“I say, do be careful,” Ashly murmured.
When the wound had been fully exposed, Sarha slapped the package over it.
“Let’s go,” Joshua said. “Beaulieu, take Melvyn. Sarha and I will handle Ashly. Ione, cover us.”
“Now wait a minute,” one of the agents said. Joshua recognized him as one of the heavyweights accompanying Pauline Webb. “You’re staying right here until the police arrive.”
It was a barman who had recovered fast enough to think of the financial possibilities that started recording the scene in a memory cell. Later that day and all through the night the news companies repeated it almost constantly. Six armed men in a shouting match with a young starship captain (later everyone realized it was Lagrange Calvert himself) and his crew. The captain saying that no one was going to prevent him from taking his injured friend to get proper treatment. And what authority have you got anyway? Four identical and disturbingly menacing cosmoniks stood between Calvert and the armed men. There was a short pause, then everyone’s guns seemed to disappear. The starship crew left the club, carrying their wounded with them.
Anchormen speculated long and loud on the possibility that the six armed men were in fact foreign intelligence agents. Rover reporters tried desperately to hunt them down, with no success.
The police officially confirmed that the two people shot dead by the agents had been possessed (though no details about how they knew for sure were forthcoming). Ayacucho’s governing council issued a statement urging everyone to remain calm. Total priority was given to search and identification procedures which were being put into operation to locate any further possessed in the asteroid. All citizens and residents were asked to cooperate fully.
There was no physical expression of panic, no angry mobs gathering in the biosphere cavern, or marches on the council chamber. People were too fearful of what might be lying in wait outside their apartment doors. Those companies and offices which had remained open started to wind down or conduct their businesses purely over the communications net; anything as long as personal contact was reduced. Parents took their children out of day clubs. Emergency services were brought up to full alert status. Company security staff were seconded to the police to help with the search.
By late afternoon several starships had been given official flight authorization by the council. Most of them were taking councillors, their families, and close aides away for conferences or defence negotiations with allies.
“And we can’t stop them,” Monica complained bitterly. She was sitting at the back of the office which the Edenists were using, sipping a mug of instant tea. There was little else for her to do now, which aggravated her intensely. All the ESA’s assets had been activated. None of them had any idea where Mzu was; few had even heard of Voi let alone any underground group the girl was connected with.
Locating Mzu was all down to the Edenist observation operation now, and the slender hope they would get a lucky break.
“She has not embarked on any starship,” Samuel said. “We are sure of that. Both axial chambers have been under constant observation, and not just by us. Nobody who comes within twenty-five per cent of Mzu’s height and mass has passed into the spaceports without being positively identified.”
“Yes yes,” Monica said irritably.
“If we don’t find her in another four hours we are going to withdraw from Ayacucho.”
She’d known it was coming, but that didn’t make it any easier. “That bad?”
“Yes. I’m afraid so.” He had just finished watching another possession through a spider in one of the residential sections. It was the apartment of an ordinary family of five, doing as they’d been advised, staying at home and not allowing anyone else in. Until the police arrived. All three officers were possessed; and after seven minutes so were the family. “We estimate eight per cent of the population has been possessed now. With everyone isolated and sitting tight, it is becoming easier for them to spread. They have taken over the police force in its entirety.”
“Bastards. They’ve gone for officialdom every time since Capone used the police and civil service to take over New California.”
“A remarkably perceptive man, Mr Capone.”
“I don’t suppose it would do any good broadcasting a general warning, now?”
“We think not. There are few weapons available to the general populace; and most of those are energy weapons, which are worse than useless. We would be adding to the suffering.”
“And since that bloody media campaign, nobody would trust us.”
“Exactly.”
“What do we do if Mzu doesn’t escape?”
“That depends on what happens here. If the possessed take Ayacucho out of this universe, the problem is solved, albeit not very satisfactorily. If they remain here, then the voidhawks will enforce a permanent blockade.”
She gritted her teeth, hating the mounting feeling of frustration. “We could try broadcasting a message to her, offer to take her off.”
“I’ve considered it; and I might well use it as a last resort before we evacuate.”
“Great. So now we just sit and pray she walks in front of a spider.”
“You have an alternative?”
“No. I don’t think any of us do.”
“Perhaps not, though I remain intrigued by what Joshua Calvert and his crew were doing in that club.”
“Trying to get laid by the look of it.”
“No. Calvert is shrewd. If you want my guess he is attempting to approach Voi through her friends.”
“He can’t know who her friends are, he doesn’t have the resources. We’ve only got three of her friends on our list, and that took five hours to acquire.”
“Possibly. But he’s already inserted himself in her social strata with that invitation to a party. And it’s a small asteroid.”
“If Voi is hiding Mzu, she’s not going to reveal herself.”
“True.” His grin was childlike in its mischievousness.
“What?” Monica asked in annoyance.
“The irony. From being an amateur irritant, Calvert is now our only lead.”
* * *
Ashly had said very little during the trip back to the spaceport. Joshua guessed the pilot’s neural nanonic programs were busy suppressing the shock. But Sarha didn’t seem unduly worried, and she was monitoring the medical package around his thigh.
Melvyn was doing his best to sober up fast. One of the serjeants had given him a medical nanonic package which was now wrapped around his neck to form a thick collar. It was busy filtering all traces of alcohol out of the blood entering his brain.
Joshua’s only concern was the fluid which was still trickling out of the bullet hole in Beaulieu’s breastplate. Medical nanonics would be of no value at all in treating the cosmonik. None of them had standardized internal systems; each was unique, and proud of it. He wasn’t even sure if she was mostly mechanical or biological underneath her brass carapace.
“How are you doing?” he asked her.
“The bullet damaged some of my nutrient synthesis glands. It’s not critical.”
“Do you have any . . . er, spares?”
“No. That function has multiple redundancy backup. It looks worse than it is.”
“Don’t tell me, just a flesh wound,” Ashly grunted.
“Correct.”
The commuter lift’s doors opened. Two serjeants slid out into the corridor first, checking for any possessed between them and the docking bay’s airlock tube. “Joshua,” one of them called.
His electronic warfare detector block wasn’t acting up. “What?”
“Someone here for you.”
He learned nothing from the tone, so he pushed off with his feet and glided out into the corridor. “Oh, Jesus wept.”
Mrs Nateghi and her two fellow goons from Tayari, Usoro and Wang were waiting outside the airlock tube. Another man was floating just behind them.
The crew followed Joshua out of the l
ift.
“Captain Calvert.” Mrs Nateghi’s voice was indecently happy.
“Can’t get enough of me, can you? So what is it this time? A million-fuseodollar fine for littering? Ten years hard labour for not returning my empties to the bar? Penal colony exile for farting in public?”
“Humour is an excellent defence mechanism, Captain Calvert. But I would advise you to have something stronger in court.”
“I’ve just saved your asteroid from being taken over by the possessed. Will that do?”
“I’ve accessed the NewsGalactic recording. You were lying on the floor with your hands over your head the whole time. Captain Calvert, I have a summons for you to be present at a preliminary hearing to establish proceedings which will determine the ownership of the starship Lady Macbeth, pursuant to the claim my client has filed upon said ship.”
Joshua stared at her, too incredulous to speak.
“Ownership?” Sarha asked. “But it’s Joshua’s ship; it always has been.”
“That is incorrect,” Mrs Nateghi said. “It was Marcus Calvert’s ship. I have a sensorium recording of Captain Calvert admitting that.”
“He was never trying to deny it. His father is dead. Lady Mac’s registration is filed with the CAB. You can’t challenge that.”
“Yes I can.” The man who had been keeping himself behind the other two lawyers slowly edged forwards.
“You!” Sarha exclaimed.
“Me.”
Joshua stared at him, a very unpleasant chill sluicing into his thoughts. The angular, ebony face was . . . Jesus, I know him. But where from? “So who the hell are you?”
“My name is Liol. Liol Calvert, actually. I’m your big half brother, Joshua.”
* * *
The last place Joshua wanted to bring this . . . this fraud was the captain’s cabin. It was his father’s cabin, for Christ’s sake, even though most of the old fittings and personal mementos had been removed during the last refit. This was the closest Joshua had ever come to knowing a home.
But Ashly needed the deep-invasion packages in Lady Mac’s sickbay to remove the bullet in his thigh. That bitch queen Mrs Nateghi wasn’t going to be deflected, and the summons was real enough. He also had a mission. So it was back to basics.
As soon as the cabin hatch shut behind them, Joshua asked: “Okay, shithead, how much?”
Liol didn’t answer immediately, he was gazing around the cabin. His face carried an expression which was close to trepidation. “I’m finally here,” he said falteringly.
“Do you know how many hours I’ve spent in sensevise simulations learning to fly a starship? I qualified for my C.A.B. pilot’s licence when I was just nineteen.” He glanced awkwardly at Joshua. “This must be very strange for you, Joshua. It is for me.”
“Cut the crap, how much?”
Liol’s face cleared. “How much for what?”
“To drop the claim and bugger off, of course. It’s a neat scam, I’ll give you that. Normally I’d just let the courts break you apart, but I’m a little pushed for time right now. I don’t need complications. So name your price, but you’d better make it less than fifty grand.”
“Nice one, Josh.” Liol smiled and held out his Jovian Bank credit disk, silver side up. Green figures glowed on the surface.
Joshua blinked as he read out the amount of money stored inside: eight hundred thousand fuseodollars. “I don’t understand.”
“It’s very simple, I am your brother. I’m entitled to joint ownership, at the very least.”
“Not a chance. You’re a con artist who knows how to use a cosmetic adaptation package, that’s all. Right now, my face is as famous as Jezzibella’s. You saw an opportunity to make a nuisance of yourself, and remodelled your features.”
“This is my face. I’ve had it ever since I was born, which was before you. Access my public file if you want proof.”
“I’m sure someone as smart as you has planted all the appropriate data in Ayacucho’s memory cores. You’ve done your research, and you’ve shown me you have the money to buy official access codes.”
“Really? And what about you?”
“Me?”
“Yes. How come you acquired this ship after my father died? In fact, how did he die? Is he even dead at all? Prove you’re a Calvert. Prove you are Marcus’s son.”
“I didn’t acquire it, I inherited it. Dad always wanted me to have it. His will is on file in Tranquillity. Anybody can access it.”
“Oh, that’s nice. So Tranquillity’s public records are beyond reproach, while anything stored in the Dorados was put there by criminals. How convenient. I wouldn’t try that one in court if I were you.”
“He’s my father,” Joshua shouted angrily.
“Mine too. And you know it.”
“I know you’re a fake.”
“If you were a true Calvert, you’d know.”
“What the fuck are you talking about?”
“Intuition. What does your intuition tell you about me, Josh?”
For the first time in his life, Joshua knew what vertigo must feel like. To be teetering on the edge of some monstrously deep chasm.
“Ah.” Liol’s grin was triumphant. “Our little family quirk can be a real downer at times. After all, I knew you were real the second I accessed Kelly Tirrel’s report. I also know what you’re going through, Joshua. I felt exactly the same way about you. All that terrible anger, refusing to believe despite all the evidence. We’re more than brothers, we’re almost twins.”
“Wrong. We don’t even come from the same universe.”
“What exactly worries you the most, Josh? That I am your brother, or I’m not?”
“I’ll scuttle Lady Mac before I let anyone else have her. If you’ve got any intuition, you’ll know how true that is.”
“My mistake.” Liol stroked the acceleration couch beside the hatch, the longing obvious in his eyes. “I can see the ship means as much to you as it does to me. No surprise there, we’ve both got the Calvert wanderlust. Hitting you with a big legal scene first off was bound to create some hostility. But I’ve been waiting for this starship to dock here for every day of my life. Dad left Ayacucho before I was even born. In my mind the Lady Macbeth has always been mine. She’s my inheritance, too, Josh. I belong here just as much as you do.”
“A starship only has one captain. And you, asteroid boy, don’t know the first thing about piloting or captaining. Not that it’s relevant, you’ll never be in a position to fly Lady Mac.”
“Don’t fight this, Josh. You’re my brother, I don’t want to alienate you. Christ, just finding out you existed was a hell of a shock. Family feuds are the worst kind. Don’t let’s start one the moment we meet. Think how Dad would feel, his sons going at each other like this.”
“You are not family.”
“Where was Lady Macbeth docked in 2586, Josh? What ports?”
Joshua clenched his fists, a free-fall assault program working out possible trajectories he could leap along. He hated how smug this arrogant bastard was. Wiping that knowing superiority from his ugly flat face would be wonderful.
“The disadvantage with white skin like yours, Josh, is that I can see every blush. It’s a dead giveaway. Me? I always win at poker.”
Joshua seethed silently.
“So, do you want to discuss this sensibly?” Liol asked. “Personally, I’d hate to face Mrs Nateghi across a courtroom.”
“I don’t suppose, Lie, this sudden urge to acquire a starship has anything to do with your asteroid being overrun by possessed?”
“Lovely.” Liol clapped his hands enthusiastically. “You’re a Calvert, all right. Never see a belt without wanting to hit below it.”
“That’s right. So, I’ll see you in court here in about a week’s time. How does that sound?”
“Would you really abandon your own brother to the possessed?”
“If I had one, probably not.”
“I think I’m going to like you after all, Jo
sh. I thought you’d be soft; after all, you’ve had it dead easy. But you’re not.”
“Easy?”
“Compared to me. You knew Dad. You had the big inheritance waiting. I’d call that easy.”
“I’d call that bollocks.”
“If you don’t believe in your own intuition, a simple DNA profile will tell you if we’re related. I’m sure your sick bay could run one for you.”
And Joshua was absolutely stumped at that. There was something about this complete stranger that was deeply unsettling, yet obscurely comforting at the same time. Jesus, he does look like me, and he knows about the intuition, and Dad wiped the log for 2586. It’s not utterly impossible. But Lady Mac is mine. I could never share her.
He stared at Liol for a moment longer, then made a command decision.
The crew were all hanging around on the bridge, along with Mrs Nateghi. Nobody would make eye contact. Joshua shot out of the captain’s cabin, rotated ninety degrees, and slapped his feet on a stikpad. “Sarha. Take our guest down to the sick bay. Get a blood sample, use a dagger if you want, and run a DNA profile.” He jabbed a finger at Mrs Nateghi. “Not you. You’re leaving. Right now.”
She ignored him while managing to project her complete disdain at the same time. “Mr Calvert, what are your instructions?”
“I just told you . . . Oh.”
“Thank you so much for your help,” Liol said with flawless courtesy. “I’ll be in touch with your office if I decide any further legal action is required against my brother.”
“Very well. Tayari, Usoro and Wang will be delighted to help. Forcing recidivists to acknowledge their responsibilities is always rewarding.”
Combating her amusement, Sarha held up a warning finger as Joshua’s face turned beacon red.
“Dahybi, show the lady out, please,” he said.
“Aye, Captain.” The node specialist gestured generously at the floor hatch and followed Mrs Nateghi through.
The Night's Dawn Trilogy Page 201
