Connecting with the anti-kinetic field generated by her shield, the gate’s guillotine-like descent was reduced to the slow crawl of an industrial compactor as its kinetic energy was converted to heat energy by the shield. The heat was so intense that the Princess could feel it even through her fire-resistant spacesuit. Audric managed to jump off her shoulder and was anxiously watching the proceeding from several meters away, his bristling tail hysterically whipping from side to side.

With serpentine dexterity, Tanaka slithered past the Princess even as Ivanov used a whip to magnetically pull the Princess into the tunnel. Behind her, the cacodemon’s upper jaw slammed into the floor with a deafening boom. The Princess lay on her back, trying to comprehend what had just happened. Audric was already by her side, struggling between the desire to comfort her and the fear of being vaporized by the shield.

While the Princess was still coming to her senses, Ivanov shouted something obscene-sounding in Russian, startling the Princess yet again. She looked up just in time to see the young Russian lash the mono-whip at Tanaka, who dodged the attack by bending at an angle only possible for those with a cybernetically enhanced spine. With alien grace, the samurai whipped out a smartblade at Ivanov even as a portion of the wall collapsed, sliced off by the molecule-wide whip of the Russian.

Unlike Madam Chang, however, Ivanov rolled to the floor as a spot of blinding light quickly flashed above him to leave a long, lava-oozing wound on the stone wall. Ivanov finished his roll and stood up, positioning himself between Tanaka and the Princess. Their faces were composed, but their eyes burned with rage, the glow of molten rock and superheated metal reflected demonically off their eyes.

The whole exchange could not have taken more than two seconds and yet felt to the Princess like an entire war fought. Death had walked among the trio and it was nothing short of a miracle that it went on empty-handed.

“What is the meaning of all this!” she shouted at Tanaka from behind Ivanov’s wiry form, standing on the tips of her toes to peer over the Russian’s shoulder. “Have you lost all reason?”

“Action was reasonable. Princess had anti-kinetic shield, I had not,” Tanaka countered.

“Is Japanese honor to use women as shields?” Ivanov asked sardonically.

“Japanese honor is to use shields as shields. Russian honor is to attack ally with no warning,” Tanaka spoke slowly, but there was a near-hysteric edge to his voice.

“Hah! Japanese accusing someone of sudden attack! I laugh very hard! Ha ha ha!”

“Desist at once!” the Princess ordered in her most regal tone. “Someone just tried to kill Tanaka or myself with the door mechanism. There are many more automated devices en route, some of which, unlike this door, are doubtlessly designed specifically to kill intruders. I will not pretend to be a friend to either of you, but for the moment we must focus on the common mission, not practice ballet with exotic weapons. Lay down your arms, I tell you!”

As if to support the Princess’s fiery speech, Audric yelped from beside her boot.

Ivanov and Tanaka nodded without averting their eyes from each other and cautiously replaced their weapons. Both deadly devices were small enough to fit into a breast pocket. The Princess shuddered at the thought of how many more of these murderous surprises the two carried on their persons.

“Very good,” the Princess said after letting out a long sigh of relief. “Ivanov, please lead the way.”

“Da.” The Russian disappeared into the darkness again. There was no sound of footsteps.

“Tanaka,” the princess lowered her shield momentarily to allow Audric to climb back into her spacesuit. For some reason, she found herself more concerned about the little animal’s safety than her own, and she could not afford any distractions at the moment.

“Yes,” the samurai acknowledged her existence.

“I hope a chornoi eats you.”

Tanaka grunted something and disappeared into the darkness as well. When both men were out of sight, the Princess shut her eyes, gave out a long and measured breath and waited until her lungs and heart were in harmony again. Having regained her composure, she stepped into the darkness after them as well. “Audric dear,” she whispered, “I swear you and I have more sense than the rest of this planetoid combined.”

After walking several dozen meters in utter darkness with nothing but the sound of her steps to keep her company, the Princess spotted a well-furnished and well-illuminated kitchenette in the middle of the escape route. It was a small semicircular chamber equipped with a glass table, a sofa, and an autochef capable of producing five different hot beverages, as well as pancakes and toast. Many people kept some food in their panic rooms, but few provided for a three-course breakfast with service and entertainment. Truly, Von Schmidt was a man of no compromise.

Ivanov passed the kitchenette, looking at it distastefully. Tanaka followed with Zen concentration. Suddenly, he dropped to the ground, a green laser beam passing mere centimeters above him. There was a loud crack as a tiny object hurled by the samurai hit the autochef. The device was torn asunder, spilling various delicious smelling ingredients on the ground, and momentarily illuminating the passage with a cascade of sparks and shrapnel. The Princess gasped as Audric scratched her, warning her of the presence of poison.

“How did you know of the laser?” she asked Tanaka, while activating the gas filter built into her helmet.

“Speed of light inferior to speed of superior Zen mind,” Tanaka said curtly and shoved the Princess into the kitchenette as if to probe if any further hazards lay in his path. She almost tripped on the slippery floor and had to cling to a nook in the wall to keep herself from sprawling on the rubbish that littered the floor. She turned toward Tanaka intending to share with him some surprising facts about his parentage, but the corridor was already empty. Of course, given Tanaka’s recent statement that he could literally move faster than the speed of light, this was to be expected.

The Princess stood in the middle of the soiled room, her nostrils flaring, her little fists curling and uncurling with rage and indignation at this sickening audacity.

That yellow-bellied degenerate had used her twice as a shield and a poking rod in the space of less than fifteen minutes. Not only was it an act of high treason to lay a hand on a member of the royal family without written approval or an oral command of a member of the senior aristocracy, but it was also a direct violation of the motto of her house, which was, “If you want it, buy it.” If the blasted barbarian needed a shield so much, he should have bought one himself. Surely, an executive of his status could afford it. If he went about without a shield as some sort of a blasé statement, then using her shield whenever the need arose made him the worst sort of hypocrite.

If there was one thing the Princess despised more than assassins, rogues, and degenerates scheming to reduce her to a tradable commodity, it was thrice-damnable moochers! Oh, that little parasite! she seethed. That shameful, arrogant, slant-eyed—

“You bring shame to your ancestors!” the Princess shouted down the tunnel, not caring who or what might hear her. “Your mother was a radioactive pig! You were sired by ten million donkeys!” Her voice was hoarse and still she had more choice words for this dishonorable blackguard. “You are, without doubt—”

“Shut up and move on, bitch. We gonna take care of the gook,” a machine-generated voice hissed at the Princess with an unfamiliar, but decidedly malevolent, accent. She jumped half a meter into the air and ran after the two men.