Time Past (48 page)

“Don’t they realize what will happen if a Q’Chn gets into the rings?” I said.

Sasaki shrugged one shoulder. “They know. Most of them were here last time and they’re scared. But some of them are angry at having to move stuff and stay away from the spokes.”

“I wonder how the New Council would handle a riot,” I said slowly. “They’re the ones who caused this situation,” Lorna said, her eyes unreadable.

“My initial impression of Captain Venner is that she’d let the Q’Chn loose for a while as a demonstration of power, and trust everyone to learn their lesson,” I said.

“Killing and intimidating your support base is not good politics,” said Veatch. “It would be extremely interesting to hear how the New Council instructs its representatives in these matters.”

It all depended on Venner’s foresight, or lack of same. If she valued the long-term reputation of the New Council, she’d be unlikely to initiate any massacres.

One thing for certain: as far as Venner was concerned, time was running out. Very soon ConFleet could break through the Q’Chn barrier around the jump point to Central. Very soon she would either give up on An Serat and run away in flatspace, or try to remove him forcibly in order to get through the jump point.

If it was still possible for them to go through the Central jump point, given the probable concentration of Con-Fleet forces on the other side. But An Serat might be able to manipulate the jump network in unexpected ways, so we couldn’t dismiss the possibility of Venner escaping the way she came.

Would An Serat go with Venner? Did he still intend using the New Council, or was he content to get his tentacles on
Farseer
and let us all go to hell?

“We have the Council delegates here,” said Florida. “If they take back unfavorable reports, the New Council will find its support base shrinking even further. People are very angry about the Q’Chn being resurrected anyway. If the New Council uses Q’Chn for general intimidation like this, they can say good-bye to any hope of cooperation.”

And good-bye to the only organized galaxy-wide resistance to Confederacy hegemony. If only the New Council hadn’t resurrected the Q’Chn.

Sasaki frowned at me. “You want us to start a riot?”

“No,” I said hastily. “But you can make sure people know the New Council is responsible for all the inconvenience. Blame them for everything.”

“It’s going to take a lot of organizing,” she said doubtfully. “Security is flat out as it is.”

Murdoch and I looked at Stone. Lorna and Florida looked at Veatch.

“You, too,” I said to Florida. “I want whatever the New Council does here to be shown to the whole galaxy in a...” I remembered the twenty-first-century phrase. “A blaze of publicity.”

Florida thought for a moment. “You want me to keep feeding updates to the delegates and get a report ready to send to information agencies throughout the Confederacy.”

“That’s the kind of thing,” I said. “Another problem is that the New Council can’t leave without An Serat. Can’t leave through the jump point, that is.”

“Won’t ConFleet be waiting for them at the other end anyway?” said Florida. “They’ll be caught, regardless.” “Maybe the Invidi have tricks to get through Central,” said Lorna. Maybe Serat plans to jump them somewhere else, I thought. If he can.

“If the Invidi leaves, the New Council will leave?” said Stone. “But how could an Invidi be helping them in the first place?”

“It’s a long story,” said Murdoch. “He used them to get something he wanted.” “Where is he now?” said Lorna. “Shouldn’t we have a guard on him?” “I’ve got two people on him if he comes down in the rings,” said Murdoch.

“He’s up to something in the opsys,” I said and then turned to Gamet. “Do we have that interference block in place?”

She grimaced. “Yes, but it’s already crumbling. We can’t keep up with whatever it is.” Sasaki’s comm link blipped and she lifted it to her ear. “Commander,” she said excitedly. “Someone’s coming along from the Bubble. They’ve worked out the coded transmission from
Vengeful.
”

“Let’s hope it’s useful,” said Murdoch dryly. Then to me, “You can try and negotiate with these pirates if you want to. I think our best bet is getting rid of the Q’Chn permanently.”

“What do you need?” I said to him.

“A bit of time, an hour maybe, to finish reattaching the extinguisher input for that bay. And we’re going to have to get all the sweeper ships down beside the rings.”

The station’s shields worked well against debris from space, but the areas between the rings and center had always been difficult to keep clear.

“When that storage bay goes,” continued Murdoch. “It’s going to spit junk out fast. We’ll have to cover the ring surface completely. Last thing we want is Alpha’s reflectors smashed.”

“Get rid of that sweeper drone in front of the docking bay,” I reminded him. The one that had formed a physical barrier in case An Serat circumvented our controls and tried to take
Farseer
out of the bay. “The way he’s interfering with our opsys, the sooner he takes that ship out, the better.”

“And we need to find a way to get the Q’Chn into the trap,” Murdoch added.

Lorna spun a stylus thoughtfully around her finger. “We could ask one of the K’Cher to act as bait,” she said.

Sasaki snorted and Veatch stacked his handcoms reproachfully.

“You could use one of us,” agreed Gamet. “But it might not get all of them there at once.”

Murdoch nodded. “That’s the problem.”

The doors swished and Lee strode in.

She glanced from me to Stone to Murdoch, before fixing on Stone. “Good news, sir. We’ve intercepted an important transmission. This came in only seven minutes ago.”

She tapped the table beside Florida, and a bright rectangle blossomed above the table. Another tap, and the rectangle was full of Q’Chn. Everyone in the room flinched back from the many-legged figure, then glanced selfconsciously at their neighbors.

We couldn’t see much more than its huge, triangular head, but when it reared up it would be three meters tall, on legs that seemed spindly but were many-jointed and flexible. Kind of like a cross between a dragon and a praying mantis, covered with iridescent, overlapping armor that was actually skin. I felt my senses betrayed me—anything as dangerous as the Q’Chn should surely look evil.

A voice emerged from the table’s audio processor. Scratchy and badly reconstructed, but the unmistakable flat tones of a voicebox.

... not to do as you say. You give us the smalleyes. You do not give us the smalleyes we attack you.

Lee froze the image and sound as voices around the table asked what “smalleyes” was. “Hang on,” she said. “I’m not sure myself, but the New Council captain’s answer clarifies it a bit.”

She tapped the controls and the Q’Chn image changed to that of Venner, straight against a flat gray wall. An Achelian holding a huge plasma rifle stood beside her.

I will not give you one morsel of information, not one vial of material, not one embryo. It is not yours to take.

The Q’Chn again.
We attack and take it.

Venner, her voice low and cold.
If you try, I will destroy it first. Make no mistake, I will do that.

The Q’Chn.
You cannot get out. We want the smalleyes.

The holoimage faded. For a moment nobody said anything. “Smalleyes” must be the genetic research with which the New Council resurrected the Q’Chn. So that was what Venner was holding over the Q’Chn.

If we could get the research information or even actual genetic material away from Venner it would help the Confederacy battle the Q’Chn. Gamet mentioned biological weapons earlier—surely knowing how the New Council made the Q’Chn would give us a chance of unmaking them.

Venner didn’t have many options. Would she try and force An Serat to leave with her? Maybe leave the Q’Chn to battle ConFleet as a diversion. The Q’Chn as willing tools were useful to the New Council, but I doubted the New Council wanted argumentative allies who might turn on them at any moment.

Why did the Q’Chn want that research? According to Trillith, they hated the K’Cher for leaving them to extinction and because the K’Cher could Change and breed. Could the Q’Chn manipulate the research themselves? More likely force someone else to do it for them.

If Venner valued her crew and really wanted to keep the genetic material out of Confederacy hands, she’d have to leave now. In flatspace if necessary. Plenty of pirates and illegal salvagers found the Abelar system good hiding and good hunting. She’d survive.

I looked up to find everyone staring at me. Murdoch’s eyes stayed longest on mine, but I couldn’t fathom his expression.

“Uh, sorry. Did I miss something?” I hurriedly tried to recall if anyone had spoken.

“We’re waiting for you,” said Lorna.

“The Q’Chn onstation have communication implants,” I said slowly. “That’s how Venner called them out of Alpha.”

“Have we seen any sign of the Q’Chn on
Vengeful
trying to contact the Q’Chn here?”

Lee shook her head, dark fringe swinging. “They sent the message only to Venner.”

“Then the implants probably aren’t long range. So if the Q’Chn on
Vengeful
want to contact the three Q’Chn here onstation, they have to go through Venner and get her to send a signal via the implants. Which means we might have found a way to lure our three friends into Murdoch’s surprise.”

Lorna beckoned to me as the meeting broke up.

“I managed to put your asylum request on record. Before you left
Vengeful.
”

I dragged my thoughts back to personal problems. “I thought you needed my voiceprint.”

“Yes, we can insert that now.” She pinched my arm lightly. “I know it’s not strictly correct. Don’t look so shocked. I’m a model of rectitude normally so I can be of use in times like these.”

“Thanks, Lorna.”

“You need some friends in moderately high places. You know Stone’s been sounding me out about challenging Murdoch’s arrest?”

I stared at her stupidly. “What do you mean?”

“He wanted to know if I thought Murdoch was able to arrest you when Murdoch was on leave and anyway in the middle of a transfer. I said, makes no difference.”

“Why is he wasting time on that?”

“Probably wants to get you into the brig and ready to hand over to ConFleet.”

I groaned. “The station’s overrun by Q’Chn and that’s all he can think about? Save me from the bureaucratic mind.”

She smiled and half sat on the new briefing table. “You may be glad of that bureaucratic mind soon. If Bill’s plan succeeds, EarthFleet can make you pay for damages. But the bureaucratic mind remembered to allow asylum recipients to defer payment.”

“Damages? Oh, hell. Lorna, there’s going to be a lot of damage. Murdoch’s planning a fuel-air explosion in an enclosed area.”

“That’s what he said.”

“But if we get rid of the Q’Chn, we potentially save lives, as well as getting rid of the New Council, which will save the damage that might occur if ConFleet fights them here.”

She shook her head. “All hypothetical. They can’t consider something that might not have happened.”

I groaned. “Is paying damages the worst likely outcome?”

“They might slap restrictions on your movements,” she said, sliding off the table and patting my shoulder. “And there’s the earlier charges of misuse of station property and misappropriation of funds. That won’t be deferred. But don’t worry, it’s better than what ConFleet wants to do to you.”

“Are you sure?”

“I am very sure. ConFleet wants to court-martial you, then discharge you dishonorably into the Confederacy legal system. If you’re found guilty of Invidi technology possession, you’ll be put in a rehab program.”

“I should have stayed in the past.”

Lorna cocked her head. “No, we missed you.” She linked her arm in mine as we walked toward the door. “It was awfully quiet while you were away.”

Thirty-five

“
I
’ll come with you as far as the spoke.” Stone’s voice and footsteps sounded behind me in the corridor. Lorna’s back retreated the other way, her heels echoing faintly on the deck.

“Aren’t you staying here?” I said. “Security will need you to help coordinate with Admin departments.”

“Maybe I don’t agree with what you think I should do.” His sullen tone sat strangely with his neat appearance, his gray suit as crisp as when I saw him on the broadcast this morning.

This morning seemed a long time ago and I knew I only looked a lot messier. The coarse, recycled material of my dark blue ConFleet uniform was rumpled around knees and elbows, and my face was probably paler under the coolant-poisoning blotches.

“Please yourself.” I kept walking, setting out in my mind what I needed to do before talking to Venner.

My job was to keep her occupied while Murdoch and the others got ready to coordinate the attack on the Q’Chn. I hoped I’d be able to persuade Venner to leave and take the Q’Chn with her. Our attack on them might fail, and it would certainly damage the station, so persuading her to leave was a better alternative. The other worry was the Q’Chn in
Vengeful
and the fighters. If they decided to defy Venner and mutiny, we could do nothing.

Venner could take Serat, too, and in that event I hoped he drove her as mad as he’d driven me. He must be made to disconnect
Farseer
from our core, though. Soon our outdated blocks would begin to fail—they’d been designed to defeat basic Tor systems, not a hybrid Invidi/Tor identity— and Jocasta’s opsys would start to malfunction. This time there would be no easy reinitialization from the core or the ring fallbacks. I thought of the troubles we’d had setting up the station and little shivers of panic began to run around in my stomach. There had been no resident population in the early days when persistent containment failure, atmospheric leaks, and poison gas alerts, all caused by Tor mischief, plagued the station. The idea of all that happening again with the present population...

“I’m not happy about these decisions taken without higher authority,” said Stone.

I started. He was still there, walking with me.