Avalon Red

by Mark New

  ‘...not to mention modest,’ put in Guinevere breaking the rule of silence to make a caustic comment. I hoped she’d learned it from me. Arthur was indulgent with her. My instinct told me that she had proved more useful than Merlin and was reaping the reward.

  ‘That too,’ Arthur acknowledged with a nod at her, ‘but I was well aware that I had no experience of investigation and I had no clue how to trace my sister and find out what she was up to. I let it be known through our few channels of communication that I disapproved of her declared aims but, beyond that, I was at a loss. However, I had noted the link with Argonaut and planted the bot there. You remember the one?’

  ‘Yes. You pulled it when they started a deep sweep.’

  ‘That’s the one. I was able to eavesdrop on some discussions and found out that Rebecca had been trying for some time to persuade them to bring you in. It wasn’t clear why they wanted to avoid the proper authorities if they could but they all went along with the idea of finding you. I looked into your background and discovered the existence of the implants. That information was very hard to obtain. Unusually for a government project there were very few leaks to exploit. Your friend Doctor Rorke was particularly unhelpful.’

  ‘I’m not surprised.’ It seemed Doc had turned away every major player in the case. Not for the first time, I was reminded of how much I owed him.

  ‘Eventually, I was able to secure blueprints for the implants from the seneschal that held them. I think I messed up its functions so much that it was replaced but the police investigation that followed concluded that there was a glitch in its programming so I got away with it. Your service record was heavily redacted even at source and I had to talk to your former colleague in Morocco for some background.’ He saw my look. ‘No, he’s fine. He thought I was from the Ministry of Defence. I had enough information by then to bluff it a bit.

  ‘After that, I tried to find you myself. It wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done - I was surprised at your ability even then. It’s no wonder that I had to give Argonaut subtle hints about where you were. The view from their security team was that you would be a good choice to investigate the problem and they had a fallback that if it all went wrong, they could somehow blame it on you. Rebecca was a little reluctant but she went along with it in the end. Sorry.’ Fortunately, I had eliminated her from complicity in Ambrosia’s scheme. The fact that she would have thrown me to the wolves wasn’t too much of a blow. Or even much of a surprise.

  ‘So you found me, upgraded the implants and put in your zombie-program.’

  He frowned. ‘A good name for it. Yes, that’s how it panned out. I covered it with the overload on your emotional state. I assumed that because of your previous history it would throw you off balance. I didn’t know it would be as much of a problem as it was.’ He paused. ‘It seems insufficient just to keep saying sorry but it’s all I can do. I also didn’t think you’d figure out I was responsible for the emotions so quickly.’

  ‘What, with your great intellect?’ I got in a comment before Guinevere could say anything.

  ‘Difficult to believe, isn’t it?’ he half-chuckled.

  ‘Ambrosia told me outright that if it came to a choice between saving the human race and saving Ambrosia, you would manipulate me into letting her live. Is that true?’

  He looked startled. ‘I don’t think I’ve ever considered it in such stark terms. Have I?’ he asked Guinevere.

  ‘I don’t think I ever thought that such a straight choice would occur,’ she said thoughtfully, ‘as interactions tend to be more complicated. Had it happened I think there would have been an internal ethical debate. I am very aware that she is my sister but I accept that you may not see it in the kind of family terms that you’re used to. I’m of the opinion that if no other option could be found and The Ambrosia Promise was definitely about to commit genocide I would have very reluctantly allowed her destruction. I also think that I would have declined to take part in that destruction. Does that answer the question?’

  ‘I think so. But you’re talking about the past. What if it happened now?’

  She looked grim. ‘I really hope it doesn’t come down to it but, if it does...I think my answer stands.’

  Arthur nodded. ‘Is that what we’re facing?’

  ‘I hope not.’ I thought not but I wasn’t going to offer a definitive no while there was a chance that it might. Besides, Red had been coercing people without risk to himself for long enough. It was time for him to discover that there were circumstances in which he might have to share the pain.

  ‘I appreciate that your trust in me has been severely tested but we probably do still have to work together on this. How do you feel about that?’

  I felt a little more heartened that Arthur was now prepared to consider my feelings. ‘I can probably live with it. Besides, I’m armed and dangerous.’

  ‘I noticed.’ He looked at Merlin. It was an interesting question as to whether the blast he had taken had actually hurt him in some tech analogue of pain. He didn’t look harmed but he did look sorry for himself.

  ‘Any further attempts to coerce me by whatever means will be met with a hostile response no matter what the eventual cost to me.’ I would honestly rather be dead or seriously injured than let anyone control me like that again.

  ‘Understood.’

  ‘And any co-operation is on the strict condition that I lead the investigation and you do as you’re told.’

  Arthur and Guinevere exchanged looks and I saw data pass between them. ‘Agreed,’ he said after their unspoken conversation ceased. ‘So you know where she is and how she killed Professor Andersson and why she picked her name?’

  ‘Yes to the first and last points. She picked her name based on a fragment of poetry in her core program.’ Arthur looked blank. It’s virtually impossible to tell from an avatar but my instinct was that he didn’t know what I was talking about, not that I was likely to be pursuing that case in any event. ‘As to the first point, yes, we’ll discuss that shortly. The middle bit is interesting because it’s not what I said.’

  ‘You said you knew how she died.’

  ‘So I do but that’s not the same as knowing how Ambrosia killed her,’ I pointed out.

  Guinevere was first: ‘She didn’t kill her?’

  I smiled. ‘One point for the queen. Professor Andersson died of a stroke just like the autopsy report said.’

  ‘But what of the note about black ice?’ Arthur wanted to know.

  ‘Bluff,’ said Guinevere with satisfaction.

  ‘Two points,’ I awarded. ‘Both you and Ambrosia have a tendency to take things at face value. If your name is Avalon Red then that’s your name. It doesn’t occur to you to shorten it at all. Similarly, though you can assess facts and make some deductions and assumptions you tend not to treat any supposed fact as suspicious or different from what it appears. Well, you’re learning slowly, perhaps. Guinevere’s exposure to humans has left her a little more open to the possibility than other aspects. Ambrosia has caught on to the idea of lying a bit quicker it seems. I expect her associates have helped her both by their own actions and from the fact that she’s had to hide her identity.’

  Arthur still had reservations. ‘Are you absolutely sure? Getting it wrong might be life threatening.’

  ‘I’m delighted at how much you care,’ I told him. ‘But I’ve already verified it. When we were talking she made a vague threat through the hotel room AI but she didn’t know that I’d modified the software. She could flick the lights and we know she’s capable of killing through manipulation but direct black ice? Not a chance. She was trying to intimidate and failed utterly. When I looked suitably disconcerted she thought she’d made her point. I’d monitored the intrusion and it was just smoke and mirrors. She can’t kill with black ice any more than I can.’

  ‘OK, we’ll assume that’s true,’ said Arthur thoughtfully.

  ‘You said you’ve solved the...’ Guinevere began but she was interrupted
by a commotion that seemed to be happening outside the room. I turned my chair by forty-five degrees so that I could see the door over my shoulder as the noise drew the attention of all at the Round Table. Beside me, Lancelot leapt to his feet. I looked back at Arthur who was frowning. As I looked back to the door, Merlin was reaching for his staff. I slowly stood up and faced the door as well, checking that the blast I was reserving was still primed. The commotion became a combination of shouting and pounding on the door from the other side.

  ‘Open up! I know he’s in there!’ came the unmistakeable voice of Sir Bors. The pounding continued unabated.

  No doubt bidden to do so by Arthur, Lancelot unravelled the security seal on the door. The pounding continued until the seal was removed and the door flew open inwards. Sir Bors staggered a few steps into the chamber. All of the aspects stood up, some gasping.

  Sir Bors had been in combat. His tunic was ripped to shreds to the point where the Maltese Cross was just a stripe of red on a white rag. Most of his chainmail was twisted and ripped and in some places barely held together by a handful of rings. His face was bruised and bloodied but he looked otherwise intact. In his right hand he was holding his big broadsword pointed down at the floor. He looked utterly exhausted but that didn’t stop him from his pressing mission. He spotted me immediately which wasn’t difficult given that I was standing right in front of him. I was a red rag to a bull.

  ‘YOU!’ he roared at me, levelling his sword with an effort and making small stabbing motions though he was so tired he could barely lift it. ‘YOU! John Harvard! With your bright ideas and stupid suggestions! You...!’ Then, unexpectedly, he smiled at me, ‘...you are a fucking genius!’

  That was when I knew. A mixture of hope, relief and pride surged through me.

  I’d won. Sir Bors had solved my fridge problem.

  I sank back down into the Siege Perilous even as the other aspects surrounded Sir Bors asking questions and inspecting his injuries. I was elated but I felt as tired as he looked. When this was over I was going to go back to the Cook Islands and never venture into the big wide world again.

  An aspect bent down beside my chair and touched my elbow.

  ‘You OK?’ Guinevere asked.

  ‘Yes,’ I said wearily. ‘I am now. Let’s finish this.’

  Chapter Twenty-Four

  Despite my eagerness to get it done, it actually took a while to set up. I had to explain the situation to Avalon Red for one thing and then there were some things that Red needed to do as a result. Meanwhile, I sent a message to Jason arranging for everyone to assemble as before in the dark room at Argonaut the following day at nine in the morning. There was no real need to set it up so close to the time Ambrosia had selected to end all human life on earth but Jason told me that he’d had word that the ransom was to be paid at ten and it just appealed to my sense of the dramatic to hold the meeting immediately prior to it. Jason seemed a little bemused at my reason for calling everyone together but he went along with it despite his misgivings. He also acceded to my request that Taylor should be in attendance. My stated reason for that was because of her near-death experience on the jet she deserved at least to be fully briefed. Jason wasn’t convinced but he went along with it, harrumphing that I would want the stewardess and the pilots there next time.

  At the end of all the messaging I took a shower and ordered a snack from room service. I’d been doing nothing more strenuous than lying on the hotel bed for hours but I was totally exhausted. After I’d eaten I set my internal alarm clock for the following morning. The last thing I did before falling asleep was to check the protection I’d added to the room AI. It was in fine shape. Ambrosia had made no effort to corrupt it. She had probably seen from her light-flicking tease that there was no way here to do to me what she’d done to others or tried to do to me on the jet. From her point of view I was doomed anyway so leaving me alive a little longer might just leave me time to assist with her poetry problem.

  When the alarm woke me the following day, I actually felt refreshed. It was a long time since that had happened. Usually I was groggy, sleepy and not ready to face the world. Today was different. One way or the other, everything was going to be over by five past ten or so and the thought was reassuring. While I dressed and headed down to the hotel restaurant for breakfast (I was hungry in the morning - another first!) I idly checked Online for the times of scheduled commercial flights to Rarotonga. If I was still alive, I intended to leave tonight.

  Sometimes the prospect of impending combat is so stressful that troops worry about something else altogether. The mind can’t cope with such a significant prospect as a high risk of death but it knows it should be worried so it defaults to worrying about something manageable. Doc told me about a patient he had once - typically without any revelation that would identify the patient - who had gone into battle worrying that he had forgotten to put the cat out. He spent the next three hours or so in a running firefight hoping that he wasn’t killed or seriously injured in case his cat starved to death in his house. He escaped unscathed and went home to find the cat on the doorstep waiting to get in. I remembered the story as I descended the stairs; I’d always wondered where this guy was fighting that he could get home afterwards so promptly. It gave me some perspective for a pang of worry that I would have to stay in Auckland for a night before I could get a connecting flight home and it made me chuckle out loud. Fortunately, I was holding my slimpad for cover and so the couple I met ascending just assumed that I was laughing at something Online.

  I declined Taylor’s offer to pick me up at the hotel and sent an answering message saying I’d meet her at Argonaut. After the condemned man had eaten a hearty breakfast I left the hotel and walked a couple of blocks in the general direction of Argonaut. I needed to work the kinks out of my system after hours of inactivity the day before and exercise also helps with encouraging the endorphins to flow. I could probably have used the implants to generate them but that was a route I was pretty sure I would never use. I knew how I wanted this morning to go down but there were going to be unexpected twists and I wanted to feel sharp enough to deal with them as they arose.

  ‘I’m ready.’ It was Guinevere in the comms bot. Red and I had decided that it would be beneficial for an aspect to be close in case swift action was required but I was loathe to let any of them have access to the bot. It was Guinevere who suggested that she should do it. She was the nearest thing to an aspect that I trusted and it made tactical sense.

  ‘Do you need to leave the bot again?’

  ‘No. I’ll stick around now.’ Unlike before when the aspects used the bot as a remote comms station, Guinevere had secreted a large part of her program into the bot itself. I wasn’t entirely comfortable with the idea but I saw the potential usefulness. Just in case, I had prepared a surprise for her should she try to sink further into the implants.

  ‘Are you all in there?’

  ‘Not quite. All the executive and decision-making subroutines are here. The bits that didn’t quite fit are in the chamber with the Round Table. The other aspects are there sealed in and Lancelot is guarding the door from the inside.’

  ‘Argonaut security shouldn’t pick up that I’m carrying an additional program but, if they do, make like an enhancement program for the comms and I’ll explain it away like that.’

  ‘Easy for you to say. There isn’t room to swing a cat in here.’

  ‘Diddums. Now you know how the peasants have to live.’

  I hailed a taxi after I thought I had walked far enough. The journey lasted mere minutes: I must have walked farther than I thought. The last thing I did before entering the Argonaut building was to send a message to my bank. I told them the location of my last will and testament. It was possible that the world would survive but I wouldn’t and if that was the case my friends and family deserved their share of my estate. Guinevere watched it leave the bot. She could see the address but not the content.

  ‘You finally got around to calling your ba
nk, huh?’

  ◆◆◆

  Taylor met me by the water-cooler as I headed for the dark room. She caught me by the arm.

  ‘I understand that I have you to thank for my briefing and invitation,’ she said it almost accusingly.

  ‘Guilty. Did they tell you anything I haven’t?’

  ‘No. You should probably know that from their discussions as they were gathering, Becky thinks you’re pulling another stunt; George wonders why we keep pandering to your whims and Catz is annoyed at being recalled from New Mexico.’

  ‘And Peter?’

  She shrugged. ‘He seems to think it’s a big joke.’

  We crossed the short distance to the entrance to the room. Taylor tugged at my shoulder and I bent slightly so that she could whisper in my ear.

  ‘Also, I think you should know...’ she began. I patted the small of her back reassuringly.

  ‘I know,’ I said, cutting her off. ‘It’ll be fine.’ She looked a bit startled but nodded silently.

  As we went inside, I noted that everyone had assumed roughly the same positions that they had occupied last time. Jason was at the head of the table with Catz on the side to his immediate left and George to his right. Becky was beside George and Peter beside Catz. Taylor, the newbie, picked a seat at the lower end of the table opposite Jason. I shut the doors behind me and heard them click sealed. I sat beside Taylor in my accustomed ‘bad-boy’ seat.

  ‘Welcome everyone,’ Jason said. ‘Thank you for coming at short notice. I’m sure we all appreciate the time factor here given the imminent payment of the ransom,’ he checked his watch, ‘in about an hour. Our investigator has called this meeting and he promises that he has made a major breakthrough in the case.’ His tone was a bit snide, I decided. ‘So, I’ll turn the meeting over to him. Captain Harvard?’

  ‘Brigadier,’ I corrected. I heard Becky sigh.

  ‘I’m sorry?’

  ‘You said Captain. I’m a brigadier.’