Deathstalker 08 - Deathstalker Coda

prickling against his augmented senses. Glory turned around and gestured at the satellites, and the crackling energy cage contracted suddenly to surround Owen, while the satellites backed away. Owen considered informing the Investigator that this close up the energies tickled, but decided against it. He wanted Glory and her partner to feel secure around him, for the moment at least. Dominic made a series of gestures, and a corridor opened up in the force shield, its boundaries clearly designated by bright holo markings. Dominic and Glory escorted Owen through, maintaining a safe distance from the energy cage, and then the force shield closed behind them again. Ahead of them, a series of heavy blast doors opened and closed, admitting them at last to the interior of the Spike. They ended up in a huge elevator, big enough to handle a crowd, and began a long journey down through the Spike and on into the interior of the moon. Owen was beginning to have some idea of just what kind of place he’d been brought to.
    The elevator went down a long, long way, before the doors finally opened on an entirely prosaic reception area. Dominic and Glory indicated for Owen to go ahead of them, so he took his energy cage for a casual stroll round the reception area. All four walls were covered with dozens of monitor screens, each showing a different view, constantly changing to cover different angles. A central comm and control console seemed familiar enough, if a little ornate and overdesigned for Owen’s taste.
    The energy cage suddenly snapped off, leaving only two rings of crackling energy surrounding his wrists. Owen tested them, surreptitiously, and kept the smile off his lips. Dominic and Glory stood before him, and their silver force shields snapped off. For the first time, Owen could get a clear look at his captors. Glory Chojiro turned out to be a short, stocky woman, barely five feet tall. She was well muscled, with broad shoulders and a jutting bosom. Her face had clear oriental lines, with jet-black hair and eyes. She was entirely naked, but her skin was ruby pink metal for as far as the eye could see, and Owen could see pretty far. There were no joints or seams to mark the metal as some kind of armor, so Owen reluctantly accepted it had to be her skin. She seemed a bit on the small side for an Investigator, but there was no denying she held herself like a warrior. Even though she carried no visible weapons.
    Dominic Cairo was tall and slender, almost aesthetically muscled, and also bare arse naked. His skin was a cool sky blue, marked on the face and chest with what appeared to be lines of metal circuitry. He had a kindly, thoughtful face, under a shock of tufty silver hair. He put a hand to his bare hip, and the hand disappeared for a moment before reappearing with a large and blocky energy weapon in it. Owen raised an eyebrow.
    “Good trick,” he said. “Where did the gun come from?”
    “Subspace pocket,” said Dominic. “Keyed only to me, of course. You have never seen one before? Interesting. All our weapons and necessary work items are held in a subspace locker, at right angles to this dimension, and preprogrammed to accept only our orders, so kindly restrain any aggressive impulses.”
    “Move against us and you will be punished,” said Glory.
    “Oh, perish the thought,” said Owen. He realized he was breathing normally again, but was distracted by another thought. “Don’t you two ever get cold, wandering around like that? In the nude, I mean?”
    “Told you he was a barbarian,” Glory said to Dominic. “Probably from one of the outer worlds, where they still suffer from taboos.”
    “He says he’s from the future,” Dominic said mildly. “And he did trigger the satellites. There is also the unresolved question as to how he was able to survive in vacuum without our advantages.”
    “There is more to me than meets the eye,” said Owen.
    “There would have to be,” said Glory. “And bear yourself with courtesy in our presence.” She stepped forward to glare at him more efficiently. “You are now in the House of Correction, and headed for the holding pens, unless you can provide us with an acceptable explanation.”
    “Yeah, I thought this had to be some kind of prison,” said Owen. “It’s got that depressing ambience. What exactly am I being charged with?”
    “Well,” said Dominic. “Being weird and unusual, and just possibly a threat to Humanity. As Investigator and Defender, my