by Alex Kings
“Your moniker on the organisation is Mr. Soul, is that correct?”
Mr. Soul said nothing.
“What is your real name?”
Silence.
“How long have you worked for Vihan Yvredi?”
Silence.
“Of course,” said Laodicean. “I expected you not to answer my questions. But it is important to begin properly, I think. If you are unwilling to talk, I shall do your talking. Your friend, Mr. hand, is very good at that, isn't he?” Laodicean drifted backwards and stretched his tentacles idly. “He was on the base, but we didn't find him. Do you suppose he died when the facility collapsed? Or do you think he betrayed you, used you as bait to attract us so he could escape? Given what I know of him, I suspect the second option is more likely.”
Mr. Soul said nothing.
“Do you like Mr. Hand?” said Laodicean, gliding in close. “Do you trust him? Was he your superior?”
Mr. Soul glared at him.
“Ah,” said Laodicean. “A few activations of the upper eyelid muscle. He was, and you didn't like him … and another activation confirms it.”
Mr. Soul drew back his lips into a snarl.
“My normal strategy would be to find something to offer you that makes your co-operation a better deal for you. Now, I'm sure you are ready to die,” said Laodicean. “You are a fanatic. You are loyal to Vihan Yvredi – but I think there is something that commands your loyalty even beyond that. The Free Petaurs. I am correct, I see. So perhaps I should offer you this deal. Vihan Yvredi will be destroyed either way. But if you do not co-operate, the Free Petaurs, as a nation, will also be destroyed.” he turned and floated away. “Conquering the Petaurs. Yes, that would certainly ensure the end of Vihan Yvredi.”
“You couldn't,” growled Mr. Soul.
“Have something to say at last, do we?” said Laodicean.
Mr. Soul pulled back and glared at him.
“We couldn't conquer the Free Petaurs? Do you really think that is the case?” said Laodicean. “Everyone has monopole cannons now, but there is still no ship that can defeat a Tethyan battleship. If we chose to conquer the Petaurs, none of the other powers could possibly stop us.”
“It won't happen.”
“Are you sure? We changed our minds on how to treat the rest of the galaxy at the end of the War of the Ancients. In Tethyan terms, that is the blink of an eye. We may change our minds again. And remember, we had no issue with the Albascene enslaving the Petaurs. Why do you think we would have qualms now?”
Mr. Soul decided to clam up again.
“Perhaps you are right,” Laodicean said lightly. “Perhaps it is a bluff. Perhaps I have other things in mind to try first. For instance, I'm sure you think that by capturing you was pointless, because you won't tell us anything. Am I right?”
Mr. Soul didn't answer.
“I disagree,” said Laodicean. “The other leaders of Vihan Yvredi will see that we have captured one of their own and see that they are not invulnerable.” He glided silently back and forth across the cell as if thinking.
“Mr Hand,” he went on, “knows about psychological warfare. But so do I. I have worked for the GEA. I have seen the sorts of depravities the worst of the galaxy has to offer. I have catalogued and analysed them. And now I am free of the GEA, there is nothing to stop me from using them.”
He swung about suddenly, his effector fields flaring out to grab Mr. Soul and pin him against the wall. The effector fields pressed down on him with slowly increasing force. A band of pressure constricted his throat. Another twisted his injured leg, and pain flared up.
“I will record your interrogation,” said Laodicean, his voice still jarringly calm. “I will send a clip of it to Vihan Yvredi alongside every piece of your body that comes off in the process. And when I am done, I will send what remains of your head to whichever leader bears that name. I will promise them that is what awaits them. And then we will conquer the Petaurs. Do you understand?”
Mr. Soul didn't reply. He couldn't. His leg felt like it was on fire, but he didn't have the breath to make anything more than a faint whine.
When he was on the verge of passing out, the effector fields vanished. Mr. Soul fell to the ground, soundlessly shrieked as he fell on his leg, and collapsed in a heap, panting.
Laodicean loomed over him. The tentacles twisted in what Mr. Soul could only interpret as a sort of satisfaction.
He glided back to the door. “Thank you,” he told the guard. “I'm ready to leave now. He may attempt to get you to kill him. Please don't.”
The door creaked as it opened, and Laodicean glided out.
Mr. Soul was alone with the guard again, who now seemed to have a faint but predatory smile in response to what he had just seen. Mr. Soul found he was shivering.
Chapter 57: Audio Recordings
On the Outsider, Rurthk settled down in his quarters and put a call through to Yilva.
It took her a while to pick up, but at last she appeared on his tablet. In the background, Rurthk could see the assorted scraps of technology making up her workshop. She had a plate of fruit and a small cup of water by her side.
She smiled when she saw him. “You know,” she said, “when you came to visit me, I had almost no hope for you. I thought you'd spend the next month chasing your own tail until Vihan Yvredi stamped you out for getting in the way. But now … well, you actually managed to pull it off. And I hear you have a few allies, too. Well done.”
“Thank you,” said Rurthk. “As for the Petaur we captured …”
“Mr. Soul,” said Yilva. “You're right, that's his operative name. His real name is Yave Illiko, for what it's worth. I have a file on him.”
“Was he worth capturing?” said Rurthk.
Yilva shrugged lightly and ate a small yellow fruit. “Probably not,” she said. “His family were killed by the Albascene when he was very young. Those he did grow up with were in the Petaur resistance, and helped establish Vihan Yvredi. They're dead too now. You have no leverage.”
“Laodicean just been interrogating him, apparently.” Rurthk couldn't help a faint smile. “Left our Mr. Soul rather shaken, by the sounds of it. They had to go and heal his leg again.”
Yilva cocked her head and pursed her lips, but said nothing.
Rurthk realised she probably had no interest in those sorts of details, especially considering they wouldn't work. “Well,” he went on. “Anyway. Have you looked at Dr. Singer's tracking idea.”
“I have,” she said. “He has hit upon some quite interesting ideas. Some of which hadn't occurred to me. And he seems to have learned a lot about Vihan Yvredi's current practices, most of which have escaped me. I've talked to some of the other scientists too. There's a lot of useful stuff there.”
She paused to eat some more fruit and sip her water.
“As it happens, I've been working on my own tracking project. It's just for one person, but it might benefit from their input.” She smiled. “I'll tell you when it's done. Shouldn't be long now.”
“In that case, we'll set off for Cantor now,” said Rurthk.
Yilva laughed softly. “Yes, I should have it finished by then. And … would you bring Mr. Soul too?”
“Do you think you can turn him?” said Rurthk.
“No, but it would be nice to talk to him.”
“He'll be there,” said Rurthk.
“Thank you,” said Yilva.
“There's one more thing.” Rurthk grabbed a contracted tablet. “Mr. Hand gave me some audio recordings. I need to know if they're authentic.” He rubbed the tablet back and forth between his finger and thumb. He had checked the file type when he transferred them from his comms to the tablet, but he hadn't listened to them yet. He knew that listening to fakes without knowing they were fakes might influence his judgement.
“Of course,” said Yilva. “Send them my way. I'll get back to you soon.”
They finished the call on that promise. Rurthk stood up, turned the tablet over
in his fingers, then put it in his coat pocket.
*
Albert Wells was sitting deep in thought, watching his fire roar, with his hand resting lightly on the pommel of the sword his always kept with him.
The sword was an heirloom, given to him by his father, dating from fifteenth century Europe. To Wells, it was symbolic of a more civilised age, when men engaged directly with the necessary violence of life instead of hiding behind lasers and computers and spaceships.
In other words, it was symbolic of everything Vihan Yvredi was not.
The tablet beside him chimed. Woken from his fantasies of chivalry, he glared at it for a moment before picking it up and accepting the call.
“Mr. Wells, sir,” said his assistant over the line. “We think Vihan Yvredi has just been attacked.”
Wells sat up sharply. “What?” he said.
“It's hard to tell what's going on exactly, but as best we can tell … one of their large installations in Glaber space has just gone down. We don't have many more details than that.”
“Send me what you have,” Wells said.
“Of course, sir.” His assistant sent several files. “There's one more thing.”
“And?”
“We have some evidence that the people behind the attack are former allies of yours. Captain Rurthk and the crew of the Outsider.”
Wells stared at the tablet.
Rurthk … Now there was an honourable man … as far as a petty criminal could be honourable, at least. Wells had a modicum of respect for him. If Rurthk could defeat Sukone, perhaps there was a slight chance he could help in the fight against Vihan Yvredi.
Chapter 58: Trust
Rurthk saw the queen once more before they left, a purely social visit, because she was a welcome distraction from everything else that was going on. She couldn't go with them, of course – a Glaber hunter outside of the Glaber Territories would attract too much attention – so she left him with the promise they'd meet soon. Rurthk had a sullen and silent Mr. Soul brought on board, checked with the scientists to see that they were okay on the Glaber, and then set off.
When its jump calculations were finished, the Outsider detached from the queen's hunter and jumped away.
En route, Rurthk called Laodicean to meet him in the observation lounge.
He was holding a carton of blood the queen had given him when Laodicean floated through the door. Through the window, a luminous blue nebula streamed across the sky.
“You wanted to see me?” said Laodicean.
Rurthk nodded and indicated the other side of the table where Laodicean was to settle. “It's time for that talk. You decided to interrogate Mr. Soul without asking me first.”
“Yes.”
“And you injured him.”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Laodicean was silent for some time. His tentacles moved slowly back and forth. “It seemed necessary,” he said.
“Necessary to get him to talk?”
“Yes.”
Rurthk nodded. “Yilva assured us he wouldn't talk. And he hasn't.”
“Not yet,” said Laodicean. “It is possible he will.”
Rurthk sighed. “And what about the bit where you didn't tell me what you were doing? Was that necessary to get him to talk too?”
“No,” Laodicean said. “But … I wanted to interrogate him.”
Rurthk sighed, tore the top off the carton, and took a gulp. “Is this how you did things at the GEA?” he growled.
“No. But this is not the GEA.”
“That doesn't mean it's a free-for-all!” said Rurthk. “First run off and endanger everyone to get this prisoner, even though we've all been told it won't help anything. Then you go and interrogate him on your own and break his leg. Look, I don't care about you hurting him. He's an evil bastard, and I haven't got an ethics committee breathing down my neck. But I can't have you running off and doing whatever the hell you want whenever the mood strikes you. Especially not when it endangers the rest of the team. You said you wanted to work together to stop Vihan Yvredi? Well, this isn't working together. I took a damned big leap of faith letting a former lawman – one who, let's not forget, hounded me across half the galaxy – on my ship. And with all this, I'm starting to think I made the wrong choice. I mean, I certainly can't trust you on missions, can I? Not when you do stupid shit like this.”
“Rurthk –” began Laodicean.
“I'm not done,” snapped Rurthk. He sighed and took another drink before continuing. “I don't have time to worry about your issues. If you keep this up, if you disobey me one more time, you're out. Do I make myself clear?”
“Absolutely,” said Laodicean. “I will … restrain myself in future.”
“Alright,” Rurthk said, settling back in his chair. “Then let's just go forward and defeat Vihan Yvredi.” He took another long drink, and they were both comfortably silent for some time.
“What do you plan to do when we have destroyed them?” said Laodicean.
“If I survive, you mean?” said Rurthk. “Oh, I don't know. Keep flying. Maybe find some jobs. But we might have enough money to keep us going for a while. But a bit of crime keeps things fun.” He grinned. “Do you object?”
“I … do not think so,” said Laodicean. “If we succeed, I think you will have done enough for the galaxy. Should I return to the GEA, I will have no trouble overlooking you.”
“You think they'll take you back?” said Rurthk.
“Perhaps. Currently, my plans extend only to destroying Vihan Yvredi. I don't know what I will do after that.” A shiver of amusement ran down Laodicean's tentacles. “This is the first time in decades that I have been without a long-term plan. It is … rather exhilarating.”
Rurthk laughed. “It is,” he agreed.
Rurthk left the observation lounge feeling slightly better. The Outsider made another jump. When he finished his blood, he headed down the corridor and went to his quarters.
There, on his tablet, he found a message from Yilva waiting for him. All it said was, The recording is authentic. I'm sorry.
Rurthk read it, looked away, then read it again. He gestured at the tablet to call up the audio files, then hesitated.
He activated his comms and called Eloise. “You might want to come and listen to this,” he said.
Chapter 59: Consequences
Mero left a new set of jump calculations to cook, then leaned back and stretched. They should be at Cantor in another couple of days.
He reached up, grabbed the back of the pilot's chair, and flipped over it. He thought about Mr. Soul, locked in one of the cabins, and how the run-in with Laodicean had broken his leg. The thought made him laugh softly. He headed out of the cockpit and walked jauntily down the corridor to the observation lounge.
On the way, he passed Rurthk. “Hi, Cap!” he said.
Rurthk grunted a greeting, then stopped and turned to face Mero. “By the way, I was wondering …”
“Yeah?” said Mero.
“Those are some damned good shuttles. How much did they cost?”
“Oh, uh …” Rather more than his cut from Sukone's loot, in fact. But he couldn't say that. It took him a moment to make up a decent number that made sense, which he gave to Rurthk
“Impressive,” said Rurthk, nodding appreciatively.
“Good negotiating skills,” Mero said, tapping his chest.
“We're lucky you decided to come back,” said Rurthk, and moved to continue down the corridor.
“Damn right,” said Mero.
And then Rurthk headbutted him.
Mero stumbled back, his nose suddenly thick with blood. Rurthk grabbed him by the throat, picked him, and slammed him against the wall.
“You bastard!” shouted Rurthk. “You betrayed us! It's your fault we lost Kaivon!”
Mero scrabbled at the grip on his throat, without success. His head was muzzy; Rurthk had put all his strength into that initial blow. He grabbed Rurthk's wrist so his neck
wasn't supporting all his weight, then got ready to kick him.
Eloise stepped into view, holding a pistol. “You should ask yourself if that's the route you really wanna go down,” she said. “And think about how it might end for you.”
Mero looked into her eyes, then let his body go limp, aside from his grip on Rurthk's wrist.
“What the hell are you talking about, Cap?” he growled weakly.
Rurthk pulled him away from the wall for a moment only to slam him back into it. “I'm not in the mood for your little games. I've heard the recordings of that deal you made with Mr. Hand.”
“You're really gonna trust Mr. Hand?”
“When Yilva says its authentic, yeah, I am,” said Rurthk. His voice had turned to an icy calm. “If you don't admit it, I will kill you. How much did the shuttles cost?”
Mero closed his eyes and swallowed. He could feel the blood dripping off the end of his nose. Something in there had definitely broken. He felt his consciousness waver as if threatening to abandon him. “Just over a million each,” he said.
Rurthk glared at him.
“Yeah,” Mero added after a moment. “I did what he wanted. Of course I fucking did, Rurthk. You heard how much he was offering! And it was just this one, tiny thing.”
“Do you know how many people have died because of you?”
Mero answered immediately. “Four thousand, five hundred and twenty six.”
There was a moment of silence. Rurthk stared at him.
“War casualties, plus those who died in the attack, plus Illipa … and Kaivon,”
Rurthk snarled and pulled Mero away from the wall. Mero flinched, worrying he was about to be thrown against it again, but Rurthk just held him there. Through blurred vision, Mero could see Olivia in the background, standing behind Eloise.