Ten: Be alert. The canary has a bad feeling.
Nine: Received. There is a path leading deeper, on the southern end. Nothing moving. We’ll take a look ... Getting pretty tight here ... I’m through. There is a big cavern. No movement. The lumens don’t reach the far side. There are shelves of mushroom beds. I’m moving forward.
The link to Nine went static.
Ten: Seven, can you still pick up Nine? We’ve lost signal.
Seven: Sir, no —
Ten: Five, pull back. Pull back.
Five: One, reverse. Ten, I’m just through to the big cave. I can’t see Nine or Seven —
The lines went dead one by one.
‘Ten? What just happened?’
‘I lost contact with half my team, telepath. That’s what happened,’ Ten said harshly. He was busy sending messages to Nine and to the ups for emergency orders.
Ten: Nine? Report in, Nine. Odds, backtrack immediately. We have lost signal.
He cursed.
‘What do we do now?’ Pete asked.
They all felt the fear. It had begun to permeate them. Ten stared down at his shaking hands while the Command came in.
‘Four, I want you to take Grimaldi back to this morning’s camp. He’s freaking me out.’
‘Yes, sir.’ Arthur was only too happy to go along. He didn’t want to be anywhere near that cave.
I don’t know what’s down there, he warned Pete.
‘I say we send Gock down with a rope around his waist. Use him as bait,’ Risom suggested. Gock gulped and begged off.
‘I’ll go,’ Pete volunteered. ‘If it is a psi down there, I’m the best one to try dealing with it.’ The Prime sent a message to his symb, reminding him he was watching.
Ten and Two were assigned to go with him. Pete raised his block and put on a helmet and mantle designed for caving, then stuck the lumens on as Ten instructed.
Their bright glow cut the dark of the tight tunnel, though the shadows managed to fight back from behind overhangs, stalactites and every sharp change of direction. They passed the outer room and went one by one through the crevice.
Ahead they could see the light from the transmission booster, its per-second red flashes bumping the walls as it ticked. In the second cavern they saw the boxes and tools the first team described. Higher up the cave were hanging pots of lichen and moss.
On the south wall was the dark crack the odds had gone through.
Ten: Odds. Report. Is there anyone receiving? Check in.
The big leader waved for Peter to come closer. ‘Their symbs are ten metres in the direction of that opening. Are you picking up anything?’
‘There is something there. I can’t even be sure it is human.’
Ten: I’ll go first. Two, you take the rear.
A few metres into the opening the tunnel stooped down and they crouched and duck-walked through. Ten saw the feet of one of his men lying before him and he scrambled quickly out.
Ten: I see Three. Man down —
His messaging was interrupted by his own screaming and Ten collapsed to the rock floor. Pete and Two rushed in, the soldier firing beams into the dark without aiming. Then he too was rolling on the floor, clutching at his helmet before he vomited inside it.
Pete grabbed some flash pellets from his belt and overdosed the room with bang and light. The screaming of the soldiers turned to whimpers and panting, and he wiped the room with his torch until he saw a thin nook on one side. Enough for a man to slip through.
He could feel him now. Whoever it was had been dazed by the light assault and the sound had deafened him. He lived in a cave after all; nothing but quiet and dark. Pete threw more flash into the gap, turning his head away to protect his vision, and then rushed forward, grabbing at the pale arms and ribby body.
Pete dragged him out of his hole, into the light of the big cave. The eyes were animal and pinched by the brightness. His symb confirmed that it was Sullivan St Clare and Pete didn’t hesitate to pull a mask from his kit and slap it over the feverish visage.
~ * ~
The squad explored and recorded the caves while Sullivan was being transported to a secure facility that was quickly being stacked together in the red mudflats in the centre of the continent — what had once been desert was now slowly drowning with the relentless bombardment of rain.
Deep in the side of the mountain they found hydroponic chambers filled with mesh plants and mushrooms.
‘Not exactly a balanced diet,’ Geof commented, his voice transmitting directly to Pete’s ears.
Pete found a desk which was stacked with papiers, in dire need of repair and recharging. He prodded through a few slides, charts, notated tables of data.
‘I don’t think it was food he was interested in.’ He held up a diary with annotations about what he had taken and the effect it had on his abilities. ‘Do you think there is anything in this?’
‘Okay, everybody out once you’ve got the lights up. I want to keep the site as clean as possible.’ Geof sent through the command.
Geof: Ten, there is a box of sylus being dropped. I want you to plant one in each cave. Only you.
Pete had to read from Ten what a sylus was. Something like a symbiot in composition and function but free-roaming and self-powered. Geof was using them to get a complete scan of the cave system.
‘I think you’re right, Peter. The quick screen shows hallucinogens in the fungi. We’ll just let the sylus do a crawl and compile, then we’ll know more.’
Pete: What should I do?
Geof: I want you to interview. Take the line coming down on the drop. The facility is nearly complete.
~ * ~
The compound they set up for Sullivan was similar to the one Pete had recuperated in, though smaller. It had only one capsule and a landing pad. Armed servitors made a laser fence fifty metres around.
Geof had the builders clear the area, leaving only bots on site, when Pete touched down and debarked. The squib immediately lifted off, leaving Pete and Sullivan the only mammals in the compound.
Pete: Is all this really necessary?
Geof: Unknowns have become a bit of a thorny issue. The Prime had to manage a lot of complaints from the Services personnel who held Arthur.
Hearing of the Prime’s discomfort pleased Pete slightly. He hooked into the room surveillance watching St Clare.
Pete: Here we are again. Different room, different prisoner. Same sacrificial lamb.
Geof: That’s enough complaining. You could also be flattered that you are considered the best man for the job.
Pete: I can’t stand not knowing whether you say that with humour or not.
Geof: Copy.
Pete: What have you got him on?
Geof: Suppressants. If you’re not getting any sense out of him, we can try a transfusion. At the moment his toxicity is still very high, which might make for interesting answers.
Pete: Okay. For the record, I’m starting to hate interviewing. When was the last time I got to speak to someone who hasn’t been touched by Pierre?
Geof: Copy.
Pete: Where is he? I can’t sense him.
Geof: Underground. Deep. We are controlling all contact with St Clare for now. You will question him through a simulator room.
Pete: Don’t I lose my advantage if I can’t tap him?
Geof: Let’s see how it goes first before putting you near him again.
The doors opened automatically. The simulator was a capsule with a cube in the centre which represented the black box Sullivan was sitting in that was buried five hundred metres away. The box was wrapped with wall screens and Pete could circle the interview room and talk to Sullivan from all sides. He could choose to let the interviewee see him or not.
Sullivan sat patiently on a red-backed chair. From his perspective he saw only mirrors looking back in on him, and he heard a voice, encoded and mechanised to obscure the original. Pete stood before him an
d allowed St Clare to see him.
‘Mister St Clare, do you know where you are?’
‘Who is that?’
‘You can call me Peter.’
‘Oh. Hello, Peter. I have heard a lot about you.’
Pete: Geof? How could he have?
Geof: Ask him where he heard about you.
‘I don’t think we have met before. Can you tell me where you have heard of me?’
Sullivan cocked his head to one side, like a curious raven. ‘From Pierre, of course.’
‘You’ve seen Pierre Jnr? When was the last time you saw him?’
‘Is this a test? This room reminds me of the testing rooms.’
‘Do you mean from the psionic development facility? When you worked with Doctor Rhee?’ Pete asked.
‘Yes. Is this a test?’
‘No, Sullivan. I’m just asking you some questions.’
‘Okay. Who are you? I can’t see you.’
‘My name is Peter. I’m far away from you.’
‘Peter Lazarus. I remember.’
‘How do you know my name?’
‘Pierre told me.’
Geof: He could have got it before you masked him, or from one of your ten. Don’t overthink, Pete.
‘Do you know how long you have been gone from the institute?’
‘Eight years, one month and five days.’
‘You have been keeping track?’
‘We remember things like that.’
‘Did you enjoy your time at the institute?’
‘Yes.’
‘You were close to Mary Kastonovich, weren’t you?’
‘Mary. Nobody could help loving Mary.’ Sullivan drifted off. He muttered under his breath.
‘Mister St Clare, I can’t hear what you are saying. Was that about Mary?’
‘No. I’m just — just — I haven’t gone this long without a chew for a while.’
‘Can you explain?’
‘A chew? A fix? Man, the fungi in my home. You know?’
‘Yes, tell me about that. We found that most of your garden was hallucinatory. Your notes seem to indicate you were studying the effects.’
‘Yeah. Yeah.’ He began holding himself. ‘If I go ecky on you, just give me one of those pills you confiscated in my clothing. It’s just withdrawal.’
‘I’ll look into returning them to you.’
‘Oh, don’t pretend, Lazarus.’ His speech suddenly hardened. ‘You’ve got no power. You’re just a puppet.’
‘Tell me more about your studies. What effects did you find?’
‘Is that why you’re here? It doesn’t work, okay.’
‘Then why do you still grow them?’
‘I’m addicted. Is that so hard for you to get? I knew that years ago. But even once I knew they were doing nothing, I had no reason to stop. I’ve been high for seven years, man.’
‘How did you know they weren’t working? What were you expecting them to do?’
‘Make me stronger, of course. It wasn’t hard to see when it didn’t work.’
‘Why do you think it didn’t work?’
‘Because psionics isn’t like that. Lazarus, you should know this. Every psi should know this. Strength ain’t strength. It’s the wrong word for what we do.’
Geof: Steer it back to Pierre. Find out what he knows.
Pete: One second.
‘So what is the right word?’
‘Fluency.’
‘Like language?’
‘Yeah, man. It’s like a frequency, a wavelength, a vocabulary. It’s all these things, and to get stronger you just have to get better.’
Geof: Pete. First and only warning.
Pete: Understood.
‘May I call you by your first name?’
‘I don’t care. Call me Sully if you want.’
‘Okay, Sully. We were talking about Pierre Jnr a moment ago. You said you had spoken with him.’
‘I am talking with him all the time, Peter. We have a permanent connection.’
‘Are you talking to him now?’
‘I said always, didn’t I?’
‘What does Pierre say?’ Pete asked.
‘He doesn’t speak directly. It’s not like that. Are you sure you’re a mindee? You are as ignorant as a norm.’
‘Is he out to harm us?’
Geof: Pete, don’t get caught up in his madness. The toxins are talking.
Sullivan paused for a moment. ‘How could he harm us? We are him and he is us.’
‘I don’t understand.’
‘He says you will.’ Sullivan was so calm.
Geof: Pete. He is not sane. Nobody is in the room with him and there is no way he is communicating from underground. Look at the tox report. You’ll see that anything he says is not coming from a place of sanity.
But it does come from somewhere, Pete thought to himself. He drew the medical information from his symb and saw a bunch of data of which he had no comprehension. The summary was clear though: Sullivan St Clare was not functioning on a normal chemical balance.
‘Sullivan? What about the people in the Dome who were killed?’ Pete asked.
‘He didn’t kill anyone.’
‘Are you saying Pierre wasn’t responsible?’
‘He says no one was harmed.’
‘Sullivan, I was there. Many people died.’
‘He says he made sure they were not. Nobody was harmed.’
Pete: Geof, can you think of a question we can ask to test out if he is in contact?
Geof: No. We can’t be sure of what he already knows.
Pete: And what if Pierre is transmitting to him?
Geof: Impossible.
Pete: Kinetically destroying a city block was also thought impossible a month ago. What if telepathy is just a language, like he says — brain code — that some can use and others can’t?
Geof: It’s a possibility, and we’ll look into it. Nobody expects us to come up with all the answers today.
Pete: I want to know my mind is free. Isn’t that what we are fighting for? We need to be able to test if psionic influence is limited to contact.
Geof: Then we must draw a line. If we keep him isolated, then we can test in a week to see if he has acquired new knowledge. Break off the interview.
~ * ~
Every day the Primacy council opened a chat circuit to report on recent developments and discuss future actions. It was a non-public discussion, though participation was notable.
Every day the weighting of the players shifted, though there had been no change in the Primacy since Ryu had risen. To his chagrin, Charlotte Betts had gained credibility. As the world was swept for psis, the imposition of security was pushing more people toward her way of thinking. Something would have to be done.
Charlotte Betts spoke more often now. ‘If Sullivan is right and psionic ability is more like a language skill, perhaps Pierre Jnr can’t hear us.’
‘Are you defending him again? Why are you so intent on him being innocent?’ Admiral Zim accused and the assembly rumbled in tones of agreement.
Demos’s avatar leant conspiratorially toward hers. ‘The Admiral has a point, Charlotte. The evidence points toward a certain malice.’
At least Demos had become more compliant. It had only taken a little attention to have his dominions fall in line with the security measures.
‘But what if Pierre doesn’t recognise non-telepaths as people? What if he doesn’t see them? We could just be like ants to him and he doesn’t know he is hurting anybody.’
‘Is this idea supposed to reassure us?’ asked Shreet.
‘And even if that was true, he can still read minds and therefore he is fully aware of his actions. You must begin to accept this, Representative Betts,’ Ryu said.
‘It is for that reason I find it hard to imagine that he acts with cruelty. Surely he suffers the pain of those he hurts?’
‘A
re you out of your mind, woman?’ Admiral Zim shouted.
‘Admiral, I must rebuke you there,’ Ryu responded. ‘These sessions are for discussing developments. There is no value in them if we degenerate to insult. Let us end for today. Representative Betts, while your opinions are not in line with the rest of the group, I think we should recognise what you have suggested: that the nature of the threat may not be as we assume.
The Hunt for Pierre Jnr Page 27