Pushing Ice

by Alastair Reynolds

  “That would be Bella’s line, of course.”

  “That doesn’t necessarily make it wrong.”

  “There’s another, equally valid view,” Svetlana said. “The Fountainheads have nothing else to offer: certainly nothing that we can use. Yet they still need Janus. So they keep us here, denying us access to the rest of the Structure.”

  “They’ve warned us of the dangers lying beyond the end-cap. That isn’t quite the same thing.”

  “Have they given us a passkey?”

  “You don’t give razor blades to a baby.”

  “Then it’s time we stopped acting like babies. That’s why I went up there today, Ryan. It wasn’t to spite Bella, or to punish her for what she did to Parry. It was to move us forward. To do something.”

  “Well, you certainly did that.”

  The woman and the boylike man studied each other as curtains of dust flung themselves across the arid, salmon-red landscape of Mars. A golden dirigible, emblazoned with a crescent and star, made a perilous docking with one of the high minarets of the walled city.

  Svetlana said, “I was expecting more of a reaction from Bella.”

  “Such as?”

  “I don’t know. A police action against Eddytown, perhaps. Arrest and detention of known Barseghian loyalists.”

  Axford looked disappointed. “Bella’s shrewder than that. I thought you’d have realised that by now.”

  “She sent you for a reason, I suppose.”

  Axford studied her coldly. “A long time ago, Bella was warned about the Musk Dogs. The Fountainheads told her to expect their arrival one day. They also told her that the Musk Dogs would exploit the slightest visible rift in our society. That’s why Bella worked so hard, and for so long, not to alienate you. She did everything in her power to bring you back into the fold, Svetlana. There was no exile for you. She even had you invited to Takahashi’s party.”

  “All that just in case the Musk Dogs showed up?”

  “Basic human decency had something to do with it, as well.”

  Svetlana scoffed. “There was nothing decent about what she did to Parry.”

  “You’d love to think that was purely personal, wouldn’t you?”

  “Wasn’t it?”

  “I think Bella came very close to letting Parry go. I’m certain that would have been her preferred option. She likes and admires Parry.” Axford’s attention continued to drift to the mark on her forehead. He had, Svetlana thought, a child’s inability not to stare. “The whole episode hurt her more than you’ll ever know, Svetlana.”

  “Lecture over, Ryan? Or was that the reason you came?”

  “I mentioned the need for visible unity,” Axford said, unrifled. “Bella still feels it’s important not to show the least sign of discord to the Musk Dogs. That’s why she’s made no announcement denouncing your action, or the imposition of a police state, or mass arrests.”

  “I don’t follow.”

  He appraised her. “Bella has a proposal. She will disregard what you have done. She will pursue the matter no further, and make no effort to clamp down on your sympathisers. You will not be punished, and you may continue your activities such as they were before this day. On, needless to say, one condition.”

  “Let’s hear it.”

  “You report back to the Musk Dogs — by radio or in person, Bella doesn’t care. Presumably you told them you were entitled to negotiate on behalf of the entire colony?“

  Svetlana shrugged off the question.

  “You maintain whatever lie you told them,” Axford continued. “The Musk Dogs will go on thinking we sent you. And you will tell them that you wish to curtail all dealings with them. Whatever deals you’ve made — whatever you’ve given them, or received from them — all that becomes void. If that means giving things back to the Musk Dogs, we’ll pay that price. Just as long as they leave us alone.”

  “It’s too late,” Svetlana said. “They’ve already cut through the Sky. Or didn’t you notice?”

  “We noticed. We noticed the thing that followed you in, as well. The Fountainheads are taking a great interest in it. According to Bella it may not be the simple energy tap the Musk Dogs told you it was.”

  “And Bella would know, would she?”

  “The Fountainheads have intelligence. The intelligence says that the Musk Dogs may be trying to destroy Janus.”

  “As if that made any sense.”

  “It’d make a lot of sense if you were interested in blowing a way out of here.” She laughed at him. “Very good, Ryan. Handy how this intelligence arrives now, just when Bella needs something on me.”

  “So you don’t believe it.”

  “Bella’s entitled to believe what she likes. I know a spoiling action when I see one.”

  “I don’t think the Fountainheads would lie about this.”

  Svetlana felt a sudden, overwhelming need to connect with him, make him see her side of the argument. “Ryan — listen to me. I was up there. I’ve seen what the Musk Dogs are like. They’re unpleasant.” She fingered the scent mark. “I didn’t like them, in case you were wondering, but I sensed that all they cared about was business.”

  “Business can kill if you’re on the wrong end of it. I thought we learned that lesson on Rockhopper.”

  “This was a price worth paying. They’re going to give us real power here. We’ll be players, finally. I want to get out there, Ryan. I want to see what the rest of the Structure looks like. I want to meet the Spicans and ask them some hard questions.”

  He looked at her with bruising unfamiliarity, as if they had never known each other. “I’m glad you gave the matter that much thought, at least.”

  She stood up sharply. “We’re done here. My answer — pretty obviously — is no. All that remains is to find out what Bella plans to do about it.”

  Axford stood up as well — he had to lower himself down from one of the high chairs around the conference table. Despite his stature, Svetlana still found that he had the physical presence of an adult man, combined with a gaze that penetrated through to her hidden frailties, laying them open for slow, measured, clinical inspection.

  “It’s not too late,” he said.

  “For what?”

  “To step back from the brink. Bella’s forgiving. She always has been.”

  “Give her my regards,” Svetlana said.

  * * *

  They talked, via ShipNet. Svetlana stared at Bella with a defiance that cut across fifty years, back to the darkest hours aboard Rockhopper.

  “Let’s keep this brief,” Svetlana said.

  “I thought you’d listen to Ryan,” Bella said. “We both owe him so much, after all this time. He’s been kind to both of us.”

  “This wasn’t about me and Ryan. And I did listen.”

  “Ryan told you what the Musk Dogs really want with Janus.”

  “He told me a story — and he believed it, I’m sure. You may even believe it. That doesn’t make it any more convincing.”

  “The thing they sent back with you is going to destroy Janus.”

  “So you say.”

  “Jim Chisholm believes it, too.”‘

  “Chisholm’s part of the problem. Who knows how much of Terrier-boy they put into his head?”

  “I heard you patched things up with Schrope before you sent him into the Fountainhead ship.”

  Svetlana shook her head. “He volunteered for that mission. It was one good deed after a lifetime of being a creep.”

  “Think whatever you want about Jim, but I know he isn’t lying. I’m so sure of it that I’m already putting together an evacuation plan.”

  That news, for a moment, broke through Svetlana’s glaze of indifference. “You’re evacuating Crabtree?”

  “I’m evacuating Janus. There’s no official word of it since I don’t want mass panic, but when the time comes I’ll have things in place to get all of us Skyside in a matter of hours. Maglev to Underhole, Underhole to what’s left of the Fountainhead e
mbassy. The Fountainheads will take care of us until we get back on our feet again. There are only five hundred of us, so it’s still doable.”

  “Send me a postcard.”

  “Listen to me, you self-centred bitch. I’m evacuating the whole place. That includes Eddytown. That means your people. That means you have an obligation to help.”

  Svetlana looked as if she had just been slapped hard across the face. “Help you?”

  “Help us all. You need to get your people to Crabtree so that we can shuttle them to Underhole and the embassy. We can’t afford to wait until I begin the mass evacuation. We have to start now, which means you need to invent a pretext to get your people here.”

  “I get it. I clear Eddytown, then you send in the Apparatus bailiffs and take it from me.”

  “You still think this is just about me and you, don’t you?”

  “I outflanked you with the Musk Dogs. You can’t deal with that, so you’re trying to spoil things with some fear-mongering shit about them blowing up Janus.”

  “You want to talk about fear? I’m scared, Svieta. So is Jim. So are the Fountainheads. You’re messing with stuff you don’t understand, and it’s about to blow up in all our faces. Damn right we’re fearful.”

  “Then I guess you only have yourself to blame. All those times when you could have shared the big picture with me —”

  “You want a piece of the picture? Okay, here’s one: the Musk Dogs left doors open behind them. They’ve allowed the Uncontained to leak through.“ Bella watched her old friend’s face, alert for the slightest tic of recognition. ”Or didn’t they mention the Uncontained?“

  Svetlana lied badly. “I don’t remember.”

  “Let me fill you in, then. They’re a hostile intelligence, worse than the Musk Dogs. They’ve already wiped out another culture that was at least as advanced and clever as us. And they’re on their way. When the Musk Dogs blow a hole in the wall, the Uncontained will use it to escape as well. There’s no telling what kind of damage they’ll do before they leave, just to make sure no one follows them.”

  Something of that got through. Bella saw it: the slightest crack of doubt in Svetlana’s armour.

  “What’s done is done,” Svetlana said. “If the Musk Dogs left doors open, the damage was done long before I spoke to them.”

  “But you can do something about it now,” Bella urged. “I’m pushing ahead with the evacuation, but there’s still a chance we won’t need to leave. Go back to the Musk Dogs. Tell them the deal is off. Tell them to take their fucking machine out of Janus and leave us alone. Tell them to leave, and to shut the door on the way out.”

  Across the ShipNet link, Svetlana eyed Bella with a guile that froze her blood. “They wouldn’t need to,” she said. “I have the means to make a passkey.”

  Bella remembered the Whisperer technology. “Something the Musk Dogs gave you?”

  “Something we negotiated for,” Svetlana corrected. “I have the forge-vat construction file.”

  “Are you making it?”

  “No, not yet. Other things to attend to first.”

  “You can’t trust the file. The Musk Dogs aren’t expecting to do repeat business with you. It could be anything.”

  “I’ll take that chance.”

  “Even if the file is valid, you’re attempting to make something alien in one of our forge vats. Doesn’t that give you the slightest pause for thought?”

  “So you don’t want the passkey.”

  “Of course I want it,” Bella said urgently, “but I want to make damn sure it isn’t a trick.”

  “How would you know?”

  “Wang’s good. He’s done nothing but eat and dream forge-vat files for forty-eight years.”

  “So I hand it over, just like that?”

  “Please, Svetlana, let me have the passkey file.”

  “Without talking to the Musk Dogs, you won’t have the faintest idea what to do with it.”

  “Jim can show me. He’ll know. In the meantime, all you have to do is tell the Musk Dogs that negotiations are suspended.”

  “And then what?”

  “Then we’ll talk.”

  “Not good enough. I’d want guarantees up front, starting with your resignation and Parry’s immediate release.”

  “You won’t let that go, will you?”

  “I dealt you a strong hand when I brought Jim back from the dead, Bella. It cost me Crabtree. I don’t blame him for that… I don’t even blame you for it. But I’m not letting this one slip. If the passkey means so much, you’ll do what it takes.”

  Bella nodded, accepting that this was how it must happen. She could already feel thirty-five years of rule slipping through her fingers, and she knew that not one instant of that could be measured against the preservation of her people.

  “They’re coming, Svieta. Whatever you want to do with me, decide quickly. We need to start making that passkey. At the very least it’ll let us get out of the chamber before Janus blows.”

  “Will you resign?”

  “Whatever you want. Just hand over the file.”

  Svetlana must have considered her options before the meeting, for she answered quickly, with an assurance that left no room for negotiation. “I’ll ride the maglev into Crabtree.

  I’ll be wearing a suit, and I’ll have the file with me. You won’t do anything to threaten me. If you do, you’ll lose the passkey.“

  “I understand,” Bella said. “When can I expect you?”

  Svetlana glanced at a watch. “It’s ten now. I’ll need a little over an hour to prepare, then I’ll can catch the train. We can be at Crabtree thirty minutes after departure. How does noon sound?”

  “Noon sounds fine,” Bella said.

  * * *

  Something emerged from one of the blank faces of the memorial cube. It broke the smooth surface as if stepping through a curtain of thick black rain and then stopped. It was humanoid, only a little larger than a man. The glossy, sharp-edged surfaces of its midnight-black carapace suggested some close-fitting martial armour. It had no head, only a kind of evil-looking hatchet, too flattened ever to have contained a human skull. In place of hands it had perforated edged foils, thinned to a devastating sharpness.

  Bella barely dared speak. “What is it?”

  “An instrument of local government,” Chromis said. “We call it a reeve. It enforces the policy decisions of the Congress when they need enforcing. Which isn’t very often, thankfully.”

  “It’s a machine.”

  Chromis nodded. “Little more than a hollow shell of femtotech, with all its intelligence crammed into a few millimetres of skin.”

  “What can it do?”

  “Anything. A reeve can shape itself into any enforcement device, for any legally sanctioned purpose.”

  “What could it do against Eddytown, if I sent it in?” Bella had already informed Chromis of the worsening situation.

  “After a certain amount of time,” Chromis said, “there would be no Eddytown. But one reeve can only do so much. It cannot replicate: it’s forbidden to transmute local matter except to facilitate self-repair. But the cube can make many reeves. This unit only masses fifty kilograms. The cube could produce a regiment of a thousand reeves before its own mass was depleted by one quarter. They would already outnumber the entire human population of Janus. If that were deemed insufficient, I could issue an emergency directive and instruct the cube to convert its entire mass into reeves. There would be four thousand of them.”

  Bella looked at the cube. “What would happen to you, Chromis?”

  “I would continue to run on the reeves until they returned to the cube. I wouldn’t notice any difference, provided a significant number of reeves did not come to harm.”

  “How can one of those ever come to harm?”

  “It probably won’t, not here, provided we move quickly, before the Musk Dogs give Svetlana weapons that might trouble the reeve.” Chromis paused. “But you needn’t worry about me. I am
more resilient than you can imagine. I had to be, to last all this time.”

  “I’m glad you found me, Chromis, no matter how long it took.”

  “I’m glad as well,” the politician said. “I just wish there was a means to send a message back to those obstinate fools who nearly blocked the memorial project. Not enough funds, they said. A pointless gesture, doomed never to succeed. Belts need tightening. Perhaps in another ten thousand years. Build a monument instead, or a civic amenity. A nice ornamental fountain.” Chromis snorted her derision. “As if that was ever going to stop me.”

  “You were right to push.”

  “I was, wasn’t I?”

  Axford coughed a little boy’s cough. “Are you going to tell me what that thing is, Bella, or do I have twenty guesses?”

  “It’s a tool,” Bella said. “A robot. Chromis says it will be enough to pacify Eddytown, to seize control. There’d be a good chance of obtaining the passkey by force if Svetlana has already copied the file into the forge vat.”

  “Just that one robot?”

  “Chromis can always make more of them.”

  “How many more?”

  “Lots.”

  “Good. Then let’s send this one in before things get any worse. We know she has a forge vat, and we can be pretty sure she’s brewing something unpleasant in it.”

  Bella looked back at Chromis. “How long would it take for this thing to reach Eddytown? She’ll be leaving on the maglev in under the hour.”

  A breeze touched Bella’s cheek. The reeve had flicked to the other side of the room with no hint of intervening motion.

  “Reeves usually need the element of surprise to enable effective pacification,” Chromis explained. “It reshapes itself to move from point to point, like water being poured from one glass to another. In vacuum, it’s even faster. It could be inside Eddytown within five minutes, if you wished.”

  The horror of what she was on the verge of doing was enough to make Bella feel sick. “How would it… operate?”

  “It can stun or incapacitate,” Chromis said. “If it does not encounter significant opposition, there need be no casualties.”