had apologized for grabbing at the controls and had become very subdued, not meeting Horza’s
eyes but tidying up one or two bits of loose
debris on the bridge and stuffing some of the loose wires back under the console.
Horza told Wubslin he had nearly killed them all, but on the
other hand so had he, so they would forget it this time; they’d
escaped intact. Wubslin nodded and said he didn’t know how; he couldn’t believe
the ship was virtually undamaged. Wubslin
wasn’t undamaged; he had bruises everywhere.
“I’m afraid," Horza said to Yalson once he had sat down and put his feet up, “our first port of call is rather bleak and underpopulated.
I’m not
sure you’ll want to be dropped off there."
Yalson put the heavy stun pistol down onto the table surface. “And just where the hell are we going. What’s going
on,
Kraiklyn. What was
all that craziness back on the GSV. What’s she doing here. Why is the Culture involved." Yalson nodded
at Balveda during this speech, and
Horza kept looking at the unconscious Culture agent when Yalson stopped, waiting for an
answer. Aviger and Dorolow were looking at him
expectantly, too.
Before Horza could answer, the small drone appeared from the corridor leading from the accommodation section. It floated in,
looked
round the mess room, then sat itself bodily on the table in the middle. “Did I hear something about it being explanation
time." it said. It was
facing Horza.
Horza looked away from Balveda, to Aviger and Dorolow, then to Yalson and the drone. “Well, you might as well all know that
we are now
heading for a place called Schar’s World. It’s a Planet of the Dead."
Yalson looked puzzled. Aviger said, “I’ve heard of those. But we won’t be allowed in."
“This is getting worse," the drone said. “If I were you, Captain Kraiklyn, I would turn back to
The Ends of Invention
and surrender yourself
there. I’m sure you’d get a fair trial."
Horza ignored the machine. He sighed, looking round at the mess, stretched his legs and yawned. “I’m sorry you’re all being
taken, perhaps
against your will, but I’ve got to get there, and I can’t afford to stop anywhere to let you off. You’ve all
got to come."
“Oh we do, do we." said the small drone.
“Yes," Horza said, looking at it, “I’m afraid so."
“But we won’t be able to get anywhere near this place," Aviger protested. “They don’t let anybody in. There’s some sort of
zone around them
they don’t let people into."
“We’ll see about that when we get there." Horza smiled.
“You’re not answering my questions," Yalson said. She looked at Balveda again, then down at the gun lying on the table. “I’ve
been zapping
this poor bitch every time she flicks an eyelid, and I want to know why I’ve been doing it."
“It’ll take a while to explain it all, but what it boils down to is there’s something on Schar’s World which both the Culture
and the Idirans want. I
have… a contract, a commission from the Idirans, to get there and find this thing."
“You really are a paranoid," the drone said incredulously. It rose off the table and turned round to look at the others. “He
really is a lunatic!"
“The Idirans are hiring
us
—
you
—to go after something." Yalson’s voice was full of disbelief. Horza looked at her and smiled.
“You mean this woman," Dorolow said, pointing at Balveda, “was sent by the Culture to join us, infiltrate…. Are you serious."
“I’m serious. Balveda was looking for me. Also for Horza Gobuchul. She wanted to get to Schar’s World, or to stop us from
getting there."
Horza looked at Aviger. “There
was
a bomb in among her gear, by the way; it went off just after I rotated it out the tubes. It blew the police ships
away. We
all got a blast of radiation, but nothing lethal."
“And what about Horza." Yalson said, looking grimly at him. “Was that just some trick, or did you really meet him."
“He is alive, Yalson, and as safe as any of us."
Wubslin appeared through the door from the bridge, still with an apologetic look on his face. He nodded at Horza and sat down
nearby. “All
looking fine, Kraiklyn."
“Good," Horza said. “I was just explaining to everybody else about our journey to Schar’s World."
“Oh," Wubslin said. “Yeah." He shrugged at the others.
“Kraiklyn," Yalson said, leaning forward on the table and looking intently at Horza, “you just about got us all killed fuck
knows how many
times back there. You probably
did
kill quite a few people during those… indoor aerobatics. You’ve saddled us with some secret agent from
the Culture. You’re
practically kidnapping us to take us toward a planet in the middle of a war zone where nobody’s even allowed in, to look for
something
both sides want enough to… Well, if the Idirans are hiring a decimated bunch of second-rate mercenaries, they must be pretty
desperate; and if the Culture really was behind the attempt to keep us in that bay, they must be scared stiff to risk violating
the neutrality of the
Ends
and breaking some of their precious rules of war.
“You may think you know what’s going on and think the risk is worth it, but I don’t, and I don’t like this feeling of being
kept in the dark at all,
either. Your track record recently’s been crap; let’s face it. Risk your own life if you want to,
but you don’t have any right to risk ours, too. Not
anymore. Maybe we don’t all want to side with the Idirans, but even if
we did prefer them to the Culture, none of us signed up to start fighting in
the middle of the war. Shit, Kraiklyn, we’re
neither… equipped nor
trained
well enough to go up against those guys."
“I know all that," Horza said. “But we shouldn’t be encountering any battle forces. The Quiet Barrier round Schar’s World
extends far enough
out so that it’s impossible to watch it all. We go in from a randomly picked direction, and by the time
we’re spotted, there’s nothing anybody
could do about it, no matter what sort of ship they have. A Main Battle Fleet couldn’t
keep us out. When we leave it’ll be the same."
“What you’re trying to say is," Yalson said, sitting back in her seat, “ ‘Easy in, easy out.’ "
“Maybe I am," laughed Horza.
“Hey," Wubslin said suddenly, looking at his terminal screen, which he had just taken from his pocket. “It’s nearly time!"
He got up and
disappeared through the doors leading to the bridge. In a few seconds the screen in the mess changed, the view
swiveling round until it showed
Vavatch. The great Orbital hung in space, dark and brilliant, full of night and day, blue
and white and black. They all looked up at the screen.
Wubslin came back in and sat in his seat again. Horza felt tired. His body wanted rest, and lots of it. His brain was still
buzzing from the
concentration and the amount of adrenaline it had required to pilot the
CAT
through and out of
The Ends of Invention,
but he couldn’t rest yet.
He couldn’t decide what was the best thing to do. Should he tell them who he was, tell them the
truth, that he was a Changer, that he had killed
Kraiklyn. How loyal were any of them to the leader they didn’t yet know was
dead. Yalson the most, perhaps; but surely she would be glad to
know that
he
was alive…. Yet she was the one who had said that perhaps they weren’t all on the Idirans’ side…. She had never shown any
sympathy for the Culture before when he had known her, but perhaps she had changed her mind.
He could even Change back; there was a fairly long journey now during which it shouldn’t be beyond him, perhaps with the help
of Wubslin,
to change the fidelities in the
CAT
’s computer. But should he tell them—should he let them know. And Balveda: what was he going to do with
her. He had had some
idea of using her to bargain with the Culture, but it looked as though they had escaped now, and next stop was Schar’s
World,
where she would at best be a liability. He ought to kill her now, but he knew, first of all, that that might not go down well
with the others,
especially Yalson. He also knew, although he didn’t like to admit it, that he would find it personally painful
to kill the Culture agent. They were
enemies, they had both been very close to death and the other had done little or nothing
to intervene, but actually to kill her would be very
difficult.
Or maybe he only wanted to pretend that he would find it very difficult; maybe it would be no bother at all, and the sort
of bogus camaraderie