On The Imperium’s Secret Service (Imperium Cicernus) (11 page)

She wanted to ask him a dozen questions, but his forbidding expression kept her lips firmly closed.  Time passed slowly until he finally held up a hand to stop her, just outside what looked like a natural firebreak sliced through the jungle.  Or perhaps it wasn't natural at all.  A closer look revealed that
nothing
grew in a two-metre gap between the part of the jungle they were in and a second part leading up towards the lava pools.  The sky was taking on an inhumanly red tint from the volcanoes, from where the lava bubbled up to the surface.  Fitz produced a tool she didn't recognise from his belt and waved it around, scanning for something.  A moment later he took her arm and led her firmly across the firebreak.

It struck her at once, an unpleasant sensation vibrating down into her very bones.  She wanted to turn and run, as if what lay beyond the invisible barrier was something she would never want to see.  The fright she’d felt the first time she’d come face-to-face with the utterly inhuman Spiders was nothing compared to the reaction she felt as they crossed the roar.  Sheer terror would have rooted her to the spot if Fitz hadn't been dragging her along; as it was, she almost managed to tear herself free and run back towards the cabin.  An eternity in a jungle filled with savage man-eating animals seemed preferable to facing whatever lay beyond the barrier. 

And then the sensation was gone, as if someone had simply clicked off a switch.  Mariko sagged to the ground, breathing heavily, her body aching worse than it had done after they’d been arrested.  The repulsive sensation had vibrated through her entire body and soul.

“Standard zone of emotional repulsion,” Fitz commented.  He didn't seem to have been affected, the bastard.  “Anyone who brushes against the field will be gently repelled, often without realising that they
have
been repelled.  But if you try to actually walk through the field, the sensation gets stronger and stronger until you turn and run for your life.  You need special training to walk through a field without being seriously affected.”

“Training that you have,” Mariko said, between gasps.  “Milord...who are you?”

“All in good time,” Fitz said.  He leaned closer to her and brushed his lips against her ear.  “From now on, we must be very quiet and careful.  That won’t be the only security measure they set up to keep out unwanted intruders.”

Mariko wanted to ask who
they
were, but Fitz led the way into the jungle before she could say anything. 

Unlike the previous section, there were almost no animal or insect sounds in the darkness.  The repulsion field would probably affect animals as well as humans, she realised, driving them out of the area in a manner they couldn't resist. 

But why would
anyone
want to seal off part of Tuff?  It was an entire planet of crazily engineered plant and animal life.  Outside of the hunting and shooting fraternity, she couldn’t imagine why anyone would want to live on the world.  It was simply too dangerous to support a colony.  There were desert or ice worlds that were more supportive of human life.

Fitz had donned a pair of goggles and was scanning from side to side, looking for signs of a second security measure.  It wouldn't be something visible to unaugmented human eyes, Mariko was certain.  She’d studied starship security systems during her training and while she’d never looked at any devices for use on the ground, the basic principles had to be the same.  The most useful security device was one that was never seen until it was too late.  She found herself glancing around, wondering if the birds or insects had been rigged out with cameras and watching sensors.  Given unlimited time and money, the entire jungle could have been turned into an early warning system.

In the distance, she could hear a very faint sound, almost like people chanting.  Fitz held up a hand and motioned for her to remain where she was, and then slipped off into the darkness, leaving her alone to try to figure out what she heard.  A long moment passed.  She was sure the words were on the edge of comprehension, as if they were something she’d heard before, but any possible meaning was lost after Fitz crawled towards her and motioned her forward.

She moved from tree to tree, and was surprised when she saw a small, dark object affixed to one of the tree trunks.  Fitz winked at her, his face visible as rays of light shone down from the moon overhead, indicating that he had disabled it. 

He stopped for a moment and then motioned for her to get down on the ground, following her until they were lying together under a bush.  Mariko suddenly saw a dark shape gliding through the trees ahead of them.  A man, carrying a gun...a watchman.  She felt her heartbeat pounding so loudly that she was astonished that the watchman couldn't hear it as he walked his lonely beat before he faded into the darkness. 

Fitz put one hand on her back to keep her on her hands and knees as they slid forward, seemingly unbothered by the prospect of crawling through mud.  Mariko wondered how they would ever explain their muddy clothes to Mai, or who would be charged with washing them after they got back to the cabin.  She was sure, for some reason, that Lady Mary would not approve of Fitz’s night-time excursion.  But what was she hiding on her world?

Fitz moved forward carefully, watching for more sentries as they approached the sound of the chanting.  The patrols didn't seem to be very frequent, but there didn't seem to be any pattern to them either.  It struck her that a routine patrol pattern would be easy for someone to subvert, simply by timing the sentries and slipping through the gaps in their coverage.  Thankfully, Fitz seemed to be good at spotting them. 

Mariko suspected that Lady Mary’s guards – if they
did
belong to Lady Mary – would have orders to detain any intruders and then, perhaps, drop them in the lava pools.  Even aristocrats died on Tuff.  How many of the dead had been killed by wild animals and how many of them had stumbled across something they shouldn’t?

There was a gap in the trees up ahead.  Fitz crawled towards it and peered through, and then beckoned for her to follow him.  Mariko found herself staring down at a cliff she hadn't even realised was there, a cliff leading down to a hollowed-out volcano that had died long ago.  Someone had replaced the volcano’s stone with concrete, turning it into a training area.  And hundreds of humanoids were marching across, drilling in a manner she vaguely recognised as comparable to the Civil Guards she’d seen training as a young girl.  Some of them were human, others were very definitely non-human.  And they were
all
carrying weapons.

The sight made her blanch.  Everyone
knew
that the Imperium had imposed unity and discipline on alien races too primitive to understand the need for it, giving the aliens a place within humanity’s framework where they could live in peace.  And if it demanded in return that aliens work for human masters, what did that matter, compared to the prospect of peace?  But some aliens were too primitive to understand the necessity of their situation and rose in revolt against their human overlords.  Because they couldn't be trusted, giving aliens weapons was utterly banned.  There was no way of knowing that they wouldn't end up pointed at humanity.

But the aliens below were not only armed, they were being drilled by humans! 

She tried to count the number of human traitors below and found it impossible.  Some of them were clearly enhanced humans from the heavy-world planets, others so pureblood that they might have come directly from Homeworld itself.  And they had given the aliens weapons!  She shuddered as she recognised some of the weapons: HVM launchers, capable of bringing down a starship or a shuttle with a single hit; heavy plasma cannons, used only by the Imperial Marines; even a single close-in defence system, capable of shooting shuttles or orbit-dropping Marines out of the sky.  There were no signs of any starships, but they wouldn't be needed, not until the army went elsewhere.  They were already more than strong enough to overrun the minimal defences on Tuff.

She looked over at Fitz and saw the grim expression on his face.  Another of his gadgets was in his hand, recording the entire scene below.  He looked back at her, his face set, but somehow unsurprised. 

He’d suspected as much even before they landed on Tuff, she realised. He hadn't come for the safari, but to check out Lady Mary’s world. 

Just who was he? And what did he want? 

Somehow, she was
sure
that he could have flown the
Bruce Wayne
on his own, without the need for a pair of pilots.  But if his cover was that of a weak and useless aristocrat...

He tapped his lips, reminding her to keep silent, and then crawled back towards the jungle.  Mariko waited until he signalled her, and then followed him, no longer concerned about the mud that covered her body.  After what she’d seen, she no longer knew what to do.  As pilots, they had standing orders to report any hint of alien rebellion to Imperial Intelligence – or to the local Civil Guard – but there was
no
Civil Guard on Tuff.  And the person in charge of the planet
had
to be conspiring with the rebels. 

But why would Lady Mary risk her position for a bunch of alien scum and human traitors?

For all she knew, Tuff might be an excellent place for the rebels to base themselves.  Who in the Civil Guard would risk his career by investigating a world owned outright by the aristocracy?  No one would want the enmity of Lady Mary’s family, even if they
did
manage to secure proof that Lady Mary had been working with the rebels. 

“All right,” a voice said, so close that she almost jumped out of her skin.  “Stop right there!”

A red dot of light danced between her and Fitz, warning them that the guard carried a gun with a laser targeting device.  “Stand up, very slowly,” the guard ordered.  “Keep your hands in the air at all times, where I can see them.”

Mariko obeyed, feeling sweat and mud trickling down her body.  It crossed her mind that she had to look a ghastly sight, and she almost giggled.  Fitz moved beside her, one hand concealing something that she prayed wouldn't be visible to the guard.  There was only one guard, Mariko realised, as they turned around, a guard who didn't seem to have summoned any reinforcements.  He kept his rifle moving swiftly between Fitz and herself, ready to shoot them both down instantly, if necessary.  But surely his superiors would want prisoners...

“Good grief,” Fitz said, suddenly.  “Look at that.”

The guard’s eyes only twitched, but it was just long enough for Fitz to hurl himself at the guard’s legs and send him tumbling to the ground.  He moved so fast that he was almost a blur, suggesting that he had been augmented as well as genetically-modified.  The guard let out a yelp that was hastily suppressed as Fitz pushed something against his head.  He sighed and collapsed to the ground.

“Mental disruptor,” Fitz muttered, as he retrieved the guard’s weapon and placed it on his chest.  “He’ll be out of it for thirty minutes...and when he wakes up, he’ll have short-term memory loss.  It’ll look like he fell asleep while on duty.  His superiors will
not
be happy.”

Mariko hesitated, and then whispered back, “What if he called in before he intercepted us?”

“Then things get interesting,” Fitz admitted.  He finished positioning the guard and returned the disruptor to his pocket.  “Come on.  We’d better get back to the cabin.”

The return trip was more of a nightmare than the trip to the hidden training camp.  Mariko found herself pushed by the repulse field and Fitz had to pick her up and carry her over the firebreak before her mind stopped panicking and returned to normal.  It didn't seem to have a softer setting on the way back, and was probably intended to keep the alien trainees from deserting if they had second thoughts about taking up arms against their human masters.  After that, Fitz just walked back as if he had a GPS in his head, which he probably did.  If he’d been augmented, finding his way around the planet wouldn't be a problem for him.

“So,” she said, when they reached the cabin.  “What now?”

“Now?”  Fitz asked.  “We shower.  And then we sleep.”

He made a show of checking his watch.  “We only have a few hours before we’re expected to go on safari, remember?”

Mai was still asleep, Mariko realised with some relief.  Explaining why she looked muddy, why they
both
looked muddy, would have been beyond her.  The exhaustion hadn't hit her until they’d stumbled into the cabin, barely bothering to glance around to check if anyone was watching for their return.  She left a set of muddy tracks on the floor as she headed towards the bedroom, before Fitz put a hand on her arm.