“And you, Walker—do you hear me? I’ve got you now! I’ve set the Bureau on you, you bitch! They’re coming for you, and I’m gonna watch while they tear you apart, and I’m gonna be
laughing!
”
T
HEIR PARTY RECONVENED
under the cover of the trees. “All right,” whispered Larsen. “That’s definitely Yershov, and he’s definitely angry, and he’s definitely armed.”
Another burst of fire flared overhead. “Missus Dee,” said Failt. “Brought a couple of guns from the ship. Might come in handy?”
Another tree nearby caught fire. “Yes,” said Walker. “I think they’ll come in handy.”
Feuerstein and her people knew the terrain best, so they began to creep forwards. Walker, preparing to follow them, was stopped by Larsen. “Now you’re taking the piss, Delia. Get under cover. Stay there. Let us take care of this.”
“You’re not armed, Kay.”
Heyes, beside her, stuck out her hand. “Then give me your weapon.”
Reluctantly, Walker took out her weapon and handed it over to Heyes. A few seconds later, the sky above lit up—but not from a weapon being fired. Feuerstein’s people had sent up flares. The whole area was as clear as if under floodlights—and there was Yershov. Heyes wasted no time. She stood up, took aim, and fired. White light flashed out in a great arc, bright even against the dying yellow of the flares. The night reasserted itself. Silence fell.
Walker whispered to Larsen, “What can you see? What the hell is going on? Is he dead?”
“No idea.”
They waited a while, and then two of Feuerstein’s people, who had gone out on a recce, came back and confirmed what they had guessed: Yershov was dead. Heyes’ shot had beheaded him. The priest blanched and made the Sign of the Cross. “Bless me, Father,” she whispered, “for I have sinned.”
“God’s work, Hecate,” said Larsen, resting her hand on the priest’s arm. She turned to Failt. “Yershov only mentioned the missus. Did he tell his contacts about me?” She glanced at Walker. “If it’s only you he informed on, things might not be as we think they are.”
But Failt was shaking his head. “Sorry, doc,” he said. “He told them you were here too. Think they asked about you. He said, ‘Yes, yes, she’s here. The doctor’s here.’ But I think he was sorry he did that. He liked you, doc. He trusted you. But he still said you were here.”
“Oh, Christ,” said Larsen, with real fear in her voice.
Feuerstein and her people exchanged looks, and she turned to Walker. “Who exactly is coming?” she demanded. “We must know what this threat means for us. For Stella Maris.”
Walker hesitated. Then Heyes, stepping forwards, offered her back her weapons. “I’ve killed for you now,” she said. “Murder’s a mortal sin. So stop prevaricating and give us real answers. You came here with a mission, knowing that it might bring danger after you, but you weren’t ever able to protect us. I doubt you even thought about that—whether the people here might need protection. They have a right to know what hell is about to be unleashed on them.”
“All right,” said Walker, grudgingly. “Well, if it was me running the show, I’d be sending in a team to finish off me and Larsen.”
“‘Finish off,’” said Heyes. “A little more precision, please.”
“Track down. Assassinate. Kill.”
“And the people of Stella Maris?” asked Heyes. “There are over three thousand people in that settlement.”
“I guess...” Walker looked up at the cold stars. “Interrogations would quickly find out whether they knew anything substantive about Braun’s World. That’s what I would order. But it’s worth bearing in mind that I am what you could call the friendly face of the Bureau. I wouldn’t, for instance, involve myself in the cover-up of a mass murder on a planetary scale.”
“And I applaud your fastidiousness in that respect,” said Heyes. “But tell us what your less considerate colleagues are likely to do.”
“They’re in a different league,” Walker said. She looked directly at Feuerstein. “A few thousand people would barely count as collateral damage. A few well targeted missiles. A clean-up team on the ground to pick up any escapees. It wouldn’t take very long, if that’s any consolation.”
Heyes recoiled. “Oh, sweet Jesus, Mary, and all the saints! What have I brought here? Shel, I can only beg your forgiveness!”
Feuerstein raised her hand to quieten her. “I don’t blame you, Hecate,” she said. “And neither, really, do I blame Ms Walker. The Weird are here, after all—and if the Vetch and the humans have decided to destroy the Weird, they would have come here to Stella Maris eventually. At least this way we have been forewarned. I can only wish we had had a little more time...” She shook her head. “We couldn’t defend ourselves, of course, not against any kind of firepower. But time to move away, to hide ourselves...”
Failt piped up. “I sent Maria and Jenny. Slipped out when Yershov wasn’t looking. Set him chasing me so they could get away.”
Larsen took the child’s paw. “You’ve been a lifesaver, Failt—you really have. So Maria is heading towards the settlement. That means they’ll have some warning, at least, before the Bureau gets here.”
“It’s not enough!” said Heyes. There were red blotches across her face, and she was breathing very heavily. For a moment Walker feared the older woman might be having a heart attack. “We have to send them some kind of help?”
“What help?” said Walker, roughly. “What can we send them that would help them? A single ship from the Fleet would be enough to mount an air strike that would flatten that settlement in a matter of minutes. Do you have surface to air missiles that you can send to them? I know I don’t. I can’t work miracles, Heyes!”
Heyes subsided. Larsen put her hand upon the priest’s shoulder. “Take it easy, Hecate,” she murmured. “This is your doctor speaking.”
“Yes, we need to warn them,” said Walker. “We don’t know when the Bureau will arrive, and we don’t know in what force they’re coming. But there may still be time.” She looked at Feuerstein. “A town founded by runaways, yes? Always on the lookout, checking back over their shoulders. There are escape routes, aren’t there? Means to get out and get away. Get into the hills. I bet there are places to hide there, all ready for when the moment arose. Well, the moment’s here.”
Feuerstein nodded, but she looked grim. “Time has passed. It’s a long time since anyone came our way as an escapee. Who knows whether these routes are still there, and the bolt holes still secure?”
“It’s the best I can suggest from this distance,” said Walker. “But I think we need to send a warning that trouble is on its way. Failt says Maria and Jenny are heading to the settlement...”
Larsen said, “Maria might be on her way, but she’s carrying danger to them. Maria knows what we know—and she has a copy of the evidence about the massacre. Delia”—Larsen put her hand on her friend’s arm—“we’ve got to assume that we’re not going to survive this. Maria needs to be told—spread the word. Tell people what happened.”
“How?” said Walker. “If they can only rustle up a single roadworthy vehicle, I doubt they’ve got comms technology powerful enough to send messages as far as the Expansion. Feuerstein? Is that right?”
The woman shook her head. “What we have is very limited in its range. I received messages from Heyes, but you were well within the Reach by then.”
“So the secret of Braun’s World is going to die with us?” said Larsen. “All of it for nothing. Poor Maria. Poor Kit.”
“There’s the
Baba Yaga
,” said Heyes.
Larsen frowned. “Is her comm powerful enough?”
“Yershov was in touch with people in the Bureau,” said Walker.
“Who may already have been halfway here—”
Heyes shook her head impatiently. “There’s a lot of guesswork going on here. And even if you do get the word out—who are you going to tell?”
Larsen looked at Walker. “Time to call in a few favours, Delia?”
“Or issue a few threats,” Walker said.
Heyes stared at her. “Threats? From here? You’re in the middle of nowhere.”
Walker shrugged. “A few timed messages. A few cover identities ruined, or secrets revealed. All very straightforward.” She sighed, and reached for her handheld. “Kay, come with me.”
After about an hour, their files and instructions were ready. Walker called Failt over to her. She took one of his paws in her hand. “I want to thank you, Failt. You saved my life.”
He squeezed her hand. “You saved mine, Missus Dee. I said to you when you did: I’m yours. Whatever you want.”
“All right. I’m going to hold you to that. I want you to go back after Maria and Jenny.”
She felt the paw tighten its hold on her. “Oh, missus, not that. Anything but that! Don’t send me away! Not now! Not when it’s all coming to a head!”
“But do you understand how important they are, Failt? I know you do—and not only because they’re Maria and Jenny, though God knows that would be enough. It’s because Maria knows a secret—an important secret that needs to be told.”
“I know about the secret,” said Failt. “Know all about everything. The fire that came and killed all the people but there weren’t any Weird there. I know all about it. But I don’t want to leave you. I’m yours, missus. Yours.”
She put her arm around his shoulders. “You’re not, you know. You’re not mine. You belong to yourself. I can’t make you go—but I can ask you. Please. Go and find Maria and Jenny. Tell Maria—she has to let everyone know. Find a way to let everyone know.” She dug into her pocket and took out her handheld. “Look,” she said. “I’m giving you this. It’s got a list of names on it. A list of contacts. A set of instructions. Maria needs this.” At the sight of the handheld, Failt started whimpering, as if that above anything else convinced him that this was going to be goodbye. “Please, Failt.”
Larsen, coming to sit on his other side, said, “It’s important. We can’t ask anyone else.”
Heyes, too, nearby said, “They’re right, Failt.”
Failt looked up at Walker with his big lugubrious eyes. “Don’t want to leave you, Missus Dee.”
She held her to him. “I know,” she said. “And I... I don’t want you to go.”
A strange smile passed over Failt’s face. He hugged Walker tightly, and then he jumped up. He took the handheld from Walker’s hand, and he said, “All I wanted to hear. I’ll go. Go now. Tell Mama Maria she’s to do what you said. Yours, Missus Delia. Forever.”
And that was it. He was gone, in the blink of an eye. Walker stood up and followed after him for a few steps, but it was as if he had never been.
Heyes, coming to stand behind her, put her hand upon Walker’s shoulder. “Who would have thought? All he wanted to hear was that you loved him. And you did. You, of all people.” She patted Walker’s shoulder. “You might make a mother yet.”
Walker looked into the distance. “I doubt that.”
A
SURVEY OF
the planet’s surface revealed a settlement of about three thousand souls in the middle of the desert. An odd place to put a town, Kinsella thought, but as he understood it, this place had been founded by runaway slaves, and perhaps they had thought that settling in the back of beyond might afford them some kind of protection. Still, he was not sure it had been a good decision. What did they do for water? What did they do for food?
The
White Horseman
came down a couple of miles from the settlement. “What now?” Kinsella asked.
“I think we can go outside and take a look,” said Conway. “After that—I think we should wait.”
The wait paid off. After about an hour, they saw a small a group of people heading in their direction from the settlement. One of the crimopaths began to pace around. “Wait,” said Conway and, when he began to walk towards the group, she said again, “Wait,” and made a show of reaching towards the inhibitor on her belt. The crimopath fell back and then walked, with a slow pace, round the back of Conway and Kinsella, up and down, like a tiger on the prowl. Kinsella felt his skin crawl; the hairs tingle. He could not prevent a flinch each time the crimopath came close. But Conway didn’t even blink. She simply watched the road ahead; watched the little group come towards them.
At last they were close enough to speak. Four of them: two Vetch; two humans—a man and a woman. The woman addressed them. “We have come to ask you to leave,” she said. “We have nothing that you want. We only wish to be left in peace, as we told the others.”
Conway didn’t reply. Instead, she turned to the crimopaths and said, “See to the Vetch, please. Leave the humans, for now.”
The two Vetch were dead on the floor within seconds. All of the crimopaths had opened fire at once. One of the humans, the man, turned to run, and was shot in the leg for his pains. He fell to the ground in agony, and Conway nodded her approval at the careful attention to her orders. The woman cried out his name, but she didn’t dare move towards him. Conway turned to her team and said. “Find out as much as you can.”
Kinsella went back into the ship. He went to the empty rec room and filled the space with the sound of Thomas Tallis.
Human beauty
, he thought.
If I listen to human beauty, perhaps it will blot out the ugliness and the evil...
Eventually, Conway came to find him. He stopped the music at the sight of her, as if she might somehow sully its perfection.
“Yes,” said Conway, “Walker and Larsen have been this way. Heyes was with them. They were asked to leave, but it seems that they haven’t. A small party of malcontents are taking them up into the mountains to the Weird portal.”
Almost to himself, Kinsella said, “She’s still here...” Conway cocked her head to one side and looked at him with interest. “I mean,” said Kinsella, “they’re still here?”
“That’s right. They have no weapons here,” she said. “Nothing.”
If Kinsella hadn’t known better, he might have thought that Conway licked her lips. “Do we know which way they went? Do we know where the portal was?”
“That... was not easy to discover,” Conway said. “This is clearly a secret they were keen to protect from us.”
“I imagine your people persuaded them otherwise,” said Kinsella with distaste.
“One of them refused to answer any questions. The other was able to see what that meant.”