Soon we join it, sliding down the outside to a stop. I tap my gun finger on my thigh as the doors open and we walk out side by side. In the middle, Mum strides with natural authority. On her left, Ursula is all poise and coiled anger. As for me, I will kill anyone who tries to hurt either of them.
We reach the central surveillance chamber and walk in, staring around at the huge, empty space. Centria is unwatched, possibly for the first time.
The chamber is occupied, however. As the floor moves us towards them I see Jaeger and Harlan, Gethen and Ellery and Balatar Descarreaux.
Bal’s back is pressed against a central column and Harlan leans casually beside him. Although they are the same height, Bal seems much smaller. He tries not to cower as blood from a wound in his forehead trickles down his face.
Jaeger stands further towards the far wall with his arms crossed, his unnerving gaze fixed on us. He and Harlan share an energy that makes them a potent double force.
Ellery stands further back again. As we approach she starts to walk towards us and then stops, uncertain. She rubs at the spot between her chest and left shoulder where the squad leader shot her.
Gethen paces and looks at the floor, his fearsome energy directed inwards now. He shakes his head, mutters and glances at Ellery, who ignores him. The love of a hundred years looks like it has come to an end.
The floor stops at the centre of the group. I meet Harlan’s gaze briefly and then look at Bal. The wound is between his eyes; someone has ripped out his seed so he can’t send any messages. He straightens to glare at me haughtily but swallows and looks down when he sees Ursula at my side.
“Jaeger,” Mum says.
I turn away from Bal.
“Julie,” Jaeger says.
“Why are you here?”
“There is something in Centria I must have,” Jaeger says.
“What is that?”
“Keris Veitch,” Jaeger says.
Gethen stops pacing and looks at Jaeger. Gethen’s expression is strange. It’s more than fear or even awe and I wonder how much of our current dilemma is the result of Gethen’s unconscious desire just to see Jaeger again.
“You did have her,” Ellery mutters to Jaeger. “You left.”
“I had to go,” Jaeger says. “I had to find a path. But I can’t do it without her, not without what she knows.”
“Why are we here Jaeger?” I ask.
“Julie is now Director of Security,” Jaeger says. “She is infinitely more capable than Balatar here.”
“Fuck you,” Bal says.
Harlan looks at Bal, who cringes.
“Keris is somewhere in Centria,” Jaeger says. “Julie will help me find her.”
“No,” Mum says, “I won’t.”
“I think you will Julie,” Jaeger says. “There are five hundred of my people in Centria now, enough to cause significant damage should I wish it. I don’t wish it but I must have Keris. Find her please.”
“Keris is our leader Jaeger,” Mum says. “You of all people should know-”
“Is she your leader Julie?” Jaeger says. “Are her decisions the right ones?”
His quiet, soft voice sounds as dangerous as the Sons of the Crystal Mind in their rage, perhaps more so.
“Who are you to question decisions Jaeger?” I ask. “You’re a soldier.”
Something deadly flickers in his eyes. Mum notices too.
“All right Jaeger,” Mum says, “I’ll check.”
Mum closes her eyes, which makes her too vulnerable for my liking. I glance at Harlan, who looks worried. Gethen seems ill, as if the strain he’s been carrying has finally bloomed in his flesh like a bruise. Beside him, Ellery generates a field of skittish, neurotic energy I can feel from here.
Mum opens her eyes.
“Keris is not in Centria,” she says. “There is also no word from any of our associates.”
“I fucking told you,” Bal says.
“She must be here,” Jaeger says. “She would never leave Centria.”
“Look for yourself,” Mum says. “I can give you access for up to five minutes.”
“Do it please,” Jaeger says, his politeness far more terrifying than Bal’s aggression.
He shuts his eyes. Unlike Mum Jaeger doesn’t look vulnerable, as if he can still see us. Frustration emanates from him; after less than a minute his eyes open and rage makes them impossible to meet.
“To complete our mission we need Keris Veitch,” he says, his voice even quieter. “Why is she not here?” He turns to Bal. “Did you tell her?”
“No!” Bal says. He tries to slither away with his back still pressed against the column. “I-I didn’t. I wouldn’t. I mean, maybe, before Gethen came in and sold everything from under me one of the guards might have noticed something but not me, not me.”
Bal is lying. He would have done as much damage as he could before they threw him out. Jaeger walks towards him.
“Now listen,” Bal says, “I-I may have sent a small message, to-to see if there was something she could do about- Oh, look, I didn’t know you were after her. I just wanted to do a good job, to serve her, to serve you, anyone really-”
He falls and Jaeger looms over him. I don’t see Jaeger’s expression but Bal does; he screams and gibbers and then suddenly calms down.
“I know how you can find Keris!” he says.
He points at me.
“Charity,” he says.
I get my gun up to shoot Bal on level 1 but before I can fire Jaeger sees, turns and darts behind me almost too fast to see. He pins my arms against my sides in a grip that is part restraint, part embrace. His body feels like hot diamond. Mum and Ursula step forward but their movements compared to Jaeger’s are ponderous and slow.
“I’m not going to hurt Charity,” Jaeger says to Mum. “I just want to stop her shooting Bal. Stay where you are.”
Mum stops but Ursula doesn’t so Mum puts her arms around Ursula and yanks her back. Ursula gasps at the pressure on her tender skin as Bal scrambles to his feet.
“You,” he says to Jaeger, “you,” he points at Gethen, “you” he looks at Ellery, “Keris and eight others are a super race called the Guidance. You were meant to save us but you failed and we all ended up down here two hundred years ago.
“You can’t breed but the scientist found a way to-to combine you, your DNA or something to make Charity in the floor. She’s a Blank you see, which is why the Sons of the Crystal Mind wanted to burn the interfering little bitch.”
Mum and Ursula stare at me open-mouthed, which makes them look almost identical. I feel my cheek twitch up in an embarrassed little smile.
Gethen falls to his knees, hands extended as if to reach for me and ward me off at the same time. Ellery turns on him.
“You threw her out,” she screams and starts to hit Gethen. “You would have let her die!”
Gethen makes no move to defend himself and when blood soaks the shoulders of his grey jacket Ellery stops. For a moment Gethen stares at nothing and then he puts his battered face in his hands and sobs.
Jaeger gently turns me.
“Oh,” he says, “oh…”
He looks down at me in wonder and runs his hands over my arms, shoulders and face. Tenderness is strange in him.
Harlan stares at me too, but he smiles. Not just any Blank indeed Mr Akintan.
Suddenly, Jaeger holds a fuze; I see it fire and hear Bal fall. When I look over, his dead body is already in the floor.
“Best we keep this to ourselves,” Jaeger says.
I stare at him in shock. Loren will unleash all her forces to avenge Bal. VIA Holdings encircles Centria almost completely now…
“Keris,” Jaeger says almost to himself.
I turn and Keris is there. Her hologram is slightly brighter in the dim light but otherwise she could be standing before us. She wears rich robes of scarlet and gold and her hair is a glimmering cascade.
“Hello Jaeger,” she says. “You’ve got our girl I see.”
“Mine,” Mum says.
Keris and Jaeger ignore her. I notice then that Harlan is very tense and Gethen has stopped sobbing to stare at us. Ellery edges closer.
Jaeger’s arms are back around me.
“Tell me what I want to know,” he says.
“You know I won’t do that.”
“Not even now?” Jaeger says.
“There is so much more at stake than you and me or even Charity,” Keris says.
“Quite,” Jaeger says.
“I know you won’t hurt her Jaeger.”
“Won’t I?”
Jaeger’s hands are light on me but I know I wouldn’t be able to struggle free before he snapped my neck.
Keris smiles.
“Jaeger, at the end of the Ruby War I stood in front of you and put a gun to my head,” she says. “I told you I would pull the trigger unless you retreated and you went because you know we cannot destroy each other.”
“Things have changed since then,” Jaeger says.
“They haven’t,” Keris says.
“That’s the problem Keris,” Jaeger says, his voice rising. “You always stay the same! Despite everything, you will not let us evolve out of this!”
“Let Charity go Jaeger,” Keris says.
I feel Jaeger’s fuze at my head.
“Tell me,” he says to Keris.
LIGHT-! Blinding
Burns- N-gunfire…
I am still alive. The pressures of Jaeger’s arms and Jaeger’s fuze have gone. I’m thrown sideways and land on my side.
“Run Charity!” Harlan’s voice.
So I do. I don’t think about anything except getting my legs to go as fast as they can, stretching my stride to make every push off the floor count. I remember Mum and Ursula and stop to look back just in time to see Jaeger rip Harlan’s n-gun finger clean off. Harlan head butts Jaeger; Jaeger staggers back and Harlan jumps on top of him.
Behind them, Mum and Ursula run in the opposite direction and disappear through a door into an elevator. The hologram of Keris looks at me and then she is gone.
Jaeger kicks Harlan away despite Harlan’s greater size. Gethen throws himself at Jaeger and clings to him. Jaeger, unfazed by the additional weight, pulls Gethen off and punches him in the mouth. Gethen staggers back. Harlan attacks from the other side and knocks Jaeger over. As Jaeger skids across the floor, Gethen rushes forward and stamps on his head.
Harlan looks up and sees me.
“RUN!” he roars.
I turn and sprint away from them.
Reaching the lobby I rush into the elevator and nearly hit the wall as I spin around. The doors close; I shiver as the elevator starts and imagine Jaeger scrabbling up behind me in pursuit. Soon Security Control is just a band of light in the distance again although I keep my wary gaze fixed on it until I’m down through the floor and into the main body of Centria.
43
The elevator opens onto a beautiful park, which seems abnormally peaceful after Security Control. I run out over the grass past tall spirals of plump white blossom and boulevards of precision-cut hedges studded with dark red roses like flung blood. As the park gives way to a sinuous diamond road I try not to think about Harlan fighting Jaeger.
My limbs are heavy; I wish I could rest for a moment or a year. Instead I pump more energy into my legs and gif a flybike ahead. As it comes to rest on the road surface I vault onto the saddle and key up. I fly behind the nearest building and rise towards the rotating assembly.
As I close in on one of the great hoops I see a square opening in the side. I fly through it, down a slope and into a hanger where I hover for a moment and then set down between a sleek plane and a rectangular sky bus.
My legs feel even heavier but I force myself off the flybike. I walk slowly through an arch to a deck in the out-facing wall. In front of the broad window is a semicircle of chairs; I sink into one and gaze numbly at the view. From in here the movement is less violent than I expected and the enclave seems to rotate with smooth, easy elegance. When I look up though I see the great shadowy slots in the ceiling and picture Jaeger dropping through towards me…
Mum calls and I jump. I accept and watch her on my eye screen.
“Charity! Where are you?”
“In the… swirly thing. Who else is there?”
“Ursula and Harlan,” she says.
“Harlan? Is he all right?”
“Not really.”
I call Harlan so I can talk to them both simultaneously. He accepts voice only.
“Thank you for saving me,” I say.
“I couldn’t risk him hurting you.”
Harlan’s voice sounds higher and thicker than usual. I recognise the sound of damage.
“Mum?”
“He’ll be okay Charity.”
“Harlan, why aren’t you healing in the Basis?” I say.
“I can’t,” Harlan says. “My kilos are all gone.”
“But you’re richer than Centria!”
“I agreed my own terms with Jaeger a long time ago. He would teach me everything he knew but if I ever rebelled he would automatically get my wealth.”
I shut my eyes tightly.
“You gave up everything to save me?”
“Yes. I love you, you see.”
There is a very long pause. I go to speak but notice the call is terminated from Harlan’s end.
“Harlan?” I say softly.
“He’s passed out,” Mum says.
“Can’t you help him?”
“Yes, but he wanted to talk to you first.”
“Where are you?” I say.
“At home. Ellery and Gethen are here too.”
“What about the NFE?”
“They’ve all gone,” Mum says.
“After everything Jaeger did to get in?”
“What he wants isn’t here Charity.”
“Has Keris come back?”
“No.”
“Where is she?”
“We don’t know,” Mum says. “That Security Control transmission was the last we’ve heard from her.”
“If only she and Dad were there.”
“Come home sweetheart.”
I end the call and new energy surges through me. I jump up, run to the hangar and climb onto the flybike. When the corridor faces Mum and Dad’s house I squeeze the accelerator and the flybike leaps up the ramp and out.
I soar laughing over the glittering landscape as the bright cloud catches my flight in a beam of gold so powerful it seems to light my soul.
I found out what is wrong with Centria. I know who I am. Harlan loves me.
Ahead is the little island with Mum and Dad’s house behind it. I swoop down to land in the garden, climb off the flybike and run inside.
Mum is halfway to the door; she grabs me and swings me around. Nearby, Ursula’s smile is touched with sadness and when Mum lets go I walk up to my sister and put my arms around her waist. Unexpectedly she seizes me to her and I feel the strange warm pat of her tears on my hair.
Ursula holds me for a long time. I lock against her with my eyes closed but can still almost see her emotions as they swirl around me like magnetic fields. For the first time she feels like my sister rather than an embodiment of impossible beauty through whom I vicariously live my life. I feel her awkwardness and her confusion, her anger and her grief. She reminds me suddenly of Diamond City itself, with which I have such a confused and powerful relationship.
Ursula slowly lets go.
“Stay in reality,” she whispers.
“Be subtle,” I whisper back.
She strokes my hair as I wipe the tears from her face. Eventually, she looks down to her left at a large shadow in the floor. I let go of Ursula and kneel over Harlan.
“He’ll be in there for a while,” says a voice that seems strange in these surroundings.
I look at Gethen Karkarridan, who sits on the sofa next to Ellery. Gethen’s left ear is half pulled off and one eye is obscured by swoll
en purple flesh. His right hand is at an odd angle and he holds it away from his body with the elbow resting awkwardly on one knee. Ellery says nothing, her eyes huge as they gaze at me with a potent mixture of wonder and fear.
I get up.
“So Gethen,” I say. “What are you going to do now?”
He takes a deep, slightly rattling breath.
“I don’t know,” he says. “What do you think?”
“It depends,” I say. “By rights you should be an ex by now.”
There is a long pause.
“Unless of course we did away with that policy,” I say. “Perhaps we could re-engage with exes out in Diamond City and make the best of their experience. Call it a new business model. Harlan could help.”
Gethen looks at Harlan in the floor.
“Yes,” he says, “Of course…”
“Hn,” Ellery says.
Suddenly I need to be on my own. This new way of being mustn’t be rushed.
“Can you all give me a minute?” I say.
I leave without waiting for a reply and cross the garden. The day lights dim and suffuse the air with soft amber light, which plays gorgeously over the plants as I gif a diamond bridge to the little island. Walking across I look over the side. The view is different to when I was a teenager but I get the same thrill imagining what would happen if I hung there by a fingertip, a hair, a thought…
I shiver with nervous pleasure and step over the little stream. The springy grass is a welcome change to the roads I’ve walked and I seem to drift across the island to the pool. I slowly sit and watch Centria’s night lights begin to wink on, their luminescence rippling through the water like stars.
Another glow lights the pool surface. I smile when I see it and turn to a hologram of Keris. She smiles too, down past the soft curtains of her hair.
“Hello Charity,” she says.
“Hello Keris.”
“Are you all right?”
“Yes. Everything’s fine. Everything’s… better.”
“Good.”
I look at Keris and she regards me calmly, waiting.
“Keris, would you have let Jaeger shoot me?”
“He wasn’t going to shoot you.”
“I’m not so sure.”
Keris looks out over Centria.
Sons of the Crystal Mind (Diamond Roads Book 1) Page 27