CHAPTER 17Segman was dead; the fragment that had ripped through the hull had glanced off his chest, not rupturing his suit but sending the jagged ends of broken ribs to lacerate his lungs. The crash had done the rest as it killed Murrey, Goetzer, Potts, Tate. Names to add to those killed during the battle. A list that grew as Varl roved the ship, finding those hopelessly injured, giving them mercy with relentless detachment.
Only then did he give his attention to the ship.
“It’s useless.” Chatto had lived together with Zuber, Edallia, Koslenko, Madden, a score of others the doctor now treating their wounds. “The hydee’s ruined.”
“Jac?”
“He’s right.” Zuber, like them all, had doffed his suit and looked drawn, one cheek marred by an ugly bruise. “One coil’s burned out and the synchronisa
