Babylon 5 11 - Psi Corps 02 - Deadly Relations - Bester Ascendant (Keyes, Gregory)

by Bester Ascendant (Keyes, Gregory)

  Sir, I cant betray the Corps

  Bester clucked his tongue. Timothy, youre so young. I know you think you see things clearly now, know where your loyalties lie. I was born in the Corps, raised by the Corps from birth. Ive never flinched from serving the Corps, even when great sacrifices were called for. He lifted his clenched hand. Dont presume to tell me what betrays the Corps. Someone is delivering our people into the hands of someonemaybe something else. There are traitors in Psi Corps, and you have worked for them.

  Sir, the director

  Is a mundane, Timothy. He is a creature of the Senate, of wealthy mundanes. He inclined his head. I dont have a lot of time. I am closely watched, and I will be missed. Timothy, Im prepared to make another sacrifice today. It will hurt me terribly to harm you. I will carry it as a wound on my heart. But it will be one wound of many, and for the sake of my people, I will do it. Thats why I risked coming to question you myselfbecause I cannot, will not ask anyone else to take this burden for me. Im asking youone last timeto help me.

  Sir His voice trembled. Sir, Im scared of them.

  Of course.

  Theythey found something on Mars. A ship.

  I know about the ship, Timothy. I know one man touched it and diedI know a telepath touched it and went insane. I know that when it was excavated, another ship just like it came and took it away. But whose ship was it, Timothy? What race? And what do they have to do with my people?

  Sir, I dont know. You have to believe that.

  I cant afford to believe it. You know that.

  Theyre all tied up with IPX, and EarthGov, like you said. Ive seen EarthForce officers, and an aide to Vice President Clark

  The aliens, Bester softly reminded him.

  Interplanetary Expeditions tracked their ship out to the rim, a planet called Alpha Omega 3. They plan to send an archaeological team to investigate. Thats all I know.

  Bester nodded, sadly. I believe you, son. Then he hit him with a hard scan.

  Jackson hadnt lied, but the scan gave him more details. Faces of the IPX men, some of whom he recognized. The aide connected to Clark. More detail to help him flesh out the cabal, but not much more.

  No, everything really useful had come from the boys mouth, sad to say.

  He studied the other two people in the room. To one, a tall man built of right angles, he said, I want him reconstructed. Carefully. He still has two weeks of leave leftimplant a nice memory of backpacking in the Tetons or somewhere. Rebuild his personality as much like the original as possible, but leave me a key to get in, okay? We may need him one day.

  I understand, Mr. Bester.

  I know you do, Mr. Tsai. Ill check on him in a few weeks. He put his hand on Tsais shoulder. Some of what we have to do is hard, but its better than the alternative. Remember that.

  Of course. Tsai looked surprised that Bester had even bothered to say it. Stout fellow, Tsai.

  As for you, Ms. Donnegood work.

  Donne shifted her competent, muscular physique and nodded briskly. Thank you, sir.

  Is myappointmentarranged?

  Something that was almostbut not quitea smile ghosted Donnes tight lips. Mr. Bester, I think you will be pleased.

  Good. Im sure I will. Ms. Donne, another thing. Id like some improvements in our intelligence inside IPX. And I need to know everything about this mission to the rim. We need someone on that ship.

  Ill see to it, Donne promised. Im headed back to Geneva as soon as were done here.

  I know you willand we are done here. Well. A pleasure seeing the both of you again. Hopefully next time we meet we can do something more pleasanthave dinner, perhaps.

  Bester returned to his ship. Once free of the asteroid, he fired the thrusters in a single, brief burst, then waited until he had drifted for almost an hour before cutting in the main engines and pointing the Starfurys nose toward a certain transport that awaited his return.

  Did you have a nice flight?

  Bester looked up from the task of shucking off his pressure suit. He saw an earnest young man with close-cropped, blondish hair.

  Hello, Byron. Yes, very nice actually.

  Any sign of the transport?

  None at all. It might be that we got a bad steer this time out. I wonder if we shouldnt backtrack to Ceres and start over. Im not convinced that the captain there was entirely truthful with us.

  Mundanes never are, are they?

  They cant help it, Bester said. Its in their nature to fear us. What were you up to while I was out?

  Reading one of the books you suggested. The one by that Rand person.

  Ah, yes. Did she convert you to objectivism?

  Not exactly, but I can see what you mean. It is hard to deny that some people count more than others, in the grand scheme of things.

  Bester shrugged the rest of the way out of his suit. You have to put her in context. The discovery of the fact of evolution by Darwin created a new paradigm for thinking about old issues. It was fashionable and convenient to believe that those who were wealthy and successful were so because they were inherently superior. He changed the subject. Im starving. Shall we get a bite to eat?

  Delighted, Byron replied.

  A few moments later, over barely identifiable, microwaved lasagnaBester hoped it was lasagna, in any caseByron cleared his throat. Do you think there was anything to it? Social Darwinism?

  Survival of the fittest? It was a misunderstanding about how evolution worked, really. Looking back on it, its all pretty silly mundanes squabbling about who was more evolved. From our point of view, its sort of like a couple of chimps arguing about which walks most upright. Social Darwinism was a pseudo-scientific rationale for laissez-faire capitalism, class domination, and racism. It was an ideology, not a scientific understanding.

  But there is such a thing as evolution, of course. For almost a million years, Homo sapiens remained virtually unchanged biologicallyculture essentially arrested natural selection. Society protects its weak and stupid, helps them breed. Whatever the social Darwinists of the twentieth century thought of themselves, they were, in fact, the end product of a million years of unnatural and unplanned selectionevery bit as much as the factory workers and welfare cheats they lorded themselves over.

  In a million years, the only biological improvement in the Human race has been us , Byron. He smiled. You see, Im not a social Darwinistjust a Darwinist, plain and simple.

  It seems obvious, Byron said. Thats why normals fear us.

  Imagine what the apes who stayed in trees must have thought of those new creatures who went walking upright across the savannah. There has to be an impulse in a species that understands its about to be replaced, a last desperate effort to rescue itself, to save its genes from oblivion.

  So why did you suggest I read Rand, if you think so little of the premises of her reasoning?

  Why, to make you think, Byron. A Psi Cop has to know how to think, how to evaluate, how to judge. I picked you to train because I think you have more potential than Ive seen in a long timeyou can be a first-rate Psi Cop, if you want. Not a bloodhoundof course, we need good bloodhounds, dont get me wrongbut you could be a leader. You could go far.

  1I appreciate the opportunity, sir. I hope I dont let you down.

  Its a pleasure, Byron. Im sure youll make me proud. I could wish for a son like you

  He broke off, unsure why he had said thathe said things like that all the time, because making people feel special made them like you, and that made them useful.

  Excepthe saw what bothered himhe genuinely meant what he had just told the boy. He liked Byron. He enjoyed teaching him, shaping him. It was odd. It was the first such feeling he had experienced in a long time. He really wasnt sure whether he liked it, whether it was appropriate. Perhaps he should pass Byron along to someone else to tutor. Yes, that might be best, all in all. He would have to give it some more thought.

  Meanwhile, they did have a rogue to catch, an important date to keep. The diversion to the asteroid had be
en just that, a diversion so he could conduct business secretly. While most of the transport crew were from his inner circle, othersByron, for instancestill didnt need to know everything he did.

  The man they were tracking was almost certainly headed for Io, in hopes of using the jumpgate there. He had to be stopped, but there was really no hurry. What he didnt know was that there was a tracking beacon on board his stolen vessel. There always had been. Telemetry placed his ship on a trajectory to Jupiter, and their transport could easily catch up.

  And now, there was another matter that required his immediate attention. He needed to know everything, and more than everything, about the expedition that was headed toward the rim.

  A few minutes in front of his AI terminal got him a screenful of dataDonne, efficient as ever, had already filtered a lot of the information.

  The Icarus . Ostensibly an IPX ship. He scrolled through the assignments, saw a few familiar names. Chang. HidalgoBester smiled. Hidalgo owed him a few favors.

  Another name caught his eyeSheridan. Anna Sheridan. A relative, perhaps, of the famous war hero?

  He would have to check on that, too.

  They hadnt assigned a telepath yetindeed, it would be some weeks before they started actually assembling the crew. Good. That gave him time. He could concentrate on the business at hand, on his coming appointment. All he had to do was plausibly draw this telepath hunt out for another two days, and everything would be in place.

  * * *

  chapter 7

  « » Bester shook off the lingering nightmare that clung to his backbrain.

  Very good , Byron. That was well done.

  Thank you, sir. He beamed. Though I suspect you let me win.

  I didnt let you win. I offered you an opening, true, but its an opening that very few would have noticed. I dont give praise unless its deservedsurely you know that about me by now.

  So they tell me. Can we go round again? Im still having trouble with that middle series of blocks.

  Best rest up. In eight hours well catch up with the Blip, and I dont want you all worn out.

  Does that mean Ill be going along? The eagerness in his voice was palpable.

  Yes, I think youre ready.

  I dont feel ready.

  Bester considered for an instant. There are ways of preparing, other than scan/block drills. How would you like to watch a movie?

  A movie?

  An old-style vid.

  Sounds fun, but

  There is a point to this, I assure you. Its called Rashomon .. .

  As he watched the black-and-white images play across the screen, Bester felt an odd sort of peace. He had wondered, once when he was the statue of the dayhow many different roles he would play in life. Now, as his years advanced, he had a sort of answer, but not one he had ever imagined as a boy.

  He had been the child, the prodigy of Cadre Prime. He had been the apprenticehad he failed Bey or had Bey failed him? It didnt matter; it had failed. He had been the young lover, another failure. He had been, for a short time, the husband. Yes, he was still married, but he was no longer husband in any real sense, hadnt been for decades. Father? Well, there was a man who counted him his father, but that was as far as it went.

  He wasnt so foolish or self-damaging as to take all of the blame for those failuresCadre Prime, Bey, Montoya, Alishaall of them shared the failures, and there had been less visible hands at work in his life as well. Yet still, no matter how he rationalized it, he had passed briefly through roles but never lived them, never owned them, never been anything Human . Only the efficient hunter, the cop.

  But now, imperceptibly, it seemed, he had grown into another role, one he might at last do well at. He had never quite been child, brother, son, lover, husband, or father. But the young people under his commandwell, to put aside false modesty, many of them worshiped him. He had respect, and adulation. He had a chance with them, a chance to create a kind of legacy. When he looked at Byron, he saw him through the same eyes that Bey had seen him through, all those years ago.

  Perhaps all of the failures, all of the trials, had brought him to this one moment, this one role he would finally fill perfectlythat of mentor.

  A risk, perhapsthe risk of failing againbut it seemed worth it. It made him feel paradoxically young.

  Turning, sir, Ysidra Tapia said, from the pilots station. The ship vibrated subtly, and the view changed. Byron gave a soft gasp of admiration. Besides the three of them, the bridge was emptyit would be some time before a full complement was needed.

  Your first time this close to Jupiter? Bester asked.

  Byron nodded, his features betraying awe. Its magnificent. What a bloody magnificent planet.

  Yes it is.

  I mean, Ive seen vids, and holographs, but still

  Wait until you see it from Io, Bester said. That close, theres nothing but Jupiter. You can lose yourself in it, watching a tiny whirl in a storm, and then realize that that little spiral could swallow all of Earth. An eddy so insignificant that if you looked away, you could never find it again. It tends to create a certain perspective.

  Just then, Jupiter was the apparent size of a grapefruit. They were falling toward the king of gods at many klicks per second, but the scale of things dwarfed their speed. They ate up thousands of kilometers without any perceptible change in the gas giant.

  Still, you couldnt escape the feeling that once Jupiter had you, it would never let you go. And Jupiter had them. It would take more thrust than was needed to escape the surface of the Earth to climb back even this far out of the hole Jupiters mass had dug around them.

  You are keeping track of our target as you appreciate this grandeur, I hope.

  Oh, yesIve still got him on the optical telescope. He comes and goes on the other sensors.

  Of course. Using Jupiters EM as a screen is a game as old as criminals in space.

  Its good we got the optical lock on him before we went too deep into the field.

  Yes. Have you tried to touch him yet?

  Hes too far away, isnt he?

  You never know, when you have line of sight. Its a funny thing. Give it a try.

  Byron nodded. He closed his eyes, relaxed the muscles of his face, then opened them again. He concentrated on the distant dot for a few moments, then, with a soft grunting noise, tightened his lips. Sweat broke out on his brow.

  Easy, Byron, Bester cautioned. Dont strain yourself. I only said to try. Its always worthwhile to try.

  Im sorry, sir. I couldnt get anything.

  Its too far, or hes blocking, or both, Bester told him. Dont worry. Well get him.

  While Jupiter stayed roughly the same apparent size, the dot in the optical scope grew quickly, gaining definition. It was an old ship, a modified asteroid tug more than fifty years old. Bester was surprised it was flying at all. Certainly it had no chance of outdistancing his state-of-the-art craft.

  Or of outfighting it. When they were within a hundred klicks, it opened its single weapons port and fired two missiles. After they shot those out of space, it fired on them with a mining laser.

  What now? asked Tapia, at the weapons console.

  I want him alive, of course, Bester murmured. See if you can get the idiot to answer another hail. If you cant, try a pinpoint strike at the laser. That hull wont take much of a pounding.

  Right.

  The hail failed again, so Bester ended up watching, tight-lipped, as Tapia drew the wicked scalpel of their own laser cannon across the other ship.

  I think that gets it, sir. His hull still looks good.

  Perfect. Well done, Ysidra.

  Thank you, sir.

  Well, Byron, are you ready to fly a Starfury?

  Byrons grin was more eloquent than any other answer he could have given.

  Bester watched Byrons Starfury as it grappled the tug and reeled it in.

  Omega 7 to Omega 1. Hes still not responding. Could he be dead? Or unconscious?

  Bester considered that. Its possible, he allo
wed. Cover me, now, while I grapple.

  A few moments later, the task done, he returned his attention to the ship. A funny feeling swept over him.

  Okay, Byron said, over the headset. Im preparing to go EVA, so I can force the hatch.

  Hang on, just a second, Byron. He stared at the battered ship, willing himself to see beyondwrong approach. He opened his mind, instead, as if listening to a city. As in some of his earliest drills, he started filtering the voices out, one by one.

  When he had pared it down to just himself and Byron, he still had no sense that there was anyone on the ship.

  Frowning, he called Tapia on a secure channel, so Byron couldnt listen in.

  Sir?

  Ysidra, who planted the tracking device on this ship?

  Let me seethat would have been Zee.

  Where did he do it?

  On Ceres, sir. We guessed that our Blip would come through there, and Zee left this ship where it would be available to him.

  Yes, yes, I remember the plan. Something was wrong. Bester had arranged things very carefullyor so he thought. Hed needed an excuse to visit the asteroid belt, so he could interrogate Jackson, and another excuse to go to Jupiter. Hed set things up so that a certain Blip would find his way to Ceres, steal a ship with a tracking device, and flee toward Io.

  A delicate plan, but so far, so good. But what if

  Find Zee. Check with him. I want to know the serial number and configurations of the ship he wired.

  That might take a few moments.

  Weve nothing but time.

  Which wasnt true, of course. He had someplace to be in under ten hours, and a narrow window in which to be there. But his instincts

  Well, they wouldnt have stopped him when he was twenty. Maybe it was just old age and paranoia. Of course, for him, the distinction between paranoia and common sense was rather pointless. But if someone knew what he was up to right nowthe wrong someonethat could be very, very bad.