The Abyss Beyond Dreams (75 page)

Two days ago, Captain Philious himself had toured the worst afflicted areas. He even climbed down from his carriage to talk with flooded householders and the owners of ruined businesses,
offering sympathy. ‘I know exactly what it’s like: we have no water in the Palace, either.’ Which was a politically astute lie; the Palace had its own freshwater spring. He also
promised to punish ‘those responsible’ and get the city and National Council to pass much stricter regulation so this could never happen again.

The atmosphere of misery and resentment pervading Varlan was as thick and toxic as the stench of the sewage layer clogging the streets. And now with news of the rail bridges percolating between
the residents, uncertainty had supplanted stoic misery. Several of the large wholesale markets had shut their gates that morning; without trains coming in, they simply had no fresh food to sell.
All the food in city warehouses dramatically increased in price and became difficult to obtain. Retailers that did open sold out fast, although most kept their doors closed. Crowds began to gather
at the borough markets, their vocal complaints escalating fast at the sight of empty stalls. Sheriffs arrived, to be goaded by strategically positioned cell members. What started as worry and
dissatisfaction began to grow into something more ugly.

As the shock of the transport failures sank in, so businesses large and small began to realize the true extent of the problem. A lot of private ’paths began to flash out. Banks found
queues materializing outside before they opened. Sheriffs were called to keep order as the queues steadily lengthened. The first customers that rushed in as soon as nervous clerks opened the doors
demanded huge cash withdrawals. Banks didn’t keep large amounts of cash at individual branches. On the emergency instructions of the Treasury, managers were told to limit withdrawals to fifty
silver shillings per customer. Nice middle-class people got very cross about that. Arrests were made. Branches tried to shut, only to find people forcing the doors open. More requests for sheriffs
were hurriedly ’pathed.

By ten o’clock, Varlan’s mighty economy was grinding to a noisy and unprecedented halt. Real fear was beginning to gain momentum. It was everything the revolution wanted. Fear was a
state easy to exploit.

‘Did you know about the grading?’ Slvasta asked as the cab arrived at the central government area. Here the avenues were clear and clean, untouched by the flood and disruption
– deliberately so, to help encourage resentment.

‘Captain?’ Yannrith said.

‘That we’d graded cell members to find the ones we could trust?’

‘I knew instructions had gone out to help decide who to give the guns to. Bethaneve is right; you can’t just give them to everybody. Why?’

He shook his head. ‘I didn’t know. Or I forgot; Giu knows, there’s been a lot of planning. Coulan chose his palace militia carefully. I helped him and Javier with the bridge
teams – we can’t have mistakes with the critical parts of the plan. There are so many details . . .’ Yet he knew that wasn’t what bothered him.

Two kilometres past the palace, Byworth Avenue ended at First Night Square – a huge expanse of cobbles encircled by snow-white riccalon trees, where it was said the passengers of Captain
Cornelius set up camp the night they landed on Bienvenido. The circular National Council building stood at the far end, dominating the whole square with its eight blue-stone fresco rings wrapped
round the rust-red brick wall. The green copper dome on top shone a hazy lime in the morning sun. Native birds sat perched on the lip, staring down at the large crowd milling round the square. Over
two thousand people had already gathered, mostly men, and definitely no children. The instructions which had come buzzing through the cell network as they woke had been very clear about that. No
one wanted another Haranne incident.

The grim psychic aura they gave off matched their demeanour. It was stifling, as if the air temperature had risen ten degrees. Cabs delivering National Council members to the morning’s
emergency debate were booed and jostled with teekay, making their horses skittish. Badly unnerved representatives hurried into the sanctuary of their grand building, carefully avoiding glancing at
the forest of banners with crude slogans and cartoonish images of the Captain.

The horse pulling Slvasta’s cab grew panicky as it trotted round the road at the edge of the square. Slvasta dropped his fuzz, allowing ex-sight to pervade the inside of the cab. It was a
perception that was quickly gifted round the square. The cheering began.

He opened the door, and grinned round at the smiling faces, raising his arm. ‘Thank you for coming,’ he ’pathed wide. ‘Thank you for adding weight to my lone voice in
this nest of ugly bussalores. I’m here to tell the First Speaker and Citizens’ Dawn that their way, their privilege and arrogance, is coming to an end. They must listen to you, they
must act upon your grievances. You have a RIGHT to be heard. They cannot ignore you forever. Today, they will be made to LISTEN.’

A renewed wave of cheering swept over First Night Square like a gale, breaking upon the walls of the National Council building. Slvasta pumped his fist into the air, then hopped down and strode
through the main entrance. Yannrith walked alongside him, motioning the Council guards away. They were mostly ceremonial officers, positions awarded to troopers retiring from regiments so they
might spend their last decades in fine scarlet and navy-blue tunics, living in neat apartments and being given three full meals a day before accepting Guidance. They certainly had no contingency to
repel large angry mobs.

‘Sheriffs are on their way, captain,’ the master at arms told Slvasta as he made his way across the ante-chamber. ‘Don’t worry.’

He nodded briefly, and carried on towards the central amphitheatre.

‘Slvasta,’ Bethaneve private ’pathed. ‘The Meor is mobilizing.’

‘Crud.’ He couldn’t help a worried glance at Yannrith. ‘Are you sure?’

‘Yes. They’re coming out of their barracks. Two ferries have been taken out of public service, and they’re docked on the south bank waiting for them. The crowds must have
frightened the First Speaker. There’s a lot of discontent coming to the boil in the city.’

‘It’s supposed to, but . . . Crud, I thought we’d have more time.’

‘Don’t worry. I’ll deploy some grade three comrades to the quayside to pin them down. We have several allocated for it. They won’t get into the centre of the city
today.’

Slvasta knew they had contingencies for everything – well, every screw-up they could think of.
So stick with the plan and trust your people
. ‘Okay.’

He made it into the huge amphitheatre, where several hundred councillors were taking their seats. But it was by no means a full session. The disapproval of the crowd outside was penetrating the
thick walls, contributing to the worried and sombre mood gripping the tiers of desks. Nobody knew what to make of the city’s economy crashing.

Down on the floor of the amphitheatre, Slvasta saw Crispen, Trevene’s lieutenant, in a huddle with the First Speaker, who still hadn’t taken his polished throne on the podium. The
two of them were having an intense discussion. The First Speaker glanced up at Slvasta, then hurriedly away.

‘Congratulations,’ someone said.

Slvasta turned round to the tier of desks behind his. Newbon, the councillor for Wurzen, inclined his head. ‘That was a nice chunk of theatre outside. Well played.’

‘Thank you.’

‘What comes next?’

‘I meant what I said. I will give those people a voice in here. They can be denied no longer.’

‘Quite right. Though I’m curious that they have an opinion on bridges being blown up.’

‘Suppressed anger finds many outlets.’

‘You really do have integrity, don’t you?’

‘I try.’

Newbon pressed his lips together and ’pathed privately, ‘Be careful. There are powerful people watching you today.’

‘Thank you,’ Slvasta said quietly. He took his seat, with Yannrith sitting behind him.

It wasn’t just the emotions of the crowd outside which could be felt in the chamber; their chanting too was audible, faint but ever present as a disconcerting tremble in the air.

‘Sheriffs are moving into First Night Square,’ Yannrith murmured.

Slvasta opened his shell to receive various giftings, and watched through another’s eyes as long carts filled with squads of sheriffs began to arrive at the back of the National Council
building. On the other side of the Colbal, the Meor regiment was marching down to the jetty where the ferries
Alfreed
and
Lanuux
were berthed, waiting for them.
‘Uracus,’ he muttered. ‘There must be over a thousand of them. Their full strength.’

‘They can’t cover the whole city,’ Bethaneve ’pathed privately. ‘There are trouble spots erupting everywhere. People are angry and afraid. We were . . . more
successful than we expected.’

The First Speaker took to his throne on the podium and held up the gavel of silence. ‘I call this honourable assembly to order. You have been summoned to debate the unprecedented acts of
sabotage perpetrated against the main railway lines vital to this city, and how we are to advise the Captain to respond. I call upon the representative for Feltham, who sits upon the
Captain’s security committee, to give us an account of the night’s events.’

‘There’s still nothing from our Southern City Line teams,’ Bethaneve ’pathed as the councillor walked down to the podium. ‘I’m worried.’

‘They must have been arrested.’

‘There’s nothing from any sheriff informant about that. They’ve vanished. There were twenty people and a lot of explosives on those carts. How can they just vanish?’

‘I don’t know,’ he admitted.

‘Our agents confirm the bridges are still up, and now heavily guarded.’

‘Uracus! Should we send more teams, take out bridges further down the line?’

‘I talked that through with Coulan. We can’t see the point, not now. Trade is completely paralysed, everything is shutting down. We’ve got the anarchy we wanted.’

‘Okay. I’m about to make my stand.’

The Feltham representative was finishing his account. It was clear that he knew only the barest details, just which bridges were down, and how it was triggering great economic hardship to
everyone, not only the merchants. ‘So I would ask my honourable colleagues to unequivocally condemn those who perpetrated this appalling crime against all of us. The sheriffs and other
government forces should have full authority to search out and apprehend these terrorists, and sentence them to take immediate Guidance. Let them swiftly discover for themselves if the Heart will
accept them, or if they are bound for Uracus.’

‘They’ve done it,’ Javier private ’pathed as the Feltham representative walked up the aisle to his desk. ‘The Captain signed a suspension order. It’s starting
to arrive in government offices. Trevene’s people are already in sheriff stations, telling them who to arrest.’

‘Do we have names?’ Slvasta asked as he dropped the red ball into his desk cup.

‘Union officials and Democratic Unity officers. They’re coming for us.’

‘Make sure that goes out across the network. Tell every cell member.’

‘We’re on it.’

‘I call the representative for Yeats to address Council,’ the First Speaker announced.

Slvasta stood up at the same time as the Yeats councillor started walking down the aisle. Councillors behind their desks looked quite shocked.

‘Captain Slvasta,’ the First Speaker exclaimed loudly, ‘you have not been called.’

‘Nor am I likely to be,’ Slvasta declared. ‘For I know who is responsible.’

Outside, the crowd in First Night Square was cheering.

The representative from Yeats had stopped halfway down the aisle, looking uncertainly at the First Speaker. ‘I yield the floor to the representative from Langley,’ he said.

Slvasta ignored him and walked over to the First Speaker’s podium. Every councillor was silent, leaving the muffled cheers and chanting of the crowd as the only sound in the cavernous
amphitheatre.

Slvasta paused, and slowly looked round the tiers of desks, his uncompromising stare demanding the attention of everyone in the amphitheatre. ‘I lost my arm in defence of this world. It is
a small price to pay for ensuring another nest of Fallers was thwarted. But as to why I lost it? That is down to a multitude of compromises made by my regiment – compromises to the front-line
budget necessary so barracks officers could live a comfortable life. Compromises which continue to this day. Compromises supported by the Treasury, desperate to maintain the status quo. Hundreds of
people in New Angeles lost their lives –
no
, that is how the gazettes report it. Hundreds of people in New Angeles were
eaten alive
by a nest. Why? Because the
Captain’s uncle was a corrupt, debauched bastard who cared only for his own welfare, and that of his family cronies.’

Cries of protest rose from the desks, ’pathed calls of
shame
swatted against his shell. Slvasta remained resolute, buoyed by the swell of approval from the massed minds
outside.

‘
Alfreed
and
Lanuux
just started across the river,’ Bethaneve reported. ‘I’ve got some armed comrades in place on the quayside, but I don’t know
how long they can delay the Meor.’

‘Almost done,’ Slvasta ’pathed back to her. He caught sight of Yannrith, who had risen from his seat. He nodded at Slvasta.

‘The water utilities debacle?’ Slvasta declared angrily. ‘Not a product of sabotage, as conveniently declared by this very assembly. No. It was caused by greed, by the
privileged caring only for themselves. And now, now we are summoned here to make grand empty statements denouncing the destruction of the rail bridges. Well. I. Will. Not. This desperate act was
inevitable. This act is a direct result of the oppression, both political and economic, imposed by our government. You crush hope. Yes, you! You destroy opportunity. You eradicate dignity. You do
all that so you may maintain your filthy bigoted anti-democratic society. You leave the rest of us no choice. We are not allowed to protest. Any complaint sees you marked down for life as a
troublemaker by that tyrannical murderer Trevene. Those explosions today, they are the true voice of the people. And they are loud voices – voices you will not be allowed to ignore, voices
you cannot smother, not this time. This is the day the disenfranchised, the weak and the persecuted find their will and say:
No more. You will listen to us!
You ask who is responsible for
blowing up the bridges, for hurting the government in the only place it values – its wealth, the method by which it maintains control? I tell you: it is
you
. You: the rich,
degenerate, privileged filth. And for that, for your eternal crime against this beautiful world of ours: I denounce you. I will have no part of this assembly, which I declare unlawful.’