The Night's Dawn Trilogy

by Peter F. Hamilton

  “It looks like either level three or four in section twelve,” Samuel told Monica.

  She datavised her processor block for a schematic of the asteroid. “It’s all offices there, corporate country. That makes sense, it’s more secure, and they are all rich. It wouldn’t be suspicious for them to be there together.”

  “Unfortunately it makes life complicated for us. We’re having trouble infiltrating that area.” He was watching an inverted image of Ikela walking along a corridor at the centre of five boosted bodyguards. They were approaching a junction. A fast check with the voidhawks revealed that there were no more spiders left ahead. He ordered the one he was using to scuttle along the ceiling after Ikela.

  There are UV lights ahead, a voidhawk warned. The spider is approaching a grade-five clean environment.

  I know, but I need to see which way he turns. It was a strange viewpoint; to Samuel the corridor wasn’t particularly large, to the spider it was vast. The two visual interpretations tended to clash confusingly inside Samuel’s cortex unless he maintained a high level of concentration. Drab whiteness slid smoothly past galloping legs. Far above him was the sky of hazel carpet. Footsteps crashed against the spider’s pressure-sensitive cells. Stalactite mountains clad in expensive black silk marched on in front of the racing arachnid, becoming difficult to resolve as they approached the fork. He just needed a hint . . .

  The affinity link vanished amid a violet flash. Damnation! A further review showed Samuel no spiders had managed to penetrate the area.

  “What is it?” Monica asked as he flinched in annoyance.

  “We just lost them.”

  “So now what?”

  He looked around at the other agents in the office suite. “Kit up and move out. We’ll cover as many approaches as we can. Monica, are you sure your asset is reliable?”

  “Don’t fret; we’ve got him hoisted by the short and curlies. He won’t be able to datavise during the meeting, but as soon as it’s over we’ll know where it was and if she’s there. Did any of your infiltration systems see her going in?”

  “No,” he admitted. “Not even a fifty per cent characteristics match.”

  “I’m not surprised.”

  The Edenist agents were putting on slim equipment belts and strapping up shoulder holsters. Monica checked her own maser pistol and ran a diagnostic program through her implants.

  “Monica,” Samuel said.

  She caught the tone. “I know: I’m not in your command network, I’d be in the way if I try to front-line. It’s all yours, Samuel.”

  “Thank you.” Stand by, he told the voidhawks waiting on the docking ledge, if we do grab her we’ll need to exit fast. He led the team out.

  * * *

  There were only five people in the Tunja system who knew the real reason for forming the Garissan partizan movement. None of them lived on the same asteroid, so that if disaster did strike the others would be there to carry on with the plan.

  In Ayacucho it was Ikela, the nominal head of the original five. It suited him to be one of the partizan group’s executives rather than the leader. This way he kept up-to-date on the movement’s activities while staying out of the limelight. His position was due principally to his financial support rather than any active participation. Again, according to plan.

  Dan Malindi, the Ayacucho group’s leader, was the first to arrive at the secure conference office of Laxa and Ahmad, the legal firm they were using as cover. He gave Ikela a puzzled, vaguely annoyed glance as he entered. No one knew why Ikela had demanded the meeting at seven hours notice. And the executives weren’t people used to being kept in ignorance, not by one of their own. The sight of the normally composed industrialist sitting mutely at the table looking as if he were suffering some kind of fever with the way he was sweating did nothing to ease the tension.

  Kaliua Lamu was the second to arrive; a financier who made little secret about his growing ambivalence to the movement. Partizan membership didn’t sit well alongside his newfound respectability.

  Feira Ile and Cabral arrived together, the most senior ranking figures in the Dorados administration. Feira Ile had been an admiral in the Garissan navy and was now Ayacucho’s SD chief, while Cabral had built himself the largest media group in the Dorados. His company’s growth and popularity were due to the tabloid nationalism of its editorial policy, which made him a natural choice for the partizans. Most of the executive staff suspected his support was strictly for appearance sake.

  Bodyguards and assistants left the room. Dan Malindi glared at the small woman sitting quietly behind Ikela, who obstinately refused to be intimidated into moving.

  “She’s with me,” Ikela said.

  Dan Malindi grunted in dissatisfaction and activated the office’s security screen. “All right, Ikela, what the hell is this about?”

  Ikela gave the woman a respectful gesture, and she stood up, walking to the end of the table opposite Dan Malindi. “My name is Dr Alkad Mzu, I’m here to finish our war with Omuta.”

  Dan Malindi and Kaliua Lamu both gave her a nonplussed glance. Cabral frowned, ordering a neural nanonics file search. But it was Feira Ile who produced the strongest reaction; he half rose to his feet, openly astonished. “The Alchemist,” he murmured. “You built the Alchemist. Holy Mary.”

  “The what?” Cabral asked.

  “The Alchemist,” Alkad told them. “It was our superweapon. I was its designer.”

  “Feira?” Cabral prompted.

  “She’s right,” the old ex-admiral said. “I was never given any details, the project was classified way above my security rating. But the navy built this . . . thing, whatever it is, just before the genocide. We were going to use it against Omuta.” He drew a long breath and looked at the diminutive physicist. “What happened?”

  “Our flight was intercepted by blackhawks hired by Omuta,” Alkad said. “We never got there. The Alchemist was never used.”

  “No way,” Dan Malindi said. “This is complete bullshit. You appear on the scene thirty years after the event and spin some crap about a missing legend you heard about in some bar. I bet the next stage is asking us for money to search for this Alchemist. In fact, I bet it’s going to take a lot of money to find it, right?” He was sneering contemptuously at her when he finished, but somehow her cold smile managed to rob his anger.

  “I don’t need to search. I know exactly where it is.”

  “It wasn’t lost?” Kaliua Lamu asked. His enthusiasm bought him a disgusted look from Dan Malindi.

  “No, it’s never been lost. It’s been kept safe.”

  “Where?”

  Alkad merely smiled.

  “Maybe it does exist,” Cabral said. “And our illustrious admiral here was right saying someone called Alkad Mzu built it. How do we know you’re her? We can’t make the decisions we need to make on the word of some stranger who turns up out of the blue, especially not at this precise time.”

  Alkad raised an eyebrow. “Captain?”

  “I can vouch for her,” Ikela said softly. “This is Dr Alkad Mzu.”

  “Captain?” Dan Malindi asked. “What does she mean?”

  Ikela cleared his throat. “It was my rank in the Garissan navy. I used to be captain of the frigate Chengho. We were flying escort duty on the Alchemist deployment mission. That’s how I know.”

  “Datavise your command authority code,” Feira Ile said sternly.

  Ikela nodded reluctantly, and retrieved the code from its memory cell.

  “It would appear our colleague is telling the truth,” Feira Ile told the silent office.

  “Mother Mary,” Cabral muttered, glancing at the man he thought he’d known for the last thirty years. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

  Ikela sank his head into his hands. “The plan operates on a need to know basis only. Up until today you didn’t need to know.”

  “What plan?” Feira Ile snapped.

  “To deploy the Alchemist,” Alkad said. “After the original mission
was crippled, Ikela and four other officers were detailed to sell the antimatter we were carrying. They were supposed to invest that money so there would be sufficient funds to hire a combat-capable starship and equip it to fire the Alchemist once the sanctions were lifted and the Confederation Navy squadron assigned to blockade duties returned home. The only reason you partizans exist is to provide me with a crew that will not flinch from the job that needs to be done.” She stared at Ikela. “And now I’m here, on schedule, and I find no ship, and no crew.”

  “I told you,” Ikela shouted. “You can have your ship if that’s still what we want. I have more than enough money. Anyone of us in this room has enough money to provide a starship for you. I have never failed my duty to my people. Don’t you ever say that. But things have changed.”

  “Looks like you’ve failed to me,” Cabral said briskly. “Looks like you’ve failed a lot of people.”

  “Think!” Ikela stormed. “Think for the love of Mary what she is proposing. What will the Confederation do to us if we blow up Omuta’s star? What revenge will they take?”

  “It can do that?” a startled Kaliua Lamu asked. “The Alchemist will destroy their star?”

  “On one setting, yes,” Alkad said. “I don’t intend using that. I propose to simply extinguish the star. No one will die, but their planet and asteroid settlements will have to be evacuated and abandoned. They will become a broken homeless people, as we are. That’s fitting, surely?”

  “Well yes . . .” He searched around the table for support, finding only uneasy confusion. “But I don’t understand. If you survived the blackhawk attack, why didn’t you continue with the mission? Why wait thirty years?”

  “There were complications,” Alkad said tonelessly. “By the time we were in any position to function again the sanctions had been imposed, and the blockade squadron was in place. It was decided to wait until these obstructions were removed, which would give us a much greater chance of success. We did not have limitless government resources anymore, and we only have one chance to get it right. This is the optimum time to strike. We won’t have another chance; the intelligence agencies are pursuing me. And they will find me.”

  Dan Malindi groaned. “Intelligence agencies? Holy Mary, they’ll find out where you’ve been.”

  “Oh, yes, they’ll know you’re involved. Does that bother you?”

  “Bother me? You bitch! I have a family.”

  “Yes. I’ve heard this argument already today. It is beginning to bore me. I have lived the reality of the genocide for thirty years. You, all of you, have just been playing patriot. Each of you has profited in your own field by chanting the cry of nationalism. Well, my being here has put an end to your pathetic game.”

  “Are you threatening us?” Cabral asked.

  “I have always been a threat to your cosy life, even though you never knew I existed.”

  “What exactly do you want?” Feira Ile asked.

  “Two things. A combat-capable starship with a decent crew of committed nationalists. And a secure environment for myself while you prepare them. Do not underestimate the agencies. They now know for certain that the Alchemist is real, which means they will go to any lengths to acquire me.”

  Ikela stood up, placing his hands on the table and leaning forwards. “I say we cannot do this. Mother Mary, we’re sitting here talking about wrecking an entire star system as if it were some kind of difficult business venture. Times have changed, we are not Garissans anymore. I’m sorry if that is painful for you to hear, Doctor, but we’re not. We have to look to the future, not the past. This is madness.”

  “And that is treachery,” Cabral said.

  “Treachery to what? To a planet that was killed thirty years ago? If that’s what it is, then fine, I’m a traitor to it. I don’t care.”

  “Other people might when they get to hear.”

  “Ikela, I really don’t think you’re in any position to back out now,” Feira Ile said. “Given your mission, you are still a serving officer. That means you are required to discharge your obligations.”

  “Then I quit, I resign my commission.”

  “Very well. In that case, I must ask you to hand over the T’Opingtu company to me.”

  “What?”

  “I believe we just heard that it was founded on money provided by the Garissan navy. That means it doesn’t belong to you.”

  “Go fuck yourself.”

  “Listen, we can’t make a snap judgement over this,” Kaliua Lamu said. “Ikela’s right, we’re talking about wiping out an entire solar system.”

  “I might have known you’d take that attitude,” Dan Malindi said.

  “Excuse me?”

  “You heard. I’m willing to provide as much help as Dr Mzu wants. What the hell is the Confederation going to do to us if we’re armed with Alchemists?”

  “There is only one,” Alkad said.

  “You can build more, can’t you?”

  She hesitated uncomfortably. “If there was a requirement, it could be duplicated.”

  “There you are then. You can’t leave what’s left of the Garissan nation and culture unprotected, can you?”

  “You want to start a damn arms race as well?” Ikela yelled. “You’re as mad as she is.”

  “Curb your language. Have you forgotten the possessed?”

  “In Mary’s name what have they got to do with this?”

  “If we were armed with Alchemists, that bastard Capone would think twice before sending his fleet here.”

  “And who precisely is going to be in charge of these Alchemists?”

  “The Dorados council, of course,” Dan Malindi said scornfully.

  “Exactly, and we all know how much influence you have there.”

  “Enough!” Alkad slammed her fist down. “I will not supply Alchemists to anyone. You have no conception of what it is capable of. It is not some bigger and better bomb you can use for political advantage. It was built for one purpose, to destroy the people who threatened our world. It will be used for one purpose, our revenge against them.” She looked at each of them in turn, furious and sickened that this was all that remained of the planet she was once so proud of. Where was their dignity, their resolution? Could none of them perform one single act of remembrance? “I will give you thirty minutes to debate this. After that you will tell me which of you support me, and which do not.”

  “I certainly support you,” Kaliua Lamu said loudly, but he was talking to her back as she limped away.

  The shouting had already begun again before the door closed behind her. All the bodyguards and aides in the anteroom stared; Alkad barely saw them. If she had just known or anticipated the shambles which the partizans had become, then she would have been mentally geared up.

  “Alkad?” Voi was bending down, giving the smaller woman an anxious look.

  “Don’t mind me, I’ll be all right.”

  “Please, I have something to show you. Now.”

  The girl took Alkad’s arm, hustling her across the room and out into the corridor. Alkad couldn’t be bothered to protest, although force of habit made her activate a threat analysis program. Her enhanced retinas began scanning the length of the corridor.

  “Here,” Voi said triumphantly. She opened her palm to reveal a tiny squashed spider.

  “Mother Mary! Have you completely flipped?”

  “No, listen. You know you said you thought the intelligence agencies were following you.”

  “I should never have told you that. Voi, you don’t know what you’re getting involved with.”

  “Oh, yes I do. We started checking the spaceport log. There’s a delegation of Edenists here to discuss strengthening our defences. Three voidhawks brought thirty of them.”

  “Yes?”

  “Mapire only rated one voidhawk, and six Edenists to discuss our mutual defence with the council. It should be the other way around, the capital should have got the larger delegation, not Ayacucho.”

  Alkad g
lanced at the little brown blob in the girl’s hand, a bad feeling sinking through her. “Go on.”

  “So we thought about how Edenists would search the asteroid for you. Adamists would use spylenses and hack into the communications net to get at public monitor security cameras. Edenists would use bitek systems, either simulants or affinity-bonded animals. We started looking. And here they are. Spiders. They’re everywhere, Alkad. We checked. Ayacucho is totally infested.”

  “That doesn’t necessarily prove—” she said slowly.

  “Yes it does.” The hand with the crushed blob was shaken violently. “This is from the Lycosidae family. Ayacucho’s ecologists never introduced any Lycosidaes into the biosphere. Check the public records if you don’t believe me.”

  “All sorts of things can get through bio-quarantine; irradiation screening isn’t perfect.”

  “Then why are they all male? We haven’t found a single female, not one. It’s got to be so they can’t mate, they won’t reproduce. They’ll die off without causing any sort of ecological imbalance. Nobody will ever notice them.”

  Strangely enough, Alkad was almost impressed. “Thank you, Voi. I’d better go back in there and tell them I need more security.”

  “Them?” Voi was utterly derisory. “Did they leap to help you? No. Of course not. I said they wouldn’t.”

  “They have what I need, Voi.”

  “They have nothing we don’t. Nothing. Why don’t you trust us? Trust me? What does it take to make you believe in us?”

  “I do believe in your sincerity.”

  “Then come with me!” It was an agonized plea. “I can get you out of here. They don’t even have any way to get you out of the office without the spiders seeing.”

  “That’s because they don’t know about them.”

  “They don’t know, because they’re not concerned about security. Look at them, they’ve got enough bodyguards in there to form a small army. Everybody in the asteroid knows who they are.”

  “Truthfully?”

  “All right, not everybody. But certainly every reporter. The only reason they don’t say anything is because of Cabral. Anyone coming to the Dorados who really wanted to make contact with the partizan movement wouldn’t need more than two hours to find a name.”