Pitus dropped the knife and stepped back. Ally ran out from his arms and hugged Beth. "Thank God!" she said. She turned to Pitus. "I'm sorry. I didn't want it to end this way."
"Come on! Let's go!" Kate shouted.
The women, together again for the first time since their ill-fated mission began, had no time to celebrate. They ran out the front door as the crowd neared, then turned and sprinted down the street toward the edge of the village. Greta, still limping, slowed them down. The men followed, keeping a respectful distance.
"Dammit! They were supposed to be too scared to follow us," Kate gasped as they ran.
She didn't say any more, but everyone knew what she meant. The bobsled would hold just three of them. With the men close on their heels, it would be nearly impossible for the last two women to hold them off long enough to make it to the first pod to blow it up.
"Hang on, I've got one charge left," Kate shouted.
She spotted the marker as they ran past the edge of the village. She looked back, gauging how close the crowd was, then thumbed the button. The blast, directly in front of them, was smaller this time, but it had the desired effect on the humanoids—for a few seconds, anyway. They paused, confused, and appeared to talk it over for a moment. Then they regrouped and came on.
"Don't they ever get scared?" Greta gasped.
She had doubts that she'd be able to run all the way to the pod. They could see the pod in the distance now, across the flat plain. Only about two clicks away, Kate thought, her mind racing to figure out how they were going to pull this off.
"Listen!" Kate shouted over the sounds of their feet thumping the ground, their breaths rasping in their throats. "I'm going to stay behind with Ally! We'll take all the phasers. You guys jump in and take off. We'll meet you at the site of the other pod."
Beth had expected the captain to say something like this. "No, captain. You can't stay. You have no rapport with these people. You wouldn't last five minutes," she said.
"She's right," Jorja put in. "Beth and I have the best chance."
She looked over at the doctor, and as if on a silent signal, they stopped running.
The others slowed and turned. "Come on! They're gaining on us!" Greta shouted, even as the gap between them widened.
"No, we'll stay and give you time to get away," Jorja said. "Here. Take my phaser. I wouldn't want to violate the Prime Directive."
She tossed it to Ally.
Kate wanted to order them to keep running, but she knew they were right. "All right. We'll come back for you. Run in another direction, try to make the trees," she said.
"No," Beth said. "I'm a doctor and an anthropologist. I'm going to stay until the next ship arrives, in about a year."
"Me too," Jorja said. "They respect me as a fighter. Together, Beth and I can learn a lot from these people."
There was no time to argue. "All right," Kate said, knowing this was a very brave and selfless act. Tears came to her eyes. "But I'm putting you both on report."
Jorja and Beth grinned. Then the captain and the others turned and ran off.