Now, the morning after, guilt was starting to creep back. Maybe he should have shown some restraint, some consideration for the innocent bystanders trying to fling themselves clear. Though a deeper rationality knew full well that he had to cover Araminta’s escape. The fate of the Commonwealth had hung on that moment, determining which Faction would grab her. Perhaps that was why he’d fought so ruthlessly, he knew he had to succeed. The alternative was too horrific to consider, or allow.
Certainly Tomansio and Beckia had shown a measure of respect absent before. He just wished he’d earned it some other way.
Their borrowed capsule left the Ellezelin Forces base in the docks and curved round to cruise above the Cairns, heading for the big single-span bridge.
‘Somebody must have got her,’ Beckia said; it had almost become a mantra. After they all got clear from the fight in Bodant Park they’d spent the rest of the night helping Liatris search for the elusive Second Dreamer. Her disappearance was partially their own fault; Liatris had killed every sensor within five kilometres of the park. They’d been so desperate for her to get away that the measure was justified at the time; what surprised them again was how well she’d done it. Their search hadn’t produced the slightest indication where she’d gone since she ran away from Oscar in the park. On the plus side, no one else who was hunting her (and there were still five functional teams that Liatris had discovered) had found her either.
‘Living Dream haven’t,’ Tomansio said calmly. ‘That’s what we focus on. Until we confirm her situation we continue the mission. Right Oscar?’
‘Right.’ He saw her face again, that brief moment of connection when the startled, frightened girl had stared into him with frantic eyes. She’d seemed so fragile. How on Earth did she ever stay ahead of everyone? Yet he of all people should know that extraordinary situations so often kindled equally remarkable behaviour.
‘Any luck with the image review?’ Beckia asked.
‘No,’ was Liatris’s curt answer. With Araminta dropping out of sight, their technology expert had launched a search through old sensor recordings to see if they could find how she arrived at Bodant Park. The Welcome Team had been analysing data from every public sensor in the city, trying to track her. Liatris (and the rival agent teams) had glitched the input to their semi-sentients, sending them off on wild-goose chases. But it was a telling point that none of their own scrutineers had managed to spot her during the day, not even approaching Bodant Park. The first time anyone had determined her location was when her outraged thoughts burst into the gaiafield at the sight of her apartments going up in flames. As yet nobody had worked out how she’d managed to conceal herself. Whatever method she used, it’d proved equally effective in spiriting her away during the height of the fight.
So now Oscar and his team were falling back on two things. One, that she would call him on the code he’d given her, possibly out of gratitude, or maybe from sheer pragmatism. And two, they were following down leads like a professional police detective. Paula would be proud, he thought with a private smile.
Despite a barrage of urgent anonymous warnings, the Welcome Team had arrested most of Araminta’s family, with the notable exception of the redoubtable Cressida, who had pulled a vanishing act equal to Araminta’s. They’d all been brought to the Colwyn City docks for ‘questioning’. Liatris said Living Dream were bringing in more skilled teams from Ellezelin to perform memory reads.
Which just left them Araminta’s friends in the city; though, with the exception of Cressida, she didn’t seem to have many. Which was strange, Oscar thought. She was a very attractive young woman, free and independent. That would normally imply a big social group. So far Liatris had uncovered very few, though a building supply wholesaler called Mr Bovey was a promising lead. They were due to pay him a discreet visit right after their first appointment.
Tomansio steered the capsule away from the river and over the city’s Coredna district. They landed on a pad at the end of a street and stepped out. The houses here were all made out of drycoral, single-storey and small, their little gardens either immaculately maintained or home to piles of rubbish and ancient furniture. It was one of the poorer areas in the city. All three of them stared at the Ellezelin Forces capsule parked at the far end of the street.
‘En garde,’ Tomansio said quietly.
They were all dressed in a simple tunic of the occupying forces, not armour. Oscar brought his biononics up to full readiness. Defensive energy currents and his integral force field could snap on with a millisecond’s warning. He hoped that would be enough. As the three of them walked down the street he ran a field scan on the capsule up ahead. It was inert, empty.
‘Assigned to squad FIK67,’ Liatris told them when they relayed the serial number to him. ‘Currently on city boundary enforcement duty.’
‘Oh crap,’ Oscar muttered as they drew near the house they wanted. His field scan had picked up someone with biononics inside. Whoever they were, they also had their energy currents in readiness mode. ‘Accelerator?’
‘Darwinist,’ Beckia decided.
‘Separatist,’ Tomansio said.
‘I’ll take a piece of that action,’ Liatris said. ‘Put me down for the Conservatives.’
Tomansio walked up to the aluminium front door, and knocked. They waited tensely as footsteps sounded. The door opened to reveal a shortish, harassed-looking woman wearing a dark-blue house robe.
‘Yes?’ she asked.
Oscar recognized Tandra from the employment file Liatris had extracted out of Nik’s management net.
‘We’d like to ask you some questions,’ Tomansio said.
Tandra rolled her eyes. ‘Not another lot. What do you want to ask?’
‘May we come in, please?’ Oscar asked.
‘I thought you Living Dream sods didn’t bother asking.’
‘Nonetheless, ma’am, we’d like to come in.’
‘Fine!’ Tandra grunted and pushed the door fully open. She stomped off down the small hall inside. ‘Come and join the party. One of your lot’s already here.’
Oscar exchanged a nervous glance with the others and followed Tandra inside. He reached the small lounge and stopped dead, emitting a potent burst of shock into the gaiafield. The woman with active biononics was sitting on the couch, with a happy twin on either side of her. She wore an immaculately cut major’s uniform, and wore it well, the epitome of a career officer. Martyn was bending down to offer her a cup of coffee.
‘Hello, Oscar,’ the Cat smiled. ‘Long time no see. So what have you been up to for the last thousand years?’
He let out a rueful sigh. Come on, you knew this would happen at some point. ‘I was in suspension, where you should be.’
‘Bored with it,’ the Cat said. She glanced at Tomansio and Beckia. Oscar had never seen the Knights Guardian so taken aback, they were even more startled than he was. ‘My people,’ the Cat said mockingly. ‘Welcome.’
‘I’m afraid not,’ Tomansio said. ‘We are working for Oscar.’
‘Surely I override that? I created you.’
‘They have conviction in their principles,’ Oscar said mildly. ‘Something to do with strength . . .’
The Cat gave a delighted laugh. ‘I always did like you.’
‘What is this?’ Martyn asked, looking from the Cat to Oscar. ‘I thought you people were all the same.’
‘Oh we are,’ the Cat said.
‘We are not,’ Oscar countered forcefully.
‘Mixal, Freddy,’ Tandra called. ‘Come here.’
The Cat’s smile was joyous as her hold round both children tightened. ‘I like the twins,’ she said mildly.
Martyn started forward as Mixal and Freddy began to twist about in her unyielding grip. Tomansio intercepted him fast, restraining him. ‘Don’t move,’ he growled.
Beckia gripped Tandra. ‘No,’ she warned as the woman tried to lunge at her children.
‘Let go of me,’ Tandra shouted.
‘If
you move again, I will shoot you,’ Oscar told her flatly, hating himself for doing it, but he had no choice. Besides, it might just shock her into obedience. She’d never understand the twins’ only chance of surviving the next five minutes was to let him and his team take charge.
‘Big words,’ the Cat said.
‘I don’t have many options,’ Oscar said.
‘How’s Paula?’
‘I thought you’d seen her?’
‘Not quite. Not yet.’
‘There’s always a next time, huh?’
‘You should know that, better even than I.’
‘You know, last time I saw you on the plane to Far Away you weren’t so bad.’
‘I assure you I was,’ the Cat said.
‘Strange, because that was you now. The you that founded the Knights Guardian is in your personal memory’s future.’
‘That sounds horribly convoluted and confusing, darling.’
‘Thinking about it, you you never actually met me on the plane to Far Away. Your memories come from the day before you were sent to Randtown.’
‘And your point is?’
‘Interesting that you’ve researched yourself.’
‘Know your enemies.’
‘Ah, now that actually does make sense. Especially with the number you have by now.’
‘Whereas you live in a happy universe.’
Oscar gave her a lopsided grin. ‘It has you in it.’
‘Ouch, that was personal, darling.’
‘Of course it was personal. After what happened on the plane between us how could it be anything else? Oh wait, you don’t have that memory.’
The Cat actually looked quite startled. ‘You have to be kidding, darling. You don’t even like girls.’
‘No. But as you said, you like me, and racing towards almost certain death triggers some reflexes no matter what. I just had to work with what was available.’
‘Now you’re being insulting.’
Oscar kept his face perfectly blank. ‘No, I’m still being personal. After all, whose kid did you go and have after the Starflyer crash?’
‘Kid?’ the Cat spluttered. ‘Me? With you?’
‘What is wrong with you people!’ Tandra screamed. ‘Just go, all of you. Go and leave us alone.’
Oscar held a finger up to the distraught woman, then ignored her. ‘If you didn’t research that bit, ask the Knights Guardian here you created. Was there a gap in your history around then?’
The Cat glanced at Tomansio, who was still holding back Martyn. ‘Actually, there is a chunk of your timeline missing following the crash,’ he said slowly. ‘Nobody knows what you were doing then.’
‘Fuck off,’ the Cat snapped at him. ‘And you.’ She glared at Oscar. ‘You don’t know either. You were a memorycell dangling on Paula’s chain for a thousand years.’
‘The kid visited me after I was re-lifed. Told me the whole story.’
‘Stop it. Now.’
‘Okay,’ he said reasonably. ‘Did you have time to ask these good people anything?’
‘You cannot screw with my mind.’
Oscar winked. ‘Already done the body.’ He turned to Tandra. ‘Did she ask you about Araminta?’
Tandra stretched her arms out towards the couch where the twins were still squirming ineffectually. ‘Please?’
Oscar extended his arm. A red laser shone through the skin on his forefinger, splashing a dot onto Freddy’s forehead. Everyone froze. Freddy started wailing, curling up tighter against the Cat, believing she would protect him. If only you knew how wrong that instinct is, Oscar thought miserably. ‘Did she?’
‘You won’t,’ the Cat said. She gave Tandra a brisk smile. ‘He’s the good guy, he’s not going to shoot children, that’s what I do. And I’m very good at it.’
‘Well I wouldn’t shoot ours,’ Oscar said with a cheerful tone. He rather enjoyed the venomous expression on the Cat’s face. ‘What happened before I got here?’
‘Nothing!’ Martyn bellowed. ‘In Ozzie’s name, stop this, please. Please! They’re just children.’
Oscar looked straight at the Cat, unflinching. His target laser switched off. ‘We’re going to share the knowledge, and then we’re both going to leave.’
‘How very weak of you,’ the Cat said.
‘How very tactical,’ Oscar said. ‘If you resist, the three of us will turn on you. Some of us may suffer bodyloss, but ANA will have us re-lifed in half a day. You on the other hand will certainly die. The information will die with you, unused. The Accelerators will not recover Araminta, and you . . . Oh, yes, what was it now? Message from Paula. She paid a visit to the ice moon Accelerator station. There were several of you in suspension there. There aren’t any more.’
The Cat gave the crying twins a pointed glance.
‘Possible end of the galaxy against two lives,’ Oscar said. ‘No contest. Remember I was a serving Navy officer. I’m used to this situation. Necessity always outweighs sentiment. I blew up Hanko’s sun, which killed an entire planet.’
‘Actually, darling, I killed Hanko, but let’s not go into that right now.’
‘You don’t get to go into anything. You have one choice, walk away or die. And think about this, if Living Dream or the Accelerators win, your real body will never come out of suspension. The Earth will have been converted to pure energy by the Void’s boundary to fuel some idiot’s daydream long before that scheduled day comes.’
Oscar turned his back on the Cat. And how many have done that and lived? As she didn’t immediately open fire on him he asked Tandra: ‘Tell me about Araminta.’
‘She was here,’ Martyn blurted. ‘That bitch. She’s the reason all this has happened, and she came here! Here in our home.’
‘When?’
‘The night before the fight in Bodant Park,’ Tandra said wearily. ‘She said she was frightened of the crowd in Bodant Park, and hadn’t got anywhere else to go. We let her sleep here. On the couch.’
‘Did she tell you she was the Second Dreamer?’
‘No. I still can’t believe it. She’s just a messed-up girl.’
‘She’s a lot more than that. How did she get here?’
‘She said she walked.’
‘I never believed that,’ Martyn grumbled.
‘Did you see a trike or a taxi?’ Oscar asked him.
‘No, but it’s a long way to walk from Bodant Park. And she lied about everything else.’
‘Okay, and when she left?’
‘She walked,’ Tandra said. ‘I saw her go. There was no trike or anything. She was all alone.’
‘Where was she going?’
‘She didn’t say.’ Tandra hesitated. ‘I thought it might be a man. She used my makeup, took a long time. She looked great when she left.’
‘Ah,’ Beckia said. ‘Did she look like herself ?’
‘Not really, she changed a lot. Her hair was real dark. Her own colour is better for her.’
‘Clever.’
‘Okay then.’ Oscar looked back at the Cat. ‘You got anything else to ask?’
‘Who’s she screwing?’ the Cat asked.
‘I don’t know,’ Tandra said. ‘I hadn’t seen her for ages. It was a surprise when she came here.’
‘So you’re her best friend? The one she turns to in a crisis?’
Tandra shrugged. ‘I guess.’
‘I’ve heard enough.’ The Cat released the twins and stood in one swift motion. Oscar blinked, she really had moved fast.
Must be running accelerants, he thought.
Tandra and Martyn rushed for their children.
The Cat gave Oscar a wicked grin. ‘Be seeing you.’
‘I’ll tell the grandkids you’re coming. There’s lots of them. It’s been a thousand years, after all.’
Her chuckle sounded genuine. ‘You know, maybe it is possible.’
Oscar braced himself, if she was going to do anything it would be now. The moment passed, and the Cat left.
Beckia let out a low whistle as she relaxed.
Tomansio put his hand on Oscar’s shoulder. ‘You know, you’re almost as crazy as she is. Er, you and her on the plane, did that really . . .’
‘A gentleman never tells,’ Oscar said solemnly.
‘Fuck me.’
‘When this is over I’ll take you up on that. But I think we’d better leave now.’ His field scan showed him the Cat’s stolen capsule rising from the pad. Once again he tensed up. Would she fly over the house and blast away at it?
Tandra and Martyn had huddled up protectively, hugging their children hard. The twins were sobbing in distress.
‘Take my advice,’ Oscar said to them. ‘Leave here right now. Go stay with friends or in a hotel, anywhere, just not here. There will be more like us coming.’
‘Ozzie curse you straight to hell, you bastards,’ Martyn hissed furiously. There were tears running down his face.
‘I’ve met Ozzie,’ Oscar said quietly. ‘He’s nothing like everyone today thinks he is.’
‘Just go,’ Tandra implored.
Oscar led Tomansio and Beckia back to their borrowed capsule. As soon as they left the little drycoral house behind he called Paula.
‘The Cat’s here.’
‘Are you sure?’
Oscar shuddered. ‘Oh yeah. We had quite a chat.’
‘And you’re still alive, I’m impressed.’
‘Yeah well, I managed to throw in a cosmic-sized distraction. It put her off her game for a while.’
‘Is she joining the hunt for Araminta?’
‘Yes.’
‘Figures. The Accelerators are desperate to acquire her.’
‘I thought we are, too?’
‘We are. It has become imperative.’
‘I’m doing my best. I’m still hopeful she might just call me. She’s not quite the superwoman everyone thinks.’