by Gary Gibson
From the outside, Vasili had appeared an entirely cold and unlovable figure, his face bent into a permanent scowl; and yet his love for his deceased inamorata had burned with such intensity that Luc’s own feelings for Eleanor seemed pale by comparison.
But that wasn’t what made his hands shake as he lifted them from the book. In a few minutes his world had, almost literally, been turned upside down. A secret entrance to the Founder Network, one that was being recklessly exploited by the leaders of the Tian Di? It sounded absolutely preposterous. And yet it didn’t explain the hammering of Luc’s heart, or the sick feeling welling up in his chest.
He glanced towards the door, hearing hurried footsteps approaching. Javier Maxwell burst in a moment later, looking harried and wild-eyed.
‘You have to leave,’ Maxwell barked. ‘Now.’
Luc sat up, alarmed. ‘Why?’
‘Cripps is on his way here, with a detachment of Sandoz. It won’t be long before they arrive.’
Shit.
‘They must be looking for you,’ Maxwell continued, twisting his hands together, ‘or at least that’s the logical conclusion.’ He shook his head. ‘The Sandoz have never come here in force like this before. Never.’
‘Or maybe,’ suggested Luc, ‘they figured out that the Ambassador was here.’
Maxwell regarded him uneasily. ‘Or that Zelia sent you here. I won’t know one way or the other until they arrive – by which time, I suggest, you should be as far away from here as possible.’
‘No,’ said Luc, ‘not yet.’
‘There isn’t the time—’
Luc held up the book. ‘It was Father Cheng, wasn’t it? He gave the order to kill Adriana Placet.’
‘It seems you’ve been making good use of your time,’ said Maxwell, nodding at the book.
‘Antonov said that Cheng found a second entrance to the Founder Network. He also said Adriana Placet was killed because she was asking too many questions. Was it because she found out what Cheng was up to?’
‘She knew something was going on, but not necessarily what.’ Maxwell stepped closer, taking a grip on Luc’s arm. ‘You need to finish what Sevgeny started.’
Luc stood and pulled his arm away. ‘What the hell are you talking about?’
‘I may not know all the details, but I certainly know enough to understand that Father Cheng is doing something that is endangering us all. You need to go to that station Sevgeny visited and locate whatever data he found, and show the Tian Di what Cheng is doing. But that won’t happen unless you get the hell away from here first.’
‘But how can I possibly do that if I don’t have the protocols Vasili—’
‘You had the protocols in your hands,’ Maxwell said softly. ‘Hence my concern when you didn’t bring them back.’
Luc stared at him for a moment, then cursed under his breath. ‘The book I found on Vasili?’
Maxwell nodded. ‘Which is why you must find it again.’
‘Surely you must have copies of the protocols!’
‘Whoever it was amongst the Eighty-Five who hid the protocols in the library’s databases erased them remotely some time very recently, presumably once they realized Sevgeny was on their trail. That means, unfortunately, that the copy of them in Sevgeny’s book is now the only one still in existence.’
‘I don’t even know if the book is still in Vasili’s home. For one thing, it was damaged by the heat from the blast that killed him. For all I know, his house mechants threw the damn thing out.’
‘That’s a chance you’re going to have to take. Without that book it would take you months to find the station.’
‘But how can I possibly get away from here? I’m stranded since Zelia’s flier disappeared.’
‘There’s a hangar below us, with a flier for emergency use by Cheng or anyone else in the Eighty-Five with an urgent need to make use of it,’ explained Maxwell, stepping closer to the door. He gestured to the book still in Luc’s hands. ‘Take that with you and learn what you can once you’re away from here.’
Luc hesitated for a moment, then stuffed the book into a large pocket on the inside of his jacket, taking care not to let his fingers brush against the pages.
‘Why can’t you use that flier to get out of here yourself?’
‘It’s programmed to refuse my orders under any circumstances,’ Maxwell replied.
‘But if I took you on board with me—’
Maxwell shook his head. ‘Then it would never even take off.’ He shrugged. ‘Besides, where the hell could I go?’
Luc followed him along a short corridor, then down a winding stairwell, its walls bare and undecorated compared to the rest of the library complex.
‘But where can I go from here?’ he called after Maxwell’s retreating back. ‘I’ve got no idea what the hell’s happened to Zelia, where she’s gone or if she’s in trouble of some kind. Without her, there’s nowhere for me to go.’
They came to a single steel door at the bottom of the stairwell. The temperature had plummeted, the air frosting with their every breath.
‘I knew Zelia well, back in the day,’ said Maxwell, stopping for a moment, ‘and she’s more resourceful than you imagine. Whatever’s happened to her, I wouldn’t assume you’ve seen the last of her just yet.’
Luc followed him through this last door. Suddenly he was outside, a freezing wind sucking all the heat from his skin, as he found they had emerged into the cavernous hangar he had first sighted from the foothills. There was, he saw, enough space to park a fleet of fliers.
The storm that nearly killed him had passed, and the sun hung sharp and bright in a sky striped with narrow wisps of cirrus. He stepped forward, hugging himself against the cold, and realized belatedly that he’d left his cold-weather gear behind. Idiot.
Mechants dropped down from some point in the cavern’s ceiling and moved towards them, weapons unfolding from their bellies. Luc turned to look at Maxwell, who had come to a halt just a short distance beyond the steel door.
‘This is as far as I go, I think,’ said Maxwell, retreating closer to the door.
Luc glanced between Maxwell and the approaching mechants. ‘Are we in any danger?’
‘I certainly am, if I try and go any farther than this. I don’t see any reason why they would want to harm you, however.’ He pointed towards a low-slung shape parked nearby and partly hidden beneath a heavy grey tarpaulin, AG field generators bulking out its sides.
‘That’s the flier you were talking about?’
Maxwell nodded. ‘I don’t see any others, do you?’
‘How did you do it?’ asked Luc, staring back at Maxwell in wonder. ‘I came here looking for Ambassador Sachs, and somehow I wound up working for you.’
Maxwell smiled faintly. ‘This is all Winchell’s doing, remember? Vasili would never have sought out the protocols or Cheng’s data-cache if not for that old renegade.’ He nodded towards the flier. ‘Go now, Mr Gabion, before the Sandoz arrive.’
‘One last thing. You said the Ambassador came to you for advice. About what?’
Maxwell’s shoulders rose and fell in a sigh. ‘When I say there isn’t much time, I mean—’
‘Please,’ Luc begged.
‘He was trying to prevent a war, Mr Gabion. A war between the Tian Di and the Coalition.’ Maxwell almost shouted the words in his agitation. ‘I’d tell you more, but there simply isn’t the time.’
Luc glanced towards the horizon beyond the foothills, and saw a tiny black dot moving across the sky towards them. ‘If I take off now, they’ll see me.’
Maxwell took a step forward, only for the mechants to drop down in front of him, blocking his path. ‘This really isn’t the time for debate,’ he yelled. ‘Stay here, and you’re dead for sure.’
Luc ran towards the flier, and felt a flush of relief when the mechants guarding Maxwell made no move towards him. He quickly pulled the tarpaulin to one side, revealing a hatch in the side of the craft that hissed open automatically.
Gazing into its darkened interior, he then turned back to Maxwell.
‘Go back inside,’ Luc yelled over to him, ‘and wait there. I’ve got an idea.’
‘What the hell are you doing, Mr Gabion?’
‘You’ll see.’
He climbed in through the open hatch, then turned, yanking the tarpaulin back down until it was draped back over the side of the craft. As he clambered into the cockpit, the hatch closed once more, sealing him inside.
Once there, he sat in the pilot’s seat and waited for the Sandoz to arrive, wondering if what he was about to attempt wasn’t in fact the stupidest thing he had ever done.
‘This is insane,’ Maxwell hissed.
‘Just bear with me, okay?’
He stood side by side with Luc’s data-ghost in the library’s main hall, a real-time projection of the hangar floating before them. They could see that an armoured Sandoz heavy-lifter had just dropped down to a landing not far from the parked flier, still stationary beneath its grey tarpaulin. They watched as several figures emerged from the heavy-lifter, too far away to be immediately identified. All but two of the figures wore the heavy armoured suits of Sandoz warriors.
Maxwell made a gesture, and the view zoomed in towards the two in question. Luc saw with a spasm of shock that one of them was Eleanor; she wore her SecInt uniform, and was accompanied by Bailey Cripps.
They watched as Cripps, Eleanor and the soldiers made their way inside the library. Luc flexed his fingers by his sides, the breath catching in his throat.
Even though he had data-ghosted many times before, the depth of experience afforded by his lattice made it an effort of will to remember where he was, in reality, aboard Maxwell’s flier, and not in fact standing next to Maxwell in the library. He’d tried to persuade Maxwell to do the same – hide elsewhere in the library and present only his data-ghost to Cripps – but, as Maxwell himself had pointed out, there were only so many places for him to hide. Something in the other man’s manner gave Luc the sense that this was a confrontation the Councillor had been anticipating for a very, very long time.
‘She shouldn’t be here,’ Luc muttered. Cripps must have followed up on his threat. He should have anticipated something like this.
‘Is there a problem?’ asked Maxwell.
‘That’s Eleanor Jaq. She’s a SecInt officer. Cripps threatened to arrest her at one point, to try and force me to turn informant for him.’
‘Ah.’ Maxwell nodded. ‘You believe she is his prisoner.’
The view changed, showing Cripps leading Eleanor and the Sandoz through the steel door connecting the hangar to the library, then up the steps leading to the main atrium. Eleanor walked side by side with Cripps, who leaned in towards her and said something inaudible into her ear. Eleanor smiled uncertainly in response.
‘If I had to be honest,’ said Maxwell, nodding towards Eleanor’s image, ‘she’s not acting like a prisoner. And perhaps you haven’t noticed, but she is armed.’
Luc started to say something, but the words died in his throat when he saw Maxwell was right. She had a holster on her hip.
‘There’s only one of her,’ Luc managed to say, ‘and several of them. If she tried to . . .’
‘I think you know as well as I do they would have disarmed her immediately if she was under arrest,’ Maxwell pointed out. ‘What do you intend to do now?’
‘Just what I was going to do anyway,’ he said, feeling the first curdling threads of betrayal knot themselves around his stomach.
‘Then you’d better start now,’ said Maxwell, ‘because they’re going to be here any second.’
Luc nodded tightly. ‘Good luck.’
‘My luck ran out long ago, Mr Gabion,’ Maxwell replied with a sigh. ‘If I had any to spare, I’d let you have it. You’re going to need it.’
Luc’s data-ghost vanished from Maxwell’s side, reappearing a moment later at the far end of the library’s central atrium, and positioned slightly behind one of several pillars supporting a first-floor gallery. Local micro-relays fed him the sound of voices echoing from the high, vaulted ceiling, and he peered round the side of the pillar to see Cripps emerge from the stairwell, followed by Eleanor and the Sandoz. A library mechant came swooping down, falling into a stationary position to the one side of and slightly above Maxwell, its audio circuits open so Luc could hear everything that was said.
Cripps stepped up to Maxwell while the Sandoz hung back, their eyes scouring the library.
‘It’s been a long time, Bailey,’ said Maxwell, stepping towards him. ‘What brings you here?’
Luc saw Cripps unfasten the holster at his side. ‘Master Rachid,’ Cripps said over his shoulder, ‘tell your men to search everywhere until you find Gabion.’
Luc pulled his data-ghost back into the shadows, not wanting it to be seen just yet, and watched as Rachid ordered four of the soldiers to the nearest elevator platforms. At the same time, he fired a command to Maxwell’s flier. It lifted up from the frozen concrete, the tarpaulin that had been covering it falling away as it rose. Within seconds it was accelerating towards the clouds covering the nearby mountain peaks.
‘To be honest, Javier,’ said Cripps in that same moment, turning back to Maxwell, ‘it’s not been nearly long enough.’ Eleanor remained silent by his side, her expression pale and nervous. ‘Why don’t you save us the time and trouble and tell us where Luc Gabion is?’
Maxwell affected mild confusion. ‘Who?’
Cripps’ face darkened. ‘Don’t waste my time. We both know Zelia de Almeida sent him here. Where is he?’
Maxwell affected a tone of distant curiosity. ‘Why are you looking for this man?’
‘Zelia has been conspiring to assassinate Father Cheng and destabilize the Tian Di – a conspiracy I have reason to believe you are part of. Gabion is a Benarean Black Lotus agent under her command. Now tell me where he is.’
‘Or what? You’ll kill me? Surely you can do better than that.’
‘I know where every one of your backups are located,’ Cripps barked. ‘Don’t think I would hesitate to wipe every damn one.’
‘It makes no difference,’ Maxwell replied with a shrug. ‘I have no idea who or what you’re talking about.’
‘Fuck it,’ said Cripps, sliding the pistol from its holster and shooting Maxwell at close enough range that the blast very nearly decapitated him. Blood hissed as it splashed against the floor and nearby furniture.
Cripps turned to the two remaining Sandoz and muttered something indistinct as Javier Maxwell’s body crumpled to the floor. A moment later one of the Sandoz opened fire on the library mechant. It jerked backwards under the sudden assault, and Luc lost contact with it. He saw its blackened remains thud to the floor.
‘Hey!’
Luc glanced up from behind the pillar to see a Sandoz staring down at him from the upper gallery. He darted backwards, moving fast, and a loud, hollow thud filled the air at the same moment that a crater appeared where his data-ghost had been standing only a moment before.
Maxwell had allowed Luc to upload a map of the library once he had explained his intentions, and he now retreated towards a doorway leading out of the atrium and into a maze of reading rooms. He ran past low tables and couches and through several more doors connecting each room to the next, hearing muffled shouts and heavy footfalls following not far behind.
By now, Maxwell’s flier had very nearly reached low orbit. Luc felt his weight begin to fall away. He squeezed his eyes shut, sweat trickling down his brow, and focused on what was happening in Maxwell’s library, already some hundreds of kilometres behind him.
‘Gabion!’ Cripps’ amplified voice boomed through the library as he ran. ‘My men are seeding this place with explosives. You can either surrender, or go down with it. Your choice.’
Go to hell, thought Luc, guiding his data-ghost into a corridor lined with yet more doors. He checked Maxwell’s map and saw that the corridor joined another up ahead to form a T-junction. That second p
assageway angled back at both ends to wrap around the reading rooms.
Another Sandoz appeared from around the corner of the T-junction, taking aim.
Luc dived through a door to one side, finding himself inside a reading room indistinguishable from any of the others, then ran through the door set into its opposite wall. He could hear the Sandoz stamping after him.
He passed through more doors and more rooms until he came out into a corridor, and saw an elevator platform tucked into an alcove to his left, right where he’d known it would be. Heavy, muffled footsteps came slamming through the reading rooms behind him, getting closer with every second.
In the blink of an eye, Luc was standing on the first floor gallery, looking down at Eleanor, who hadn’t moved. There was no sign of Cripps.
‘Eleanor?’ he screamed down at her. ‘What the hell is going on? Is Cripps holding you prisoner?’
She looked up at him, lips set in a thin line. ‘None of this would have happened if you’d just listened to me and talked to Director Lethe, like I asked you to.’
‘Eleanor, you have to listen—’
‘No, Luc, you need to listen to me. I spoke to Lethe on your behalf and told him everything – about what really happened on Aeschere, about the lattice and Zelia de Almeida – all of it. I had to, don’t you see?’
‘I thought you understood,’ he said. ‘I trusted you more than anyone else. Or do you really believe what Cripps just said about me?’
She hesitated for a moment. ‘No, of course I don’t. But we need to find a way to fix you first. Then you can explain your side of things.’
Luc felt like she’d torn him open with claws of steel and left him to bleed to death. He stared down at her, suddenly lost for words.
Hearing a high-pitched beep to his right, he turned to see a Sandoz mechant accelerating towards him.
Instantly he ran, explosive rounds ripping chunks of wood and brick from the walls and shelves behind him, the mechant banging into walls as it came veering after him.
He was running blind now. Incredibly, Cripps still hadn’t worked out he was already long gone.
Turning a corner, he came face to face with yet another Sandoz warrior. The suited figure lunged towards and then through him, and Luc heard the warrior grunt with surprise as he slammed into the balustrade overlooking the library floor.
