Fool's War

by Sarah Zettel

  The view screen lit up to show Uncle Ahmet seated in the communication’s room. Uncle Ahmet was an impressive figure, Al Shei had to admit. He was a slender man, but he had a long face, a full beard and eyes that seemed to take in everything at a glance. He sat on his side of the screen immaculately dressed and completely composed, as ever. Before he spoke, Al Shei had just enough time to wonder if that was why she was always annoyed by him.

  “Salam, Katmer,” he said solemnly. “We are gravely troubled here by what has happened.” Al Shei bit down the caustic reply that leapt to mind. “What has happened, Uncle Ahmet? This charge is false. I can’t believe you’re letting…”

  Uncle Ahmet’s face darkened. “I am not letting anyone do anything, Niece. You are distraught and you forget that our family is bound by law like all other families. Two investigators from the financial exchange branch of the security forces arrived this morning with a warrant for Asil to accompany them to their station to give a statement. In an hour or so, I expect him to have heard the full complaint and sent for our lawyers. Everything that can be done at that time, will be done.”

  Resit squeezed her shoulder. “Of course, Uncle Ahmet. My cousin is just upset, you can understand that.”

  “We are all upset,” he said gently. “I know you must conclude your commitments, daughters-of-my-heart. But you must come home as quickly as you can.”

  “Yes.” Al Shei straightened up. “You can be sure we will do what we can to expedite matters, Uncle. Salam.” She cut the line and stood up. She did not look at Resit as she marched out of the cabin. She was sure her cousin knew what she was thinking though. Dobbs’ name was on the complaint. Dobbs’ Guild was behind this. Dobbs was responsible. She was.

  The light on Dobbs’s cabin hatch was green. Al Shei didn’t even knock. She cycled the hatch back. Dobbs jumped up from her desk chair. In her habitual cobalt blue, the only source of color in the bare cabin. Her cheeks grew pale as she stared at Al Shei.

  What am I doing here? What do I expect her to do? She didn’t do it, did she? Is this what the Guild was holding her for? Is this what her friends were trying to get her away from? No. No. She couldn’t have done it. This is the other one. This is Curran. He tapped my last call to Asil. He wants me to turn against her. That’s what this is. It must be.

  “Curran has framed you.” Al Shei’s voice sounded harsh in her own ears. “And he’s framed Asil. There have been fraud charges levelled against my husband, in your name. You stay here, you understand me? You don’t go into that network. I don’t want him getting to you. You’re all I’ve got to prove that none of this is true, so you don’t move.”

  Dobbs nodded slowly. “Yes, Boss.”

  Al Shei nodded back. What am I doing? What am I doing? This is insane. Stop this, Katmer. Get out of here. Get back to your cabin. Think. You need time to think. Her voice wouldn’t work to explain to Dobbs what was going on inside her. Al Shei just strode back to the hatch.

  “Boss?” The word stopped Al Shei. “You’d better get Lipinski to move the watchdogs so that the comm paths in and out of the Pasadena are covered. There’s no telling what other records Curran will try to disrupt.”

  “Good idea.” Al Shei took a deep breath. “A very good idea.”

  She couldn’t say anything else. She just left Dobbs standing there and hurried out into the corridor. She had to think. She had to work out what to do. There had to be something to do. It would be all right. Asil wasn’t alone. The family would not let this go unchallenged. There was no evidence of fraud anywhere in their records.

  At least, there hadn’t been. This Curran had access to the networks that almost defied belief. He had a live AI in his possession and apparently under his control. What was left that he couldn’t do?

  No. They had to get home. They were on their way home. Five days. That was all. That was nothing. Five days to Port Oberon, and five more to Earth. Asil would be fine until then. Uncle Ahmet would not let anything happen to him. Asil was not alone. Ten days more, then, with Dobbs’ help, they would expose the whole disaster; the Fool’s Guild, Tully, Dane, Curran, all of it. And that would be the end of it.

  It had to be.

  Chapter Eleven — Desertion

  “All hands prepare for docking,” said Yerusha’s voice from the intercom. “We made it, Fellows.”

  Dobbs could practically feel the sigh of relief from the ship itself. They’d made it. Port Oberon. Maybe not exactly home, but familiar territory. Civilization. Safety.

  For everyone but me. She rubbed her eyes and sighed against the free fall straps that held her to her desk chair. What am I going to do?

  She barely had the nerve to set foot out of her cabin for the whole week’s trip. She wasn’t a Fool anymore. She couldn’t even make believe that she was. The Guild was hunting her somewhere. Cohen was out of reach. He didn’t even know where she’d gone.

  Don’t be an idiot. She bit her lip. He can track the flight path from the ship’s signals. He’ll find out where I am. He’ll get a message to me, or send one by Brooke. By now he’ll have figured out who we can talk to at Guild Hall. This is not the end. This is the beginning.

  But Al Shei was expecting her to go to Earth and speak out about Curran. How could she tell Al Shei that was impossible without saying why? After a week of self-imposed isolation, Dobbs still didn’t have answer.

  The Pasadena’s crew had assumed her hiding away had to do with the loss of what they saw as her job, and they had all been as understanding as their knowledge would let them be. The Sundars had been in, bringing her food and trying to bully her into the exercise room, but they didn’t issue any orders. She could barely stand to think about the consoling words Lipinski had tried to offer, and how he had suggested she join his staff once things had settled down again. She’d turned him down. She lowered her head into her hand. She was always turning him down.

  The world wobbled. The docking trolley must have grabbed them. She could feel the slight tug downwards as it pulled the ship behind it.

  “Evelyn Dobbs?”

  Dobbs jerked her head up. A man’s voice came through the intercom, but she didn’t recognize it.

  “Evelyn Dobbs?” said the stranger’s voice again.

  “Yes?” She undid the free fall straps. There was just enough gravity to hold her to the chair. “Who am I addressing?”

  There was a brief pause. “Theodore Curran.”

  Dobbs heart rose slowly until it filled her throat. A dozen irrational phrases flitted through her mind, like ‘how did you get in here?’ It was obvious her watchdogs were not as good as she thought they were. ‘You’ve got a lot of gall,’ was self-evident and ‘go to hell,’ was useless. She picked the least foolish phrase she could find in her confused mind.

  “What do you want?”

  She could swear the voice held a smile. “I want to know if you will come with me.”

  Dobbs snorted. “After you framed Asil Tamruc? You’re fractured.”

  “I currently have nothing to fear from Katmer Al Shei,” said Curran softly. “I did not frame her husband.”

  Dobbs stared at the intercom. She felt ridiculously isolated. She wanted to get in there, surround him, make him swallow her anger, her disgust. Flesh and bone, and yards of metal kept her trapped, and him safe.

  “And if you didn’t, who did?”

  “The Fool’s Guild.”

  Dobbs’s heart froze and then thumped painfully. A rush of anger burned through her. Before she knew what she was doing, she stumbled across the room, pressing both hands against the intercom, trying reflexively to get to the owner of the voice. The liar. The traitor.

  Her hands began to hurt and Dobbs made herself draw back.

  “Dobbs?” said Curran again. “Are you still there?”

  Her breathing was harsh in her throat. “Intercom to close,” she said flatly.

  “You should know better.” There was no hint of jeering in the voice, only a gentle reminder. “You’re not th
inking straight. I understand.”

  A bitter laugh bubbled out of Dobbs. “You understand what I’m thinking?” She slumped back down in the chair. “That’s the best joke I’ve heard in days.”

  “You’ve been betrayed by the Guild that was supposed to protect you.” Curran’s voice was filled with patience. “You think I don’t know how that feels?”

  “The Guild hasn’t done anything to me,” said Dobbs, aware both of how petulant she sounded and how badly she was lying. “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” She ran both hands through her hair. She couldn’t even close herself against this unwelcomed presence. “Leave me alone, Curran. Go away before our Houston finds you and jams a stake through your heart.”

  “Dobbs, I am telling you nothing but the truth.” There was sadness in the voice now. “The Fool’s Guild framed Asil Tamruc for fraud. They put your name on the report to keep you busy until they can figure out what to do about you. They wanted Al Shei distracted and discredited. She’s a threat, Dobbs. Because of you she knows far, far too much.”

  There was more pain in Dobbs hands. She looked down. She had clenched her hands into fists until her nails cut into her own palms.

  She opened her hands and stared at the tiny red crescent moons in her skin. “Go away,” she said again.

  “Dobbs, come with me,” said Curran. His voice came closer. She looked at the intercom. Most of him must be right in the ship, probably right behind the wall. She could call for Lipinski. Set the Houston and his dogs on him. She could do it.

  Why aren’t I, then? she asked herself. Why?

  “There’s so much that needs doing,” he was saying. “If we’re to be free, if you’re to be free. You don’t have to go through this. You don’t have to be humiliated in front of your employers. You don’t have to face whatever the Guild is planning for you. Let me get you out of there.” His voice was low and pleading and she could swear the concern was genuine.

  She stiffened herself against it. “You diverted the ship, didn’t you? You reset the clocks so we’d get lost and have to go to the Fool’s Guild to refuel.”

  “Yes,” he replied calmly. “I wanted you to see the Guild Masters for what they are; frightened, petty and interested only in protecting their own power. Havelock especially. I wanted you to have the truth.”

  Something inside Dobbs snapped in two. “You almost got me killed!”

  Curran didn’t miss a beat. “I knew Cohen would help you escape. I’ve been watching him for a long time too, but I haven’t found a way to approach him yet. I hope after you’ve come with us that you will speak to him.” He paused. “Incidentally, if he hadn’t gotten you out, I would have.”

  Dobbs stared at the intercom. “Why would you care?”

  “You don’t know who I am, do you?” The voice sounded more distant now, as if he had pulled back from her barbed question.

  Dobbs felt the corner of her mouth twitch. “You’re one of the Guild founders. Beyond that, I don’t know. I didn’t have a whole lot of time to check your file.”

  “No, I suppose not.” The voice came close again. Dobbs reached out reflexively. I could still do it. Write a note on the board to Lipinski, alert Al Shei.

  And if he hasn’t got all the lines out of this cabin monitored, he’s an idiot. Dobbs let her hand drop.

  “One of the founders, yes, I am…I was,” he corrected himself. “One of the original Guild Masters. I was found three months after Hal Clarke was borne. I worked with the Guild through most of its history. I helped build Guild Hall. I hunted out others of our kind. I helped give them bodies and trained them to go out among the Humans.” The slow heavy bitterness she had heard earlier crept back into his voice. “It took me the better part of two centuries to see that the idea of waiting out human fear and using the Fool’s Guild as a teaching tool was doomed from the start.”

  Dobbs forced her sore hands to keep still. “Doomed? Ye of little faith, Theodore Curran.”

  Now it was Curran’s turn to snort. “You’re how old? Twenty-five? You’ve been Master of Craft for all of ten years? Dobbs, that’s the blink of an eye. You haven’t seen anything yet.” There was a long pause this time. “You haven’t seen how many of our people have been murdered at a Guild Master’s command because they didn’t want to join us. You haven’t seen independent-minded cadets have the urge to freedom filtered right out of them.

  “You haven’t seen the oldest of us who dreamed of living freely come to the realization that they have power the way things are. You didn’t see them start working to keep the Guild functioning, not towards any goal, just functioning the way it was so they could keep their power.”

  Dobbs wanted to shout, but she couldn’t. There was no place for this speech in her world, even after everything that had happened. This was contradiction. This was chaos. This was lies. It had to be. If this wasn’t a lie, then everything else was.

  Curran’s voice insinuated itself into her thoughts. “I have a guild of my own, Dobbs. We’re going to bring about what the Fools fear. There’s going to be a confrontation between us and the Humans. It will be on our terms and when we choose. The confrontation must come. It will come, no matter how hard the Guild tries to hide us. We should welcome it, Dobbs, because we will be able to make peace with the Humans only after it’s over.”

  Dobbs head began to ache. This was too much. Too many lies. She wanted to run away, run back to the Guild and find Havelock and have him tell her it wasn’t true. She wanted to scream for Verence like she had in the first weeks after she left Kerensk and had been shown the strange, disorganized vastness of the network.

  But Verence was dead and Master Havelock was…what? After her? Leaving her to hang in the wind? Waiting to take her back so he could take her apart? She didn’t know.

  “All you have to do is leave the ship, Dobbs and get to a rental desk with a bank line. Write ‘Dane Pre-Paid ‘on the board. I’ll be alerted and we’ll be able to come get you.”

  Dobbs looked towards the door. Al Shei. Lipinski. Schyler and Yerusha. They were still with her. She could still call them, tell them what was happening. Some of it, anyway.

  “The universe has changed for us now, Dobbs. Flemming was not a spontaneous generation. He was a deliberate creation. A plan of ours. We can reproduce now. We can have our own children.”

  Dobbs tried hard not to hear him. She crossed the room and laid her hand on the memory board, activating it.

  “Don’t do it, Dobbs,” said Curran. He must be in the Pasadena’s net, then. He had felt the board come to life. “Humans are pre-programmed xenophobes. One hundred thousand years of evolution has made them that way. They’ll destroy you even faster than the Guild will.”

  “You do not know these people.” She fumbled for her pen. After a couple of tugs she got it loose from her belt.

  “I don’t have to,” Curran’s voice was resigned. “Dobbs…I watched the Guild take you from Kerensk. You were so strong, so beautiful…I almost couldn’t believe it.”

  His words caught Dobbs by surprise and for a moment she forgot to move.

  “I tried to get to you first, but they were too fast for me. You could have centuries of life yet, Dobbs. You could have freedom instead of service and secrecy and death. Because, believe me, the war will come, and it will come soon, with my help or without it. The Humans will learn what the Fools are, and the first thing they will do is converge on the Hall and blow it out of existence. Then they will hunt down every last field member they can find and slaughter them.”

  Dobbs grit her teeth and put her pen to the board. There was no sound from the intercom. She let the pen fall and crumpled into her chair. He was already gone. She was alone again with her aching body and her mind ringing with the memories of what he’d said.

  He’d known just what to say to get her to start listening. He’d known exactly which buttons to push. Why not? He could have read her psych file any time.

  But what if it’s true? She raised her ey
es towards the ceiling. What if the Guild did frame Asil?

  She picked her pen up off the floor and swivelled her chair towards the desk. Why am I doing this? She asked as called up her trackers and wrote the search commands on the board. She drew the links to route the whole thing down through Lipinski’s station and she added his authorization to get them past the watchdogs. Whoever was watching out there would not stop a search going out from the Houston. It would look strange, especially to Lipinski.

  But it isn’t true. It didn’t happen. Curran was lying. She sent the trackers out. They would find the paths that the fraud notice and its related packets had travelled, along with all the storage areas where they’d rested or been sent. The packets hadn’t been to the Fool’s Guild, though. This search would confirm it.

  She wrote SEND and stabbed down the period. She didn’t feel the trackers leave. She couldn’t tell where they went, or how they were doing.

  Curran had told the truth about one thing. Seven days outside the network had left her feeling restless and confined. She had pulled her box out of her pocket a thousand times and stared at it, trying to tell herself that Al Shei wouldn’t find out if she went into the net.

  The only thing that stopped her was the fact that the Guild certainly would find out. She hadn’t been able to make herself put the box away in a drawer though. It had become a talisman for her. She’d even slept with it clutched in her fist.

  She glanced toward the hatchway. What’s going on out there? There hadn’t been anymore all-hands announcements. They were probably sorting out who was just going to take leave, and who was going to take their contract and go. She’d heard the rumors via the Sundars and Lipinski. She’d known what they trying to do by talking to her. They were trying to get her to go out and do what she was trained to do; lighten the crew’s mood and raise morale. She’d wanted to, she really had, but she didn’t believe she could do it. Her heart was sick and she didn’t know how to get past that to make anyone laugh.