Skyfall

by Anthony Eaton

  ‘Sure.’ The man marched away, while the woman came around the desk, her hand resting lightly on her stunner, which she wore attached to a hip-clip.

  ‘I don’t want any trouble from you, okay? Do the right thing and there’ll be no problems.’

  ‘Can I contact my father, please? He’s the—’

  She shook her head. ‘There’ll be no contacting anyone until after we’ve had time to question you.’

  ‘About what?’

  ‘Some discrepancies in your readout.’

  ‘What discrepancies?’

  ‘It’s not for me to say. Somebody will be along to begin interviewing when things calm down. In the meantime, you’re to step into the enclosure and remain there calmly until you’re called.’

  ‘This is insane.’

  The woman offered no further comment, but pointed him towards the roped-off area. With a last glance back across the common, Lari did as he was told.

  ‘Ride the skyfire

  She’s been trying, but she doesn’t know how.

  Every time she pushes into it, it pushes back, harder and more forcefully than she would have thought possible.

  ‘DON’T!’ it seems to be telling her.

  But she has to. She knows she does. So she tries again, and again, and again.

  And every time, the skyfire sears her mind and blinds her thoughts with cold.

  It doesn’t hate her.

  It doesn’t love her.

  It doesn’t care.

  ‘Ride the skyfire.’

  Ride it where? she wonders …

  The room was windowless, the only light coming from a small portalamp on a makeshift table in the centre. Three figures sat hunched and silent around it.

  ‘It should have happened by now.’ The speaker sounded young, but his face was a mass of scars which made his age difficult to judge.

  ‘Patience.’ Gregor leaned back and stretched his arms, stifling a yawn. ‘It will take some time for word to get down to us. I imagine security will lock out the maglift and coms from Port North Central as soon as they realise what’s going on.’

  ‘And so we just sit here and wait?’

  ‘Can you think of something better to do?’ Gregor rose and paced slowly around the table. ‘Just be confident in your own abilities and in our planning, lads. They weren’t expecting this, so they won’t be looking out for it. The worst that can happen is that some of our own people might have been accidentally caught up in the business end of things, but assuming everyone did their jobs properly

  A masked figure appeared in the narrow doorway. ‘Dad?’

  ‘Come in, Jem. Any news?’

  The girl almost skipped into the room.

  ‘You should have seen it, Dad! It was incredible! The explosion …’

  Before she could finish her sentence, the two youths at the table were on their feet, whooping and slapping each other’s backs.

  ‘That’ll show them.’

  ‘Upper-level Shi!’

  ‘Cut it out, both of you!’ Gregor’s voice cracked hard off the bare concrete walls. ‘This is not something to celebrate. We just killed a lot of innocent people, quite possibly for no reason at all.’

  The two young men fell silent.

  Gregor turned back to his daughter. ‘What do you know?’

  ‘Not a lot. I magged down as soon as the bombs went off, before they shut down the system. It was bad, though.’

  ‘How bad?’

  ‘I could see bodies everywhere. The second blast took them out in the alleyway just as we planned. Lots of screaming, lots of panic. Just what you wanted.’

  ‘Good.’ Gregor scratched one of the scars that rippled across his face. ‘Very good. That should get the attention of the Prelature, at least.’ He turned to the two youths.

  ‘You did well. But don’t go getting cocky. They know what we’re prepared to do now, and you can bet it won’t be so easy next time.’

  ‘There’ll be a next time, then?’

  ‘Of course. But a different sort of target.’

  ‘What?’

  Gregor shook his head. ‘You don’t need to know. Not yet, anyway. What you need to do is start getting more materials together.’

  ‘How much?’

  ‘More than last time. We’ll need at least five times the destructive capacity of today’s blasts.’

  ‘Five times?’ The youth with the scarred face looked shocked. ‘What are you planning to do? Bring down a dome?’

  Gregor’s voice was hard. ‘Just get the materials.’

  ‘No way. I … No way in the sky. That’s too much.’

  ‘Garen, you’re not going soft on us now, are you?’ Gregor’s voice was low but calm. ‘You made the same commitment as the rest of us. Whatever it takes … Remember? I’d be very upset if you were to go back on your word.’

  ‘But a whole dome, that’s insane.’

  ‘Whatever it takes, Garen.’

  ‘I can’t. Blowing up a few cloudheads in their restaurant is one thing, but a dome … That’ll disrupt the mags, the coms, the recyc …’

  ‘That’s the point.’

  ‘No.’ The youth shook his head. ‘Sorry, but I’m out.’

  ‘There is no “out”, Garen, you know that. This is the Underground.’

  ‘I don’t care. You can’t make me. I’m out of here. I won’t talk, but I don’t wanna be involved.’

  ‘Are you certain?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  Gregor sighed and nodded briefly in his daughter’s direction.

  Jem’s fist caught the boy squarely on his temple. He didn’t even have time to cry out before his body folded to the floor.

  ‘A pity.’ Gregor shook his head sadly. ‘He had such promise, too.’ He turned to the remaining youth. ‘And what about you, Cairn? Do you have any objections you’d like to voice?’

  ‘No.’ The voice was a whisper.

  ‘Good. Go then. Get to work.’

  ‘Okay.’

  The youth fled.

  ‘Can we trust him?’ Jem asked, once he was out of earshot.

  ‘We can now.’ Gregor nodded at the form lying on the floor. ‘Is he dead?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Good. He’s useful. We’ll let him wake up with a headache and once we point out how lucky he is, and how generous I’m being, I’m certain we can convince him of the error of his ways.’

  Now, for the first time since his daughter’s arrival, Gregor allowed himself a small smile.

  ‘No hitches at all, then?’

  ‘Nope. Smooth as.’

  ‘Good. If we’re lucky, security will take a while to piece it all together. We can’t rely on that, though.’

  ‘So we move ahead?’

  ‘Of course. If we really want to have an impact, we should move fast.’ He nudged the boy on the floor with his toe. ‘Once Garen wakes up, we’ll send him off to get working on the next device.’

  ‘There was one thing …’ Jem began.

  Gregor regarded her with an even stare. ‘I thought you said there were no hitches.’

  ‘There weren’t. Not with the operation, anyway.’

  ‘Then what?’

  ‘Larinan Mann was there.’

  Gregor froze. ‘In the ref?’

  ‘No. But close. The guys we had watching DGAP tailed him as far as the common, just before the first explosion, but they didn’t want to follow him any further.’

  ‘Understandably. Do we know if he was caught up in it?’

  ‘Not yet.’

  Gregor scratched his bare scalp. ‘Why wasn’t he safely in DGAP?’

  ‘Don’t know. He left it in a hurry, I’m told. Looked upset.’

  ‘And he ran straight into our operation. Interesting. I wonder what could have made little Lari run away like that?’

  ‘Could he have known what was going to happen?’

  ‘I doubt it. Our organisation is solid. No, him getting tangled up in it was just dumb luck.’

 
‘Good or bad luck?’

  ‘That’s the question, isn’t it?’ Gregor crossed over to the table and flicked off the portalamp. The room fell into darkness, only a dull rectangle of light coming through the open doorway. ‘Luck is what we make of it. Find out what’s happened to him, if you can. If he survived the blast, find out why he was there in the first place. If we play things right, this could be … useful.’

  ‘How?’

  Gregor smiled into the shadows.

  ‘Leverage. It’s all about leverage, Jem. Something in DGAP spooked that boy, and I’d be interested to know what.’

  ‘You think he’ll tell us?’

  ‘One way or another. He does owe me a favour, after all. Now go and find out what’s happened to him.’

  ‘What if I can’t get to him? Port North Central’s gonna be locked down for hours.’

  Gregor looked thoughtful.

  ‘Then bring me his friend. Perhaps she’ll be able to help us out.’

  Without another word, Jem slipped out into the gloom of the underworld.

  ‘Larinan Mann.’

  Lari started awake from where he’d been slumped. He had no idea how long he’d been asleep, but it must have been a while, because the enclosure had significantly fewer people in it than it had when he’d nodded off.

  ‘This way please, Mr Mann.’ The speaker, a short man, stood beside the guard at the entrance to the enclosure. He looked familiar, but there was also something nondescript about him, which made it hard for Lari to place where he’d seen him before. He followed the man into the lift lobby of a nearby mixed-use building.

  ‘Just through here.’ The man led him across the lobby to an unmarked door which he opened, gesturing Lari inside. Apart from two hard chairs, the room was completely bare, and it was lit so brightly that it reminded him momentarily of the white exposure chamber back in DGAP.

  ‘Take a seat.’ Lari obligingly sat, while the man closed the door and leaned back against the wall, considering Lari thoughtfully.

  ‘Now, Larinan – you don’t mind if I call you that, do you?’

  ‘No. Why should I?’

  ‘Because it’s not the name you gave one of our officers earlier this evening when he asked who you were.’ He retrieved a flashpad from a pocket and glanced at it. ‘I believe you identified yourself to him as someone named Dariand.’

  ‘Is that all this is about? Listen, the only reason I gave that guy a false name is—’

  ‘It doesn’t matter, anyway, Larinan. That’s not why you’re here. I just thought it was … interesting.’

  ‘So why am I here, then? When my father finds out he’ll—’

  ‘Doctor Mann has been informed that we have you in custody and he will be notified when we are ready to release you, Larinan. In the meantime, I suggest you do everything you can to help us.’

  ‘My father knows I’m here? And he hasn’t—’

  ‘Even your father doesn’t have the power to overrule a security investigation into two major explosions. My authority comes direct from the Prelate herself.’ The mention of the Prelate brought his memory of the man’s face flooding back to Lari.

  ‘I know you. You were in that meeting yesterday afternoon.’

  ‘Very astute, Larinan, though I don’t recall that we were actually introduced. My name is Jenx, and I’m the Prelate’s head of citywide security.’ He sat lightly on the edge of the other chair. ‘Now, can you explain why your maglift records for yesterday would contain a major discrepancy?’

  The palms of Lari’s hands went clammy.

  ‘Yesterday?’

  ‘Yesterday morning during first shift, to be exact.’ Jenx arched his fingers into a steeple at his chin, and looked at Lari evenly. ‘According to the lift logs, you left a mixed-use dome – Dome 750 South – at 1012, and then left the same dome again several hours later.’

  ‘I was visiting a friend.’

  ‘You’re not listening to me, Larinan. I said the logs have you leaving 750 South, both times.’

  ‘So.’

  ‘So there’s no record of you going and coming back again in between. Nor, for that matter, is there any destination log for your outbound journey at 1012. It’s as though you vanished into thin air, only to return to your starting point much later in the day. And that interests me, Larinan.’

  Lari clenched his fists, digging his fingernails into the palms, using the pain to keep focused.

  ‘I don’t know what you expect me to tell you. Obviously there’s been a glitch in the system.’

  ‘The system doesn’t get “glitches”, Larinan. Not unless someone puts them there. Which is why I’m very interested to hear your explanation.’

  ‘I don’t have any idea what you’re talking about.’

  The security man raised one eyebrow, just briefly but long enough to let Lari know he wasn’t fooled.

  ‘We’ll let it pass for the moment then, Larinan. But I expect an answer – a believable answer – before I’ll allow you to be released.’ The corners of his mouth twitched in a grim smile. ‘If I allow you to be released. Now…’ He glanced quickly at the flashpad on his lap. ‘I understand that you’re friends with Kesra Anatale.’

  Lari’s heart skipped in his chest.

  ‘So?’

  ‘You two have known each other for how long exactly?’

  Lari was careful to keep his expression neutral.

  ‘Ages. We went through school together.’

  ‘That’s right, you did. The advanced school, right?’

  ‘Yeah.’

  ‘She must be bright, then.’

  ‘I guess.’

  ‘And so must you, for that matter.’

  Lari didn’t respond.

  ‘So it’s odd that her lift log for yesterday seems to have developed exactly the same … glitch as yours.’

  Lari could feel Jenx studying his face, watching for any twitch, any weakness.

  ‘If you say so. I think it just proves that your system is stuffed.’

  ‘Your friend is very good at manipulating data systems, isn’t she?’

  ‘Why don’t you ask her?’

  ‘Just answer the question.’

  ‘Yeah. But like you say, she went through the advanced school. We can all manage data.’

  ‘Not like Kesra, though. I gather she’s been in trouble a couple of times for unauthorised access to files and systems.’

  ‘Never for anything serious.’

  ‘But you do admit that she has previously been in trouble for it?’

  ‘I guess.’ Lari inwardly cursed himself for making such an elementary error.

  ‘Tell me about Ratz, Larinan.’

  ‘Eh?’ The sudden change of topic drew a puzzled stare. ‘What?’

  ‘Ratz.’

  ‘What are you talking about?’

  ‘Do you know anyone by that name?’

  ‘No.’

  ‘Are you certain?’

  ‘I think I’d remember a name like that.’

  The investigator rose and slowly paced around behind Lari’s chair. ‘You still haven’t given me an explanation for the inconsistency in your lift logs, Larinan. Or explained why you and your friend Kesra have the same error in your logs.’

  An obvious solution presented itself. He wouldn’t tell the truth, but he wouldn’t lie, either. He sighed.

  ‘Okay, fine. You obviously know that Kes and I worked out how to re-route the maglifts.’

  The security man stopped his pacing, and when he spoke his tone was measured.

  ‘How?’

  ‘We hacked into a user interface that Kes stumbled across when she was …’He hesitated.

  ‘When she was?’ Jenx prompted.

  ‘Trying to find somewhere that we could be … alone.’

  Lari steadied his breathing. This was the important bit. If Jenx didn’t believe him now, it was all over.

  ‘Alone.’ There might have been a hint of amusement in the man’s tone.

  ‘You know.
Together. We thought that if we could loop a maglift and keep it running around the system, it would give us … a little privacy.’

  Jenx sat slowly back in his chair.

  ‘So Kesra is your girlfriend?’

  ‘I guess.’

  ‘For how long?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘How long have the two of you been together?’

  ‘Dunno. A while.’

  Jenx picked up his flashpad and studied it. Lari watched as he slid through various data menus.

  ‘You haven’t told anyone.’

  ‘About me and Kes? No.’

  ‘Why not?’

  ‘You know who my family are?’

  ‘Of course.’

  ‘Well, there’s your answer. Kes is, you know, a mixie. My father’d go crazy if he found out.’

  ‘But she went through the advanced school.’

  ‘That doesn’t matter to my dad.’

  The security man put the flashpad down again and regarded Lari with a kind of amused curiosity.

  ‘I’m not certain that I believe you, Larinan. But for the moment I think I’ll give you the benefit of the doubt.’

  ‘Why?’

  Jenx smiled, but it was not a friendly smile.

  ‘I must like you, let’s just think of it that way, eh? Now …’ He leaned forward slightly. ‘Obviously you and your friend Kesra have abused the privilege of access to the maglift system and clearly there has to be some sort of consequence for that.’

  ‘What?’

  ‘Crime and punishment, Larinan. If we allow the two of you to override the lift security protocols and hijack lifts wherever and whenever you want, what sort of example does that set for others?’

  ‘It won’t happen again.’

  ‘I hope not. In the meantime the two of you will have your maglift access revoked until further notice.’

  ‘But …’

  Jenx cut off Lari’s protest with a wave of his hand.

  ‘Don’t even try. Neither of you will have clearance until the security division decides that you can be trusted not to abuse the privilege.’

  ‘But how will I get around?’

  ‘You won’t. That’s the point.’

  ‘What about my placement?’

  ‘I’ll authorise you to travel to and from the DGAP hub only, and only when your lift passage has been cleared by your father. You will also not be permitted outside the DGAP building while you are here in Port North Central. As of today, Larinan, you have no authority to travel anywhere in Port City.’