The sounds of clattering of metal, running water and chattering voices gained volume as they climbed. They stepped through a door into a hot, steamy space. The air was heavy with cooking smells that made Hugo’s stomach clench. Half a dozen cooks stopped in their work around the clean and expensively-fitted kitchen to stare as they were hustled through.
They were marched through carpeted hallways. They went past wide arching doorways looking onto luxurious rooms with deep couches, high-quality displays, book shelves laden with hard-copy volumes of books as well as small statuary and ornaments. There were real as well as digi-prints hung on the walls and Hugo struggled to fight off the disorientation that swamped him after the bare corridors.
He started to put serious consideration into whether they might have somehow been taken off-colony, but then they passed rooms in use. There were men and women, all well dressed, sitting at the tables and watching newsreels or films on the displays, making calls on the comm units or leafing through books with glasses of wine to hand. Some were obviously Havenites, short and dark-featured and more often than not badly scarred or missing digits or limbs.
A few people amongst them wore flight suits and spacer boots. He recognised some of their arm-patches as the logos of smuggling ships Eclipse had under surveillance. They were looking at figures and prices on the displays with the Havenites. The bits of conversation he overheard sounded like trade deals and negotiation. Knowing what they were bartering for made Hugo go cold.
Some looked up as they passed, but most didn’t. What looks they did draw were knowing and disdainful.
“Ghosts,” Webb muttered in Hugo’s ear before he was grabbed and pulled back.
There were still no windows anywhere. To reduce the risk of intrusion, Hugo wondered, or to add to the illusion that they weren’t on Haven?
Paragon barked at them to hurry. They were led around another corner and ushered into an express lift. The machine made no sound above a purr as they moved up. The bright lights showed Hugo how dirty and dishevelled he was, especially next to Paragon.
The lift doors slid open onto dimness and they were shoved out and onto thick carpet.
XV
Hugo blinked in the low light. The room was large and open, lit by some floor-level lighting panels installed behind a black boarder that merged with the thick carpet. A large fireplace and mantel dominated one wall and a simulated fire burned in the grate. The room was warm from its hidden chargers and the light it gave off flickered and pulsed.
A large table took up almost half of the room, dark displays in its surface as well as mounted on the wall above. A large desk and comm-unit was built into the corner. Hugo could tell just by looking at it that it was more advanced even than the ones on Command. In contrast to the sleek, hard lines of the table and workstation, deep, soft chairs and sofas were clustered around the fireplace.
The green glow that bathed everything came from the walls that were made entirely of plexiglass that overlooked the vast spread of Haven. The spires of the Planning District rose in the distance, casting their green light on colony around them like an Emerald City from the books he’d read as a child.
He wondered if the man in the armchair by the fire had the lights off and the vast view on display in a deliberate attempt to overwhelm them. He had an open book in his lap and his legs crossed. His light suit was tailored to his slim body. His tie against a white, white collar was a deep charcoal, as were the fine gloves that covered his hands. These colours only made his white skin and hair seem even more uncanny. His hair was tucked neatly behind his ears but was so fine that strands floated free. The light from the simulated flames lit it up like threads of fire.
Set in the pale face was a pair of the blackest eyes Hugo had ever seen. They weren’t just dark, they were cold, empty and deep as space. One look at them was all Hugo needed to know that this man tortured people for money.
He said nothing as Hugo and Webb were shoved closer toward him. Hugo risked a glance at his friend. Webb was holding himself tall, his shoulders square and his back poker-straight. He was staring at the man like it was only force of will that was stopping him either leaping on him to beat him senseless, or fleeing the room.
“You managed to get them from the detention room to here without losing them, then,” Ariel said, glass eyes sliding to Paragon. “From what you were saying I thought they might manage to kill all three of you, break through the walls and fly away.”
Paragon stiffened but visibly bit back his response and stood with this hands clasped behind his back. “You remember them now, sir?”
Ariel raised one fine white eyebrow. “No, not really. It’s you that’s been obsessed with this one,” Ariel said, idly indicating Webb. “Not me.”
“I thought…” Paragon flushed, straightened himself and tried again. “I thought it best to keep an eye on him, sir. What with his connections.”
Ariel sighed, looking them both over with a bored air. “I suppose you might have been right, by the looks of it.”
Hugo felt Webb shift next to him. His own palms were beginning to sweat and every inch of his skin tingle with the proximity to the blade. He tried to ignore the pounding of his heart and concentrate on assessing the positions of the guards and their attentiveness to their weapons.
When his eyes came forward and met Ariel’s dead-on, Hugo was once again assaulted by the feeling the man was looking right into his head.
“You can try if you want, Commodore,” Ariel said, standing in one smooth motion and straightening his suit. “But, I’m curious. After managing to grab one of the guns, shooting both me and Paragon and my men…where exactly do you plan to go?”
Hugo bristled, fists clenching at his sides. He refused to give Ariel the satisfaction of having him glance around the room. He already knew there was no way out apart from the lift back into the stronghold.
“Yes, be sensible,” Ariel said as he stepped towards them. “If there’s one thing I can’t abide, it’s foolishness.”
He went right up to Webb and stood toe-to-toe. He reached out and folded back the younger man’s collar. Webb clenched his fists. He seemed to stop breathing and stared at the wall, sweat standing out on his skin. Hugo was convinced his friend was about to faint when Ariel made a musing noise, pulled off one of his gloves and ran his bare fingers up Webb’s throat. The clone took a sharp breath and finally blinked.
“Yes, I do remember you now. The clone, of course. LIL, wasn’t it? And their little plan for Orbit domination,” Ariel murmured, leaning in for a closer look at the scarring. “I see you’ve tried to have these lasered off. It hasn’t worked, has it? How interesting.” He straightened and pulled his glove back on, examining Webb’s face like he was an object of mild curiosity. “I imagine your physiology is quite unique. What a shame we aren’t on better terms. I do believe there might be quite a lot to be gained from studying you. Paragon, come here.”
The short man stepped up next to his master, distaste clearly written in his face.
“Observe,” Ariel said, gesturing airily towards Webb’s neck. “The healing here is abnormal. Take a closer look -”
“I’m telling you now,” Webb ground out. “The shrimp touches me, he’s going out the window.”
Paragon bridled, but Ariel just gave a tired sigh. “Brutish threats. You’re all the same, you Outsiders.”
“Whereas you’re like nothing else in existence.”
“I take that as a compliment. Now. Both of you,” he looked at them each in turn, eyes dark as pits. “Paragon informs me there’s another. Where’s the girl?”
Webb glared, jaw working. Hugo glanced about the room for anything that give him an advantage but still found nothing.
“Come on now,” Ariel said, putting his hands behind his back and rocking on his heels. “We don’t have all shift. You’ve failed. If you possess even half the intelligence I suspect you do, you know that by now. Tell me where the other Hugo is and we can put a lid on this ridiculous
affair.”
“Go fuck yourself,” Webb said. He was frighteningly still, the sort of immobility Hugo recognised as coming from someone stopping themselves from shaking.
Ariel tutted. “You’ve said that to me before, young man. It didn’t succeed in rattling me then either, did it? Now, as you might guess, Paragon here is a sort of apprentice of mine,” he laid a hand on the shorter man’s shoulder. Hugo didn’t miss his involuntary flinch making his synthetic fingers tic. “His work has a different style, but is possessed of its own sort of finesse.” A slow smile started to spread on Paragon’s face. “He’s handled some lucrative contracts already, so I have no qualms in handing you over to his capable care. He can extract the answer with very little effort I can assure you. But,” Ariel checked his fine old-fashioned watch. “We are due on a conference call with a client. So, it would really help everyone involved if you just told us where to find her.”
“The minute you know you’ll kill all three of us,” Hugo stated.
“Well done, Commodore,” Ariel said. “You are intelligent, after all. And that being so, you should know that I can’t have vengeful vigilantes running about my colony. It’s unprofessional and frankly, rather embarrassing.”
“If you think I’m here to listen to anything you have to say,” Hugo said. “You grossly misunderstand the situation.”
Ariel sighed and looked at the ceiling. “Honestly, you do irk me. None of what I’ve done is personal, Commodore, Commander, or…” he frowned slightly at Webb and then waved impatiently. “Or whatever you are. I was hired for those jobs. I was selling my skills, nothing more.”
“You’re a psychotic freak,” Webb said.
Ariel looked almost pitying. “If it makes it easier for you to think that, go ahead. I really couldn’t care less. But you’d be a lot less troubled if you understood the reality. You and that Eclipse agent: you were just job numbers to me. And a complete waste of resources, that job turned out to be,” he said, almost as an afterthought. “She didn’t even know anything about the Ghosts’ little organ-trading project. They can be quite amateurish at times with their concerns.”
Hugo had gone white with rage.
Ariel heaved a sigh. “Honestly, Commodore, this behaviour is most unbecoming. If anything you owe me. I left your officer alive, didn’t I?”
They both jerked at once but Hugo got to his guard first. Blind with anger, he didn’t think and threw his whole weight, shoulder-first, into the man’s solar plexus. The man grunted and Hugo reached to wrench the gun, still an unfamiliar object in the man’s grip, out of his hand. The man stumbled back and Hugo pulled the weapon free, but then the guard got a hold on his arm and pulled him off balance. He went down and the man was on him in a second, kneeling on his back. He twisted Hugo’s arm up behind him whilst slamming the other wrist on the floor until he dropped the gun.
The guard straightened, pulling Hugo onto his knees. Ariel’s only reaction had been to take a step back. Paragon hovered behind him, surprise melting into a smirk as he watched Hugo being hauled to his feet. The other guard was holding a tousled Webb and scowling with a rapidly swelling eye.
“I’m going to kill you,” Webb said, straining against his captor’s grip. “I’m cutting you into a million pieces myself.”
Ariel used his thin fingers to rub his temples. “You are so tiresome.”
“Blade known as Ariel,” Hugo growled, standing tall despite his screaming in his shoulder as the guard bent his arm up further. “You are under arrest. You are to accompany me back to Service Headquarters for formal charges and questioning.”
Ariel laughed. It was a horrible noise. Paragon sneered. Hugo had already noticed the man’s fingers were twitching again and he was looking at him with a greedy glint in his eyes.
“This is my colony,” Ariel said. “You’re the criminals, here.”
“Yeah, Haven treats you good, alright,” Webb said, with a pointed look around the room. “Though I don’t think the Elders would be so acrimonious if they knew the whole truth.”
“If you’re referring to the regrettable use of firearms,” Ariel replied smoothly, “it is hardly my fault the witless wonders that pass for Elders these days are unable to keep the riffraff at bay.”
“And shacking up with the likes of the Ghosts?”
Ariel’s face went still. “We’re business partners. They sometimes require my services. I need somewhere to live out of reach of prying Outsiders. What they do outside this colony is none of my concern.”
“You’re on borrowed time,” Webb said, face grim. “If I don’t get you, Haven will.”
“These are my people, young man,” Ariel murmured. “And this is my home. And you have outstayed your welcome. Tell us where the other one is and now. I grow tired of this game.”
“They’re not going to talk, Master,” Paragon grated in his creaking voice. “Let me get started on them. We can have the girl by next shift.”
Ariel heaved another sigh. “No, Paragon. I don’t think we have time.”
“But sir,” Paragon said. “She could be cleverer than these two.”
Ariel gave a delicate snort. “That’s hardly an achievement. Put them back in their cell. If they aren’t ready to give us what we need by tomorrow, you can see what you can get from them then.”
“Yes sir,” Paragon said. “And you know what,” he added, nodding at Hugo. “This one’s a high-ranking Serviceman by all accounts. There’s probably all sorts of stuff this one knows that might be of value.”
“Indeed,” Ariel said. “Make sure to record everything you extract. I’ll expect a report when it’s done -” Ariel broke off when his workstation started bleeping in the corner. “Get them out of here,” he said, striding over to answer it.
“You heard him,” Paragon said, waving toward the lift. “Get them back to the detention cell.”
“You're a pair of fucked-up freaks,” Webb said as the guards started to drag them back to the lift. “Both of you.”
Paragon sneered again. “Bitterness doesn’t suit you, Ezekiel,” he said. “I shall look forward to tomorrow.”
The guards grunted at them to move and prodded them with their guns back to the lift. Webb continued to curse all the way down in the lift until his guard gave him a violent shake to shut him up. Hugo heard a joint pop and Webb swore once more but then fell silent. They were taken back through the corridors and kitchen and locked again in the dim cell. Hugo leant against the door, staring at the pitted ceiling.
“He was right,” Webb said as he slid down the wall to slump on the floor. “Even if we’d managed to overpower the guards, there’s nowhere to go.”
Hugo closed his eyes. “There’s nowhere left to go.”
“Hey, hey, hey, what happened to the ‘we ain’t fucked until we’re dead’ business?”
Hugo kept his eyes closed and didn’t say anything.
“Good God, Hugo,” Hugo heard Webb get up. “I know he’s a freaky bastard, but you can’t let him get under your skin now…excuse the phrase.”
Hugo opened his eyes. Webb was still pale. He was leaning against the wall, his hand clasped to his injured side.
“Do you actually believe in God, Webb?”
Webb blinked. “Huh?”
“I think your original did. Do you as well?”
“Why?”
“It’s a simple question.”
“Some might say a personal one.”
“Well?”
Webb ran his hands through his hair. “You want to have a theological debate….now?”
“No,” Hugo said, pulling himself up off the door to stand in front of his friend and look him in the face. “I’m just asking you.”
“Again,” Webb said. “Why?”
Hugo shook his head. “I don’t know. I’m just wondering… it must be nice to be certain of something. Anything. That no matter what happens, to have something that keeps you going.”
“And you think God does that for me?”
<
br /> “I don’t know. That’s what I’m asking.”
Webb chewed on his lip, worry clear in his eyes. “Look, Kaleb,” he said. “I know we’re cruising right up shit creek right now with no paddle in sight, but hold it together, ok?”
“He’s putting you back on the table tomorrow,” Hugo said. He watched something crawl over Webb’s face and felt it like a kick in his own stomach.
“It won’t come to that,” the clone chose to say. Hugo didn’t believe him, but didn’t say so. “Listen, man. You are not to give up. Understand?”
Hugo didn’t reply.
“I’m serious, you pig-headed ass,” Webb snarled. “We are not fucked. Not yet.”
“You thought we were fucked already.”
“Ah yes, but that was before.”
“Before what?” Hugo asked, rubbing his eyes. His head was pounding and everything ached. He just wanted to curl in the corner and forget everything.
“Before we knew for sure the freak was in this building.” When Hugo raised his gaze and saw Webb was smiling. “He’s not scared of us. But he should be.”
“Why?”
“Because we have something he doesn’t.”
“What?”
“Balls,” Webb grinned wider. Hugo just raised his eyebrows. “I’m serious, Hugo. Did you hear him talk? I swear the man’s a robot. I don’t think he understands just what a human being can do when he’s really, really pissed.”
Hugo looked at the wall.
“Come on, you know I’m right. I’ve seen you storm a flagship just for a chance to kick my butt.”
“I was only able to do that because you made a hole in the side of the damn thing first.”
“Bull,” Webb said, going to the door and starting to feel at it. “You’d’ve found a way. Come on. We are not going to be beaten just because this nutcase hired guards with guns.”
Hugo pressed his lips together, doubtful. But Webb’s face was earnest. He felt the start of a smile creep across his face.
Haven (The Orbit Series Book 2) Page 28