Spheres of Influence-eARC (26 page)

Long moments passed, and
Thilomon
accelerated farther away. Simon could no longer make out Sun Wu Kung; whether he had been ripped off the hull or not was now something they might never know.

Finally, Orphan rose slowly from his seat, turned to face them, and spoke. “No.”

“No?”

“No, Doctor DuQuesne. I am
not
going to let that happen.”

Simon saw a grin matching his own blaze out on DuQuesne’s face. “Then turn this tub around!”

“Patience, my friends. Cautious and conservative play, remember. I have no doubt that
Thilomon
remarked our passage. They will undoubtedly be watching me for any sign of unusual behavior. I must proceed onward, as though we were oblivious to our friends’ plight. You understand?”

Simon saw DuQuesne’s fists clench, but the big man said nothing. Simon felt tension like edged wire around his heart, but forced himself to speak. “Yes. We understand.”

“I truly regret that we cannot simply turn and chase, but we must gain the advantage of surprise in some fashion. Even were we to turn immediately, I am afraid your friend Wu…well, he will have suffered whatever fate awaits him.”

DuQuesne’s face went stony-blank at that.
Wu Kung was something very special to him, and I really don’t know what will happen to Marc if Wu dies.
“But what if we lose sight of them?”

Orphan flicked his hands outward, his equivalent of a shake of the head. “Not a difficulty. You see, I am very much familiar with the major Sky Gates and routes used by the Blessed, and given the circumstances, there is only one route
Thilomon
will take: directly to the homeworld and the Minds themselves. Homesphere has no direct connection to Nexus Arena, unlike most species’ home systems, and thus in this we are fortunate. Two Gates in quick succession they must traverse, but then they must travel across a considerable gap to reach the next.” His face might not be expressive, but Orphan’s tone more than made up for it. “And it is there, my friends, in the empty sky, that we shall catch them.”

Chapter 31.

The airlock door slammed shut behind her, even as she tried to lunge back out. “Wu!”

“No
, Captain Austin!” Sethrik said, not unkindly. “He is doing his
job.
”

“But—”

“It will be over one way or—”

Sethrik broke off. With consternation she realized the deck below her was
moving.

Even as that registered, the inner lock door slid open. Four Blessed stood there, two on either side, all four with weapons drawn and aimed at the two in the airlock. Vantak stood some distance back, watching.

Sethrik stared for a moment, obviously stunned—as was she, too. “What the
hell
is going on here?” she demanded.

“Lower those weapons!” commanded Sethrik. “Vantak, what is the meaning of this?”

The four Blessed soldiers did not lower their weapons a fraction, and Ariane could hear the faint sideband hum that was associated with the species’ peculiar semi-hivemind capabilities.
They’re working as a close-knit unit. All four will coordinate a
lot
better than four human beings. And they’re not going to underestimate me like they did the first time we met, either.

“Explanations, if any, will follow only after you are secured,” Vantak said coldly. He reached into one of his bandolier pouches and tossed what were obviously a form of handcuffs onto the floor in front of them. “Captain Austin, you will move
slowly
forward, pick up both sets of restraints, and give one to Sethrik. Sethrik will then put his on, and you will follow his example.”

Damn.
It was starting to dawn on her that the attack on her outside had simply been a clever ploy, to separate her from the bodyguard whose capabilities they didn’t fully understand and therefore wanted to take no chances with.
This still seems insane. But Vantak never sounded crazy, so there’s got to be some
reason
behind this.

She complied with Vantak’s instructions. The binders looped around the wrists and held lightly, but—as Vantak demonstrated—they would tighten and retract strongly if she made sudden moves, or if Vantak triggered that reaction by remote. Two of the guards then fell back to near Vantak, about fifteen meters away, and the other two gestured for them to come out of the airlock, and then stopped and searched the two prisoners.

The searchers were very thorough, Ariane admitted to herself.
They got pretty much every piece of useful equipment that isn’t embedded in me.
The searchers had even taken what little jewelry she normally wore. Sethrik also proved to have had an impressive cache of weaponry on his person, concealed in various pouches—some of which Ariane hadn’t even realized existed, such as the hidden pouch under one of his wingcases.

“Follow.”

Sethrik had obviously decided to not waste words until Vantak was ready to talk, so Ariane kept silent. It was good practice in controlling herself anyway, and if there was
any
chance of getting out of this situation alive, she’d damn well better stay controlled.
Lose my head
here
and I probably will
literally
lose my head.

Sethrik had apparently decided to also bide his time, given that even the other Blessed weren’t obeying his orders.

Through subtly-alien corridors they were led, the four Blessed maintaining perfect separation; when the group entered a large elevator, Vantak had them kneel on the floor in two corners.

At one point, Vantak paused, listening to what was obviously a signal from somewhere else. “What…? No. Later. Continue on course.”

Finally they reached another corridor with an open door to one side; the guards herded them through the door, which closed quickly; as soon as the door closed, the binders loosened and fell off, leaving them free to move. The closed door was transparent—Ariane guessed it was probably transparent ring-carbon composite—so that anything that went on inside would be visible from the outside.
No ambushing the jailers when they open the door, then.
Cameras would undoubtedly cover any blind spots.

“Are you going to explain yourself, Vantak?” she asked finally. “You’ve just
kidnapped
the head of another Faction—and apparently your own head of Faction as well. I can’t offhand imagine
why
, or what you think it’ll get you.”

Vantak studied her, and his expression was that of a scientist observing an experiment. “I have duties to attend to. There is food for you both, and a bed suited for each. It will be roughly twelve hours before I have time for you; any arguments or demands will be ignored until then.”

He turned and left, taking the guards with him.
Probably being monitored from every angle; no need for guards.

She turned to Sethrik. “Do
you
have any idea what’s going on?”

Sethrik flicked his hands out in the same gesture Orphan often used. “No. I have not the smallest idea, except that I am quite certain
he
has a very clear idea. The assassination attempt—”

“—was meant to take Wu out of the picture, yeah. I figured that out pretty fast.” She glanced around. “Don’t you have any…I don’t know, override codes or something to get us out of here?”

Sethrik’s wingcases scissored uncomfortably. “Not from within a secure holding cell. They have removed any tools I might have used to attempt an escape. I am afraid that there is nothing to be done.”

She frowned. “I’m not giving up. Maybe this isn’t the right time, but you can bet the time will come.”

Sethrik was still for a moment, wearing that expression of confusion mixed with some little uncertainty, even fear, that often accompanied Arena natives when confronted by that attitude. Then he shrugged. “Perhaps, but that time is not now. Eating and rest are indicated.”

“I suppose. Why is it going to take so long for him to get back to us?”

“Vantak is going somewhere, and he will not relax until after successfully making a jump out of Nexus Arena’s space.”

She remembered the journey to the jump point to Humanity’s Sphere. “That makes sense. Can you tell which jump he’s making?”

“There are many Sky Gates which could be reached in that period of time—and some even closer,” Sethrik answered. “So no. I cannot tell. We will know when we reach our destination.”

Realizing Sethrik was right about the futility of attempting anything right now, Ariane went over and inspected the small table on her side of the room. There was a bowl of fruits of types she knew had been cleared by her people for human consumption, some sort of dried meat she didn’t recognize immediately, and some baked semicircular rolls. On Sethrik’s side were a number of different-colored globes and what appeared to be some very large insects, legs bound together rather as live lobsters’ claws would be. Remembering exactly how Orphan drank, she decided
not
to watch Sethrik if he was doing anything of the sort to the insects.

“Should I trust the food?”

Sethrik glanced at her, then gave a wing-shrug. “As we do not yet know his intentions, I cannot say for sure. Still, if he wished you injury he has ample opportunity, and we have not gained sufficient information on your species’ biology to know how to arrange more…subtle effects, even if such are possible for your people.”

“You mean conditioning and brainwashing?”

“Something of that nature, yes. He could possibly do such a thing to me…but again, had he wished it, he could do so without resorting to adulterating our food.” Sethrik picked up one of the large insectoid things and she turned slightly away; the faint splintering
crunch
that followed still made her wince, as did the clearly-audible whistling screech that cut off suddenly.

Averting her gaze from Sethrik, she picked up one of the rolls and tried it; if Sethrik didn’t expect danger from the food, she wouldn’t worry about it.

The roll was actually quite good, with a surprising peppery taste. She ate a little of everything, then went to lie down for a while on the provided cot. She called up one of the books stored in her minimal headware and read for a while, but found that she was surprisingly tired.
Then again, the stress of being attacked, kidnapped and imprisoned isn’t something I’ve had to deal with before outside of a simgame, and with those you could always drop out.

Using the same discipline that she often used before a big race, she cleared her mind and let her body relax. Breathe in, breathe out…

A loud hum awakened her; sitting up, she saw Sethrik had already leapt to his feet and was twitching his wings in an agitated fashion. “Stop that Minds-condemned
noise
!” Sethrik demanded, the translated voice an annoyed bellow. “We are quite awake and torture is unnecessary.”

Two guards were visible at the door; Ariane guessed that there would be at least two more out there that WEREN’T visible.
And even if we could take them—which we might, because if I remember right Sethrik was supposed to be a new, better replacement for Orphan, which means he should be damn dangerous—a ship this size probably has a
lot
of reinforcements.

“Vantak says he is ready for you now,” one of the guards said. “Replace the bindings on each other.”

After they followed those directions, the guards directed them out into the corridor. After several airlocks and turns, they emerged onto what was obviously the command deck; multiple stations currently manned by various Blessed, with a central perch atop a stepped dias that must be the equivalent of the captain’s chair, on which Vantak was currently draped in what was she suspected a deliberately casual manner.
The Minds may have done a lot to them, but they’re still just as much
people
as we are—good and bad.
She could, just barely, sense occasional bursts of the ultrasonic communication between Blessed; the acoustics of the room were obviously designed to facilitate this.
Wonder why I don’t understand those? Maybe the Arena treats those as thoughts being exchanged?

Besides a large central (obviously well protected and armored) viewport, displays around the walls showed different views of Arenaspace surrounding
Thilomon
, as well as portions of
Thilomon
’s exterior. These views shifted in some kind of rotation, so that presumably the entire panorama around
Thilomon
, and the entire surface of the vessel, was in view for at least a moment during any given cycle.

The viewport showed that they were passing by a Sphere—red-brown tinted continents and blue-green oceans—amid billowing clouds of violet, rose, and white that surrounded the Sphere.
Judging by the size of the Sphere, we must be very close to the edge of its gravity region.

“All right, Vantak,” she said, “Explain yourself.”

“From others I would have expected a different tone,” Vantak replied, straightening a fraction on his perch. “But the Minds did not envision you to be easily intimidated. On the attack, even when you are in no position to demand.”

He rose, and descended towards them, stopping only a short distance away. Vantak then looked towards Sethrik. “The Minds directed the entirety of this operation. You are of course to be replaced as Leader of Faction—by me, in all probability, but the Minds have not made the formal announcement yet as that would have betrayed the plan.”

She could see that Sethrik was shocked to his very core. “The
Minds
…ordered you to do
this
?” He took a furious step forward before the guards’ raised weapons forced him to halt. “Why? What
insanity
is this? I cannot believe you! They expressed every approval for my actions! They supported me in—”

“Of course they did. Had they done otherwise, you would have had forewarning,” Vantak said bluntly. “You did not return in person according to schedule—”

“I have had
many
things demanding my time of late, and you…” Sethrik trailed off. “I see.”

“What?” Ariane asked.

“That was how the directives were given. Vantak served as my liason to Homesphere and the Minds. Thus he would be able to take his private orders from them, and convey to me their public instructions. But if they had actually removed me from leadership—even trying to do so in secret, which would be extremely difficult to arrange—I would have noticed the first time I tried to do something which required the authority of the Faction Leader. However,” he looked at Vantak, “I still do not understand
why
.”

“The Minds showed me their projections. You were following the path of the heretic. You were accommodating others in paths not favoring the Minds’ long-term interests. You had established a posture of mutual respect with Orphan himself. You failed to return for the scheduled presentation and evaluation, and the Minds believed that whatever excuses you might give yourself or others, this was in large part due to the subconscious knowledge that you feared the result of that evaluation.”

The bridge crew were all watching the confrontation.
Not surprising; how often are you present at a coup that involves one of the Great Factions?
But on one of the displays across the room, behind Sethrik, she thought she saw—for just a moment—a flash of brilliant colors that did not fit with the smooth, utilitarian design and painting of
Thilomon
.

Instantly she gripped hard on her self-control.
It can’t be. I must be imagining it. But if it
is
Wu Kung, I can’t give anything away.
She continued to listen to the discussion, trying to watch the monitors without staring.

“The Minds thought I was going to
betray
them?” Sethrik’s outraged bellow was delivered with such force that the accompanying buzz of the actual sound made her ears ring. “I have done
everything
they have asked—”

“The judgement is not mine, but the Minds. Do not make the mistake of thinking you understand even yourself as well as they,” Vantak said, cutting his former commander off sharply.

“I…” Sethrik contained himself, then looked at Ariane, gesturing at the Leader of Humanity. “But why in Their name would they ask you to do
this
?”

Ariane had been thinking about that as well. A second flicker of color, a moving object that sparkled gold and crimson and jade, told her that perhaps the impossible was real, and she
had
to keep everyone’s attention off the monitors.