Song of Scarabaeus (33 page)

“Thank you. And bring a medic over. She looks dreadful.”

Edie followed Natesa into the dining room and sank into a chair. A milit stood guard at the doorway. Natesa sat at the head of the table and laid her hand over Edie's. Edie forced herself not to pull away.

“Edie, you look like you could use a shower and a nice hot meal. Are you ill?”

Edie nodded, rubbing the itchy wound on her arm, feeling filthy and unkempt in Natesa's perfectly coiffed presence.

“What happened?”

Natesa probably had neuroxin on the
Laoch
—no doubt she'd come prepared—but the price of Natesa's help could well be Finn's life. Edie's thoughts scattered in all directions and she tried to order them. She had to find a way out of this. The despair that weighed on her started to lift as she came to a decision. She would have to tell the truth, accept Natesa's help, and plead for Finn's life.

“The planet,” she said, because she had to start somewhere, “it's the same planet we seeded seven years ago.”

“Yes, I know. We sent a probe when we entered the system, though it's hardly my priority at the moment. Something is going on down there.”

“You have no idea. The rovers took me down there. We found…the ecosystem has mutated…” Her reluctance to get to the relevant details made her deviate from the point. “It's mutated into something…incredible. It broke free.”

Their guard stepped back, unconsciously bringing his gun to bear on Edie. “Broke free? Were you exposed? Are you infected?” he said, his voice rising.

Edie stared at him, surprised. She hadn't said that, exactly. But maybe she could use his misunderstanding. Almost without realizing it, she nodded.

Natesa glared and tried to explain it away. “Of course not. She'd be dead already. On a planet like that, exposure to its retroviruses would be fatal within the hour.”

The milit turned on Natesa, his eyes widening. “Ma'am, she doesn't look too healthy to me.” He backed out of the doorway. “Commander Whelan! Sir! Possible code seventeen!”

Whelan appeared in the doorway looking irate.

“Is there a biohazard on this ship?” he barked. “You didn't mention that possibility.”

“Your e-shield protects you,” Natesa said. “Just like it protected Edie.”

Edie jumped on the opportunity. “Our shields failed. The
captain did it. He sabotaged the mission, tried to kill us all. That's why his crew turned against him.”

The commander looked hard at Edie. She let the weakness overtake her for a moment, dropping her head in exhaustion.

Whelan obviously didn't like what he saw. “We can't take her to the
Laoch
until she's been thoroughly checked out. She needs to be quarantined.”

“Just send the medic,” Natesa snapped.

The milits withdrew, talking in low urgent voices, and Natesa turned a plastic smile on Edie.

“I've been so worried. This has been a nightmare for the Talas team, for the program. I'm so relieved to have you back.”

Edie felt the seconds ticking by. Finn had told her to create a delay, and she would do her best.

“How did you find me?”

“We eventually ID'ed the ship that kidnapped you. We tracked it to a node just one jump away and arrested the occupant.”

“The infojack?”

“Yes.”

Edie's heart skipped a beat. Achaiah was on the
Laoch
after all, and as far as she knew he was the only person who knew how to cut the leash. Despite Finn's decision to fight, surrender was again a tempting option…

The image of Rackham's dying face came back to her. People who made deals with Natesa didn't seem to be doing very well these days.

“We caught up with the
Hoi
four days ago, a few jumps from here,” Natesa said. “We boarded, found nothing.”

“They put me on a skiff and sent it through a jump node,” Edie said, stalling for time.

“Incredible. They've been so careless with your life. It's very distressing. You can rest assured they'll pay for—”

The entire deck suddenly plunged into darkness and Edie's
stomach lurched as the gravplating switched off. Hundreds of glass shards and scraps of wood and metal bobbed off the floor, weightless. The spilled wine levitated in treacly globules.

As Edie listened, the engine sounds dwindled away. Moments later, the enviros alarm went off, warning that air and heat were off-line.

The
Hoi
was dead.

Light came from outside the room as a cursing milit lit a chemical flare.

Natesa pulled herself awkwardly to the hatch, ungraceful in zero-g. “What's going on?” She had to yell over the alarms.

In the common area, the milits buzzed around, calling on their commlinks with an ever-increasing sense of urgency in their voices. Edie strained her ears for any indication that the milits had caught Finn, her greatest fear. But it soon became clear that they were getting no response from each other or from their ship.

Commander Whelan came toward the dining room in weightless leaps. “Total systems failure on both ships. Get back in there.”

He turned away to snap orders at his men, telling them to find everyone on the lower decks and regroup on top deck. Then he returned to the dining room. He pinned Edie with a glare.

“What's going on?”

Edie waited a few seconds for Natesa to jump in and defend her. Edie, after all, had done nothing. As Natesa re
gained her seat, Edie saw the glimmer of suspicion in the woman's eyes and knew that wasn't going to happen.

“I don't know,” Edie said simply.

“You said there were retroviruses loose on this ship?”

“Yes. Highly active nanoteck from the planet.” The lie came easily. Anything that might save Finn was worth trying.

Whelan turned his accusatory glare on Natesa. “We just got hit by an EM pulse. The
Laoch
is off-line. All comms are down, our e-shields are bleeding out, and we've got a major biohazard. I'm ordering my men to return to the
Laoch
and get into hard suits.” His voice rose in anger. “You should have told me this would be an issue.”

Natesa's eyes glittered in the dark, never leaving Edie. “It's a trick. A ploy to get you off the ship so they can escape.”

“This ship isn't going anywhere. It's as dead as the
Laoch
.”

“Nevertheless, I don't believe there's any danger.”

“Ma'am, nothing that you
believe
is going to rewrite my procedural manual. Stay here if you like, but I'll take no responsibility for you. We're leaving to suit up.”

“How long will that take?”

“Five minutes, no more. Are you armed?”

Natesa pulled a tiny stunner out of her belt and laid it on the table, her hand over it. Whelan turned and stormed out. The hubbub outside faded as the milits followed. Natesa sat stiff with anger, her face as white and hard as one of Rackham's sculptures. Edie could think of nothing else to do, so she waited in silence, anticipating a scolding. She felt as tense as Natesa looked, but not because of Natesa or the stunner. She was hoping that Finn had left himself enough time to get back inside before the flash bomb destroyed his e-shield.

Her hair waved gently around her face, the tendrils tickling her neck. Natesa's remained firmly bound up on her head in defiance of the lack of gravity. Natesa narrowed her eyes.

“I'm asking myself if you're really the unwilling victim
here. Are you wanting to be rescued, or were you part of this all along?”

Edie kept her expression inscrutable. “I didn't kidnap myself, if that's what you mean.”

“So you'll quite happily walk out of here with me and return to your life on Talas?”

Edie hesitated a fraction too long, rendering any lie unbelievable. “Not happily, no.”

The alarms cut out and the
Hoi
's engines screamed to life. Cat's ploy had worked. Shutting down the ship just before the flash bomb detonated had protected its electronics. The ship rocked, bouncing debris off the bulkheads. Edie instinctively covered her head.

“Hang on tight,” Cat said over the shipwide comm.

Edie pulled herself to the deck, where the table provided some cover from the flotsam, and wrapped her fingers around the gravplating. Natesa wasn't so quick to react. The ship jolted violently and a great wrenching sound ripped through the deck as it tore free of the
Laoch
's gangway.

Moments later, the gravplating and lights came on simultaneously. All around her, the broken pieces of Rackham's collection crashed down. Edie stood on shaky legs and saw Natesa lying on the deck, her legs tangled up in her chair, her eyes wide with bewilderment. The stunner lay half a meter away on the deck.

Edie made a grab for it, but Natesa was too fast. The stunner was back in her hand before Edie had taken two steps. Natesa untangled her legs and hit her commlink a few times, without result. She held the stunner loosely, as if she couldn't quite bring herself to point it at Edie.

“Make it stop,” she snarled.

Edie had more important things to worry about. Ignoring the weapon pointed in her direction, she hit the nearest comm panel on the wall.

“Cat, where is he?”

“I don't know. We still have no internal sensors. He gave me a thirty-second warning to cut the power, and I did.”

“How did he get out? How was he going to get back in?”

“He didn't tell me. There are several access points, none of them easy. Fuel lines, garbage chutes…I don't know. I was listening in on your story about the retroviruses. Good thinking. Did all the milits leave?”

The change in subject didn't help ease Edie's mind. A cold sickness settled in her stomach. If Finn was dead, what was the point of all this? She may as well just go home with Natesa.

Berating herself for her despondency, she replied, “Yes, as far as I know. Natesa is still on board.”

“Shit.”

“How long before we jump?”

“We're at maximum acceleration, coming up fast on the node. Thirteen minutes.”

“What about the
Laoch
?”

“It'll take them a few minutes to recover. I'm not certain we'll be out of firing range before they power those weapons. This could be close.”

And if they did make it through the node, Edie didn't want a Crib 'crat on the ship, adding kidnapping to her list of crimes.

Natesa had scrambled to her feet, still trying to contact the
Laoch
. Now she was getting a faint signal. Edie had to get rid of her. But first, she had one more chance to help Finn. From their first day aboard the
Hoi
, the leash had been their priority and it still was. If they could cut it, and if her future must then be with the Crib, perhaps she could negotiate for Finn's freedom. Perhaps seeding Project Ardra worlds for Natesa wasn't too high a price to pay.

It all came down to the infojack. If he couldn't help them, then probably no one could. In that case, she'd take her chances on the
Hoi
and trust Cat could come through with contacts who could help get her neuroxin.

“I need to speak with Achaiah,” Edie said.

“Who?”

“The infojack you picked up.” Before Natesa could pro
test, she added, “This has nothing to do with you, the Crib, Talas, or anything else. It's personal.”

“Return with me to the
Laoch
and you may talk to him. Edie, don't you dare turn your back on me, on your team, on your duty.”

“Rampaging across the Reach, turning planets into mash is not my duty.”

“If the project goes ahead without you, our failures will be on your conscience. We need your skills to avoid that sort of disaster. Disasters like the one down there.” She waved the stunner to encompass the system they were in. “It looks like VAL-One-Four has become our most magnificent failure yet. Bethany's failure. Poor woman—her final legacy is that mess. I always thought she never really had what it took to shine in this line of work. You, on the other hand, you can save us all.”

Edie refused to be wounded by Natesa's insults against Bethany. “Flattery won't persuade me.”

“And duty means equally little to you.” Natesa drew a deep breath, looked away for a moment, then looked back. “If you won't come back for me, come back for Lukas.”

Edie blanched at the mention of his name. “Where is he?”

“We'll let you visit him.”

“Where is he?” she demanded, more forcefully.

“I'm sorry to have to tell you—I wanted to keep it from you—but he was a traitor. He plotted against you.”

Edie held back a bubble of hysterical laughter in her throat. That Natesa thought she could convince Edie of that lie was an indication of how little the woman really knew her favorite charge.

“It's true, Edie. Oh, he repented eventually, and they tell me he sometimes asks after you…from his prison cell on Anwynn.”

“I don't doubt you locked him up, even killed him. But he's no traitor.” He'd outlived his usefulness to the Crib, and it had discarded him. One day Edie would find out why. For now, Natesa's offer only revolted her.

As Edie's body adjusted to the ebb and flow of neuroshock, her mind cleared and she felt a little stronger.

“Let me talk to the infojack.”

“He's a prisoner on the
Laoch
. It's impossible—”

“Arrange it, Natesa. I need his help with something. If he can't help, then we'll let you go.” She leaned on the
we
just a little, to remind Natesa that she had allies on this ship. The stunner wasn't an insurmountable obstacle.

“Is that a threat?” Natesa said.

“Think of it as a deal.”

Natesa drew an angry breath, thought better of it, and hit her commlink. As she made the arrangements to get a link set up with the prisoner, Edie sank into a chair while another wave of nausea hit. It wasn't just the neuroshock. She was sick with worry for Finn. He was dead outside the ship with a failed shield or alive inside. She'd find out soon enough.

Natesa set her palmet on the table and Achaiah's face materialized. His blue eyes penetrated the ethereal light of the holoviz and he looked more than ever like the angel Edie had first mistaken him for. Or a devil in disguise.

From his torn clothing and bruised face, it looked like they'd resorted to quick and nasty interrogation methods. He hadn't given in, though. He could have taken control of the
Hoi
with the worm and he hadn't. Leashing one human being to another with a bomb might not violate his ethical code, and neither did trading in cyphertecks, but he wasn't quite as open to selling out his customers to the Crib.

He grinned at Edie, the careless grin of a man with nothing left to lose. In a disconcerting flash, Edie saw why Cat had fallen in with him. His appearance of easy charm reminded her of Zeke, but behind those eyes lay the capacity for unfettered wickedness.

“Sha'nim. Good to see you—conscious, for once.”

“Can you cut the leash?”

“That lag is still alive?” His stilted accent was unlike anything she'd heard before.

She wanted to scream at him,
He's not just a lag, and you know it.
“Answer me.”

“It's a biocyph lock,” he said. “A new line for me, but I like to think I did well.”

“Tell me who can break it.”

Seconds ticked by as the good humor drained from Achaiah's face, seconds in which the
Laoch
would be powering up to give chase. Finally, he shrugged.

“I was paid to make a link
you
couldn't deactivate. Certainly no one else can.”

These were not the words Edie wanted to hear. She gripped the edge of the table. “Not even you? It can never be broken?”

“Sorry.” His apology sounded genuine, belying the ice in his eyes. “Is Lancer there with you—?”

“Edie!” Cat's urgent voice on the shipwide. “The
Laoch
is up and running. I could use some help on the bridge. Is it safe to open up?”

Edie cut the palmet link and hit her commlink. “Give me one minute.”

Turning back to Natesa, she touched the beetle shell at her throat and thought of Scarabaeus. Her greatest success. Her greatest failure. It was her planet now, its destiny routed through her splinter to an unknown future. She had set it on this devastating path just as Natesa had set her, as a child, on a path. But Scarabaeus would survive without her, albeit changed, and she would survive without Natesa, without the Crib.

“You don't want to be here and I don't want you here,” Edie said. “I think you should step into a lifepod and have the
Laoch
pick you up.”

Natesa looked ready to admit defeat, but gave it one last try. “What about your neuroxin, Edie? Your implant will be dry in a few months. You'll die if you don't come home.”

“I'll figure it out. I don't need you anymore.” Edie looked pointedly at the stunner. “Using that won't help either of us.”

Natesa thought for a moment and relented, belting the stunner. Edie followed her to the main corridor, which was lined with three narrow hatches on each side—the lifepods. Edie snapped open the nearest one. As the inner and then outer hatches slid open, she stepped back.

Excruciating pain shot up her spine and she crumpled, only registering the sound of the stunner firing after she fell. The deck scraped against her legs as Natesa dragged her toward the lifepod. Edie tried to kick out, but her numbed limbs refused to respond to the orders from her brain. The lip of the pod's hatch dug into her hip and her head banged on the deck.

That knocked some feeling back into her body. Her hand brushed the hatch rim and she put all her efforts into curling her fingers around the edge. She held on tight as Natesa wrestled with her.

“You're coming with me!” Natesa shrieked. “This is more important than you could possibly realize. How dare you turn away from your destiny.
Get in!
”

Edie's vision narrowed and she started to black out.
No!
She wanted to tell Natesa about Finn and the leash and Ademo's blood-filled eyes when his chip exploded…No words made it past her throat. Finn was going to die just like that serf—

Natesa gave a cry as something slammed against her. Edie felt a hand close around her arm and pull her out, while Natesa fell into the pod and landed in a heap. As the hatch snapped, the last thing Edie saw of Natesa was her anguished expression framed by locks of hair that had finally sprung free from confinement.