Inhibitor Phase

by Alastair Reynolds

  ‘No.’ Pinky’s stare impaled me. ‘Not a pig.’

  ‘A number of the people you see here, including Probably Rose, were either prisoners of the Swine Queen, or forced to work within the Swinehouse. Some had escaped before we arrived, while others got out during the confusion and chaos of the operation. But many remain, and their lives must be considered in any future plans.’

  I asked: ‘Will she give up the remaining stones?’

  ‘Not if threatened,’ Lady Arek said. ‘In fact, threatening her is the worst thing we could do. From her location, she would only need a few moments to dispose of the stones entirely, scattering them back to the base of the chasm, where we would have no hope of recovering them. That rules out any use of force, including surprise attacks.’ She directed a forbidding look at Glass. ‘Even nerve gas. We have run every scenario. Even if we considered the lives of her prisoners to be expendable, no measure works fast enough to guarantee the preservation of the stones.’

  ‘There is a way,’ Pinky said. He finished off what was left of the spirit. ‘I’m the price she’s willing to accept. For me, she’ll hand over the eight remaining stones.’

  ‘What do you mean to her?’ I asked.

  ‘We do not discuss this,’ Lady Arek said.

  ‘Perhaps it’s time we did.’ Pinky shrugged, the oiled leather patches of his tunic squeaking with the motion. ‘The Swine Queen got a good look at me before. Knows what I am: the oldest pig alive. That makes me valuable to her. Pig meat’s rare, and I’m the rarest kind of all. She wants to cook and eat me.’

  I shook my head in utter disbelief.

  ‘She can’t intend that.’

  ‘You bet your life she does, Stinky.’

  ‘It’s what she does, yes,’ said Probably Rose. ‘Keeps pigs. Lots of pigs. Chained up, yes and yes. Fed and fed. Then she cuts them up, a bit a time. And feeds them to the swineherds, yes and verily.’ She looked down at her hands, as if gripped by sudden shame. ‘I was . . . her doctor. The one she kept, to keep them alive. Yes, and yes.’ She shuddered, but instead of Probably Rose cuffing herself, Omori took her by the shoulders and hugged her until she was still. Even Chersini, the pig with the knife, moved to comfort her.

  ‘It’s abominable,’ I said.

  ‘It’s what she does,’ Pinky answered indifferently. ‘And I’m the one prize she hasn’t got her hands on. Oh, it’s not just the way I’ll taste, though that’ll be part of it. I’m symbolic. A pig with real history, don’t you know. I had a reputation in that city, long ago. Makes me totemic. Take me down, and she doesn’t just crush the hopes of the pigs left alive, she also sends a message to her rivals. “Look what I did, everyone! I gobbled up the oldest living pig and robbed Lady Arek of her loyalist deputy.” She’ll tape my screams, pipe them on repeat out to the rest of the city – and whenever anyone doubts her steel, or thinks they can make a move on her, I’ll get a replay, just for old times’ sake.’

  ‘A pretty little impasse,’ Glass said quietly.

  ‘That’s all you’ve got to say? An impasse?’ I asked, staggered by her detachment.

  She replied coldly: ‘I merely state the practicalities. Lady Arek will not countenance sending Pinky to his death. Therefore we do not obtain the stones. Forever and ever.’ She narrowed her eyes in the direction of the other Demi-Conjoiner. ‘Might I ask: was there ever a plan, or were you just hoping reality would go away?’

  ‘The plan is to wait,’ Lady Arek answered, with a thunderous calm. ‘Factional warfare is rife in the ruins of Chasm City. The Swine Queen’s position grows tenuous, as Pinky has indicated. Sooner or later she will overreach herself, or be usurped by one of her deputies. Then we shall reopen negotiations.’

  ‘Well, that’s fine, then,’ Glass said. ‘The wolves are at our door, the fires are going out, but we’ll just wait.’ She stiffened, an idea presenting itself. ‘I brought chequers. Would anyone like a game of chequers? Or we could play rock, paper, scissors, extinction.’

  ‘Shut up, Glass,’ I mouthed.

  ‘At last, a useful contribution from Stinky.’

  I nodded at the pig. ‘There must be a way to get what we need. If the handover were to proceed, how would it happen?’

  ‘No . . .’ Lady Arek began.

  But Pinky was at least willing to entertain my train of thought. ‘We set up the deal via optical laser, when the weather window allows. Might take weeks. Agree the deal. Then we go down with the shuttle. Verify that the goods are authentic – on both sides – then complete the exchange.’

  I nodded slowly. ‘Would she kill you immediately?’

  ‘Not her style. Likes to drag things out, crow over her victories.’ He fingered the ruin of his ear. ‘She might want to take another nibble out of me, just for old times’ sake. Once you’ve tasted pig, you don’t go back.’ He smiled at my evident discomfort. ‘But one thing I’m sure of is that she’d want to make the rest of me last.’

  I nodded, understanding how close he must have already come to becoming her prize, and what it would mean to go back.

  ‘Are we talking hours, days, longer than that?’

  ‘Pass me a crystal ball and I’ll tell you. What are you suggesting?’

  I took my time before answering, sensing that I only had one chance to make my point, and that it was likely to be dismissed out of hand.

  ‘If there were a way to go through the motions of the exchange, but still get Pinky back, oughtn’t we consider it?’ I paused, waiting to be shouted down – or for Glass to encourage me on – but there was only an expectant silence. ‘We have two ships now, not one. That opens up some possibilities – especially if Glass can operate without detection.’

  Words were murmured, looks exchanged. Snowdrop seemed to be on the point of saying something, and Pinky seemed equally on the point of silencing her before she began.

  ‘Continue,’ Lady Arek said.

  ‘You make the exchange and leave with the stones. You get far enough away for there to be no chance of them falling back into the wrong hands. How long would that take?’

  ‘We would only need to be airborne, and out of the immediate range of the Swinehouse’s guns. Say, a minute or two after departure.’ Lady Arek’s tone became harder. ‘Then what?’

  ‘We go in hard with the other ship and extract Pinky. Element of surprise, while the Swine Queen no longer has any hold over the stones.’

  ‘No,’ Lady Arek said, shaking her head. ‘This is still not feasible. You cannot be blamed for trying, but you do not understand the size of the Swinehouse, the overwhelming disparity in numbers. She has hundreds of armed underlings, and many hundreds more innocent prisoners in chains, waiting to be served. No shock attack, no matter how well mounted, will ever be sufficient. She only needs a moment’s warning to kill Pinky, and by the time we go in he could be anywhere inside the Swinehouse.’

  ‘Fit him with a tracking implant,’ I said.

  ‘He will be scanned at the point where we verify the goods. Any concealed weapon or device will be construed as grounds to abort the exchange.’ She looked disappointed in me, as if she had seen promise, then seen it extinguished. ‘Do you not think we already considered this, Clavain?’

  ‘There must be a way,’ I pleaded.

  ‘There might be,’ Glass said. She paused, enjoying her moment: Lady Arek hanging on her words just as tenaciously as the rest of us.

  ‘Go on,’ Lady Arek said.

  ‘Inside Scythe is an archive of weapons systems, some of them highly specialised. Some of them very old, and barely used. There is . . . a suitable option. A prototype, but well advanced. Synthesised, and used correctly, it could serve as both weapon and tracking facilitator.’

  ‘Were you not listening?’ Snowdrop asked.

  ‘I was,’ Glass purred. ‘The haemoclast is entirely undetectable. Unless your Swine Queen has access to a comparable archive of weapons and countermeasures, she won’t be able to find it. This, I guarantee.’

  Pinky leaned in.
‘How does it work?’

  ‘The haemoclast is concealed about your person. At an appropriate trigger, it deploys. Anyone near you who has not been marked as an ally or neutral party will die. The effective killing radius is large enough to form a moving bubble, easily sufficient to shield you. You’d merely have to make your way to safety.’

  ‘Not much use if I’m tied up and gagged; even less if I’m already turning on a spit.’

  ‘The haemoclast can be configured to neutralise restraints.’

  ‘It sounds promising,’ I allowed.

  Glass looked pleased with me. ‘Right answer!’

  ‘No,’ Snowdrop said firmly, laying her hand over Pinky’s. ‘We’re not considering this. We don’t know what the hell she’s talking about, or how safe it is, or how effective. And meanwhile you’ll still be on your own, against hundreds of blood-crazed swineherds.’

  ‘We’d agree a rendezvous point,’ Glass persisted. ‘Meanwhile, I would go in with Scythe’s servitors and a spare suit. The haemoclast will guide me to Pinky. Once I reach him, the suit becomes his armour. We depart.’

  ‘No,’ Snowdrop repeated, but this time with less conviction. It was clear to all of us that every objection she raised would be quietly undermined by Glass.

  ‘If it means a way of obtaining the stones, and not losing Pinky . . .’ I said.

  ‘The choice is simple,’ Glass said, leaning back. ‘Act now, secure the objective, be on our way. Or sit and wait for an opportunity that may never come.’

  ‘This weapon,’ I said, Glass turning to me. ‘If I’m not mistaken, the name you gave it means something like . . . blood destroyer.’

  Glass’s face creased. ‘Clever boy.’

  In the morning Snowdrop came to our rooms and told us to dress warmly and for rough terrain. My room – and I presumed Glass’s was the same – had a huge and well-stocked wardrobe, capable of catering to every size and body shape. I put on two pairs of trousers, three underlayers over my upper body, a padded vest and a heavy belted coat with a fur-lined hood, with pockets for gloves and mittens. I found sturdy boots with cleated treads, a good fit over two pairs of socks. Predictably, Glass disdained any clothing beyond the inner suit layer she had been wearing since our arrival.

  ‘You’ll catch your death,’ I said.

  ‘Don’t sound so enthusiastic about it.’

  Snowdrop appraised our arrangements with a disinterested sniff. ‘Lady Arek wants me to show you the inner core. Your preparations are your own concern: I’m not responsible for any harm you get into in there.’ Snowdrop was about as well layered as me, with a number of belts, pouches and holsters about her, as well as tools, knives, grapples and a line of rope slung around her shoulder.

  ‘You were the one who said you’d show us around,’ I said.

  ‘I did,’ Snowdrop said. ‘But that was before I got to know you better.’

  ‘Then what’s the purpose of this, if it isn’t a bit of friendly sightseeing?’

  Snowdrop glared at me. ‘You know what, old man? You ask far too many questions.’

  ‘There had better be a point to this,’ Glass said warningly.

  ‘Take it up with your scary half-sister. I’m just doing what she tells me.’

  ‘I thought you didn’t do orders,’ I said.

  ‘You’re right,’ she snapped back at me. ‘I just follow strongly worded suggestions. Good enough for you?’

  Knowing when to hold my tongue, at least temporarily, I let Snowdrop lead us through a warren of tunnels and shafts until we were back into the weightless part of the rock, which accounted for most of its volume. A set of heavy, lock-like doors allowed us to enter the inner core, which was still as gloomy and mist-wreathed as when I had seen it through the observation windows. We were weightless, but not drifting. A series of handholds and guide-lines had been stapled into the face of a crag, and Snowdrop indicated that we should never lose contact with any of these aids. The air was cold and humid, and within a few minutes a clammy chill had worked its way into my clothes. I was glad of the layers I had put on and wondered if Glass was having second thoughts about her insouciance.

  We traversed the crag, gradually working around a prominence. There was no real up and down now we were weightless. But the way the rock formations jagged out from the circular walls, grasping towards the middle, made me suspect that the entire core had been designed to be rotated, providing gravity. The Overlook was on an independent axis, though, so it was quite possible that the gravity in the core could be made higher or lower, depending on the wishes of the clients. We could see the Overlook now, looking back towards the way we had come in: a protruding feature on the rim of a slow-grinding wheel, turning against a circular back-plate. The lights were on in the Overlook, a tiny but imperious form regarding us.

  ‘Lady Arek’s had time to think about your suggestion, Clavain,’ Snowdrop said, at last breaking the silence. ‘She believes there may be some mileage in it, especially when allied to the weapon Glass tells us she can provide.’

  I shivered. ‘I don’t want to influence any decisions you have to take about the Swine Queen.’

  ‘Then why did you suggest the course of action?’

  ‘I thought it was something you might have considered already and wanted to know why it wouldn’t be feasible, for my own satisfaction.’

  ‘Is he always this bad a liar, Glass?’

  ‘He knows better than to try in my presence. Of course he meant to put that proposal forward. It’s the soldier inside him, breaking through to the surface.’

  ‘Ready to send another man to his death if it means achieving an objective?’

  ‘He’s understood enough to know that we must have the stones.’

  Snowdrop halted. She was ahead of us, negotiating a crumbling, ledge-like shelf, the mist-cloaked void all around. Despite the absence of gravity my stomach kept turning, convinced that I was on the point of falling. I had not felt this way in the belly of John the Revelator, but that had been an artificial space, made of machinery. The crags and abysses of this tormented landscape snagged ancient parts of my brain, tricking it into thinking that there must be an up and a down.

  ‘Be still,’ Snowdrop said to us. Slowly she drew a weapon from one of her holsters. The grip was shaped for a pig’s hand. She thumbed a safety catch, made lights glimmer in the weapon’s dragon-carved muzzle.

  Movement caught my eye: something compact, fast and scuttling passing between two shadowed clefts on the next crag over. I tensed, all my expectations undone. I had assumed that the core was abandoned, empty of anything that might harm us.

  ‘I sense it,’ Glass said. ‘A machine presence, prickling against my implants.’

  ‘It may take a particular interest in you,’ Snowdrop said, tracking the scuttling form until it disappeared into mist. ‘We’ve destroyed most of them, captured others, but there are still a few dozen running loose in here.’

  ‘What are they?’ I asked.

  ‘Ninecats. Small robot hunter-seeker units, part of the games they used to play in the core.’

  ‘Are they dangerous?’ I asked.

  Snowdrop nodded. ‘Very much so – don’t be fooled by the size. They’ve also got a very particular lethality where the likes of Glass are concerned. They’re drawn to cybernetic systems. The augmented champions who faced them had prosthetics, neural enhancements, built-in weapons, but still the mortality rate was high enough to make for some very competitive wagering.’

  Something flashed into view, much closer. It was on the same formation of rock as us, further along the ledge, and coming closer with a sinuous, scuttling efficiency. It had a featureless, oval, matte-silver body, with fine segmented arms radiating from it, tapering down to needle-like points. It was perhaps a metre across, from arm tip to arm tip. It was impossible to count the arms as they moved, but from the name alone I suspected that there were nine.

  Snowdrop let the ninecat come a little closer then blasted it off the crag. I watched it
tumble off into the void, legs thrashing. If she had meant to destroy it utterly, she had made a mistake with either her yield or aim. But perhaps destruction had not been her intention.

  ‘Do you still sense them, Glass?’ Snowdrop asked.

  ‘Yes. Two in our immediate area, several more at the limits of detection. They have sharp little minds.’

  ‘Lady Arek wanted you to see them. After Clavain’s suggestion last night, she wonders if they might be useful to the operation.’ Snowdrop lowered her weapon, but refrained from safing or reholstering it.

  ‘Have you tried to control or reprogram them?’

  ‘With limited success. Lady Arek might have the capability, but – as she would be the first to admit – her experience with military-grade cybernetic systems will never be as thorough as your own. After all, you are one.’

  Whether this was meant as insult or flattery, Glass was completely unfazed by it. ‘You say you’ve captured some?’

  ‘About one hundred and twenty. Some damaged. We keep them locked up very securely, as you can imagine. If they were to break out, they’d very quickly overrun us. We’re also reluctant to allow Lady Arek too close to them, in case they hurt her or otherwise find a way into her head.’

  ‘I should like to see them.’

  ‘Don’t overestimate yourself,’ I warned.

  ‘I tried, but for some reason I keep failing to find my own limits.’

  ‘Lady Arek will show you the ninecat cache. If you can override their built-in patterns, they may be useful against the Swinehouse. They can move quickly and slip through very narrow spaces.’

  ‘They may be useful. It will depend on the time we have.’

  ‘In a day or so Lady Arek will attempt to use the signalling laser to establish dialogue with the Swine Queen. There’s no point attempting it until then. The weather is much too impenetrable. There’s something else, too.’

  ‘Go on,’ I said.

  ‘We have eyes and ears sprinkled around Yellowstone: sensor motes Lady Arek deployed when she first arrived. Now and then they pick up on wolf activity. Individual cubes are too small to be detected, but when they begin to form into aggregates, our network stands a better chance of seeing them. The ultra-low-frequency alerts have begun to trigger in the last twenty-six hours, and especially since you docked.’