‘Who do? Services?’
‘That’s right. I live like a prince.’
‘And you call me traitor.’
‘Listen, tapper. Don’t start thinking that we are the same kind. The only thing that makes the psis a group is the restrictions on them — which don’t apply to me. So, Mister Peter Lazarus, sir, don’t be thinking you and I will be friends. The only thing you and I have in common is the symb-lock. Brothers in chains.’
It struck Pete that he had heard these sentiments before. Tamsin had used almost the same wording. It made him wonder if this was an essential part of agent training, conditioned disassociation. He was beginning to see how it all came together. Services built and trained the people it needed, like Geof, like the marauders. Like Tamsin. Those it couldn’t control were exiled or conditioned. That was how the system maintained itself.
‘Okay, Risom. Not friends. Just tell me about your childhood.’
~ * ~
Gock let Peter know that they were waiting for a meeting to assemble. No training was planned for today.
‘Has something happened? Has there been another manifestation?’ Gock didn’t know and the open Weave wasn’t talking about anything like that.
The twinbots came out of the elevator doors and began prowling like cats around Risom.
‘What are you doing here?’
‘Didn’t you get enough yesterday?’
Risom poked his tongue out at them and tried to ignore them.
‘Nice to see you again, Risom. Great performance.’
‘You could have hurt someone,’ Aiko added.
‘And one of you threw my squib to the ground. That wasn’t in the script,’ Risom answered.
‘Don’t try to wriggle out of it, bendy. You went too far.’
The entire ten squad joined them soon enough and one of the soldiers darkened the room and set all the windows to screen. Everyone was quiet.
It was Ten who spoke rather than Gock. Ryu must have been busy with something else. ‘Now that the team is assembled there is some information the Prime would like shared with everyone. Please save your questions for now; put them in your nightlies.’
‘What’s a nightly?’ Pete asked.
‘I said no questions, Lazarus,’ Ten growled. Pete realised the man who had been his conspiratorial trainer was now in command mode. In his mind everyone was a soldier. He got the answer he wanted though, from everyone in the room. Nightlies were the reports that every active Serviceman and conscript completed at the end of their day. No excuses. They were fed into the system for processing and collation. Another small practice that reinforced the system.
‘Since the Dome incident, there has been an increase in collections, as you know. What you haven’t been told is that someone has been hitting our squads. There have been three attacks so far, eleven casualties and nineteen concussions. Three psi agents are unaccounted for.’
Ten keyed the screen to play the surveillance from the ops, taken from ten multi-view points on the collection team’s body armour as they went about their missions. Half the squad positioned themselves for escape vectors while the other five crashed direct to the target and went for disablement.
‘Notice that none of these teams have adopted the Ryu protocols. For the two telepaths they should have used remotes first. For the kinetic target they did send an agent, but behind two MUs. Look what happened.’
They watched as the black-clad agent followed the marauder units into the bedroom where the collection was happening. The MUs quickly froze in position, interference locks activated. The psi agent stepped into the room, followed by three more MUs. Then all the feeds disconnected in chain.
‘And pause on the last frame of Four A,’ Ten commanded the screen. Standing in the shadows with the target next to her was a light-skinned woman in the wrapped clothing of a denny. The image zoomed in. ‘We don’t know who this woman is yet or what she was doing on the scene. This partial isn’t enough to run.’
Ten looked around the room at everyone. His ten squad had removed their helmets for the first time that Pete had seen since leaving the outpost. There was a range of faces, but all had the same haircut.
‘Would anyone care to speculate?’
‘Out of the three breakouts, they only took the benders with them. Why?’ Six was a sharp one; he would rise fast.
‘Good question. Answers?’
‘They don’t like telepaths,’ Aiko suggested.
‘Yeah, psi-man. Who would?’
‘Keep grounded, twins, or I’ll bust you down. Anyone with real answers?’
‘They were only after the agents,’ Risom suggested.
‘But why not take the people you rescued with you? Or why take just the kinetics?’
Pete picked up something from Gock’s mind. ‘To see where Services takes the psis.’
Ten clicked his fingers. ‘Good. That’s what the ups think. The next thing I have to show you happened yesterday.’
The screen glowed up and showed a six-screen split of a small prefab building divided into cells, with a main corridor in between, along which an armed servitor tracked up and down, keeping a laser eye on the prisoners. The cells were barred and the corridor was blocked at one end by the main wall of the building and at the other by a laser grid.
Besides those in the cells, the facility was devoid of humans. Only a troop of remotes patrolled the outside. Their operators were likely stationed nearby but out of range.
Surveillance from the outside showed an open area that was designed to give a clear visual warning of any approach. It was a tessellated plain of prefab hexagons, creating a clear firing range of one hundred metres. Pete read from Gock’s slithery mind that this area was known as the killing field, and likely booby-trapped — as per Services regular tactics, or perhaps it was just what Gock would do.
Without prompt or cue the remotes turned to each other and began firing their weapons. A full projectile release that disabled them in a coloured froth of smokes and sparks. They dropped to the ground in pieces.
From above a fat squib glided in and three figures dropped swiftly to the ground, with no apparent ropes or conduit, and began assaulting the building with splash-on explosives. A breach was quickly formed in the outer wall. The guard servitor cannoned out of the hole and crashed to the ground, where the figures destroyed it with the explosives already in their hands.
Ten directed the footage to closer shots of the attackers, but it revealed little of their identities. They were in the wrap-style clothing worn by dennies worldwide: versatile leggings and short cloak-jackets roped down with belts of weapons. Their faces were wrapped in polyplastic scarves that didn’t show their eyes. It was impossible to guess even the gender of the attackers.
While two of them shepherded the prisoners out from their cells, one took the time to carve a marking into the wall.
‘What are they writing?’ Pete asked and the view changed to show a mark, like a fork or a ‘y’ with three prongs. His symbiot quickly trawled and recognised it as the ancient Greek symbol for psi.
‘This symbol is beginning to appear around the world,’ Ten reported. ‘We presume it is the mark of the psi rebellion.’
The figure ended carving with a smooth pivot and joined its group as they levitated quickly skyward to the waiting transport. Tamsin, Pete knew.
‘That. Was. Cooooool,’ Endo summarised. ‘Can you make us fly like that, Risom?’
‘I’d be happy to try.’
‘Aw, Gock, we need a bender like they have. Ask the Prime for a nicer one.’
‘The Prime is busy right now.’
‘I bet he is,’ Aiko commented. She was only slightly more serious than her sister.
~ * ~
Ryu Shima was again only available after midnight and Gock was awoken to act as interface. They met in the crescent lounge, looking out on a clear black sky, made grey with the lights of the multitude below.
&n
bsp; ‘Thank you for your patience. The demands on my time today were great.’
‘I understand. Was there more than the breakout?’
‘There is always more. You can have no comprehension.’
‘I have seen the footage you transmitted to us.’
‘Yes. I know. And what do you make of it?’
‘I’m not sure what to make of it. It seems clear that Pierre Jnr was not involved.’
‘How was that clear?’ Gock asked.
‘It was only a group of psi resistants. As professional as their attack was, if Pierre was involved I think it would have been more dramatic. Besides, I do not think that Pierre is any more interested in psis than he is in other humans.’
‘If that was the case, why is it that only yourself and Tamsin Grey were left alive in the Paris attack?’ Pete had no answer for that and waited for Ryu to continue. ‘I would be interested to have that question answered, but I must get some rest tonight. You have seen what you are up against. Do you think Miz Grey is behind the upheaval?’
‘I have no evidence.’
‘But you suspect. Yes. I am in the same position. Now that we have two targets we must consider how to tackle each of them.’
‘I’ve told you before. I’m only here to find Pierre Jnr.’
‘Who is in league with, or controlling, Tamsin Grey and the psi rebels. They are one and the same if it helps to think that way.’
‘And every psi in the world, I suppose?’ Pete objected. ‘Does it surprise you that there are people trying to stop you?’
‘No. It is a natural reaction. It is abnormal for them to have such success though. Do you support them?’
Pete hesitated. ‘Not as such.’
‘For a moment there I thought I’d caught you.’
Ah, the trial. Pete had forgotten for a moment that every conversation with the Prime was just another opportunity for an interrogation. ‘Why are you doing this? Ryu Shima? Prime? I am a telepath. You suspect me of colluding with Pierre Jnr. What more excuse do you need to put me away?’
Gock’s face split into a wet smile, drooling with maliciousness.
‘Gock, make him answer.’
‘Gock does not make me do anything. He is a mouthpiece, nothing more.’
How does that make you feel, Gock?
The smile left Gock’s eyes and hatred turned his expression to a sneer. ‘Do not try to interfere with Gock, Mister Lazarus. No matter what you think about him, he serves his clients and his family loyally. Can you say the same for yourself?’
Pete gritted his teeth. ‘What do you want with me?’
‘I want you to confess. It’s a bit of a coincidence, isn’t it, Mister Lazarus? That you volunteered at precisely the moment that Pierre Jnr reveals himself for the first time in eight years?’
‘It is a coincidence, yes. Or are you forgetting that it was perhaps our actions that pushed him to come out of hiding?’
‘To then go straight back into hiding? Without a trace?’
‘Just because we didn’t succeed in stopping him doesn’t mean we didn’t try.’
‘No, but perhaps your motivations were otherwise aligned. Either way, for me you are a curiosity. You are now my little experiment. My hypothesis is that you are working for Pierre either consciously or as his puppet, and if I push you around enough you will again reveal your master. And I shall be ready for him.’
‘What will you do?’
‘Is that you asking, or Pierre?’
‘I am not part of that monster.’
‘Please don’t strain yourself, Peter. You will need your energies for the next few weeks. It is time to put you back to work.’
‘Doing what?’
‘Doing what I tell you to do.’ Gock stood and moved to the doorway. ‘Is there a problem, Mister Lazarus? Are you now reluctant to help us with this case?’
‘I volunteered to help stop Pierre Jnr. That is all. I won’t be turned into an agent like Tamsin was.’
‘There is a psionic threat to the safety of the people of Earth. We both recognise that, but for now you are fixated on only one portion of that threat. Either way —’
‘No, I won’t betray my own kind.’
Gock raised his hand to stop him speaking. ‘There it is. Your own kind. You admit that you identify with the psis and not with non-psis.’
Pete was silent under the accusation. It was, after all, true.
‘I don’t have any more time for you tonight, Mister Lazarus. For now you shall remain on the team, but if you do not prove yourself useful you shall be restricted to the islands. With the rest of “your kind”. Are we clear?’
~ * ~
The lights in Peter’s bedchamber flared up only two hours into his rest period. When he didn’t rise instantly, a tapping buzz faded up, built and then crescendoed until he lifted his head.
‘I’m up. What is it?’
Ryu: Your first mission begins in fifteen minutes. I will brief you through Gock.
Pete: Why not just send me the brief?
Ryu: Do not question the command.
Pete dressed as quickly as he could. Gock was ready and waiting for him at the table. He had been notified about the assignment while Pete was sleeping.
‘There is a man on the list of institute patients, Arthur Grimaldi. He was not close to Pierre Jnr in any way, that we know of, but after the birth his mental state began deteriorating rapidly. He exhibits signs of high sensitivity and depression, as well as an inability to control his psionic output. A squad found him two weeks ago, but they failed to collect him.’
‘What happened to them?’ Pete asked.
‘They did not come out intact.’
‘Like the people at the midland farm?’
‘Not quite. They are clinically paranoid, mildly schizophrenic, but their condition seems to be improving.’
‘But you clearly think there is a connection between Arthur Grimaldi and Pierre Jnr?’
‘There is a connection. They were in the institute at the same time. Let’s move along. The collection manoeuvre did not follow the procedure I have since instigated globally.’
‘The fools.’
‘Was that humour, Mister Lazarus?’
‘Only if you say it was.’
‘You are beginning to understand. Good.’ Gock took a lot of pleasure from being able to make other people squirm; something he lacked the power to do himself.
‘Why did it take so long to find him?’
‘Grimaldi has been found four times in the past eight years, but has avoided collection each time. Though I no longer allow the practice, some provinces have relied on cooperative telepaths to help find psis and he was painted three weeks ago.’
‘An agent like Tamsin?’
‘Yes. Tamsin Grey had an impeccable record, until her disappearance. Would you like to tell me more about your relationship with Miz Grey?’
‘Not really.’
‘There is an unaccounted hour you spent alone with her. Would you like to share what took place in that time?’
‘No.’
‘Were you romantically involved with Tamsin Grey?’
‘No.’
‘Any admission would be considered an act of good faith, Mister Lazarus.’
‘I thought we had an assignment to complete.’
‘There is no rush. We have plenty of time if you would like to make a new statement.’
Pete held his silence. Ryu Shima had waited until the middle of the night intentionally. He knew the Prime was trying to grind him down. He understood that. What he didn’t like was that it was working. ‘Let’s just get on with this.’
‘As you wish. Grimaldi is located nearby, in Reclaimed Hong Kong. The ten are waiting for you at the launching pad.’
‘And are we interviewing him?’
‘Mister Lazarus, I want you to bring this man in. By whatever means necessary.’
‘So
he can be taken to the islands?’
‘Perhaps. Perhaps we may find other uses for him. It is not your concern.’
He forced himself not to respond to that point. ‘Is the whole team coming?’ Pete asked.
‘Just you and your ten. The twins will be nearby.’
‘Not Risom?’
The Hunt for Pierre Jnr Page 24