The Orphaned Worlds (34 page)
By the time they reached the south-facing slopes of the foothills of the Kentigern range, it was after dusk and torches were out, slotted to keep the beams tight. Climbing out of the thickets of the forest, they found the notch between two hills that led up to the rocky gully. When the stony path to the stronghold of Tusk Mountain came into view, night had well and truly fallen, a deep blackness at this elevation, contrasting with the glows and shifting patches of radiance down in the forest itself. After another half an hour of gruelling clambering across slopes of loose rock and spiny bushes they reached the vicinity of the Stealth Gate. Greg knew that the observatory had IR feeds from the exterior so he wasn’t surprised when a figure emerged from the shadows and beckoned them to follow.
All kept silent still, all the way to the secret entrance. Greg sent them in one by one, leaving himself to the last, glancing out over the forest’s uneven, glow-speckled expanse.
The massive stone blocks were thudding into place at his back as he emerged in the antechamber where amber lamplight threw shadows across pattern-carved stone walls.
Back to corridors and enclosed spaces,
he thought
. Back to cold rock, reeks of dankness and unwashed bodies, back to being in command of several hundred people, back to being responsible. Perhaps Chel had the right idea
.
He could almost feel the weight on his shoulders.
Then he heard excited voices from the adjoining room, Rory’s among them.
‘… he here? Aye, there ye are! Come and see who dropped by!’ Rory stood aside from the doorway and a tall figure with a dark beard and a bandaged arm stepped out, grinning.
‘Ah, Gregory, dearest of all my friends! So you thought I was dead, too, eh? Well, it takes more than some clockwork monster to put Alexandr Vashutkin in the ground!’
The two men let out roars of laughter and shook hands furiously. Greg felt a wave of relief and exhilaration yet some part of him coolly regarded Vashutkin, and wondered.
After dark, the assassin, one Natalya Petrenko, got as far as the rear of the ambassador’s villa before Ezgara bodyguards caught her. They could have stopped her in the streets outside the compound but the appearance of vulnerability both justified harsh security methods and played well with the domestic audience. Inside the villa, Ambassador Kuros was kept invisibly appraised by his AI mind-brother General Gratach while entertaining several high-ranking guests from Iseri. Hacclon Adzarv was brother to the commander of the Skypalace guard and thus prosperous and well connected, and many of his accompanying family members were of an equal social stature. Kuros made no mention of the drama going on outside until later in the evening as the guests were boarding their opulent shuttle for the return journey to the
Purifier
. On hearing the bare details from their own mind-siblings, Hacclon and his wife approached him seeking clarification. He assured them that no one was ever in danger from a lone terrorist, no matter how fanatically determined.
‘Yet you elect to remain here in these frontier conditions,’ Hacclon said. ‘Dealing with these ungrateful primitives.’
Kuros smiled stoically. ‘The responsibilities of my vocation and station, noble Hacclon. Loyalty binds, duty commands.’
‘You are an example to us all, Ambassador,’ Hacclon said. ‘You may be certain that I shall speak highly of you on our return.’
Kuros answered with a bow of the appropriate depth and watched from the villa steps as the guests finished boarding, and the shuttle rose and climbed into the night sky.
Satisfactory
, he thought and went to view the prisoner.
In the guard annexe, the Human female had already been sedated and podded for transportation. Gratach was with him as he considered the restrained form within the translucent pod.
‘What weaponry this time?’ he subvocalised.
‘
Two projectors, a silenced slug thrower and a compressed-air needle gun; a thinblade; two lengths of garrotting wire; and a variety of pellet grenades
.’ Gratach grinned. ‘
Well armed, for a female, and sign of your importance in the eyes of our enemies
.’
‘Background, family, associates?’
‘
Former service worker, de-employed. Family untraceable, except for a younger brother who died in custody two weeks ago. Associates, thought to be seditious elements centred on Gagarin and Invergault
.’
‘Your recommendation?’
‘
Trial and execution, in public. Lessons must be spelled out so that they may be learned
.’
Kuros allowed himself a thin smile. ‘I admire your consistency, mind-brother. But our superiors permit no wastage, however appealing. If this Human had known contacts of interest it would have been worth turning her with the Dust – instead, she will go to one of our therapeutic establishments in the Yamanon.’
Returning to the villa, he looked over a couple of procurement forms on the way to his private chambers and countersigned his approval. His vesture assister replaced his formal evening wear with heavier, more sombre attire to suit the imminent visit to Giant’s Shoulder. And on his way to the courtyard, where his personal flyer waited, he approved an equipment replacement request but denied a civilian-authority plea on behalf of a detainee. Five minutes later he was aloft, Ezgara bodyguards at his side as the flyer climbed over the dark trees of south Hammergard, curving towards the jutting mass of Giant’s Shoulder.
As he looked down at the spread-out clusters of towns, he reflected on how well the situation had progressed since that crucial meeting with the Clarified Teshak. Hammergard and all the major towns were now locked down beneath a security net of visual tracking nodes mounted on buildings, lamp-posts and continual airborne platforms. Kuros had suggested implant-tagging every Human in the coastal area but the Tri-Advocacy Council had refused as it would almost certainly provoke strong objections from Earthsphere. Kuros was not surprised and began planning for extensions to the tracking net – in another eight weeks he hoped to have every settlement east of the mountains under its watchful eyes.
If security along the coastal plain was firmly under control, the same could not be said for the hinterlands, the ridges and foothills of the Kentigern Mountains, and the Forest of Arawn. Every shadowy, tree-veiled ravine seemed to harbour a lair of Humans, aided and abetted by those primitives, the Uvovo. Every day brought reports of ambushes, raids and sabotage, but the NamulAshaph was starting to have an effect; the much-lauded mech factory had turned out several dozen combat mechs and they had proved effective in blunting the insurgents’ tactics. Their skills in forest fighting had already accounted for over a dozen units, but the factory’s production was relentless and practically inexhaustible, which could not be said for the Humans. For all their minor successes, they presented no serious threat to the security of the coast and the integrity of the ongoing warpwell investigations. Kuros could call on heavy ground armour, airborne attacks, atmospheric assault craft and, if necessary, the targeted might of the
Purifier
’s beam batteries.
No, Ambassador Kuros was focusing his attention on controlling events, thereby maintaining a hidden iron grip on the entire planet. The insurgency leaders might believe that the balance could be tipped their way but he would soon make plain the hollowness of their hopes.
His overall objective, however, was to ensure that he remained of use to the Clarified Teshak, thereby securing his place in the hierarchy along with the possibility of advancement. Which was why he was on his way to Giant’s Shoulder, in response to a terse message from Dralvish Tabri, the chief scientist.
The shuttle alighted at one corner of the octagonal landing pad which had been laid down where scraps of ruins had once stood. Next to it was the research centre, a three-storey establisher building configured with enhanced fortifications. Thus far the autobuilder had erected two wings with standard defensive positions, but add-on template frames were already in place. The exterior was impact-resistant polymer armour patterned in blues and greens that appeared deep black beneath the four suspension floods, whose actinic light drenched the entire promontory.
Leaving the shuttle, Kuros and his escort approached the secure lobby, which identified and admitted them. He was greeted by Chief Scientist Tabri, resplendent in his high-shouldered formal gown. Together they took an austerely appointed elevator down to the room that led into the warpwell chamber.
‘You have made progress,’ Kuros stated as the Chief Scientist led the way round to a platform overlooking the well itself.
‘Our experiments with the pseudostone have reached a crucial juncture,’ Tabri said. ‘We have already carried out preliminary tests and we are ready for a full demonstration.’
From the platform, Kuros could see that pieces of some pale material had been positioned on the warpwell, each shaped to match a section outlined by the pattern beneath. Over each piece a probelike apparatus stood poised, like shining metal spears tipped with glittering crystal. Blue-tinged lamp arrays lit up the incised circular floor while tech workers in enclosing grey suits moved from probe to probe, taking readings, or consulted other equipment displays dotted around the low wall.
‘Please, proceed,’ said Kuros.
‘We have done so, Ambassador,’ said Tabri. ‘We are now evaluating the results.’
‘I saw nothing out of the ordinary take place, Chief Scientist.’
Tabri offered a ghostly smile which Kuros found irritating.
‘Ah, but not all the dramas of science are visible to the naked eye … ah, thank you.’ He accepted a databoard from one of his underlings, tapped and stroked its screen, then presented it to Kuros.
‘Ambassador – the top diagram represents our pseudostone block, coloured pale blue, resting on the warpwell, coloured red. The diagram beneath illustrates the depth to which we took control of the energy pathways of the subpatterns.’
The second diagram showed the pale blue extending down to a depth exceeding the thickness of the pseudostone block.
‘Of course,’ Tabri went on, ‘the ingrained patterns of the warpwell have begun to push back, to reassert its control …’
‘So your experiment has failed,’ Kuros said.
‘Oh no, honoured Ambassador! This is only the first probing attack – with more pseudostone elements emplaced across the surface we will be able to take control of the subpatterns and their functions, permanently!’
Kuros was about to ask how much longer the process would take when his mind-brother suddenly appeared at his elbow.
‘
One awaits
,’ Gratach said, his gaze a thing of trapped fury. ‘
Above he awaits and commands you to attend
.’
Then Gratach vanished, leaving Kuros struggling to maintain his composure. It was the Clarified Teshak, it could be no other.
‘You must excuse me, Chief Scientist,’ he said. ‘There is a pressing matter I must resolve without delay.’
Ignoring the looks of surprise, he hurried back to the elevator and some moments later was striding across the landing pad to where a tall figure in gleaming black stood next to a military shuttle. The Clarified Teshak turned at his approach, head enclosed by a rigid, peaked headdress, mouth smiling, eyes cold.
‘I’m disappointed, Kuros,’ Teshak said. ‘Yet somehow it seemed inevitable.’ He glanced at the pair of Ezgara at his back. ‘In private.’
With a murmur, Kuros sent the Ezgara off to wait at the edge of the landing pad. Looking back he saw that the flank of the military shuttle had hatched open to reveal a passenger compartment, and a wire and shackle-fitted couch that was clearly meant for prisoner transport. Kuros could feel his mouth going dry.
‘Due to your lack of foresight, and your negligent approach to the insurgents, we are faced with a crisis for which we are scarcely prepared.’
The Clarified Teshak smiled unpleasantly as he walked unhurriedly around Kuros, as if studying or measuring him.
‘I am unaware of a crisis, your Clarity, but if there is such a situation I am ready to take all and any steps to rectify it.’
‘I’m glad to hear that,’ Teshak said, speaking into Kuros’s ear with quiet menace. ‘Because you must move swiftly to negate the threat.’
‘What is the nature of the threat?’
‘Initially, the lack of investigation and a paucity of updated intelligence.’ Teshak considered the shuttle’s interior and the vacant couch. ‘Originally, the Uvovo were seen as primitives with no knowledge of the legacy of the Forerunners, some of which remains intact although buried throughout this region, deactivated and invisible to all our sensors. But now we find that the Uvovo are urgently seeking out these ancient nodes of power with the aim of reactivating them. If they are able to awaken those planetary defences then it will not just be the garrison and this facility that are at risk – any ship in orbit could be brought down too!’
Part of Kuros was incredulous as he listened but the Clarified Teshak was so intense and unswerving in his account that Kuros was swayed, almost as if this were a vindication of his own earlier convictions.
‘What must we do to safeguard our mission, your Clarity?’
‘This is no time for half-hearted measures,’ Teshak said. ‘You must mobilise all Brolturan ground units and send them into the hinterlands, backed by all available air support as well as units from the Human militia, barring the bare minimum required to secure important locations and routes on the coast.’
Kuros was alarmed but remained composed. ‘There are dangers in such a wholesale redeployment. Several townships will see it as a pullout and an excuse to revolt …’
‘What is that next to the possibility of seeing the Earthsphere vessel go down in flames, or even the
Purifier
?’ Teshak leaned in close. ‘If you won’t take the necessary action then go aboard my shuttle while I find someone among your staff who will!’