11
I
t was always the same. Passing through the doors of the All Hallows Corridor and seeing the entrance to his residence up ahead felt, for Copernicus, like a long-distance runner with the finish line in sight or sometimes, when he’d spent too long in the company of others, more like a drowning man dragging himself closer and closer to the surface. Of the years he had lived in the Commander’s Quarters, he had never once paused in the corridor to study the portraits lining the walls, of soldiers who had owned the title of Oscuri Tracker Commander before him. When he was leaving his apartment, it was with a purpose, and when he was heading home, his adrenalin kicked in, his throat tightened and all he could see was solitude. While Diega’s happiness was fed by the company of others, he needed to be alone to regenerate for a time, before facing the world again.
The eyes of the fallen commanders followed him as he moved with stealth along the marble corridor.
‘Open,’ he commanded.
The security system responded, ‘Immediately, Commander Kane.’
Laser lines scanned across his face and torso, checking his retinas and fingerprints, his bloodline marks and body-heat signature, a security measure Eli had designed and implemented for him. Eli had also designed much of Headquarters’ new system. Satisfied he was the true Kane, the doors to his apartment parted from the centre and he stepped through. The doors slid shut and locked behind him. He breathed out and his shoulders relaxed, the heat of the air warming his skin. He massaged a hand over the back of his neck and took stock of his apartment. It was as he had left it – dark, silent and spotless.
On moving into the quarters, a need for open space had prompted him to smash down all but a few of the dividing walls, leaving one expansive main room. Along three of the high walls his weapon collection hung from floor to ceiling. He owned numerous antiques with years of history etched into their surfaces; many others were unique, designed by him and custom-made by Eli. Each had their own space on the wall and special place in his collection, but by far his favourite was the short blade named Solace – owned by the former commander Oren Harvey. It was designed never to lose its edge and he was sure it had hidden powers he hadn’t yet figured out how to access, but he would.
Copernicus took his ID from his pocket, slipped the chain with its protective talisman from around his neck and placed them both on the glass table beside the door. He took off his jacket and unclipped his weapon belt, hanging them on hooks above the table. He left his second blade strapped to his ankle and moved across the polished marble floor to his kitchen. He’d blacked out the wall of the window inside the kitchen. It had given spectacular views across the entire city, but a view was low on his priority list when compared with privacy. His automated bar system poured him a drink, half-guinapple juice, half-Araki, the potent human-breed spirit. He took the drink and sat down at his desk. It was one of his favourite possessions. Diega had given it to him when he’d made Commander, even though he knew she was secretly upset it hadn’t been her.
‘Boot up.’ He voice-activated his computer system. A holo-image of Eli’s face appeared above his desk and grinned at him. He shifted uncomfortably. He had tried to change this default image after Eli had installed it, but had, so far, been unsuccessful, and he couldn’t bring himself to ask Eli to do it. It would hurt his feelings too much. If it had been anyone else he wouldn’t have cared about how they felt, but Eli had been a friend to him through too much to disregard him, and the imp-breed was far more sensitive than most people knew. He joked about himself, he put up a good front, but he had a soft heart, too soft for his own good. He put the needs of others far above his own and felt driven to help people even when it put him at a disadvantage. Copernicus saw in his friend so much potential as a soldier and as a person, but Eli didn’t have any confidence in himself and he was too swayed by his pity for others.
‘You have three new messages, Commander Kane. Would you like to hear them now or later?’ holo-Eli asked.
‘Now.’ He took a mouthful of drink.
‘Message one playing now.’
‘Kane,’ High Commander Levis Kline coughed his name and glared through the holo as if it were a window. Copernicus couldn’t help but snarl in disgust. Levis was high ranking and highly annoying. He was part of the upper echelon of the United Regiment made up of ancient has-beens who refused to die, gaining their high status only through a process of elimination. He was so old his skin looked like it was melting off his face.
The holo of Levis continued, ‘Kane, this week alone I’ve had twenty-four more complaints about the conduct of your trackers – twenty specifically about you. I’m getting fed up with your antics and disrespect. Reel yourself in, or you’ll be disciplined – again!’
The message ended and Eli’s holo-face re-appeared. He started to ask, ‘Would you like to —’
‘Delete,’ Copernicus said before the options could be given. He gritted his teeth –
disciplined again
. How could it be
again
when it hadn’t ever happened? They kept threatening him, but no one was really going to touch him. They needed him too much. After Oren Harvey had vanished, city conditions had deteriorated badly and though the soldier who had replaced her as commander, a human-breed called Sammael Sy, had tried, he had been largely ineffectual in policing the city. Once in power, Copernicus had lifted the standard again – until now, anyway. He tipped back the glass and drank some more of the Araki mix.
Holo-Eli said, ‘Message two playing now.’
An aging woman with masses of dark curls and blood-red lipstick popped up on the screen. She spoke with a breathy voice. ‘Hello, Commander. It’s Madame V from Club Fantasia. We haven’t seen you in a while. We miss you. Call me.’
Copernicus snorted. ‘You miss my money . . . delete.’
The holo-Eli’s face reappeared, a grin quirked his lips as though he’d actually heard what Copernicus had said. ‘Message three playing now.’
The real Eli flashed up on the holo-screen. ‘Hey, boss, it’s me, Eli, as you can see,’ he giggled, then gulped it down. ‘I’m in the
Summer Holiday.
And I’m heading back to Headquarters now. Silho’s home safe and beautiful . . . I mean
sound
. . . so I’m just heading back now, as I said. Okay, I’ll see you soon. Talk to you then . . . bye-bye.’
Copernicus checked his chronograph and compared the time with when the message had been sent. Eli would have arrived back a while ago.
‘Return call,’ Copernicus said.
He heard the static whirr of his system reaching out to Eli’s. The systems connected and he heard Eli’s recorded voice, ‘Sorry, I’m not available, please leave a message.’
‘Eli, call me when you get this. End,’ Copernicus said.
‘End of new messages,’ the holo-Eli told him. ‘Would you like the news headlines now or later?’
‘Later,’ Copernicus said. He exhaled and massaged his forehead. First he had to do something he hated doing.
‘Call Forensics,’ Copernicus said to his system. It reached out and linked with the Forensics branch.
‘Yes, Commander Kane. How may I help you?’ The lead forensic investigator’s assistant, a human-breed man with a skinny pinhead, possibly of mantis-blood heritage, answered. His prim and patronising cheeriness always irritated Copernicus to the extreme.
‘I need the fluid results from today’s Moris-Isles murder scene,’ Copernicus said.
‘Why of course, Commander. Just one moment please while I check the files . . . Ah yes, we will have them ready for you in . . . three day-cycles.’
Copernicus inwardly cursed. ‘Can they be ready any sooner?’
‘Ah, no, sorry, we have a backlog. How about I have them delivered to you just as soon as we have them?’
‘End,’ Copernicus said curtly and the connection hung on just long enough for him to see the assistant purse his lips with indignation.
Brabel’s mistake had cost them time, and two of the things he hated most in the world were waiting and wasting time. His thoughts focused in on the new recruit. Diega disliked her, but Diega disliked virtually everyone who wasn’t either male or Ohini Fen. Jude liked her, but Jude thought everyone deserved a chance – even murderers. Eli also liked her, but attractiveness dazzled Eli like staring into the suns. The impartial judgement would have to be his.
‘I want you to run a face match on new recruit Silho Brabel. Match six points or more,’ he told his system.
It retrieved her file and projected her image. It was a bad picture, not capturing the unusual depth of her eyes. The computer system mapped her features and started the search, flicking through millions of faces a minute, of both the living and dead, looking for facial points in common. He’d set it high at first and would work down from there.
Copernicus leaned back in his chair. He took the ring out of his pocket and examined it again. Ev’r Keets would have known immediately who had made the band and from what, but as he had told the others, Keets would never help them. Scullions never changed.
His chronograph alarm sounded, signalling it was time for his scheduled training. He placed the ring back in his pocket and went to the training area of his apartment. Panels of wall pressed back and the floor lifted up to reveal mirrors and his well-worn equipment. He bent down, took his secondary blade from his ankle holster and spun the weapon, twisting it around and over his fingers. He glanced into the mirror and, before his eyes, the steel of the blade blended in with the black, purple and blue of his viper bloodline marks and vanished. Copernicus jolted back, shaking his hand and dropping the knife. This was happening more than it used to. Like the unstoppable release of anger when pent up for too long, his skills were releasing themselves even though he wanted nothing to do with them. He cursed himself for his weak reaction and snatched up the blade. The movement sent pain stabbing through his chest. Gritting his teeth, he gripped his ribs until the ache lessened. He put his blade down on a side table and unbuttoned his shirt, slipping it off his shoulders. Blue and black bruises spread out over the entire right side of his chest. Copernicus cursed again, thinking of Christy Shawe, once his best friend, now his worst enemy – a grand title considering the number of people he arrested or aggravated on a daily basis.
He abandoned his training and, turning to the wall beside him, punched a code into the security panel. A hidden door, the entrance to his diagnostic chamber, slid open. He unbuttoned his trousers, dropped them and entered the chamber naked. The chamber’s holo-screen activated, thankfully not in the shape of Eli’s face in this area of the apartment.
‘Body scan in process,’ the system told him, and he felt the heat of lasers crossing his body, analysing his condition. After a few moments the system spoke again. ‘You have a visitor.’
‘Show me,’ he instructed and the holo-screen displayed an image of Diega standing outside the door of the All Hallows Corridor, repeatedly ringing the bell-alert with one hand and holding a black case in the other. She had the look of grim determination on her face that she always wore when she felt the need to force him into conversation about personal matters. He seriously considered telling her to come back later, but decided against it. Putting her off just made things worse. Besides, he needed to see the file he’d asked her to compile from the data they’d gathered at both crime scenes.
‘Unlock for Sergeant Diega Bluejay,’ he ordered his system.
Diega walked up the corridor and entered through his front door. He sensed the vibration of her footfalls as she approached the chamber until she appeared in the doorway, holding the black hardcopy case notes. He didn’t bother to turn around or try to hide his nakedness. She’d already seen everything he had. Ev’r Keets had spoken correctly. They’d had a brief relationship, and he called it that only because Diega objected to him saying ‘sexual encounter’.
She’d come up to him after attending one of his lectures on serial killers at the United Regiment training facility. She’d asked if he wanted to get a drink. He had said no, so she’d asked if he wanted to go back to her place. To that he had agreed. He’d actually known her as an acquaintance many year-cycles before that when they’d both lived in the gangland, but he’d never been with her then. She had been only thirteen at the time, three year-cycles younger than him, and too young for his taste.
Diega looked him up and down then set her lips together and crossed her arms. He’d been right, she wanted to talk or, as the Fens said,
endai sefrents seres
– discuss at loud volumes. The conversation was inevitable.
‘So, you and Jude, then,’ he said.
Diega tilted her head to one side and her hair slipped down over one eye. ‘How long have you known?’
Copernicus sighed. It never failed to amaze him when the people closest to him forgot he could see body-heat. ‘I knew before you did.’
She shook her head. ‘And you’re the one who’s always complaining about having no privacy. We can’t even like each other without you
reading
us.’
Copernicus laughed. ‘If I could turn it off I would. I don’t know why you’d even bother being secretive. I don’t care if you’re together as long as it doesn’t affect your work.’
Diega picked up his knife from the table beside the wall and ran a finger down the flat of the blade. Her eyes lifted to his, her expression subtly changed. She looked more deeply at him, into his eyes, and he understood from that look, the flare of her body-heat and the shape of her thoughts, why she hadn’t announced her and Jude’s relationship to everyone.
‘We have no chance,’ he said bluntly. ‘You’re my soldier, my friend – that’s it.’
Diega’s colours flared, and she looked for a moment as though she was going to throw the blade at him. ‘What are you talking about? I can’t believe how conceited you are! Why would I want someone who treats me like leftovers when I could have someone like Jude?’
‘Are you asking me or yourself?’ Copernicus said.
‘
Kitcher
,’ she swore at him in Fenlen. ‘So you’ve known about us all along – good for you. Go buy yourself a prize or something.’