Seeds of Earth

  shit, KC, you sh—!'

  Her voice went out in a burst of static at the same

  time as a metallic crunch reverberated through the ship.

  When he looked at the external monitor the scavenger

  was gone, apart from a twisted chunk of the drill

  mounting. There were also numerous scores and gouges

  in the hull plating, but nothing serious was triggering

  warnings on the main console.

  'A well thought-out tactic, Gowchee,' said Drazuma-

  Ha*.

  'Yes,' he said. 'And cold-blooded. Apart from one of

  the Chaurixa victims, she was the only Human I'd met

  since leaving the Roug system.'

  'She rejected your offer, Gowchee - there was no

  other option open to us. But I am tracking her craft's

  progress and from its behaviour I surmise that she may

  have survived the collision . ..'

  He perked up at this. 'What behaviour?'

  'The scavenger craft is falling in a steep curve

  towards the planet and the firing of positional thrusters

  seems to have stabilised its .. . ah, something has ejected

  but it too is heading towards the planet's surface,

  although with a far shallower trajectory.'

  Kao Chih sat back, feeling oddly relieved.

  'You look pleased, Gowchee, despite her attempts to

  enslave or kill us. It is possible after all that the Chaurixa

  may retrieve her and exact punishment on her anyway.'

  He shrugged. 'I am just glad that she survived,

  Drazuma-Ha *. I want to have no deaths on my con-

  science.'

  'A laudable if somewhat impractical goal, Gowchee.'

  'Why impractical?'

  'From observation and experience I can state that

  there were, are and always will be those that are eager

  and willing to use violence to get what they want -

  opposing them means responding with violence, leading

  inevitably to deaths.'

  'What of the use of cunning and non-violent methods

  of opposing them?' Kao Chih said.

  'Either may well constitute an adequate defence, if

  the attackers are significantly less advanced than those

  being attacked. However, technological superiority is no

  guarantee of success.'

  'Which reminds me,' Kao Chih said, gazing at the

  external monitor. 'Are we still being chased and how

  long till we can attempt a hyperjump?'

  'Our pursuers have given up - it seems one of them

  sustained a disabling impact from a piece of wreckage

  and the other is towing it back to the Chaurixan moth-

  ership. As for a hyperspace jump - we will be exiting the

  densest area of debris in approximately two minutes,

  which will free up that portion of the ship's system stack

  that has been occupied with tracking and guidance.

  Then you will have a choice to make.'

  Kao Chih sighed. 'Will this be a choice between a

  risky option and a deeply hazardous one?'

  'Well summarised, Gowchee. This star system lies

  near the edge of the Huvuun Deepzone and your desti-

  nation, the world called Darien, is somewhere within

  that hazy region.'

  Drazuma-Ha * had called up a representation of the

  immediate stellar region. The Shafis System was a bright

  pinpoint where a pale green wedge - the Yamanon

  Domain - met the amorphous, sepia opacity of the

  Huvuun. 'The navigational matrix contains six course

  templates, but the only one that's of any use to us ter-

  minates at Yonok, a Brolturan world near the border

  with the Kahimbryk Avail.' On the screen, a neon-red

  line joined Shafis to another bright point on the other

  side of a narrow grey territory which separated

  Yamanon space from the blue of the Brolturan

  Compact. The coreward boundaries of all three

  adjoined the Huvuun Deepzone.

  'Give me the deeply hazardous option first,' he said.

  'That is where we tell the navigationals to guess

  where the local hyperspace Tier 1 beacons are, then

  guess what our iso-orientation should be as we make

  the jump to Yonok.'

  Kao Chih shivered. It sounded a lot like their escape

  from Blacknest, and they had been very lucky to get to

  Tagreli Openport rather than wind up in the middle of

  nowhere, or even an unfriendly somewhere. It was

  surely too much to rely on that kind of luck again.

  'And the merely risky option?'

  'The navigationals estimate the location of the near-

  est Tier 1 beacon which, according to the course

  template notes, is coterminous with Kahimbryk space,

  plus or minus 5 per cent. When we reach that beacon we

  drop out of hyperspace and head for the nearest com-

  mercial centre to see if we can obtain course data for

  this Darien.'

  'Course errors?' Kao Chih murmured.

  'Exactly so, which is why I favour the second

  option - a shorter hyperspace jump would mean less

  time for errors to magnify. Besides, if we were ever to

  reach Yonok safely, the Brolturans would not be inclined

  to treat us kindly.'

  Kao Chih nodded. 'Very well, the merely risky option

  it is.'

  'The computations should be ready in less than a

  minute,' said the mech.

  And when the moment came, he sat back in his

  couch, head pressed back against the padded neck sup-

  port, hands gripping the arm rests, jaw clenched.

  At least this time there's no rampaging droids trying

  to tear the ship apart or beautiful kidnappers speeding

  us off to some surgical-nightmare-torture-ship, he

  thought as the force-waves mounted in the tesserae

  fields at the heart of the Castellan's hyperdrive. But I'm

  sure something will be waiting for us round the next

  corner.

  45

  THEO-

  About fifteen hours after the moment when he'd seen

  the Earthsphere ambassador vanish in a swirl of corus-

  cating energies, Theo Karlsson was on foot and heading

  along the northerly banks of Loch Morwen. He had

  been walking for hours since descending the steep hill

  paths from the mountain ridges west of Giant's Shoulder

  and his feet were crying out for rest. He knew there was

  a tannery near here, and roughly a mile further on a

  small cove where he was due to meet one of Rory's local

  contacts who was supposed to spirit him up the shore

  road to a safe house at the edge of the city. A bite to eat,

  perhaps even a shower, then the chance to sit down and

  take stock of the situation before moving on, that was

  all he needed.

  He had just caught a whiff of that acrid tannery

  odour when his comm rang inside his jacket. He dug it

  out, saw the calling number and in a rush of anger

  answered abruptly.

  'What?'

  'Ah, Major, not caught you at a bad time, have I?

  A relaxed, confident voice speaking vaguely Russian

  inflected Noranglic. Silent since that bomb went off in

  Founders Square, it was Kuros's catspaw, the agent

  provocateur, the assassin.

  'What do you want?'

  'To congratu
late you, Major. It was breathtaking the

  way that you snatched Horst out from under the

  Brolturans' noses. I wonder what you will do with

  him - personally, I recommend execution.'

  'Do you, now?'

  'He is a traitor to Earth, Major, to Humanity. For

  decades, he and others like him have turned our race

  into fawning, deluded minions of the Hegemony and

  brought us down to the level of lesser species'

  'Ah, the racial purity angle again - you're reliable in

  your obsessions.'

  'Indeed I am, Major. The Free Darien Faction is

  obsessed with striking at those who obstruct our pur-

  pose - you've removed our primary target so we can

  now go after our secondary one, High Monitor Kuros.'

  Theo laughed. 'Still serving up that FDF dreck, son?

  Well, it so happens that I know that you're nothing but

  a saboteur-goon for Kuros, or someone close to him, so

  spare me the fake rebel defiance . . .'

  'How sad - seems that their psyops have got to you

  somehow, Major . . .'

  'What's got to me is what I've seen, you know, at the

  Brolturan ambassador's arrival? Remember the ringer

  you slipped into Kuros's DVC escort? The firefight and

  the grenade going off, enough smoke and confusion so

  your man could do a quick-change and return to the

  scene as an Ezgara? I've seen it. . .'

  'Purest fantasy, Major.'

  'You're wasting your breath -1 know what I saw.'

  'It's futile to try persuading someone as thoroughly

  hoodwinked as yourself, but I do have two little bits of

  information that might be helpful to you. First you

  should be aware that early this morning the Brolturans

  issued a Decree of Arrest in your name, quickly fol-

  lowed by a similar warrant put out by Hammergard

  Police.'

  'No surprise - it was bound to happen,' Theo said.

  'Sorry, you'll have to try harder.'

  'All right, Major, then how about this? Half an hour

  ago, a section of DVC intelligence called KS arrested

  your sister and took her to their offices at the Assembly

  buildings. So you need to ask yourself why I would tell

  you this if I am your enemy.''

  Before Theo could respond the line went dead. He

  glared at the mute comm.

  'Because you want me to hurry over to Hammergard

  and straight into a trap, you lausungeV

  But that didn't stop it having the ring of authenticity,

  especially if Theo was now a wanted man. He knew

  that was almost certainly true, and not just about him-

  self - last night, as they were leaving Giant's Shoulder by

  the forest path (after the visiting Brolturan troops kept

  them down in that stone tomb for over four hours), he

  had warned Rory, Barney and the Firmanov brothers

  that by then law enforcement would have all their

  descriptions and that lying low was the only sane course

  of action. Rory was to take Barney north to Bessonov's

  cabin outside of High Lochiel, then head back to

  Hammergard; the Firmanovs were to pick up a van full

  of supplies from a garage near Landfall and drive to

  meet Rory at the cabin. After Horst had been vanished

  by whatever the hell it was that lurked in that chamber,

  comm calls had been made, plans were put into effect

  and certain Diehards moved out under cover of night.

  Meanwhile, Theo was heading for Hammergard

  anyway, because come what may he had to get to

  Sundstrom to explain what had happened to Horst and

  to find out what their next move would be. Any comm

  calls into the Assembly or the president's villa would be

  subject to intense surveillance, so it would have to be

  face-to-face, and Sundstrom would also have to explain

  why Solvjeg had been arrested.

  He skirted the tannery with its algae-surfaced ponds

  and filtration root arrays, and about a mile further on

  found the cove. An elderly, weather-beaten man in a

  heavy, dark-blue mariner's coat was sitting at the wheel

  of a battered spinnervan. Passwords were exchanged,

  Theo climbed in and they were soon on the road to

  Hammergard. The stern-looking older man spoke

  Noranglic with a pronounced Norge accent, even

  though his name was Sergei. He was also taciturn to a

  fault, and Theo get very little out of him during the half-

  hour drive, yet when they reached his cottage on a

  rounded ridge overlooking the loch, his hospitality was

  unstinting. After a hot shower and a change of clothing,

  there was a tasty meal of baked fish and vegetables, set

  off by a generous glass of rum and ginger wine that left

  Theo with a sense of well-being that he had not felt for

  some time.

  Then, as he was readying himself to leave, Sergei

  faced him, his features as stern as before, and said:

  'Kick them off our world, Major, those Sendrukan

  gaduki - send them to hell!'

  He gripped Theo in a bonecrushing handshake before

  they parted, Theo following the road till he reached a

  main junction. There he caught a spinnerbus that was

  bound for the city centre. He was dressed in a long

  shabby coat over a chunky woollen pullover and tough

  work trousers tucked into thick wool socks. The coat

  and trousers had been streaked and splattered with

  mud, which also clung to the field boots he was wear-

  ing. He also had on a dusty, soft-brimmed hat and a pair

  of small round spectacles with plain glass instead of

  lenses. The entire ensemble was far removed from his

  usual attire and would hopefully allow him to get as far

  as one of the Assembly building entrances. Once there,

  he would have one of the couriers take a message to a

  particular admin warden who was a Diehard associate -

  she had already agreed to get Theo past the stringent

  security and up to a storeroom near the president's

  offices. Then she would act as a go-between to arrange

  a meeting.

  Sundstrom did not know that Theo was coming, but

  Theo knew that he would be there - ever since the

  announcement of Horst's Decree of Arrest, and subse-

  quent disappearance, the president and his cabinet had

  been in almost continuous emergency session and keep-

  ing the Assembly informed of all developments. The last

  vee news he saw before leaving Sergei's had said that the

  remaining ministers were rushing back to Hammergard

  to attend. And knowing Sundstrom, Theo guessed that

  he would probably have several reporters close to hand.

  From the bus window he saw Earthsphere marines

  and DVC troopers out on joint patrols in twos and

  fours, some walking, some in military spinner-carriers.

  These sightings became more frequent the closer he got

  to Founders Square. When the bus stopped near a small

  park, he dismounted and continued on foot, his natural

  caution heightened by that call from the FDF saboteur.

  He was striding up Stefanovich Street, one of the

  main roads into the square, and had just passed a long


  row of flower sellers when his comm rang twice and

  stopped, the alert for a voice note. He took it out, hit the

  retrieve and held it up to listen.

  'Theo, this is Donny - as soon as you hear this mes-

  sage, shut off your comm, take out the battery, then

  head for cover, get'out of sight.'

  The message ended. It had sounded like Donny and it

  was his style. Heart racing, he suppressed the urge to

  look around him, calmly put the comm in his pocket

  and one-handed switched it off. Then he managed to

  slide off the rear panel and pry out the battery. At the

  same time he had stopped to look at some of the buck-

  ets of flowers and made his way back along past the

  stalls to an alleyway with lots of arched side passages.

  After following a twisty route involving a couple of

  double-backs and plenty of scoping ahead and behind,

  he ended up in a doorway down a side road that led into

  the square. The main entrance to the Assembly faced

  onto Founders Square, with the Reconciliation

  Memorial, the tree-shaded grassy plots, the stone

  benches, and at the far side the zeplin terminal. The

  wreckage of the mooring towers had been removed, and

  canvas-hung scaffolding now stood all around the ter-

  minal building while the sound of jackhammers and

  saws came clearly to Theo's ears.

  He breathed in deep, gathering his determination.

  There was a secondary entrance round the corner, an ordi-

  nary-looking doorway with a sign saying 'Electoral

  Registrar' but which also gave access to the ground-floor

  public corridors. Theo stepped out of the doorway but

  paused when he heard running footsteps approaching

  from behind. Casually he leaned back against the building,

  a large store called Sachnussem's, and glanced round to

  see Donny Barbour hurrying towards him. Warily, Theo

  faced him and nodded.

  'Ye can't go in there, Theo. They've turned your con-

  tact, got her kids hidden away to get her cooperation.'

  Theo swore. 'Who's got them?'

  'Same ones that picked up yer sister, this K5 mob -

  they're a deep-cover intel unit but their commanding

  officer has supposedly gone stealth and is issuing orders

  to his operatives. We're assuming that the CO and

  maybe some of his people are now working for Kuros,

  but we've no proof, so the chief of DVC intelligence is