Earthseed

Before he could cry out, Yusef hit him in the throat, then brought his gun down on his head; another young man caught him before he hit the ground and dragged him away. “What’s going on?” a voice inside shouted; someone had heard.
    There was no time left. Aleksandr moved to the door, Zoheret right behind him. They aimed through the door and fired at two men standing in the center of the room. The men fell.
    Two other people, hands stretched toward the clear glassy walls, froze. Two panels had already been pulled out, jutting out from the walls like shelves. Tiny lights behind the walls blinked on and off furiously. Zoheret aimed and brought down the man; the woman darted away and she recognized Ah Lam.
    “Stop!” Ah Lam shouted. She was holding a weapon Zoheret had never seen before, a long hollow pole with a grip. “!f you don’t, I’ll aim this at the wall. It isn’t one of those toys of yours, and it’ll damage the components permanently.” Zoheret lowered her gun as Aleksandr stepped through the hole in the door. “Don’t come any closer, or I’ll fire.”
    “You’ve lost,” Aleksandr said. “Give up.”
    “I haven’t lost.” Ah Lam’s delicate face was contorted with rage. “If anyone moves, I’ll fire. I’ll wait for my friends to wake up, and you’ll let them finish what we came here to do. And if you try to stop us, this ship’s brain goes out forever.”
    “You can’t do that. You’ll endanger everyone aboard.”
    “Automatic will still be on. That’s all we need. Back off!”
    Aleksandr backed toward the door. The people outside were standing by, clutching their useless weapons. Aleksandr’s arms were up; his body almost completely blocked the door. But not quite.
    Zoheret dropped to her knees, aimed her gun with both hands, and fired. The beam shot under Aleksandr’s left arm toward Ah Lam. For a moment, Zoheret feared she had missed. Then the woman toppled forward, her head grazing one of the open panels; her weapon clattered to the floor.
    Aleksandr pulled her to her feet. “You act fast.” She was shaking now; her hand released her gun and let it fall. “It’s all right.”

    Kieu had pushed the components back into the wall, and the captured people had been taken away. “What has happened?” Ship called. “Restore my senses, please.”
    Aleksandr hurried through the hole in Ship’s door and ran down the corridor. Zoheret rushed after him. “Where are you going?” she asked as she caught up.
    “To the nearest entrance. They must have jammed Ship’s sensors before entering—otherwise, it would have warned us when they first came inside. And it makes sense to think that they would have used the closest entrance.”
    “There might be others by the door.”
    He slowed. “How many are there?”
    “I don’t know exactly. No more than thirty—probably not that many. But most of them would have had to stay in the settlement to keep order.” Yusef came up behind her silently and walked with them. “We’d better be careful.”
    “But you said they didn’t know we were in the corridors.”
    “I don’t think they did, or they would have had someone outside Ship’s door, guarding the cortex.”
    They came to the entrance. Aleksandr crept up and pressed the door’s button while Zoheret and Yusef stood to one side. As the door opened, they pressed their backs against the wall and waited.
    “Well?” a woman’s voice shouted from beyond the door. “Did you shut it down?”
    Aleksandr held a finger to his lips.
    “Well?”
    The intruder suddenly entered the hall; Yusef dived at her, pinning her to the floor, then grabbed the weapon from her hand.
    The woman was struggling as Yusef pulled her up; he tightened his grip. “You’ve lost,” he said. Her dark-brown face was set in a scowl. “We caught your friends. Show us how to restore Ship’s sensors.” He twisted her arm.
    The woman sagged against him. Aleksandr took her arm and the two men pulled her into the Hollow.
    A vehicle perched at the entrance. A pale beam hummed, shooting out from a cylinder on the vehicle’s side to meet a sensor near the door. Yusef dragged the woman to the side of the craft. She glared at him, then reached toward the cylinder, fumbling with its buttons until the beam disappeared.
    “My senses are returning,” Ship said from the corridor. “I can see—I can hear.”
    “Can you hear me?” Aleksandr asked.
    “Yes. I was inside myself. The universe was gone and I