The Dying Light (37 page)

His eyes were shut, but somehow Roche knew that he was awake, and possibly even aware of her presence.

The other body belonged to something far from Pristine. It looked vaguely Olmahoi, but unlike any she had ever seen. Its black skin was shiny and abraded, its limbs thin, almost vestigial, its body was hunched, its face featureless and pinched. The only vital element to the entire creature was its epsense organ—a thick tentacle sprouting from the back of its skull. But where most Olmahoi epsense organs were rarely as thick as a normal wrist, this one was thighlike in width—fat and almost a meter and a half long, throbbing with vitality, almost as if it were sucking the life out of the creature attached to it. Roche could see where needles and other instruments penetrated its flesh, supplying nutrients or performing other mysterious tasks.

The creature lay on a bed like Maii’s. It was bound, but not firmly. It seemed to Roche that it didn’t need to be. She doubted it could even have walked, let alone run away.

There was a monitor behind it. On it flashed a single word:

: BEWARE

Roche had never heard the Box sound surprised before.

CLEAR, transmitted Haid from behind her.

Distracted, she turned.

UNHARMED.

She grunted as someone pushed past her.

“Sorry, Morgan,” said the Box via the drone. “But I must get through.”

Roche faced the drone across the body of the Olmahoi creature. “What the hell are you doing?”

“I am administering Xarodine,” explained the Box as the drone injected something into the base of the Olmahoi’s skull. “There were doses in Maii’s cell, naturally.”

The creature twitched, and the word on the screen changed to:

: CRUEL

“
Why,
Box?”

“Xarodine is an epsense-inhibitor.”

“I
know
that, but—”

“Give me a moment, Morgan.”

A muffled explosion from farther up the hallway reminded her of Shak’ni and the rest of the guards.

“I don’t
have
a moment, Box.”

She rushed out of the cell. Haid was already there. The sound of pounding came from both ends of the corridor.

WE’RE TRAPPED.

“Any suggestions, Myer?” she called into Maii’s cell, “Myer?” Maii was still on the table, although her bonds had been removed. The guards and their weapons lay scattered across the floor. But the pilot was gone.

“He was here a moment ago,” Haid said, dispensing with his implants. “He must have snuck out while I was busy with Maii.”

“
Damn
him!”

“Do we go after him?”

Roche sighed. “We haven’t got time. Besides, we don’t even know which way he’s gone.” She made a mental note to be sure that Myer paid for this at a later date. “Our only chance is to bust out before they’re ready. Take them off-guard. One of us will have to carry Maii; maybe we can use the guards’ armor to protect her.”

“What about Cane?”

She cursed Myer again. “He’ll have to wait. He looks safe enough as he is.” She went back into Maii’s cell and bent to strip one of the dead guards.

Her helmeted head brushed Maii’s.

Roche laid a gloved hand on Maii’s arm.

irikeii
?>

irikeii
?> Remembering what the Box had called the Olmahoi, she dashed into the other cell. The drone was bent over the hunched figure on the bed. The word on the screen now read:

: ONE

Another explosion sounded up the corridor just as the word changed to:

: COMES

Then Roche was embraced by the young reave’s excited mind. read
you!>

More calmly the girl said:

Roche felt guilty for pushing the girl so soon, but right now she was their best chance of getting out of there alive.

There was a pause before she replied:

Roche checked the charges on her rifle; enough for a while yet. The sounds from the ends of the corridor died down, and she assumed the reave had already begun to work.

Then Maii said:

A chill went through Roche.

Sebettu
has completed its final approach. It will be within firing range in twenty minutes. Its senior officer has issued a message.>

The recording came through her implants:

AGGRESSORS IN THE VICINITY OF GALINE FOUR: DESIST IMMEDIATELY OR FACE THE CONSEQUENCES. WE WILL NOT HESITATE TO USE LETHAL FORCE. YOU HAVE BEEN WARNED.

That was why the guards had stopped pounding at the doors: they knew they’d won. All they had to do now was wait her out.

replied Kajic.

he admitted.

the ex-captain said.

She paused. The words burned in her throat.

said the Box.

It was brief: “Come out, Roche, or we
will
destroy you.”

ARE WE REALLY GOING TO SURRENDER? asked Haid.

She switched the rifle to standby.

She went into the cell and squatted next to Maii.

The reave’s expression was closed.

the Box said.

The Kesh officer’s voice told her himself: “You, Morgan Roche, and your party will submit to the authority of interim peacemaker Field Officer Shak’ni. All hostilities directed against Galine Four and Linegar Rufo will cease. The
Ana Vereine
will dock with Galine Four and allow Lieutenant Haden B’shan to assume control. All internal systems—including that of Uri Kajic—will become the property of the N’Kor Republic. The Surin reave will be sedated and undergo further Xarodine therapy. The AI you refer to as ‘the Box,’ serial number JW11110101110, will be ejected from the ship immediately. Any transmissions from said AI will be regarded as a violation of this agreement and as such will incur a penalty: the immediate execution of one of your party, starting with the Surin girl. Further transmissions will result in similar penalties. Do we understand each other?”

Roche didn’t answer immediately. She stared at the knotted scar tissue where Maii’s eyes had once been. She felt very tired.

<—a nuclear strike from a hundred meters,> she finished for the AI. She smiled, despite herself.

She stood and walked down the corridor, the way she had come. There she found Mavalhin cowering against the door. He started when he saw her, and wouldn’t meet her eyes. She didn’t care.

* * *

Outside the station, an airlock opened on the side of the
Ana Vereine.
A small black valise shot out of it and tumbled in the vague direction of Hintubet. The sun’s reddish glow was exacerbated by the hastening collapse of the Gauntlet, but it was still barely bright enough to paint a dull sheen on the battered case.

Roche watched through the
Ana Vereine
’s sensors as a Kesh singleship scooped the valise up with a pair of remote manipulators and took it aboard the
Sebettu.
So distracted was she by the view that the Kesh guard escorting her had to prod her roughly in the bare shoulder with a rifle butt to get her moving faster.

She winced and rubbed the new bruise he had given her. Her capture had been inglorious enough without being made to strip off her armor in front of everyone. Dressed only in her sweaty undersuit and handcuffs, she felt completely naked. That Haid, Disisto, and Mavalhin had been treated similarly didn’t make her feel any better. Maii lay back in her cell, her mind suppressed once more by the suffocating effects of the drug Xarodine. The only comfort Roche could take was that Galine Four’s internal gravity generators were still not working properly. The self-destruction of one of the Box’s drones right in the very heart of the station had done too much damage, and ambient gravity remained at about half normal.

“Where are you taking us?” she asked.

“The only time you’ll speak, Roche,” said Shak’ni from behind her, “is to give us information.”

INTERROGATION, HUH? Haid broadcast.

“You will cease any other forms of communication, too,” Shak’ni added. “You may only continue to receive information from your ship provided it is non-encrypted.”

The procession of guards and captives wound their way to freight elevators, then down into the heart of the station. At least that was something, Roche thought to herself. If they’d been taken to the destroyer, things would’ve become difficult indeed.

She watched through the
Ana Vereine’s
sensors as the
Sebettu
approached. In design it was little different from other Kesh craft—an odd combination of streamlined and prickly, as though an ordinary spaceship had been half- melted and stretched—but its size was impressive. A dozen Galine Fours would have fit easily into its holds. Its entire surface was pockmarked by retractable weapon emplacements, instrument clusters, and fighter launch bays. The intrasystem engines that brought it to an imposing halt beside the station radiated as much energy as a small sun.

She hoped Byrne had managed to get the outriggers away from the area. The spines were their only hope of survival. Although not capable of slow-jumping out of the Gauntlet, they did at least possess resources that would allow the outriggers to survive in the middle of nowhere.

When Roche realized what she was thinking, it occurred to her how ridiculous it was. The system was due to be totally destroyed in less than a day. Although the collapse of the boundary was initially slow, it would proceed exponentially. The double-jovian system had already succumbed; she had watched it dissolve into the invisible barrier like ice into fire just before the attack had begun. The region of space occupied by Galine Four would be gone in twelve hours. If the outriggers weren’t gone by then, no amount of supplies would save them.

All evidence of what had occurred here would be gone forever, she thought. It was the perfect situation in which to conduct a little genocide

The freight elevator opened opposite a window showing the hanging gardens at the heart of the station. The vibrant green contrasted sharply with the gloom of her situation, but she tried to take hope anyway. All was not yet lost. Not quite.

The guards led her to Rufo’s sanctum sanctorum. Its elegance and purity were unchanged, but she admired it less for the corruption she knew it hid. Rufo himself looked old and bitter despite his victory. His speech was rapid and sometimes hard to understand; he paced constantly, and he seemed unable to maintain eye contact with anyone but Haden B’shan; all of which, Roche noticed, he was apparently unaware.

A chair slid out of the floor beside her and she was forced into it. The others were treated likewise, despite Mavalhin’s protests. Disisto’s expression was tight-lipped, but he said nothing, seemingly confident that things would be sorted out with his boss soon enough. Haid sat straight in his chair and watched everything closely.

“So, Commander Roche.” Rufo spoke with the disdain of a reproachful parent, stepping up to Morgan with his hands behind his back. “We meet again. Perhaps you will be more accommodating this time.”

“Perhaps you might show me the same courtesy,” Roche shot back.

Rufo shrugged, his eyes averted to the floor. “I suppose there were lies on both sides,” he acknowledged.

“Who was it that said that there are lies, and then there are damned lies?”

Rufo smiled humorlessly. “I believe the earliest recorded mention of that saying is some two hundred and fifty thousand years ago. The Human condition hasn’t changed much in that time, has it?”

“Obviously.”

“There will always be optimists whose dreams of a moral society are about as realistic, and as foolish, as those who believe in fate.”

“Look, Rufo,” said Roche, “we really don’t have time for this kind of banter. Why not just get on with it?”

He stopped pacing for a moment, but still his eyes wouldn’t meet hers. “Very well,” he said. “I want to know everything you know about Adoni Cane. And remember, Field Officer Shak’ni has his instructions, so please, no lies.”