Daniel looked at her, his expression unreadable.
‘There were only five of them,’ said Helena. ‘Then there was some trouble.’
Edith raised her eyebrows but said nothing. Daniel took the last piece of cake and started to eat.
The library had two chairs, both of which were occupied, so Helena, David and Jane were forced to stand. The three of them stayed close to one another and moved round the room away from the entrance and along the right-hand wall so they were facing Edith.
‘Ms. Priestly, you look ghastly,’ said Edith. ‘Should you wish to wash, you will find a hot bath waiting for you in the blue bathroom on the first floor.’
‘I’m OK,’ said Jane flatly, to which Edith heaved a sigh but said nothing further.
‘What happened?’ asked Helena.
‘I would ask you the same question,’ said Edith. ‘I sent you out to return the six Insel Family members safely to the lighthouse for extraction and you come back with one and a half. Your Uncle led me to believe you three were rather more competent than this. As for you, Mr Chalmers, I hope you have some explanation as to why you failed to help my daughter in her objective.’ Helena looked at David from the corner of her eyes. How can David know Johannes? This makes no sense. ‘I suppose some people just investigate murder for a living,’ finished Edith pointedly.
‘It’s not their fault,’ said Daniel from the window. He put his hand up against one of the smaller panes of the worked glass and said, ‘You’ve only yourselves to blame.’
‘What did you do?’ asked David, finding his voice.
‘Don’t be so impertinent,’ said Edith angrily.
‘Answer him,’ said Jane suddenly.
‘Yes, tell them what you did,’ said Daniel. ‘If you don’t, I will.’
Edith bristled under the attack and Helena thought she’d lost any chance of getting to the bottom of the story when her mother began speaking.
‘The peninsula’s lost; Insel don’t have the resources to hold it and we don’t have the flexibility to fight this war on more than three fronts. It may not have escaped your notice, but we’re not succeeding at achieving that objective particularly well either.’ Edith paused. Helena knew she was trying to find the words to say something she didn’t want to voice. ‘The decision was taken to release limited elements of high technology to compatible Normals in the hope they would resist Indexiv when they landed.’
‘You armed them?’ asked David incredulously.
‘Give the dog a bone,’ said Edith.
Daniel snorted. ‘What she’s not telling you is the outcome.’
‘I think we saw that for ourselves,’ said Jane.
‘You saw nothing,’ said Daniel dismissively.
‘Edith?’ asked Helena, refusing to let her mother off the hook.
Edith sighed. ‘When the more functional Normals realised they were being left to die by their employer, they chose to adopt alternative strategic goals.’
‘What?’ asked Jane.
‘She means they decided to attack those they saw as abandoning them. They decided to choose their own fate,’ said Daniel.
‘The futility of it has not occurred to them. The aim of the exercise was to delay Indexiv, never to hold the peninsula. In choosing to attack their employer they’ve weakened their own position,’ said Edith in a tone approaching irritation. Helena couldn’t decide whether it was the Normals and their course of action or being made to explain herself that was exasperating Edith.
‘How novel,’ said David.
‘You may as well know that included ambushing us on our way out of Skagen and killing three of the remaining Insel Family members,’ said Helena. ‘Additionally, there was no sign of your favourite concubine.’
Edith’s eyes bulged for a moment. ‘You slow witted fool. There never was a favourite — as if I’d waste my time and emotional energy on a Normal. They are nothing more than tools and means of production. Is your opinion of me that low?’
Helena pursed her lips and said, ‘Edith, you gave me no reason to disbelieve you and frankly, given your childish flights of fancy in the past, I felt it entirely in keeping with your character to devote whimsy on a genetically engineered walking dildo.’
Edith spluttered, ‘No wonder they moved you out of the diplomatic corps. Your sojourn in Africa has addled any worldly wisdom you might have once possessed.’
Daniel is wishing to speak, said her AI into the fury. Helena bit her tongue and looked at him. Daniel seemed surprised to have been noticed and Edith, distracted by Helena’s lack of retort, fixed him with an expectant gaze.
‘We would have stopped Indexiv from taking the peninsula.’
‘Nonsense,’ said Edith rapidly.
‘Be quiet,’ said Helena, her voice barely below a full shout. David touched her gently on the arm but she ignored him.
‘My team were putting the final touches to a viral bomb. It would have detonated as soon as Indexiv tried to access our systems once they’d occupied Skagen. We chose Skagen because it was likely to be the last town secured by the Company and so we could be sure their forces would be in every one of our holdings by then.’
‘What would the virus do?’ asked Jane. ‘Surely they’d be able to engineer a retro virus quickly enough.’
‘It wasn’t a biological virus,’ said Daniel, shaking his head, ‘rather an electronic one. Indexiv’s proprietary infantry technologies have, in their personnel interface, a component manufactured by us. I needn’t remind you it is what we do.
Regardless, once they tried to access our system, the virus would download itself into their task force AIs and obliterate them. Indexiv’s own troops would be paralysed, without a chain of command and unable to use their weapons. Whatever mercenaries were with them would have soon faded away. However, Euros decided to use our property as a proxy front and deploy a pointless strategic plan here. We should have left four days ago. Instead we were holed up in the generation levels for five.’
‘We had analysed your plans,’ said Edith. ‘They were highly unlikely to be successful. Indexiv would prove themselves remiss if they failed to account for the access point your components provided.’
Daniel’s face set hard. ‘Like yourselves and the others in the big five, your sheer arrogance remains your easiest weakness to exploit.’
‘How long would it take to make the virus ready?’ asked Helena.
‘Less than a day,’ said Daniel regretfully. Then, looking at Edith, he said, ‘Your belated act of good will is unlikely to stop Insel from suing for takeover by Indexiv. If we lose the peninsula our market capitalisation will collapse and we’ll have very little choice.’
‘I think he’s trying to congratulate you on destroying our chances of winning the war,’ said Jane acidly.
‘And what do you propose darling?’ said Edith.
Jane said nothing but Helena began, ‘We must get the virus activated.’
‘Daniel, can you give us the access authority and codes?’ asked David.
Daniel nodded. ‘I will come with you.’
‘No,’ said Edith. ‘The transports will be here within twelve hours. We leave then.’
‘We must do this,’ said Helena; the others muttered their agreement.
‘All of you,’ said Edith clearly, ‘I am director of cultural affairs and attaché to the group director of strategic planning; this is my decision, not yours.’
Helena knew better than to argue and, despite her frustration, was quite relieved at the prospect of getting back to London.
Your Uncle will be waiting for you there. If you wish to outmanoeuvre him it is imperative you speak with David, said her AI.
Helena had forgotten about her Uncle’s role in this. He is everywhere, she thought.
He is statistically significant, agreed her AI.
There was a knock on the door.
‘What is it?’ asked Edith.
The door opened and the chef poked his head round. ‘Madam, you wis
hed to be informed when the bombardment of the peninsula began?’
‘Why are you disturbing me with this now?’ Edith asked.
‘It has begun,’ said the chef.
Chapter 6
‘DAMN IT,’ said Edith, who got up from her chair and, without waiting for the others, left the room. David looked at Helena and they quickly followed her, with Jane hurrying to keep up with them in the unlit hallway. They saw Edith’s back disappear through the front door into the rain.
Helena didn’t know what ‘the bombardment’ was, but if her mother was agitated enough to leave the room just at the moment when she needed to impress her authority on Helena and her team, she wasn’t going to wait around to be informed later.
The three of them caught up with Edith at the bottom of the lighthouse, where she gave them a disinterested glance, as if they were nothing more than background scenery.
They followed her up the spiral stairs into the night at the top of the tower. Yellow and orange flares falling from the sky in the direction of Skagen greeted them. Fainter but still visible, despite the distance and the weather, were ghosts of colour in three separate directions to the south.
‘They don’t need to invade, do they,’ said Jane flatly.
‘Of course not,’ said Edith. ‘They were never going to. The divisions you saw approaching the coast are simply those assigned to come in and pacify the survivors. Once that task is complete, they’ll leave less than a thousand here, probably mercenaries at that.’ She looked from one set of flares to another. ‘No corporation would waste its time devoting resources to an empty property. That’s what outsourcing’s for.’ She paused, watching in silence before saying, ‘They’re early. Our projections showed they wouldn’t begin bombarding for another forty-eight hours.’
‘How many Normals were you expecting to survive this to engage in harrying and residual aggression?’ asked David.
‘Hmm? Oh, perhaps six or seven dozen in Skagen, ten times that in Frederikshavn. Bombardment is a terribly effective tool for softening up a target.’
‘You’ve given them every reason to eliminate the Normals here in Jutland,’ said Helena bitterly.
‘This war isn’t about the Normals,’ said Edith harshly, echoing what her father had believed. ‘It’s about who has the right to govern.’
‘It isn’t,’ said Helena. ‘I was there when war was declared. The parliament declared war because Indexiv proposed to proceed with its plan to liquidate its non-essential assets.’
‘Helena, my dear, if Indexiv does prosecute such a strategy it is because they believe it offers them a greater ability to maximise efficiency and to wield legitimacy within the World Trade Council. Do not delude yourself, as your father did, that the lives of Normals mean anything more than that. Patricide, which seems the most fitting word for it, is nothing more than an adjunct of who persuades the market; they have the best grasp of economics for the Families.’
How do the telepaths fit within this scheme? asked Helena’s AI.
She had no answer for it.
‘There has been a balance of power for centuries,’ said Jane despairingly. ‘The Companies have been content to work as a society. History is littered with examples of what happens when one party decides to aggrandise themselves.’
‘We know,’ said Edith. ‘Indexiv threatens our stability. None of the other Corporations is prepared to act against such a leviathan. No one has a unique competitive advantage which would enable the council to overcome them. What they don’t see is that we will be ground down one by one until Indexiv has no competitors left.’ Edith turned to Helena suddenly.
‘We must get Daniel back to Skagen in the morning at the first sign of the bombardment easing. If we do not stop them here, Euros will collapse. The market will not tolerate our position if Indexiv successfully annexes another Company’s holdings while continuing to drive us back on other fronts.’
‘Something easier said than done,’ said David.
‘Look out of the window, Mr Chalmers,’ said Edith. ‘They’re doing it.’
‘I meant going back to Skagen,’ said David.
‘The risk to yourselves is immaterial when compared to the wellbeing of the Company.’
‘The risk might well be, but the likelihood of the Insel facility remaining in one piece strikes me as vanishingly small. Ask your AI, I am sure it will concur,’ responded David.
‘Actually the location where we were developing the virus will be secure,’ said Daniel from the door. ‘The vast majority of our complex is thirty or so metres underground. Indexiv’s splinter force will be aware of that, hence the type of bombardment they are undertaking.’
‘Are they destroying everything?’ asked Jane. ‘I’ve never seen a battle before.’
Helena curled her lip in disdain; they weren’t witnessing a battle, just a massacre.
‘Jane,’ said Helena, ‘the bombardment they’re using is a plasma-based attack. The fires burn at thousands of degrees and will ignite anything. Where it touches you, water will not extinguish it, and you’ll continue to burn long after you are dead. The buildings there will burn to a crisp, but only because they’re not constructed using high technology. The spire Insel erected in Skagen will be a shell, its nanomachines carbonised, but otherwise completely intact, ready for Indexiv to move their own fixtures and fittings right in.’
Edith interrupted, ‘This lesson in artillery is very endearing, Helena, but I am designating you with the following assignment. You will of course consider it as coming from your direct line manager.’
‘Go on,’ said Helena, knowing what was coming.
‘You are to escort Daniel Lillehavn back to Skagen and render whatever assistance he requires to launch their electronic counterattack. Once this has been accomplished, return here and you’ll be rendered to London.’
Helena felt Edith had given her something concrete to do. It could buy me time back home to find my father, she thought, not to mention that we’ll have given Indexiv a kick in the teeth. Looking at David, she saw him gauge her response but she couldn’t read his feelings on the matter.
‘I’m going to stay here and watch the attack,’ said Edith. ‘You can go now.’
‘Pardon?’ said David, not quite believing he’d been dismissed.
‘You heard me. You may work for another branch of the Company, Mr Chalmers, but don’t let that fool you into thinking I am not your superior.’
Without a word, David walked stiffly from the room and into the driving rain. Jane and Daniel followed after him. Helena looked at her mother but Edith was paying her no more attention than she might a dog she’d lost interest in. After a few moments, Helena left as well, catching one last glimpse of the fire cascading down on the towns to the south of them.
The four of them flittered separately about the manse. Eventually the lure of roast fowl brought them, one by one, to the kitchen.
Helena was drawn by the smell of roasting fat from the moment she walked through the door. Her stomach growled its eager anticipation.
She loaded her plate with potatoes, carrots and swede and finished it off with half a chicken, stripped of its bones, plumped carelessly on the side of it. The chef was silent and self-contained, working studiously to keep a continuous flow of food arriving in dishes on the kitchen table. Jane was the next to enter, followed shortly afterwards by Daniel.
Daniel had been checking on Jens and seemed happy with his progress. His colleague would be up and about by the morning. Daniel was obviously relieved as he told them the news. Jens was critical to finishing whatever project they had been working on.
‘Can the two of you do it?’ asked Helena between mouthfuls of mashed potato.
Daniel shrugged. ‘I do not know.’ He had grabbed large dollops of veg but, after removing every trace of skin from the bird, took just a few strips of flesh. He carefully sniffed each mouthful before eating it. He reminded Helena of a distrustful child.
‘Don’t you have turkey
in Insel?’ asked Jane. Helena sighed inwardly.
Daniel looked up and laughed. ‘I’m not a savage, Ms Priestly.’
Jane leant back and put a hand flat to her chest, embarrassed. Serves her right, thought Helena.
‘Your colleague, Mr Chalmers, he doesn’t seem to fit in your chain of command,’ said Daniel, who had taken up a place with his back to the windows. Helena and Jane didn’t respond. ‘I apologise. I sensed it was a diplomatic issue,’ said Daniel; Helena thought he genuinely regretted bringing the matter up.
‘It’s fine, Daniel,’ she said. ‘We weren’t sent here to work for Edith Woolf.’
Jane looked at Helena, her stare meaningfully intense, imploring her to say nothing more. Instead, Helena judged the situation in light of the assignment her mother had given them: if they were to succeed, they’d need to share with Daniel some part of why they were in Jutland. They needed his trust.
Daniel said nothing. He had seen Jane’s clumsy attempt at subterfuge and waited for Helena to make up her mind about what she’d say to him.
He is not Indexiv and there is no statistical reason not to inform him of the reasons Jane believes we are here,said her AI. Helena agreed, but before she could speak, it said something more.I would speak with you before the morning; it is becoming urgent for me that we communicate as equals.
Later, thought Helena evasively. Her AI took her at her word and she felt its presence recede inside her mind.
‘You will have heard of the bombs in the City,’ began Helena.
‘London, I assume?’ asked Daniel. ‘Since for you it is the only one of the three Cities that matters.’
Helena looked for aggression in his tone but decided he was thinking out loud. ‘Indeed, London.’
He nodded. ‘I have heard of it. We are uncertain as to whether it was you or Indexiv who detonated them. Our AIs cannot distinguish between your methods.’
‘It was not Euros,’ said Jane, the pitch of her voice rising in indignation.
‘Of course,’ said Daniel, coming forward to take some fresh bread from the island counter in the centre of the room.
A People's War (The Oligarchy Book 2) Page 13
