Henry didn't want to talk. Didn't want to hear the condolences, the pity. He just wanted it all to go quiet, even if it meant drinking his way to the bottom of a whiskey bottle. It was only the memory of what he found in that lab that drew words from his throat. "Good to see you're fine."
Tia shook her head. "I won't be fine until they get this thing out of my neck. Maybe not even then."
"Right."
She sat down next to him. "We never got along. He was always a pain in the ass."
"He always said the same about you."
"Of course he would." She set her hand on his shoulder. "He'll be missed."
"Yeah."
"And the ship. I know what it meant to you." She drew in a pained breath. "I had a lot of good memories on her too. We all did. I'm sorry you had to lose her, and Felix, to save me."
"Nothing to be sorry about. You deserved to get out of there." With that said, he went quiet.
She pressed on. "Thank you for coming for me. I was starting to lose hope."
"You're welcome."
Henry kept looking toward his feet and the ground. He could tell there was more Tia wanted to say, but right now, he couldn't think about anything, didn't want to hear anything. It all felt so hollow. He had nothing left.
A sigh came from her. "When you're ready, I'd like to talk. About everything."
"Yeah," was all he could manage.
He didn't react when her hand pulled away. "Oskar's probably ready by now," she said. "I'll be back."
When she got no answer, she left the room.
* * *
The Majha's infirmary had some of the best medical technology available, once one was shown all of the special cabinets and lockers by the ship's physician. CDF Intelligence wouldn't settle for anything less, given the importance of the vessel and its crew.
For the moment, Dr. Singh was not in charge of his own infirmary. He stood by as assistant to Oskar for the operation, providing assistance as necessary while Oskar opened up the back of Tia's neck. The others were all watching, all waiting, from outside the surgical theater, anxious to see if something would go wrong.
Oskar's work was precise and methodical. It had to be, given he was working with Tia's nervous system. An error might permanently injure her, even cripple her.
Singh's nurse helpfully sponged sweat from Oskar's forehead while Singh monitored Tia's vital scenes. She remained blissfully unaware of their work thanks to the anesthetic that rendered her unconscious for the duration.
It took two hours, in the end, but when it was over, he pulled the implant from her spine with a pair of tweezers and set it in a dish. Singh provided the dermal regenerative to the open surgical wound before sealing it under bandaging. Oskar held up the implant and let out a sigh. To think that something so evil could look so innocent…
By the time they cleaned up, Tia was waking up. "Good news?" she asked him.
"It's out." He handed the implant to her. "If it helps, do with it what you wish."
It wouldn't really help anything, but it gave Tia great pleasure to drop the implant to the deck and smash it with her foot.
Together they walked out into the infirmary. With the exception of Henry, all of the old Shadow Wolf crew were gathered. "She's fine," he assured them. "The operation was a complete success." He won applause. He knew the appropriate response was to smile, but none formed on his face. Oskar kept thinking back to the design of the implant. To its very existence.
"That must have been hard to get out," Piper said. A smile came to her face. "Honestly, I don't think we ever say how fortunate we are to have someone as skilled as you for our ship surgeon."
"In this case, Piper, it is undeserved," he replied. He felt the tremor in his voice match the one inside him. "I could remove it so easily because I created it."
With the exception of Brigitte, the others exchanged glances of confusion. He didn't blame them, couldn't blame them. After everything that happened on Millerton, he never wanted to talk about it.
Samina was the first to speak. "Doctor, I know you're not the kind of man to make something so horrible." Her eyes remained warm and considerate as they kept a gentle focus on him. "You don't have to be afraid of telling us about it."
This sentiment was met by nods from the others. "You might as well, Oskar," Brigitte suggested. "Given everything happening, best to have the truth out."
"Yes. You are right about that," he agreed. After drawing in a sigh, he found a chair graciously provided by Dr. Singh, who excused himself afterward. "Many years ago, as a student surgeon, I dealt with a case of a young man crippled in an aircar accident. He lost his limbs, and the damage to his nerves precluded prosthetics."
"Ya couldn't clone new ones for him then?" asked Vidia.
Oskar shook his head. "The nerve damage was too extensive for clone replacement as an alternative, and clone replacements are rare in the League anyway; our technology is behind yours." He placed his hands together in his lap while keeping his eyes on his shipmates. "After my graduation, as you know, I was conscripted into the Social Defense Militia and sent to join the forces in Sagittarius. Here I found many other similar cases from those wounded in the war. From the League and, yes, Coalition prisoners as well." He shook his head. "I started to think about ways to bypass the nervous system to make functional prosthetics for those with such damage, or with degenerative disorders and diseases. Something that would give them their lives back. I was encouraged by my friend and mentor, Dr. Jan Breivik, my superior in the Defense Militia's hierarchy."
"So that explains why he spoke about you," Tia said.
Oskar nodded. "We were very close over those years. Close enough to confide in each other our qualms with some of our work in the Militia. Especially the matter of the socialization camps and their cruelty." The low voice of his tone reflected the weight of that trust. For Brigitte especially it hammered home the level of trust in such confidences, given the League's notorious attitude toward dissent against its practices. "Naturally, I spoke of my ideas to him and he backed me. He provided lab and computer simulation time for me to develop my ideas. At first, I thought it was professional and moral support. But I later learned what he really had in mind."
Everyone's attention remained focused as he took a drink from a water pouch. There was pain on his face now, the pain of a shattered trust. "Jan had his own ideas for the technology, obviously. He did not share them until I was at the animal testing stage. While I sought a way for a human brain to control a machine through the interface, he was more interested in the opposite."
"Controlling the brain with a machine," Pieter grumbled.
"Yes." Oskar shook his head. "He wanted something beyond my goal of functional limbs for those with damaged or decayed nerves. His idea was to use the implant to replace the socialization camps. To find a way to control thoughts mechanically with the device, to make certain concepts impossible for someone to keep in their minds. Dissent against Society would no longer be merely illegal, it would be mentally impossible."
"It would turn everyone into a slave," Piper gasped. "I mean, nobody would be able to think anything the League didn't want them to think."
"Yes. Jan believes this the humane alternative to the camps," Oskar answered.
"Explaining why he told me he'd get the implant too." Tia frowned.
"I still don't understand why," Samina complained. "Why is this the only alternative to the camps? Why doesn't the League just let people think whatever they want?"
Brigitte scowled. "Because they like to boss us around."
"It did feel like that, didn't it?" Oskar smiled thinly. "A deeper answer may be found in history. The League's view of history, that of the World Society idea, is that deviation from Social thought and Social virtue leads to suffering and chaos. It leads to the extremes of individualism. The individual, without Society to give purpose and structure, becomes lost in base desires and the terror of their mortality. Because of this, any anti-Social thought must be
swiftly suppressed. For one's own good."
"So ye wanted this technology t' heal people," said Cera. "An' this friend o' yers decided t' use it t' control instead?"
"Yes. From his own perspective, it is the superior alternative to the necessary, and unnecessary, cruelties of the socialization camps." Oskar shook his head. "I begged him to reconsider. That such a use would be inhumane in of itself. He would turn us all into puppets of a central machine. But Jan was determined to end the camps. He believed I found the way to transform all of Society into the best it could become. In the end, my only choice was to desert as I did." He gestured toward Brigitte. "She was to be the first test subject. On the day they brought Brigitte in for the implant procedure, I used the sedative on Dr. Breivik instead. I destroyed our notes, the test implant, and everything I could to prevent him from restarting the project without me."
"Now I wish you'd have killed the wanker when we had the chance," Brigitte grumbled.
"Perhaps it would have been for the better. I simply couldn't bring myself to do it, however. I thought maybe the shock of my desertion would make him understand how far he'd gone." His eyes settled on Tia. "Instead, I brought about your suffering, and I cannot apologize enough, Tia. My work is responsible, so I am responsible."
Tia shook her head. "Oskar, I know what deserting the League means. You took a big risk trying to stop this. Breivik and Aristide and Rigault are responsible for what was done to me, not you, and I don't hold it against you." Her eyes met his. There was warmth in them that made his heart lighter. "You freed me from what they did, and I can't thank you enough."
"You are welcome," he said. He stood quietly. "Well, I had better get everything ready. Some of those you liberated also have the implant, and I will need time to remove them all. Doctor Singh and I will be quite busy."
"I need to go see someone myself." Tia turned her attention to the others. "I know we've got a lot to talk about. As soon as we get to a planet, we'll have to discuss what we're all going to do. Until then, let's stay out of the way of Captain Chagger's people."
The others nodded in reply.
* * *
After leaving the others, Tia traveled across the ship to her next meeting. She felt a thrill of elation at the lack of that ominous warmth at the back of her neck, something she welcomed more than her actual freedom from captivity.
Linh met her near the ship's living areas. Tears formed in her eyes as the two old comrades embraced. "It's wonderful to see you're okay," Linh said. "I was worried about what they would do to you."
"You had good reason to be. I hear you narrowly avoided capture yourself."
"I wasn't as ready for them as I thought," Linh lamented. "Jim and the others fought hard enough that Felix's CDF team was able to take the kidnappers down before they got away with me."
"I'll have to thank them later." Tia said those words and couldn't stop the wince that formed on her face. She couldn't thank Felix, not now. He was gone for good. I'll miss the old bastard. I can't believe it, but I will. "You wanted to see me?"
"My cousin does, actually. The officers' wardroom is empty and Captain Chagger let me borrow it for this. Follow me."
Tia let her friend lead her into another section of the ship. Upon their arrival at the wardroom, Tia recognized young Quan Khánh and an older man, also one of the freed prisoners. "Comrade Tia!" Quan remained enthusiastic. "This is Comrade Shahkrit. He's Chairman of the Party chapter in Hue."
"Comrade." Tia nodded to the man. He looked to be a few years younger than her.
Shahkrit returned the nod. "Comrade. It is a great honor to meet you both." He smiled warmly. "Two of the surviving heroes of the Great Betrayal."
"Not counting the amnestied survivors either?" asked Tia.
He shook his head. "No. Some of them… well, they retain amicable relations with Party members, but those who have gone over to our betrayers and the corporate government have all been read out of the Party."
Tia felt a pang in her heart, a barb of sadness and anger. "Like Felipe Xiu."
Shahkrit nodded. "Yes. I know he was a friend and good comrade in his youth."
"We would have died that day if not for him," Linh said. "What is it you wanted to see us about?"
"A matter of great importance for our people," Shahkrit explained. "My capture aside, the Hestian Workers Party and our allies in the other anti-corporate movements are doing well. Many of the cadres lost sixteen years ago have been rebuilt with a new generation of Hestians ready to fight for our freedom."
Those words were a pleasant surprise to Tia. "I had no idea," she said. "With the lack of guerrilla activity, I believed the Party was still recovering."
"That was the plan, although it was the HBC we hoped to trick." Quan grinned. "The less a threat we seem, the more their need for profit drives down their security programs."
"That has been our plan. To remain quiet and rebuild, slowly." Shahkrit settled his hands on the table. "Over the past several years, we've arranged a number of arms caches in and around Thyssenbourg and the other major corporate cities. I will give you specifics soon."
"You intend to try our strategy again," Tia said. "To seize the cities in a single stroke and force the corporations to negotiate."
"Yes, that is our intent." Shahkrit shook his head. "But now I fear we may be running out of time."
"How so?" asked Linh.
"This ship's captain graciously let me contact some of my peers."
"Over the GalNet?" Tia wondered about that. It sounded dangerous.
"We have… off-world allies," Shahkrit remarked delicately. "Fellow Hestians or comrades from other worlds with corporate influences looking to aid our movement. They can maintain contact with those left on Hestia without risking Rigault or his allies tracking the Majha."
"We shouldn't underestimate them," Tia warned. "But go on."
"The Hestian National Assembly just announced a vote to be held, in about two weeks' time," Shahkrit said. "They will debate a new law allowing for corporate managers to require the use of a 'security chip' in every worker as an anti-strike and anti-sabotage measure, on pain of dismissal without reference." He frowned deeply and, Tia thought, for good reason. "Dismissal without reference" was a megacorp tactic to blacklist revolutionaries or those Hestians that they considered too independent. Nobody would hire someone without reference outside of a small circle of small businesses, businesses that never earned well. Any Hestian in that situation was more likely to either starve to death or, in the attempt to get food, get arrested and sent to penal labor. "Our contacts expect it to pass, given the influence supporting it."
"The implant." Tia's gut twisted. "That's a cover for the implant. They're going to turn our people into puppets."
"We have to move before they can start the implant process, or we risk them holding our people hostage against us."
"Are your forces ready to attempt a new revolution?" Linh asked Shahkrit.
The answer was clear on his face before he spoke. "No. We haven't trained sufficiently, and it is difficult to do so. Nor do we have the numbers to overwhelm the HSF. We certainly can't if they have League security troops aiding them."
"So we need outside help."
"Yes, Comrade Tia, we do; it is our only chance now."
Tia stood. "I'll consult with Captain Chagger. Maybe the Coalition will act due to the League presence. Even covert support…"
She was cut off by the sound of a borrowed link going off. Shahkrit removed it from his jumpsuit and checked it. His face paled.
"What is it?"
"Damn that Rigault," Shahkrit swore. "He is clever." When his answer clearly proved insufficient, Shahkrit tapped at the link screen and turned up the volume for the resulting replay.
A woman's voice came over the link, speaking with a Canaan accent. "—allegations from Neutral Space about CDF covert activities on the world of Hestia. According to a press statement by Director Antoine Rigault of the Hestian Security Forces, a recent
attack and mass prisoner escape from the Thyssenbourg Justice and Rehabilitation Center was conducted by CDF special forces. The Director is accusing the Terran Coalition of backing 'political radicals' through this act and the destruction of a destroyer stated to belong to Rigault Heavy Industries' security fleet."
"That damn liar."
Linh's interruption ended just in time for more. "Spokesmen for the League peace delegation in Lawrence City echoed the charges and provided identification for several CDF officers supposedly involved in the action, led by a Major Albert Wu of the Terran Coalition Marine Corps. It is further alleged that former CDF officer Colonel James Henry was a planner of the attack. Colonel Henry, who was cleared several months ago of wrongdoing in the loss of the CSV Laffey in '46, is accused of working with a revolutionary wanted by the Hestian government for terrorism-related charges. An unnamed source claimed Henry and his crew were directly involved and may be responsible for the loss of the Rigault ship.
"We have no formal word from Cabinet yet, but a source close to Vice President Rhodes confirms the Coalition government is investigating the claims and will act to protect the peace treaty from 'rogue militarist elements'."
"That was the GNN service," Shahkrit said.
"That son of a bitch." Tia slammed a fist on the table. "He's burning the bridge before we can cross it."
"And burning Jim and his crew too," Linh pointed out. "We'd better talk to Captain Chagger."
Somehow, Tia suspected she wouldn't be in the most understanding of moods.
28
The San Salvador system was just one jump from Coalition space. The garden world's biosphere was one of the more lush types found, although the native flora and fauna contained chemical components not easily digested by Earth-descended species. The need to rely on food imports and careful soil replacement for native crop-growing and animal husbandry contributed to the planet's relative lack of settlement and economic difficulties.
Breach of Trust: Breach of Faith Book Four Page 22
