I finished the plate of food and tipped the fish bones into the hot ash. A fight had broken out at the next campfire. Sand kicked into the breeze sprayed over us.
Mama roared a warning at the brawlers and then rounded on me.
‘We’ve had this stuff in our life so long now. You take it away and it’s like someone cut your eyes out.’
I got a cold feeling that told me it was time to move. ‘You said I could have a bike?’
He wasn’t letting me go without a lecture. ‘What about all them wetheads? What happens when they can’t do their thing?’
I thought about Merv, the Prince of Vreal. How was he faring?
‘You think you’ve fixed things, Parrish Plessis? Well, you fixed them all right. The whole world’s gonna go to shit now. Not just this place.’
The panic in my throat was making it hard to breathe. ‘Gimme a bike, Mama.’
He held out a key card for the lock on the compound. ‘You go get one. Leave the key inside. I got another. Then you go sort out this mess. I want my wrestling channel back.’
He bellowed threats at another fight that had started up on the edge of the water and turned back to his wireless.
I convinced Mal that she should stay behind. She argued for a while but there was nowhere else for her to go and I think she’d taken a shine to Mama. That, or she fancied beating him in a wrestle.
‘I have to sort some things out.’
‘Yes, Plessis. You’re good at that.’ Her heavy sarcasm bore no malice.
I rode the waste slowly, without headlights, thankful for some moonlight. Thankful - more or less - to still be alive.
I got to the other side, woke Teece’s new man and left the bike with him. The first one that I’d left intact.
I walked through the night to Torley’s. No one stopped me. No one noticed me.
But I noticed them. The restlessness on the pavements. The absence of screen flicker and drone.
Muenos were playing cards outside my door. When I turned up they crossed themselves as if I was a spirit from the dead.
I went inside and checked all the rooms.
They stood in the doorway, watching me awkwardly.
‘Where’s Teece?’
‘He has a place with his woman now,’ one of them said.
My heart dropped.
‘Go get him. Tell him I’m back. Tell him it’s not over,’ I said and shut the door, feeling the rush of relief that came with being home.
I stripped off and showered. My closet didn’t have much in it. But what it did contain was mine. I climbed into some well-worn fatigues and spare boots. They felt better than armour.
Teece didn’t take long.
I guessed that, like everyone else in The Tert, he was having trouble sleeping.
I waited for - wanted - a hug, a slap on the back,
some
physical contact to confirm to myself that I was alive and home.
But he closed the door behind him and stood back from me.
‘It’s you?’
It seemed like a stupid thing to say, but I understood what he meant.
‘For the moment,’ I said slowly. ‘I have something else I need to do.’
There was a knock at the door. Teece opened it and took a tray from someone I couldn’t see. Shawarmas and beer.
I got a lump in my throat.
He put the tray down on the table near the couch. ‘Lu’s not open yet. No sweet dough. Sorry.’
I laughed and wiped a tear on my T-shirt.
He waited while I ate, studying me.
I noticed now how pale he was. ‘How much did you see on the net?’
‘We saw you take the Bau woman at the celebration. Then the ’copter flight. What has happened in Dis? We saw you push her out. She got eaten, Parrish.’ Teece’s voice was hoarse and brimming with revulsion. ‘You told me about it, I know. But I didn’t . . . couldn’t . . . understand.’
I nodded, swallowing the last of the meat.
‘What’s happened to the net now? People are scared,’ he said.
I told him about Gerwent Ban’s plan. And about Monk. And about what we suspected Brilliance had become. Then I drank the beer and told him about Merv and Glorious and Mal.
Teece whistled low. ‘I’ve heard talk of shadows and things but I thought it was all spook stuff. Wetheads are crazy superstitious bastards. And the
shiver
- I figured it was just a rogue program.’
‘Maybe not.’
‘The King’s plan worked, then. You’ve shut her down.’
‘For the moment. I thought that would be a good thing. Now I’m not so sure.’
‘Why?’
‘I have to find Brilliance. At least her biological part.’
He raised an eyebrow.
‘Teece.’ I watched him to see his reaction. ‘Bau said something to me at the end. I’m not sure that I did the right thing.’
He drew a sharp breath. ‘If you want a confessional, Parrish, you’ve come to see the wrong guy. We’ve seen now how they live in Viva. And what’s happened in Dis.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that the Cabal and the Muenos want to change things now.’
‘The Cabal? But what about Loyl?’
‘Daac is somewhere in Viva chasing dreams - and women, no doubt. The Cabal has had enough of his antics. Pas and the Muenos are sick of waiting for you. They want to meet to discuss a war with the city.’
No.
Yes.
‘You can’t,’ I said.
‘We can. Especially now that the net is down. There’ll be chaos in Viva. We can use the underground pipes you came through to get there unnoticed. Once we’re in the city they won’t know us from the rest. It’s the right moment to change things - while there’s panic and no communication.’
‘It’s suicide. Do you know how many people there are in Viva?’
‘Millions. But they don’t know the sharp end of a knife from the blunt. We’ll target the public utilities. After that, the rest will be easy pickings.’
‘What happened to you while I was away?’ I demanded. ‘What happened to “anything for the quiet life and a view of the waste”?’
Teece gave a short, dry laugh. ‘I musta been hanging with the wrong crowd. Loyl was right about one thing, you know. We shouldn’t have to live like this. Not when
they
’ve got so much.’
I saw stubbornness in his eyes. And something new - a conviction that hadn’t been there before.
Could he raise an army?
What had I done?
‘Just give me a little time,’ I said.
‘What’s time got to do with it?’
‘I need to find out if the bio component really exists. Maybe
it
was behind MoVay.’
Teece folded his arms. ‘So now it’s about you getting it right?’
‘Yeah.’ I searched his face for understanding and couldn’t find it.
He picked my last beer up off the tray and opened it, handing it to me. ‘You said no one knew where her bio part is - or even if it exists.’
I swallowed a few mouthfuls, savouring my next thought as much as the beer swirling around in my mouth. ‘Actually, I think I do.’
He grabbed back the beer and took a deep swig. ‘Well?’
‘I think she’s hiding
here
, Teece. In The Tert.’
Chapter Twenty-Five
‘R
idiculous.’ ‘Why? Why shouldn’t she pick the place where no one wants to live?’
Teece glanced at his wrist p-diary. ‘I have to go. I’m meeting with Billy Myora and Pas soon.’
‘Billy Myora?’
‘The Cabal has been divided over who should give guidance. The younger ones support Loyl. The elders say that Billy Myora has right of way. When Loyl ran off to Viva this time, Billy convinced them to back him.’
‘Where are you meeting them?’
‘At Hein’s. Lu Chow’s bringing breakfast across. You still hungry?’
I grinned. ‘What sort of a question is that?’
Pas and a horde of Muenos were already there. He welcomed me with a low, forehead-scraping bow.
‘Oya. You live and you have opened our eyes. It is time to stake our claim for a better life.’
I bit my tongue. Pas’s florid dramatics usually hid another agenda. What actually scared me, though, was the presence of his wife, Minna. Mueno custom did not include wives at a war council. She stood at his shoulder, her eyes downcast yet her whole bearing radiating staunch resolution.
‘This is craziness, Pas.’
He puffed out his fat cheeks. ‘There comes a time when everyone must face judgement. When I face mine I wish to have enough credits.’
From anyone else it would have been funny, but Pas did not joke about honour.
Behind me the door swung open. Thirty or more Cabal members entered, painted in ceremonial colours, each carrying explosive spears. More waited outside.
They must have scared the jeez out of anyone out and about on the pavements.
Billy Myora entered last, dressed in a faded pinstripe, his face streaked in thick layers of ochre and white. He didn’t seem surprised to see me.
‘Plessis, this is not woman’s stuff.’
I lifted my chin, ready to argue, but Pas intervened.
‘Muenos do not hold with women at war council yet I have brought my own woman to listen and to speak. Our numbers are too few. We cannot do this without them.’
Billy glowered in my direction but let it pass, looking to Teece.
‘We will plan a strategy but we must move quickly. While there are no comms the time is right.’
He projected a map of Viva into the centre of the circle.
‘You can’t expect to win a war against such sophistication. ’
Billy froze me with a stare. ‘Their sophistication is nothing when they have no eyes. Anyone can seize a blind man.’
‘Teece,’ I pleaded, ‘why are you doing this?’
He stared me straight in the eye. ‘Because, Parrish, I have my child’s future to make better.’
His words were a body blow.
I took a long, slow breath in an effort to absorb them, aware that everyone was waiting for my reaction.
‘Then,’ I said slowly. ‘I’d better make sure that you have a chance.’
I walked out of the meeting.
Teece and Honey were going to have a child. The shock of it ripped through me, leaving me feeling nauseous and weak. But at least I understood the new determination in Teece’s eyes.
Everyone needed a reason.
Maybe I couldn’t stop this slaughter from happening but I could make sure that they stood a chance.
Brilliance has to stay out of action
, I thought.
A pain in my feet was making it hard to walk, spiking up my legs with each step. Whatever the cause it was worsening.
‘Oya?’
Link and Glida. Shadowing me. Twin masks slung around their necks.
‘Did you find Wombebe?’
I nodded slowly and touched the scale along my cheekbone. It was shrinking. ‘She’s safe now.’
Glida read my face and my gesture and didn’t ask any more.
‘I need your help.’ My voice was hoarse with too many emotions.
‘We’ve pledged all our bio weapons to the Cabal. Anything else, Oya, is yours,’ said Link.
Oh, my God.
‘I’m searching for something. Some bio-ware. Very powerful bio-ware that doesn’t want to be found.’
They looked at each other - a silent consultation between friends that eased some of the pain and guilt I felt over Roo’s death.
‘For that you need Ness. She is the oldest now that Vayu has gone. She has the most power.’
I nodded.
They followed me as I limped back to my room. ‘You are hurt?’ Link said.
I shook my head. ‘No.’
They looked puzzled but stood guard by my door as I hobbled to my gun safe and unlocked it. I selected my new Colt SMG with the 9mm conversion, my last magazine of ammo and the Cabal dagger. Then I dermed the strongest painkillers I could find in my drawer. It dulled the pain in my feet enough for me to walk without a limp.
I threw together a kitbag. The rest of my derms, some prosubs for energy - some tastes die hard - the knife and my wires. I strapped the SMG to the back.
‘You know where she is?’
‘In the Home of Spirits.’
I flashed on the place where Vayu and the others had died. The place where Jamon had tied me up like a pig on a spit.
For me, no place in The Tert was more haunted.
Like parents chaperoning their child, Link and Glida walked me to the edge of Torley’s.
The Spirit Home squatted on the border, different from the rest of the detritus architecture. For one thing, a breeze always seemed to be blowing there.
Ness was waiting for us, the way Vayu had waited for me before - cross-legged on the floor among a litter of candles, her waist-long hair tied in elaborate coils.
The similarities sent a shiver through me.
Stix sat next to her, using a tiny comb to clean the feathers implanted into his skull. He didn’t look up from his task.
Ness smiled at me but there was pity in her expression. ‘Your time has finally come, Parrish. How can I help you get through it?’
I sat down and didn’t ask what she meant. Why would I?
‘I’m looking for some powerful bio-ware that is hiding itself here somewhere. It owns the net and now it is injured I don’t know how to find it.’
‘What would you do with this powerful thing you seek?’
‘Frankly, I’m not sure,’ I said. ‘I’ve started a whole lot of trouble. The Cabal are talking about war with the city. Maybe if I find the bio-ware I can help them or end it.’ Ness, like Vayu, was not a person you bothered to lie to.
She laughed outright at that. ‘Always so simple, Parrish. Always the direct line and with a well-intentioned heart.’
I didn’t like her summation of me but I didn’t take offence either. ‘Can you . . .
will
you help me?’
‘Of course. Sometimes it is of no use to see too many options.’