Sean Williams & Shane Dix - Evergence 1 - The Prodigal Sun

by The Prodigal Sun (lit)

  "I can explain." Roche stepped in quickly. "Please, Haid, just give me a chance. It's not what it seems."

  "I hope so," said Haid, keeping his glare on Cane. "I honestly hope so."

  * * *

  "Okay." The scarred woman made no effort to conceal her hostility. "Tell me again, and this time don't leave anything out."

  Roche floundered for a moment. Leave anything out? She had told her story as completely the last time as the time before, and the time before that, when Haid had interviewed her. What could she possibly have forgotten?

  Then she realised: this was an oft-used trick of interrogation. By making the suspect feel that she had omitted something from a fabricated tale, new and crucial information might sometimes be forthcoming. Confession by overcompensation.

  Roche sighed, and patiently began the recital from the beginning. She had left the meeting with Sabra, and had exited the elevator on the twenty-third floor ...

  The woman rerecorded Roche's story, along with each and every nuance of her face. A thick scar warped the woman's own upper lip into a permanent sneer, and Roche wondered if a psychological trauma had similarly twisted her personality. This, the fourth time Roche had described the events of the last few hours, elicited no response other than wordless, yet obvious, contempt.

  Apart from the woman, Roche was alone in the holding bay. Two armed rebels guarded the other side of the door.

  Cane had been removed to another cell after their initial interrogation by Haid, and Roche hadn't seen him since. If he was alive or dead, she had no way of knowing — although she suspected the former was more likely to be true, knowing the man's amazing constitution.

  Halfway through her 'confession', the intercom buzzed. The woman put aside her work slate to take the call, casting a warning look at Roche as she did.

  Haid's voice over the intercom was terse. "That's enough for now, Rasia. Have the commander escorted back to her room and make sure she stays there. Tell the escort to talk to no one on the way. I don't want word leaking out before I'm ready."

  Roche pushed forward to the intercom. "Ameidio, this is Roche. What the hell's going on?"

  "I'll call you when I've decided." With a click, he severed the line.

  Roche backed away from the intercom as the guards entered the room. "Okay, okay." She let herself be led from the holding bay, with the scarred woman bringing up the rear. She had no choice. Until she spoke to Haid, her options were severely limited.

  On the way to her room, she passed a couple of faces she recognised from the refectory the previous day. One nodded at her, showing no awareness of the events that had transpired since they had last met. Roche nodded back, unable to prevent the blush that spread up her neck and into her hairline. She cursed herself for feeling like a traitor.

  When they reached her room, the guards keyed it open and motioned for her to enter. She did so, noting first of all that Maii had left during her absence, and second that the lock on the inside of the door had been disabled. She turned to protest, but was met with the stony sneer of the scarred woman.

  "Don't expect mercy," said the woman. "We look after our own down here."

  With that, the woman slammed the door shut and locked it. When the sound of footsteps outside had faded into silence, she let go the breath she had been holding.

  Mercy? Roche wasn't expecting mercy. She would settle for justice, any day.

  Still, she supposed she shouldn't be too hasty. In their situation, she might have behaved the same.

  announced the Box into the silence.

  She shrugged and sat down on the edge of the bed. "I guess that's to be expected," she said.

  The Box sounded annoyed, though Roche knew that this was impossible.

  "How about unofficial?"

 

  "Okay," she said, lying back on the bunk. "Show me."

  Her left eye greyed for a moment, then cleared. The familiar stream of news, from places near and distant, flowed past her: wars, accidents, negotiations, science, deaths. Even after so few days trapped on Sciacca's World, much of it made reference to current events that were unfamiliar to her, making her feel isolated from the rest of the COE and the galaxy beyond. At least three major conflicts near the Commonwealth were completely unfamiliar to her, and there were many more beyond — more than she was sure was normal. She wondered if the background level of violence in the galaxy had indeed risen without her being aware of it, or if that impression was merely a result of her recent isolation.

  One name, however, stood out: Palasian System.

  She recalled hearing about it being quarantined just prior to her leaving the Midnight. Now it had been declared the site of a 'major catastrophe' and sealed off to all traffic. Not even aid or rescue ships could breach the blockade. No explanation was offered as to the cause of the catastrophe, however, before the data stream moved on to another war that had broken out in a distant part of the galaxy. Whatever had happened to the Palasian System, it must have been serious to warrant such utter isolation.

  Suddenly struck by a thought, she turned her attention back to the Box. "Have you been monitoring this?" she asked.

 

  "Has there been any mention of the Midnight?"

 

  Roche nodded. "Or they want to take the Dato by surprise."

 

  "True." Roche frowned as another thought occurred to her. "But why would — ?"

  The sound of the door opening interrupted her in mid-sentence, although the question remained sharp in her thoughts: Why would the COE Armada suppress the information?

  Making a mental note to follow this up later, she rose to greet her visitor.

  "Roche," said Haid. The rebel leader looked haggard and drawn, as though he hadn't slept for a week. He was alone.

  "I would invite you in," Roche said, unable to keep the bitterness from her voice. "But that seems inappropriate given the circumstances."

  Haid closed the door behind him and turned to face her. "You have no reason to resent me," he said. "I'm not here officially."

  "Does that mean you've reached a decision?"

  "Well, your story checks out," he said. "As I said earlier, there's a shaft leading from the old sector to the surface — our back door. At the exit from the shaft, we found Edan Malogorski. Sabra had arranged to meet him there to take you to the landing field. It looks like she was going to sell you to the wardens for the bounty."

  Roche sat up on the bunk. "That seems obvious."

  "Maybe." The rebel leader sighed. "I have my doubts, though."

  "I thought you just said that my story checked out."

  "I have no doubts about what she intended to do; the facts are irrefutable. The why, though, is a different matter. In the elevator, according to your statement, Sabra said that she thought Cane was under your control. It's my guess she believed that by getting rid of you, she'd be rid of Cane as well. Maybe she was more concerned with my safety than the money."

  "And maybe you're being overcharitable regarding her motives." Roche remembered the implied jealousy in the woman's words, the fierce resentment she had harboured toward the new woman in town. "She certainly made it clear, from the day I arrived, that she'd rather Cane and I weren't around. Regardless of Cane's past, or my dealings with you — "

  "She was simply wary of you," Haid interrupted. "As we all are with strangers." Haid paced the length of the room once, then returned
to face her. "If I am being overcharitable, as you say, then it's because I knew her better than you did. I served with her when she was a lieutenant on the Transpicuous before I went out on my own. When I was sentenced here ... " He filled the pause with a sigh. "It was she who took me from the gutter. Everything I've done here, it was with her aid. If she had an ulterior motive in turning you in, then it was to help me, not for the money."

  Haid stopped talking, his one empty eye socket red. Roche could sense his pain as palpably as the dust on his clothes, in the tone of voice and the lines of his face. He needed to believe what he was saying, needed to believe that his old friend hadn't betrayed his trust. And Roche could sympathise. She herself had been betrayed often enough in her youth, to the point where she had avoided close friendships ever since. Who was she to call into question the strength of a relationship she had had no part of? Furthermore, she conceded, he might even have been right.

  "Unfortunately," Haid continued after a moment, "the facts have leaked. And they are damning, whichever way they are interpreted."

  Roche took a deep breath. She could sense that they were approaching the real reason for his visit. "Go on."

  "Well, on the one hand, I'm being pressured to turn you in myself, by those who think Sabra had the right idea. They're supported by another camp, who believe that you and Cane led Sabra into the old quarter to murder her. Taken together, these two factions comprise a majority of us down here."

  "But you don't agree?"

  "No," he said. "And therein lies the problem. If I decide not to turn you in, I'll be disobeying the wishes of the very people I'm supposed to serve." Haid ran his artificial fingers across his ebony scalp. "At the heart of the matter is the fact that I'm an outsider myself; some of the indigenes have always resented me taking over, and they will use that lever to call for a no-confidence vote. Given their clear majority in this matter, I'm bound to lose. And the new leader will no doubt turn you in anyway."

  Roche kept her emotions carefully hidden. "So what happens now?"

  "After all the resentment and anger you've stirred up, I don't really have much choice." Haid's mouth tightened. "We need an outlet, or the problem will just get worse. The last thing we need right now is a leadership crisis."

  "But you can't blame us," Roche said urgently, sensing her last chance slipping through her fingers. "Make Cane and me scapegoats — kill us, or whatever — and the High Equity Court will never listen to you."

  "I know that." Haid shook his head. "And Veden agrees with you. But there are two hundred Enforcers searching the city for you as we speak. Five of our safe houses have been breached. Twenty people have been taken for interrogation. Five have been killed for 'obstructing investigations'.

  "And then there are the Dato. A landing party touched down yesterday and entered the city six hours ago. Reports are coming in of fires in the old subway, lit by the squad. It looks like they've found an entrance to our underground network. If that's the case, then it's only a matter of time before they find us here." Haid glanced briefly around at the walls of the cell before his gaze fell back upon Roche. "Twenty Enforcers we could bribe. Fifty we could fight in self-defense. But two hundred and a well-armed Dato squad ... " He shrugged helplessly.

  "But we need to do something," he went on. "Which is why I've decided to take you with us."

  Roche studied him quizzically for a moment. "Take us where?"

  "To the landing field, of course. We have to attack while they're busy in the city, and hope your plan works."

  "My plan?"

  "I spoke to Neva and Emmerik. They believe it's sound, and I'm prepared to go with their judgment. They'll be in the attacking party, along with you and me and five others."

  "But what about the command codes? There's no point attacking until — "

  "We have the codes. Maii learned them an hour ago."

  "And weapons? We're hopelessly outgunned for a frontal assault — "

  "Don't worry about that. I'll fix it."

  Roche took a deep breath, resigning herself to the fact that the decision had been made, and nothing she said could change it. "We need time to prepare, then."

  "We have two hours." Haid's artificial eye regarded her implacably. "You'll suit up and meet the others as we leave. Until then, you stay here." He reached into his jacket and removed a work slate — a small processor with a flatscreen and compressed keyboard — which he handed to her. "Whatever happens, we can't just sit back idly here, waiting for the Dato Bloc to arrive. You can still be useful, if you want." He nodded at the slate in Roche's hands. "The others will be busy getting equipment ready. Study this for us; make sure the plan will work. I'll send someone down with Cane as soon as we're ready.

  "But remember: this isn't an official action. As far as the indigenes are concerned, I'm still considering your fate. When we leave, it'll supposedly be to turn you in. So do your best to look cowed, and don't breathe a word of this to anyone else."

  With that, he keyed the door open and left.

  Roche activated the slate and sat back down on the bed to study the image that appeared on the small screen and the heading above it:

  PORT PARVATI SECURITY: CONFIDENTIAL

  She stared at it for a moment, unable to absorb the sudden reversal. Haid was right, of course: if the Dato were actively hunting her, it would be only a matter of time before they found her here. They needed to move somewhere else, somewhere safe. But there was nowhere safe on the entire planet, nowhere to hide. And if the Enforcers truly were distracted by their own searches, then it made sense to attack the landing field while their defenses were down — to hunt instead of being hunted.

  Yet, somehow, it was too much too soon. Her ribs still ached, and her newly injured side throbbed. She needed rest, time to gather her resources. Her allegiances — with Haid, with Cane, with the Box — were still too fragile to test during an all-out attack on the Enforcement stronghold. If any one of them failed, she would be worse off than when she had started.

  And hadn't there already been enough death?

  Even as her doubts assailed her, however, her conviction to the plan remained strong. She had a mission — to deliver the Box to COE Intelligence HQ — and this was the best way to achieve it. If she was to leave the planet — which she had to do, in order to succeed — then this was the only way.

  She had no options anymore. Circumstances dictated that she should fight, so she would do so to the best of her abilities, and with every resource she could muster, external and internal.

  In the end, whether she failed or succeeded, at least she could say that she had tried.

  The AI didn't answer. The tingling in her arm had returned, however, and she wasn't certain what to make of that. Still, she could analyse the landing field's defenses just as well without the Box's help.

  Lying back on the bed, she began to work.

  * * *

  15

  * * *

  Sciacca's World

  Port Parvati

  '954.10.34 EN

  0925

  After an hour of silence, the Box suddenly returned:

 

  "Box!" Roche sat up with a start, the slate slipping from her lap onto the bed. "Where the hell have you been? I've — "

  Before she could finish, a siren began to sound. Footsteps approached her room, then continued past. Someone shouted in the distance, but the words were too faint to be heard over the screaming of the siren.

  Then, even more distantly, she heard the dull thud of an explosion, followed by the sporadic chattering of weapons fire. A tang of smoke began to filter through the ancient university's air circulation system.

  Standing upright, she faced the door. But with the lock on her side disabled, there wasn't much she could do. She felt impotent, trapped. Slapping the flat of her palm on the door, she shouted to attract the attention of anyone who might be passing:

  "What's going on out there?" She waited for a moment, the
n banged again. "Hey! Is anyone there?"

  The door burst open, knocking her to one side. Haid and Emmerik entered, each carrying a projectile rifle.

  "Quickly!" barked the rebel leader. "They've found us."

  "The Dato?" Roche hurriedly regained her composure and collected the slate.

  "Enforcement," said Emmerik. "But the Dato won't be far behind."

  The burly Mbatan came up behind her. "Take this." Another rifle. "We'll have to hurry."

  Roche nodded. "Understood."

  "Let's go." Haid led the way out of the room. Another muffled explosion greeted them as they entered the hallway; a veil of plaster dust drifted down from the ceiling, and the smell of smoke grew stronger.

  "They came up the old subway," Emmerik explained as they picked their way cautiously through the corridors. "About fifteen of them. They broke through the blockades and overran our sentries before help could arrive from above. We dropped ten of them before their own reinforcements showed up. Reports are a little confused, but our best estimate places them at around twenty, with more on the way."

  "They're destroying everything as they come," added Haid. "Batteries, mainframes, stores — whatever they can lay their hands on. They're making sure that if we leave, there'll be nothing for us to return to."

  "We have no choice," said Emmerik. "We have to leave. If we don't, we'll be caught between above and below when the Dato arrive."

  "I know." Haid gritted his teeth. "I just hate to be forced into something I was going to do anyway."

  Roche could sympathise, but she kept her mouth shut. They wound their way through increasingly smoky corridors, occasionally glimpsing other rebels, likewise evacuating the headquarters, until they reached a narrow door tucked into a cul-de-sac. Haid opened it with a key, revealing an equally narrow staircase.

  "The others are waiting for us topside," he said. "Cane included. We can't break radio silence to let them know we're coining — or to make sure they're still there. We could be heading into anything, so be ready." He indicated for them to enter. "Emmerik, you first."