for the last six years. He’s Changed to
become
Kraiklyn. I imagine your real leader is dead. Horza probably killed him, or at least left him
somewhere in or around Evanauth.
“I’m very sorry." She looked around the others, including the small drone. “But unless I’m much mistaken we’re all taking
a little trip to a place
called Schar’s World. Well, you are, anyway. I have a feeling my own journey might be a little shorter—and
infinitely longer." Balveda smiled
ironically at Horza.
“Two." the drone on the table said to nobody in particular. “I’m stuck in a leaky museum-piece with
two
paranoid lunatics."
“You’re not," Yalson was saying, ignoring the machine and gazing at Horza. “You’re not, are you. She’s lying."
Wubslin turned and looked at him. Aviger and Dorolow exchanged glances. Horza sighed and took his feet off the table, sitting
a little
straighter in his seat. He leaned forward and put his elbows on the table, his chin in his hands. He was watching,
feeling, trying to gauge the
mood of the various people in the room. He was aware of their distances, the tension in their
bodies, and how much time he would need to get
to the plasma pistol on his right hip. He raised his head and looked at all
of them, settling his gaze on Yalson. “Yes," he said, “I am."
Silence filled the mess room. Horza waited for a reaction. Instead the sound of a door opening came from down the corridor
through the
accommodation section. They all looked at the doorway.
Neisin appeared, wearing only a pair of grubby, stained shorts. His hair was sticking out in every direction, his eyes were
slits, his skin was
patchy with dry and moist areas, and his face was very pale. A smell of drink gradually worked its way
through the mess. He looked round the
room, yawned, nodded at them, pointed vaguely at some of the still uncleared debris
lying around and said, “This place is nearly in as big a
mess as my cabin. You’d think we’d been maneuvering or something.
Sorry. Thought it was time to eat. Think I’ll go back to bed." He yawned
again and left. The door closed.
Balveda was laughing quietly. Horza could see some tears in her eyes. The others just looked confused. The drone said:
“Well, Mr. Observant there is probably the only person on this mobile asylum with an untroubled mind at the moment." The machine
turned
on the table, scratching the surface as it faced Horza. “Are you really claiming to be one of these fabled human impersonators."
it asked with a
sneer in its voice.
Horza looked down the table, then into Yalson’s wary, frowning eyes. “That’s what I am."
“They’re extinct," Aviger said, shaking his head.
“They’re not extinct," Balveda told him, her thin, finely molded head turning briefly to the old man. “But they’re part of
the Idiran sphere now;
absorbed. Some of them always did support the Idirans, the rest either left or decided they might as
well throw in their lot with them. Horza’s
one of the first lot. Can’t stand the Culture. He’s taking you all to Schar’s World
to kidnap a shipwrecked Mind for his Idiran masters. A Culture
Mind. So that the galaxy will be free from human interference
and the Idirans can have a free run at—"
“All right, Balveda," Horza said. She shrugged.
“
You’re
Horza," Yalson said, pointing at him. He nodded. She shook her head. “I don’t believe it. I’m starting to come round to the
drone’s
way of thinking; you’re both crazy. You took a nasty blow to the head, Kraiklyn, and you, lady"—she looked at Balveda—“have
had your brains
scrambled by this thing." Yalson picked up the stun gun and then put it down again.
“I don’t know," Wubslin said, scratching his head and looking at Horza as though he was some sort of exhibit. “I thought the
captain seemed
a bit strange. I couldn’t imagine him doing what he just did in the GSV."
“What did you do, Horza." Balveda said. “I seem to have missed something. How
did
you get away."
“I flew out, Balveda. Used the fusion motors and the laser and blasted out."
“Really." Balveda laughed again, throwing her head back. She went on laughing, but her laughter was a little too loud, and
the tears were
coming too quickly to her eyes. “Ho ho. Well, I am impressed. I thought we had you."
“When did you find out." he asked her quietly. She sniffed and tried to wipe her nose on her shoulder.
“What. That you weren’t Kraiklyn." She played her tongue along her top lip. “Oh, just before you came aboard. We had a microdrone
pretending to be a fly. It was programmed to land on anybody approaching the ship while it was in the Smallbay and take a
skin cell or hair or
something away with it. We identified you from your own chromosomes. There was another agent outside;
he must have used his effector on
the bay controls when he monitored you starting to get ready to leave. I was supposed to…
do whatever I could if you appeared. Kill you,
capture you, disable the ship: anything. But they didn’t tell me until too
late. They knew somebody might overhear if they warned me, but they
must have started to get worried."
“That was the noise you heard from her kitbag," Horza told Yalson, “just before I zapped her." He looked back at Balveda.
“I got rid of the
gear, by the way, Balveda. Dumped it all through the vactubes. Your bomb went off."
Balveda seemed to sag a little further in her seat. He guessed that she had been hoping her gear was on board. At the very
least she might
have been hoping the bomb had still to be triggered and that, while she would die, she would not die in vain,
or alone.
“Oh yes," she said, looking down at the table, “the vactubes."
“What about Kraiklyn." Yalson asked.
“He’s dead," Horza said. “I killed him."
“Oh well," Yalson tutted, and rapped her fingers on the table surface. “That’s that. I don’t know if you two really are mad
or if you’re telling the
truth; both possibilities are pretty awful." She looked from Balveda to Horza, raising her eyebrows
at the man and saying, “By the way, if you
really are Horza, it’s a lot less pleasant to see you back than I thought it was
going to be."
“I’m sorry," he told her. She turned her head away from him.
“I still think the best thing to do is to head back for
The Ends of Invention
and lay the whole thing before the authorities." The drone rose
fractionally above the surface of the table and looked round
at them all. Horza leaned forward and tapped its casing. It faced him.
“Machine," he said, “we’re going to Schar’s World. If you want to go back to the GSV I’ll gladly put you in a vactube and
let you make your
own way back. But you mention returning and getting a fair trial one more time and I’m going to blast your
synthetic fucking brains out,
understand."
“How
dare
you speak to me like that!" the drone bellowed. “I’ll have you know I am an Accredited Free Construct, certified sentient
under the
Free Will Acts by the Greater Vavatch United Moral Standards Administration and with full citizenship of the Vavatch
Heterocracy. I am near to
paying off my Incurred Generation Debt, when I’ll be free to do
exactly
what I like, and have already been accepted for a degree course in
applied paratheology at the University of—"
“Will you shut your goddamn… speaker and
listen.
" Horza shouted, breaking into the machine’s breathless monologue. “We’re not on
Vavatch, and I don’t care how goddamn smart
you are, or how many qualifications you’ve got. You’re on this ship and you do as I say. You want
to get off. Get off now
and float back to whatever’s left of your precious fucking Orbital. Stay, and you obey orders. Or get junked."
“Those are my choices."
“Yes. Use some of your accredited free will and decide right now."
“I…" The drone rose from the table, then sank again. “Hmm," it said. “Very well. I shall stay."
“And obey all orders."
“And obey all orders…"