And he’d left the kitchen without another word. Later that evening, after Larinan had finally settled down to sleep, Dernan had found his elder son sitting at his terminal in his room, scanning down rows of data.
‘What are you looking at, Janil?’
When his son didn’t answer, Dernan Mann had crossed the room and looked at the display, where the notes from his wife’s most recent field expedition were rolling past.
‘What’s this mean?’ Janil had frozen the display and pointed at a particular line.
‘Those are field coordinates and temporary subject codes. They allow us to track individual subjects in their movements over a set period of time.’
Janil had nodded and returned to his reading.
It was ironic, Dernan Mann thought, as he watched the city from his apartment. He’d always thought that the night he lost his wife was the night he really gained his son. But he’d been fooling himself, he realised. In reality, that terrible evening six years ago was when it all started coming apart.
Dernan blinked fiercely, trying to focus on the living city in the dying twilight. Behind him, the apartment door slid open.
‘Dad?’
Larinan stepped into the living room. Dernan could feel his son’s eyes on his back, almost a physical itch.
‘Are you okay?’
Slowly Dernan Mann turned to meet Lari’s eyes.
‘I’m fine, Larinan. Everything’s okay.’
The two stood there, father and son, scientist and subject, their stares locked, and Deman realised that his son, this boy he’d never really known, had never bothered to know, could see right through him.
‘No, Dad.’ Larinan shook his head. ‘No, it’s not.’
The words seemed to hang in the still air. Somewhere in the back of the apartment a com chimed, but they both ignored it.
‘Nothing’s been fine since the night that girl was born, or even before that. It wasn’t fine when you and Mum decided to have a copygen, it wasn’t fine when Mum disappeared, it wasn’t fine when you brought Saria in from the field, and it’s not fine now, so stop pretending.’
Larinan’s tone wasn’t angry, and for a moment Dernan could see his wife standing there, could hear her words in his son’s voice, her pragmatism, her desperation. He smiled.
‘What’s funny? Shi, Dad! I’m being serious.’
‘You’re so like your mother …’
‘Dad, listen, we don’t have time for this. What’s going to happen to Saria? What’s Janil going to do with her?’
Dernan Mann turned back to the windows. The city really was beautiful, he thought.
‘You heard the Prelate, son. Janil will remove her.’
‘And take her back to the Darklands?’
‘No, she can’t go back. Not now. She’s contaminated.’
‘By what? She’s been in a sterile chamber the whole time.’
‘She’s contaminated by knowledge, Larinan. No subject can be returned to the field once they’ve seen a skycity.’
‘Why not?’
‘Protocol. It’s the rules.’
‘Well, stuff protocol. It makes no difference now, anyway. We could make Janil return her.’
‘We couldn’t, Larinan. You know what your brother’s like when it comes to matters of protocol.
‘So we’re just going to let him kill her?’
‘I don’t see what other choice we have. It’s probably kinder this way, in the long run.’
‘You’ve given up.’
‘I don’t see any other choice.’
‘There are always choices, Dad. Even if you don’t like the alternatives.’
His son’s words echoed in Dernan Mann’s ears. There was something vaguely familiar about them, he thought. Eyna again – it was exactly the sort of thing she’d have said.
‘There must be something we can do,’ Lari said. ‘Something you know that can help us. Can’t we get her out? Even just to the underworld?’
‘There’s no point, Larinan. Escaping to the underworld didn’t help Saria’s mother, and it won’t help her.’
Behind him, Dernan felt his son go still.
‘What are you talking about, Dad?’
The question hung in the air.
Should I tell him? he wondered. This was it, really. The final secret. The only piece of the puzzle Larinan didn’t yet know. After this, there was nothing left to hide.
Why not?
‘Let me tell you about Saria’s mother, Larinan. Subject 45697F. Jani. Brought in from the field fourteen years and four months ago, kept in exposed observation in DGAP for two years and two months, when she was illegally removed from DGAP to the underworld by the father of her second child, one Gregor Kravanratz, to whom she was eight months pregnant at the time.’
‘Pregnant …’
‘With a girl, who your mother and I expected to be a suitable subject to use for DNA comparison and combination with you.’
‘What happened?’
‘She wasn’t likely to survive the birth. Complications. But before we could take any steps, the situation was taken out of our hands by Kravanratz.’
‘Gregor …’
Dernan Mann turned away from the window to find Larinan standing there frozen, an odd expression – dawning revelation, perhaps – written across his face.
‘Larinan? Is something wrong?’
‘Kravanratz. Jani. The baby. What happened to them?’
‘The mother and child almost certainly perished in childbirth. Ratz is now, as Jenx informed us the other night, leading the terrorist movement calling itself the Underground. Probably in revenge for the death of his child, I imagine.’
To Dernan Mann’s surprise, Larinan shook his head.
‘No.’
‘What? Larinan?’
‘No, you’ve got it wrong, Dad. It’s not his child’s death that Gregor is … Oh, shi!’
Dernan Mann watched in amazement as his young son sprinted from the room.
‘Kes, I need you.’
‘Lari, what’s wrong?’
‘You have to come with me. Now.’
‘Now?’ She glanced back into her apartment. ‘What’s happened?’
‘I don’t have time to explain. Can you come or not?’
‘Where?’
‘Down. To find Gregor.’
‘What!’ Quickly, hoping her parents hadn’t heard, Kes stepped out into the hallway and let the front door slide shut behind her. ‘Lari, have you gone insane?’
Lari shook his head. ‘Listen, Kes, I’m not joking. That girl I told you about the other day – Saria – she’s in danger and the only person who can help save her is Gregor.’
‘Lari, what’s gotten into you? Gregor’s dangerous. Why in the sky do you think he’d help you, of all people?’
‘He will. Trust me.’
For a moment he thought Kes was going to refuse, but then she sighed.
‘Okay. Where are we going?’
‘Dome 87b.’
Kes looked thoughtful. ‘And you don’t want anyone to know we’re going there, obviously.’
Lari nodded. ‘Can you still reallocate a lift?’
‘I don’t know. I haven’t tried it again, but I reckon they’d have plugged that loophole.’
‘So how can we get to Gregor?’ Lari watched as Kes chewed her lip for a few seconds and lifted her hand unconsciously to fiddle with the trident pendant on its slim chain. ‘Kes?’
‘Hang on, I’m thinking …’
Then she spun round and opened her apartment door. Lari tried to follow her in.
‘No. You wait out here. The Bean’s asleep.’
‘What are you going to do?’
‘Just wait. I’ll only be a few minutes, okay?’
Lari stood alone in the dingy hallway, wondering if he’d made the right choice.
Of course it’s the right decision. What other choice is there? It was all so obvious now. Gregor, his daughter, everything. Lari wondered how the s
hiftie would react when he found out what was going to happen to Saria.
There was nobody else to turn to, though. Gregor and the Underground were the only chance Lari had of getting Saria out of DGAP safely.
‘Okay. Let’s go.’
Kes slipped quietly back out into the passageway.
‘To the hub?’
‘To the ref.’
‘What? Kes, we don’t have time for caf, I told you …’
‘Lari.’ His friend touched his shoulder. ‘Trust me, okay?’
‘I hope you know what you’re doing.’
They made their way down to the common and across to the ref. At this time of day it was almost empty, and they seated themselves on opposite sides of one of the long benches.
‘So, tell me,’ Kes said, once they were settled. ‘What’s going on?’
‘It’s … complex.’
‘We’ve got time.’
‘No, we haven’t. Right now, Janil is over at DGAP getting ready to kill Saria and wrap up the project.’
‘What in the sky for?’
‘The Prelate has decided she’s too much of a risk. Too politically dangerous to maintaining stability in the city.’
‘So they’re just going to kill her? And your father’s allowing it?’
‘My father hasn’t got any say. Janil’s been put in charge.’
‘But why?’
‘I don’t know. It’s politics. He’s got some kind of arrangement with the Prelate, that’s all I’ve been able to work out.’
‘So he might have done it already.’
‘Possibly, but I doubt it. If I know Janil, he’ll do it by the book. He’ll at least want to tie up all the loose research threads before he terminates the subject, just in case something does come up.’
‘How long will that take?’
‘No idea. A few hours, at least.’
‘That’s not much time.’
‘I know.’
‘So what do you plan to do?’
Lari looked his friend in the eyes.
‘Get her out.’
‘To the underworld?’
‘Initially. But then out of Port City.’
Kes shook her head.
‘Do you really think Gregor’s going to let her go? Even if he helps you get her out of DGAP.’
‘He’ll help. And he’ll let her go, too.’
‘How can you be certain?’
Lari hesitated before answering.
‘I just am.’
A young man walked into the ref and looked around. When he spotted Lari sitting with Kes, he looked as though he was about to leave again, but then he strode over and glared at Kes.
‘What’s he doing here?’
‘Who’s this?’ Lari asked, but Kes waved his question aside and met the new arrival’s glare with her own.
‘None of your business. We need to see Gregor.’
The man shook his head. ‘No way. You see Gregor when he wants to see you, not before.’
‘Listen …’ Kes rose from her bench and stood toe-to-toe with the man. ‘If you don’t help us, Gregor is going to be very, very angry indeed.’
Lari watched the exchange, mystified, and after a few seconds the man backed down.
‘If you’re wrong, girl …’
‘Just take us.’
Without further comment, the man turned and marched from the ref. Kes grabbed Lari’s arm and pulled him up.
‘Come on, then.’
‘Kes, who is that?’
‘He can get us to the underworld.’
‘But how …’
‘Not now, Lari. Just hurry up, okay?’
They followed the man across to the hub, where he waved his wrist over the allocator and leaned close to it, muttering a series of instructions quietly into the machine.
‘Sign in,’ he snapped.
‘We don’t want any record of …’ Lari started, but the man grabbed his left wrist in a vice-like grip and forced it across the allocation plate.
‘When I need instructions from you, copygen, I’ll ask for them, okay?’
They followed him over to the waiting area, where a lift was already standing by, three strange names above the door.
‘This is us.’
Their escort marched straight in, with Kes right behind, and, trying not to show his bewilderment, Lari followed.
‘Where are we going?’
‘Down.’
The maglift dropped into the system. Inside, the three stood in awkward silence. Lari wanted to ask Kes who the stranger was and how she knew him, but his glowering presence was enough to silence even the thought of conversation. Kes wouldn’t meet his eyes, anyway. Every time he glanced in her direction to make eye contact and get some sense of what she was thinking, she’d look away, staring up at the babbling newspanel with grim determination. Finally he’d had enough.
‘Kes …’
‘Shh!’ the man growled. ‘Not a word.’
‘Why not?’ Lari snapped back at him.
‘Just do it, Lari,’ Kes muttered and the silence grew thicker.
Finally, after an age of falling, the lift began a long horizontal transit before sliding a little way upwards into a hub. The doors opened to reveal the darkly familiar common of Dome 87b.
‘Here.’ The man indicated that they should get out of the lift.
‘What about you?’ Kes asked.
‘I’m just the driver.’
They stepped out into the gloomy dome, and behind them the lift slipped away without another word from their sullen escort. As soon as they were alone, Lari turned to Kes.
‘What in the sky is going on?’
‘Not now, Lari.’
‘Who was that guy?’
‘Look.’
She pointed up at one of the towers on the far side of the common. A single, dull flickering light reflected through a window, three floors up.
‘Let’s go.’
‘Kes, wait! How do you know that’s Gregor?’
She didn’t answer, just set off towards the building, and Lari had no choice but to follow her across the empty, darkened common. Before they were halfway to the building, Kes stopped.
‘What’s wrong now?’
‘Listen.’
Lari listened. Around them, the dome was shrouded in heavy silence. Only the occasional creak or groan broke the stillness.
‘What?’
‘It’s too quiet. People are still supposed to be living down here. At this time of night they should be at home.’
‘Perhaps they’re asleep? It’s getting late, you know.’
‘No. Something’s up.’ Slowly, Kes started backing towards the hub, not taking her eyes off the flickering light in the broken-down res tower.
‘Kes …’
‘Quiet!’ she hissed.
The silence continued, until they felt the reassuring bulk of the hub behind them.
‘What now?’
‘Find the allocation plate.’
Kes glanced around, left and right, staring into the shadows, alert like Lari had never seen her. Lari looked across to where the podium and scanning plate should have stood, but there was nothing there.
‘There isn’t one.’
‘There has to be.’
‘Well, I can’t see it.’
‘Shi!’
‘What’ll we do?’
‘I don’t know.’
Lari stared around the derelict dome once more. Between the towers, dark shadows stretched away from the common towards the outer walls. Above them, Port City was shrouded by a thick, murky atmosphere. The lights that seemed so bright from up in Lari’s apartment struggled to penetrate the smoky haze that blanketed the lower levels. It’d be horrible to have to breathe this air all the time, Lari thought.
Breathe. Outside.
‘This way!’ Lari started to edge around the hub, sticking close to the wall and moving towards where the shadow of one of the silent towers fell right across the common.
‘Jenx!’ Lari whispered.
‘What are you doing?’ Kes demanded.
‘Shh! Just follow me.’
They were almost into the deeper shadow, where there’d be less chance of Jenx spotting them. On the other side of the common, the security man was standing calmly, staring into the darkness.
‘Whoever you are, I know you’re there.’ His voice echoed, calm and ominous. ‘I saw you step out of the lift, and as you’ve probably worked out by now, there’s no leaving this dome any more. Not that way, in any case.’
‘He doesn’t realise it’s us,’ Lari whispered to Kes. ‘He must think we’re residents.’
‘The best thing you two can do would be to surrender, without a fight. There’s no other choice. Ratz is gone. He’s left you all. There’s nobody’s here to protect you now except me.’
Lari and Kes were deep in the shadows now. Dropping flat to the ground, Lari began to inch forward across the common towards a black slot between two of the towers.
‘Where are we going?’ Kes whispered.
‘Down. Out.’
Jenx had fallen silent again, listening.
Lari’s heart pounded in his ears.
‘I’m going to give you one minute,’ the security officer announced. ‘One minute only, not a second more, and then I’m sending a team to find you. Trust me, you won’t find them nearly as … accommodating … as I’m prepared to be.’
They were almost there. Lari kept inching forwards, towards the safe darkness between the buildings. Behind him, he heard Kes draw in a ragged breath.
‘Do you think we should just give up?’
Lari didn’t answer. He just kept crawling.
‘Thirty seconds …’
They were almost there now. Just a few more metres and …
With a loud clunk, a beam of bright light sliced through the gloom, probing into the shadows around the hub.
‘Shi!’ he whispered.
‘Go!’ He felt Kes throw herself past him in a rush, plunging into the embracing darkness. Lari scrambled after her, hurling himself into the dark just as the light beam probed through the patch of shadow where they’d been concealed. In the tight space between the buildings, he could hear Kes’s breathing.
Skyfall Page 29
