Deathstalker 01 - Deathstalker

telepath. Denny Pindar. I heard most of them die."
    "Then we're on our own," said Finlay. "I say the mission is officially aborted, and I further say we get the hell out of here."
    "No," said Evangeline. "If we just turn and run, then the others died for nothing."

    "If we try to take on overwhelming odds in enemy territory for no good reason, we'll die for nothing!"
    "No good reason?" Evangeline looked at him steadily. "You swore a death oath to bring this place down, Finlay Campbell. Is your word worth so little?"
    "Damn. I was hoping you'd forgotten that. You're right, as usual. But what can we do with just the handful of people we've got left?"
    "Find Wormboy and kill him. He holds this place together. Without him it'll fall apart into chaos. We'll be able to free the prisoners and fight our way out of here."
    "Great plan," said Finlay. "Have we got time to write our wills first? All right, let's look at the situation. Pindar, can you detect any hidden cameras or surveillance equipment here?"
    The esper concentrated, then pointed at a wall decoration that looked just like all the others. Stevie One looked back briefly from guarding her corridor opening, and the decoration burst into flames. Finlay nodded his thanks.
    "Evie, can we contact the cyberats? They might know more about what's going on."
    "No, it was set up so that they could reach us, but not the other way round.
    Their comm units are specially shielded. Ours aren't."
    "Then we'll just have to follow the map and hope it's not part of the trap, too." A thought struck him, and he looked at Pindar. "How come they didn't use esp-blockers against us? We'd have been dead in the water if they had."
    The telepath shook his head. "There are no esp-blockers inside Silo Nine. They'd interfere with Wormboy's control. Security must have been banking on the gas and their superiority in numbers to make the difference. It did, with the other groups. They never had a chance to defend themselves. If you hadn't taken the
    initiative away from them by rallying us to strike first, we'd have just stood there and died like the others. We're not used to combat." He broke off, his eyes suddenly far away. "Company's coming."
    Finlay looked automatically to the Stevie Blues. "Can you see anyone?"
    "You won't see them," said Pindar. "They're shielded. They're battle espers."
    "Oh, shit," said Evangeline. "We're dead."
    Finlay glared at her. "We're not dead till I say we are. So they're battle espers—so what? We'll just stay out of their way."
    "We can't," said Pindar. "They're coming from all directions."
    Finlay glared at him. "Don't you ever have anything positive to say? Can we fight them?"
    "If you really want to annoy them," said Evangeline. "These are espers specially trained and conditioned by the Empire to fight other espers. We can't talk to them, or reason with them, and they don't accept surrenders. They just kill and kill till there's no one left alive but them."
    "There's got to be a way to beat them," said Finlay. "There's got to be a way.
    What about you, Pindar? Could you use your esp to fight them?"
    "If I had to," said the telepath, blinking owlishly. "But they're much more powerful than any of us. And there's a lot more of them than there are of us."
    "They'll only outnumber us if we stand here and wait for them," said Finlay. "So we'll go to them. God, I wish I felt as confident as I sound. Pindar, which of the approaching forces is the smallest?"
    The esper thought for a moment, and then pointed at one of the corridor openings. "That way. Twenty-four espers, moving ahead of the main pack. No guards."
    "Then that's the way we're going," said Finlay. "Stevie Blues, lead the way. Fry
    anything that moves."
    "Sounds good to me," said Stevie One.
    "Right," said Stevie Three.
    The three esper clones set off down the corridor at a steady trot, conserving their breath. The chains on their leathers clattered loudly, like an angry chorus. Finlay hurried after them, Pindar and Evangeline on each side of him, and the rest of the party brought up the rear. It worried him that they were accepting his orders so readily; it probably meant they were still in shock. If they were going to have to fight battle espers, fighting at anything less than full strength would get them all killed. It surprised Finlay how much that mattered to him. They'd fought bravely. They didn't deserve to die. Getting soft, thought Finlay.
    They pounded down the corridor, checking every opening as