The Red Queen (54 page)

A shadow crossed the tribesman’s face. ‘He disappeared before dawn, before the
efari
 . . . the androne, woke. My hope is that he went only to hide his eyes from the light of the sun, and come night, he will follow me here. That is one of the reasons I am anxious to return to the surface. But he might also have gone back to our camp in the other settlement. In truth, Elspeth, I would be glad if you would beastspeak him.’

I promised to try, but it would have to be done at night, for once the wolf had retreated into one of the desert rifts, neither I, nor the sun, could reach him. I resolved privately to try farseeking Gahltha and Maruman and the other beasts as well. I was not certain they were in Northport, because Ahmedri had been to the other settlements and had seen nothing of them.

I was glad when Dameon stirred and said he had done what he could for Miryum. I got to my feet as Ahmedri rose and hauled the empath to his feet, then we bade the tribesman farewell for the moment. I told him that God would direct him to us when he wanted to leave the resurrection chamber, but he said with a touch of his old arrogance that he needed no guide, having made the journey once. I nodded, suddenly impatient to return to Kelver Rhonin’s residence where I had yet to examine Hannah’s things. I was hoping that Ana might have located not only the memory seed but our other possessions, including the stone sword, though it was possible she might have decided to wait until Hendon was available, or the other androne. If she had not found it, I would make her take me to the store at once and search for it myself.

Also, I wanted to talk to God about Tash.

I asked Ahmedri one last time if he would not rather go with us, to bathe and rest in such comfort as Midland offered while he had the chance, but again he refused, saying that he would stop by only briefly in any case, for he wanted to return to the surface.

‘He is worried for the wolf,’ Dameon said, as the elevating chamber ascended. ‘His bond to it is very deep. He would not call it love and yet I do not know what other word will do. They were alone together more than a year, and as he told his tale, I could feel that he had long despaired of finding us when the androne spoke with your voice. Even now a part of him cannot believe he has found us and Miryum, and that she has told him where to find Straaka’s bones, all in the space of a twoday.’

‘Things do seem to have begun to quicken at last,’ I said. ‘All those months of sleeping and then that half life in Habitat and suddenly it is time to go.’

‘When do you want to leave?’

‘A twoday,’ I said.

‘You will not delay for Miryum’s sake?’

‘I will not delay when our presence cannot change her situation,’ I said. ‘Ahmedri has firmly claimed her as his responsibility now, I am very glad for her. I have no doubt he will tend to it honourably, for Straaka’s sake. But no matter what happens here, I must go on to Northport. After that, for now, I plan to seek out Eden, and the map God is making will give us a direction to travel in at least. It might bring us back in this direction but we must not expect it, for I can allow nothing else to matter more than my quest. Before we go, I need to find the memory seed and the stone sword, though in the end, returning it to its owner matters less than finding Sentinel.’

‘Do you have any idea where the memory seed is?’ Dameon asked.

‘I believe it is here in Midland, and I hope that Ana will have found it by now. God is helping her, and it must be that the sword is here as well as all of our other things, given what Ahmedri said about what he found when he returned to the camp.’

‘What is it?’ Dameon asked, when I did not go on.

‘It is my guess that the beast Miryum spoke of in the cavern where Straaka’s bones lie may have given her the Endrax virus.’

‘Ahmedri must be warned,’ Dameon said. ‘It will not stop him, though. And it seems to me he made short work of some portions of his story. He did not mention how he came by his scars, for instance. I think there were many encounters with beasts in his time away from us.’

‘I agree, and perhaps the concern is not so much that he might become infected when he goes to seek out Straaka’s bones, but that he might already be infected.’

‘Technician Ahmedri is not infected with the Endrax virus,’ God said. ‘Admission protocol required Unit B to acquire and test a DNA sample from Technician Ahmedri, as no person with an infectious disease is permitted into the settlement outside of a biohazard environment.’

‘Wait, you . . . you are sure that Ahmedri does not have the Endrax virus?’ I said, deciding not to ask what a deyenay was and how the androne had got one from Ahmedri.’

‘Yes, User Seeker,’ God said.

‘Well, that is good news,’ I said at last, and truly it was.

‘I have been thinking about Miryum’s blind prince,’ Dameon said when we had got out of the Galon Institute and were walking up the rising road. ‘She was there, of course, when Miky and Angina staged their song at the moon fair and made a prince of me.’ He frowned and looked at me. ‘Why should you feel guilt, Elspeth? It was not your fault Angina died.’

I drew in a soft breath, cursing his perceptiveness, yet had I not long desired to unburden myself about the part I had played in the death of the twins, and who else should I tell, if not Dameon? I realised I wanted to tell him. It was strange how, after so many years of keeping my secrets, I felt the desire to speak of these things.

‘It
was
my fault,’ I said softly. I stopped and told him then, about how the spirit-form of Angina had visited my dreams, and of the night I had travelled in spirit to the twins’ sick chamber in the Healing Hall to sever the spirit cord binding them, killing Angina. I did not know I was weeping until Dameon reached out to brush my tears away.

‘How do you always see so much when you are blind?’ I said, the words carried on a sob.

He smiled his sweet dear smile. ‘Because I feel your feelings, my dear one.’ He stopped abruptly.

‘What is it?’ I demanded. ‘There is nothing harsh you can say about me that I have not said about myself.’

‘Of that, I have no doubt,’ he said drily. ‘But as I see it, you did what Angina begged you to do. You did not kill him because he was dying anyway and nothing could save him. In fact you saved Miky’s life, if it comes to that, for if you had not severed their bond, he would have carried her into death with him. It is true that Miky grieves her brother’s death bitterly but it is a natural sorrow and it will pass. I do not believe she would ever blame you, were this whole matter known to her.’

‘The hardest thing is knowing that this black killing force in me is formed of my own spirit,’ I said quietly. Yet I felt lighter for having told him, as if the knowledge of what I had done had been a weight I carried, all unknowing.

‘This black sword sounds to me as if it is no more than a tool that lets you use and focus the strength of your spirit,’ Dameon said. ‘One thing I know, Elspeth, and it is this: there is no evil in you. I would have felt it if there were.’

Unable to speak, I reached out and took his hand in mine. ‘No one could ever have a more worthy friend,’ I said. ‘I am truly fortunate.’

Back in Kelver Rhonin’s residence, Ana and Dragon were busy preparing enormous packages that Unit A would carry up to the camp Swallow had begun to establish, as soon as its maintenance was complete. Hendon could not help, Ana said, because he was being prepared for the journey we would make. Ana said that God had decided to add an additional memory space so that the androne could record a thorough investigation of Northport. Dameon offered his help and was told they needed no more helping hands but that a storyteller would be welcome. Then Dragon bade him tell them more about being a cat.

I left them to it, having had my fill of hearing and telling stories. The memory of what had happened to Miky and Angina had roused a sadness in me that had made me think of Rushton, and rather than push his memory aside, I had a sudden longing to allow myself to remember him and all we had been to one another.

I bathed for a long time, and then on impulse, I piled together the few clothes and bits and pieces I wanted to take with me. It reminded me that Ana had not mentioned the memory seed, nor had she given me Hannah’s things. But I was in no mood to rejoin the others yet, so I lay down on my bed and used my fleeting solitude to ask God if it had completed listing its mistakes.

God replied calmly that it had done so, and had plotted them over a timeline beginning soon after the death of User Hannah. The results showed a slight but decisive deviation. Significantly, the error rate had definitely dropped since I had begun to speak with God. God then went on to postulate the possibility that the flawed cryopods might have been the result of a mistake. I was stunned to find there was no need for me to concoct a convincing argument. The facts spoke for themselves and I had only to ask God what it meant to do, since I could not remain to serve as its human companion. Belatedly it occurred to me that this conversation might better have been had
after
we had left Midland, just in case God decided to keep us. But I had misjudged it, for God merely replied that it required a human user to complete the correction and to prevent further deviation and then it asked if I would assign one of my technicians to remain. I said, just as calmly, that my quest required all of them, including Ahmedri, and this was more important than any other consideration.

I waited a little and then I said, ‘Speci Tash
could
be redesignated as a technician.’

‘That is not possible, however if I suspend analysis of data collected for the purpose of ascertaining whether Speci Tash is a special anomaly or not, she would be able to serve as a corrective companion to me until another more suitable human can be found.’

‘I think Tash would be willing to help you, as long as she was allowed to go to the surface of Midland at least some of the time,’ I said, wanting to be sure it understood that, as a human, Tash had free will and could refuse to cooperate. I prayed that I was right in thinking that the computermachine would be forced to value itself above the slight risks involved in allowing Tash to visit the surface, given that all human life in Midland, both sleepers in cryopods and Speci in Habitat, relied upon it for their care and survival.

‘After all, she
is
tagged,’ I added.

‘Yes,’ God said, and then fell silent.

I decided not to help it by offering to discuss the matter with Tash. Let it be forced to consider how to offer its bargain directly to Tash. In the end the two of them would have to deal with one another, if they were able to strike a bargain. And it would ultimately be the Speci girl’s decision. It struck me that, if Miryum chose not to be put back into a cryopod, at least for a time, they would have one another for company. Miryum would be glad of it, I thought.

I asked God about the map it was making and suggested it communicate with Ahmedri, reminding it that he had made maps as we travelled, which were likely very accurate, and that the information from them might be incorporated into the map it was creating. I reminded it that I wanted to have it on a piece of paper or cloth, so that I could take it with me. God agreed that this would be done both for me and for technician Ahmedri as required by technician Ana, and then it said that Tash wanted to speak to me in the main chamber.

I knew by now that God could do a multitude of things and have a multitude of conversations simultaneously, but even I was surprised when I went into the main chamber and found Tash alone, kneading more bread dough. Seeing me, she patted the dough into a smooth shape and came to sit with me, brushing flour from her hands. I asked where the others had gone and she told me Dameon was lying down and Dragon and Ana were looking at another storage.

‘God has asked me to serve as its corrective human companion when the rest of you leave,’ Tash said. ‘It said you suggested it.’

I sighed. ‘It lacks any social graces, truly. Do you understand why?’

‘God said it had suspended analysis of my data, which it is apparently close to completing, and that if it is completed and reveals me to be a special anomaly, I would have to be put into a cryopod. But if it discovers I am only ordinary, I would still be put into a cryopod, then nullified and put back into Habitat.’

Unlike a human in the same position, the computermachine had clearly felt no need to pretty up any of its words with explanations. There was something refreshing in that and perhaps Tash would come to value its directness, after all the lies and secrets of Habitat. Supposing she accepted God’s offer.

No doubt she felt the tenor of my thoughts, for she said, ‘It told me what you proposed.’

‘I see no better alternative for you, given God’s protocols and the requirements of its programming. I can think of no way to release you from the tag.’

‘Dragon told me about it. But she thinks I will be able to leave this place, and that you are going to make sure of it,’ she said.

My heart sank. ‘I wish I could find a way to free you,’ I said miserably.

Tash gave me a composed, sad, wise smile. ‘But Elspeth, you must know that I could not go from Midland, even if you were able to free me from this wrist device and the thing inside my body. Not if what God said is true about its mistakes and its need for a human, so that all of the people here are to stay safe.’

I stared at her, not knowing what to say, for I had not actually considered the implications of God finding truth in my suggestions. ‘I can’t be sure the deviations . . .’

‘God is sure,’ Tash said, ‘I cannot leave all of those in Habitat in the hands of a machine that is sick and will grow sicker without me.’

‘It is not sick,’ I began.

‘You said once that a machine cannot do wrong, but it can be flawed or broken so that it does wrong things. What is that but a kind of sickness? An ailment that can be healed simply by my remaining here, as its companion.’

‘Tash . . .’ I stopped, struck by her gentle grace and humility in that moment, unable to bear it.

She shivered and reached out to take my hand in hers. ‘Oh, do not be sad for me, Elspeth. It hurts me and there is no need for it. I am very glad to have discovered a purpose for my life, and is it not truly an important purpose?’