This is Diana.
Bloody silly name for the Devil.
Shut up and listen! This is Diana Vertue, once known as Jenny Psycho.
I think I'd have been better off with the Devil.
Shut up, dear, and let her talk, said Evangeline Shreck. So this is telepathy. How fascinating. Not quite what I'd imagined, but… Correct me if I'm wrong, Diana, but I'd always understood telepathy was only possible between people carrying the esper genes.
Usually, yes. But these are far from normal circumstances. Let's keep this short and to the point. I'm in deep shit, and I need somewhere safe and secure to hide. Somewhere even the most powerful telepaths couldn't find me. Any ideas?
My old apartment under the Arenas, said Finlay immediately. Very secure, and no one knows the access codes but me.
And the constant raging emotions and sudden deaths should make a powerful cloak for you to hide behind, said Evangeline.
Who's after you? said Finlay. Anything we can do to help?
No, said Diana. I have to do this myself. Tell me what I need to know, and I'll break contact. You have enough problems of your own without adding mine.
True, said Finlay. Can I just ask how you knew I wasn't dead?
I didn't, said Diana. This idea came firmly under the heading of pure desperation. But I always knew you were too mean to die that easily.
Finlay laughed, and told her what she needed to know. Diana broke contact, then steeled herself, and went to tell Crow Jane that she wouldn't be staying after all.
There was something very wrong with Grace Shreck's town house. The old stone building looked even more uncared for than usual, if that was possible, and the surrounding gardens had been allowed to run riot. No lights showed at any of the closed windows, save for one high up and to the side. Both house and garden were utterly silent, as though listening or waiting… for something. Toby Shreck and his cameraman Flynn huddled together before the front gates, peering dubiously through the black iron bars. Flynn's camera hovered by his shoulder, as though afraid to go off on its own. Toby glared at the dark house.
"I told you, Flynn. Something's wrong here. Very wrong. Grace is still in residence, along with all of her servants, but the only light showing is at Clarissa's bedroom window. So why are they all sitting around in the dark?"
"Good question, Boss. This is definitely spooky. Reminds me of one of those old houses they always put on the covers of Clarence's favorite gothic romances. You know; the ones where there's a batty old ex-wife living secretly in the attic, sharpening a hatchet when she thinks no one's listening."
"Will you shut up, Flynn? This is disturbing enough as it is. And look at the garden. Grace would never have allowed it to get into such a mess. She's always been red hot on keeping up appearances."
"Could be money problems," said Flynn.
"No; she'd have talked to me by now if that was the case," said Toby. "And I can think of at least a dozen antiques in her front room that are each worth more than the house and grounds put together. No… I don't like this at all."
"Then why don't we do the sensible thing for once, and go home? And not come back till we've arranged for some heavy duty backup, body armor, and maybe an exorcist. Just in case."
"Clarissa's in there," said Toby grimly. "Her messages have been growing increasingly short and vague over the past few weeks. I want her out of there. I also want a few urgent words with Grace about something I turned up while checking the Family expense sheets."
"Hold on," said Flynn. "Since when have you started investigating your own Family? And keeping it a secret from me?"
Toby looked at him. "Since I found myself wading through matters so murky that just discussing them might be enough to get us both killed. But since we're here… and I have no intention of going back without a whole bunch of answers… Grace took over the day-to-day running of Clan Shreck, after Gregor was murdered by Finlay Campbell. Suited me just fine, at the time. The last thing I needed was more work and more responsibilities. Until the Family bank alerted me, on the quiet, that Grace had been authorizing some very… unorthodox expenditures. Many of them borderline illegal, not to mention immoral. Very unlike dear old-fashioned aunt Grace.
"So I checked it out. Grace had all sorts of elaborate security measures in place, but you can't keep a Shreck out of Shreck computers. It turned out that among many dubious and downright disreputable rackets, Grace had been quietly running a very discreet shipping service, specializing in transporting the kind of goods owners prefer not to describe too specifically. If at all. To my surprise, not to mention outright shock, when I compared the schedules with my own current area of interest, it turned out that one of these ships almost certainly brought the carrier of the nano plague to Golgotha."
"Wait a minute, wait a minute," said Flynn. "Are you saying the nano plague's being spread by a single carrier?"
"Right. A Typhoid Mary, infected with the plague but not affected by it. And he came here on a Shreck ship. Grace's ship."
"We're talking treason here," said Flynn carefully. "Can you prove any of this?"
"Some of it. Enough to make it vital I talk with Grace before I go public. Another rogue Shreck like Gregor, and the Clan will be disgraced beyond saving. I have to give Grace a chance to explain herself. It's just possible she's being used as a front by someone else. Certainly none of this sounds anything like the aunt Grace I've always known."
"Have you tried calling her?"
"She won't take my calls. And now she's blocked my line to Clarissa. So we're going in."
"I love this we bit." Flynn studied the gates dubiously. "They appear to be locked."
Toby snorted. "I was cracking the locks on these gates back when I was fifteen, and heading out for a night on the town."
He produced a set of efficient and highly illegal lock-picks, and had the gates open in a matter of seconds. Flynn discreetly pointed his camera in another direction. The gate hinges squealed noisily as Toby pushed them open, and the sound seemed very loud in the quiet. Toby and Flynn froze in place for a moment, but there were no alarms, no sudden lights or raised voices, and after a moment they pressed on. The garden had overgrown the main path, and they had to push their way past overhanging branches and outcropping rose bushes. It was very dark, once they moved out of the range of the streetlights. Toby followed his old memories, from late night and early morning returns after teenage revels, and Flynn stuck close to Toby. Every sound they made seemed to carry and echo on the still air. They came at last to the front door, and Toby came to a halt so suddenly Flynn almost ran into the back of him. There was a small light on over the door, which stood wide open.
"Damn," said Toby tonelessly. "They know we're here."
"They?" said Flynn. "Who's this they! I thought you said Grace was behind all this."
"There's always a they. Grace couldn't have done this alone. She wouldn't have known how. Follow me in, Flynn. Stay close, and keep that camera going, whatever happens. And if I say run, don't hang about or you'll be following me all the way out. Got it?"
"Got it, Boss."
Toby strode forward into the gloom of the hallway beyond the front door, and Flynn was right there with him, almost treading on his heels. Toby found the light switches, and turned them all on. The hall blazed into being around them, and they both waited a minute for their eyes to adjust to the new light. The first thing Toby noticed was that there was dust everywhere. He frowned. Grace had always been so house proud. He led the way through the house, finding only empty rooms and more dust. The whole place might have been utterly deserted. He came at last to the heavy doors leading to Grace's main reception room, and he hesitated only a moment before pushing them open and storming in. The room was brightly lit, and there was Grace Shreck, sitting stiffly in her chair beside the fire, as always. And standing by her side was the Speaker of the House, Elias Gutman. They both nodded courteously to Toby and Flynn.
"Well," said Toby. "That explains a lot."
"Come in, dear," said Grace calmly. "Make yourself at home. Would you care for some tea?"
"No tea," said Toby. "I'm here for answers. And I'm not leaving till I get some."
"You won't like them," said Grace, her voice and face curiously calm, almost uninvolved.
"Let's start with the human slime beside you," said Toby. He glared at Gutman. "How long have you been using my Family as a front?"
"Oh, you'd be surprised," said Elias Gutman, smiling easily. "Grace was one of the few aristos still left that everybody trusted. That made her very useful. I must say; I'm very impressed with you, Toby. No one was ever supposed to know what was going on here, till it was far too late to do any good."
"All right, Elias; hit me. What's been going on?"
"Uh, Boss…" said Flynn.
Toby looked round to find Grace's servants filing silently in through the open doorway. There were twenty of them, all armed with guns, all of them with the same blank, fixed expression. They quickly surrounded Toby and Flynn, and covered them with their guns.
"We've been expecting you," said Grace. "Your accessing the Family files set off a silent alarm. We considered having you killed immediately, but in the end we felt sure your curiosity and surprisingly strong sense of Family honor would bring you here before you went public with any accusations. We will allow your cameraman to make a full record of what happens here. We can release it later, when it can do the most damage."
"What the hell's the matter with you, Grace?" said Toby. "If you had problems, why didn't you come to me, instead of this worm Elias? And where's Clarissa?"
"She'll be joining us shortly," said Grace, entirely unmoved by Toby's anger. "And I thought you would have guessed what's going on here by now. It's really very simple. I'm not Grace Shreck, and that isn't Elias Gutman. We're both agents of Shub. I am a Fury; a machine with human shape and covering. Elias, and all the servants here, are dragon's teeth. Shub's thoughts move in their brains. Elias lost his mind in the computer Matrix some time ago, and it was simple enough for him to send the servants in too, one at a time, on one pretext or another. Now we are the eyes and ears of the rogue AIs of Shub. A sixth column, in the heart of Humanity's homeworld. And you wouldn't believe all the damage we've been able to do."
"As Speaker of the House, I have automatic access to all political and military intelligence," said the thing with Gutman's face and voice. "All of it goes straight to Shub. I have also spent a great deal of time intriguing secretly with all the political parties and factions, of every extreme, keeping them paranoid and carefully balanced against each other, ensuring that no real discussion or agreement is ever made. And, of course, I know all their dirty little secrets too. At the right moment, we shall reveal them all. And what chaos there will be then…"
"You bastards," said Toby numbly. "I never even suspected. You're no great loss, Elias, but Grace… I always liked Grace. Even if she never did approve of me. No wonder you seemed to come out of your shell in such a hurry. What happened to the real Grace Shreck?"
"Well," said the Fury, "I'm wearing all that's left of her."
Toby made an inarticulate sound of rage and pain and lurched forward. Flynn grabbed him by the arm and stopped him. Toby stood breathing harshly, glaring at the machine wearing his dead aunt's skin. "And Clarissa?" he said, finally.
"Still very much alive and human," said Gutman, smiling his unwavering smile. "Our captive, and our hostage. We always knew she'd come in handy, if we ever needed control over you. If you behave, you'll get to see her soon."
"And then what happens?" said Toby, his hands clenched into useless fists at his sides.
"You'll be replaced, all three of you," said the Fury. "We'll drug you just enough to make you tractable without it being too obvious, and then Elias will take you into the Matrix, and the AIs will force out all your messy human thoughts, and replace them with the logic of Shub. You'll make very useful traitors. A newsman can do much to demoralize Humanity. I think we'll start with a public campaign against the espers; a witch-hunt of paranoia and suspicion. Shouldn't take long to herd them into concentration camps, for… processing. They are, after all, the only ones who could detect our presence."
"I'll die before I help you against Humanity," said Toby Shreck.
"You'll die, and then you'll help us," said Elias Gutman.
There was a commotion behind them, and Toby and Flynn turned to look. Two blank-faced servants were hustling Clarissa through the open doors. Her hair was disheveled, and her eyes were red and puffy, as though she'd been crying for some time. She saw Toby and ran toward him. He took her in his arms, and held her tightly as she tried to force words past her tears. He stroked her hair gently.
"It's all right, it's all right, Clarissa. I'm here now. I know what's been going on. I won't let them hurt you."
"Love," said Grace, not looking around from where she sat in her chair. "Such a useful weapon with which to control humans. You won't make any trouble, Toby and Flynn, because if you do we'll hurt Clarissa until you stop. And she has done as she was told, because we said we'd kill you if she didn't."
Toby gently pushed Clarissa away from him, so he could stare into her eyes. "Are you all right? Have they hurt you?"
Clarissa controlled herself with an effort. "You don't know what it's been like here, Toby. Grace only acted like herself for visitors. The rest of the time she didn't even pretend. Then the servants changed. Finally Grace told me the truth. I tried to run, but the servants caught me. I was held prisoner in my room, told what to say to you and the outside world, on pain of your and my deaths. I've been the only human thing in this house for so long…"
"Hush, hush," said Toby. He looked at Gutman. "Let her live… and you won't need to replace me. I could work for you, freely."
"No!" said Clarissa immediately. "You can't do that!"
"I'm saving your life!" said Toby, not looking at her.
"I wouldn't want to live in the world Shub's going to make," said Clarissa. "I'll kill myself before I let them use me to control you."
Toby turned reluctantly back to her. "There's a way out of this. There's always a way."
"I don't see how," said Shub, through the mouths of Grace and Elias and all the servants.
"Easy," said Kit SummerIsle from the open doorway. "He has friends in high places."
He raised his disrupter and shot Elias Gutman in the face, blowing his head apart. The body slumped to the floor, finally free of Shub control. The servants rushed forward to jump Kid Death, but he already had his sword in his hand. He cut them down as they came to him, blood flying thickly on the air, and none of the servants made a sound as they died. The Fury in Grace's skin jumped up out of her chair and turned to run, only to find itself facing Ruby Journey, who had arrived unnoticed through the rear door. The Fury and the Maze survivor studied each other thoughtfully.
"I'm not entirely stupid," said Toby, to Clarissa and Flynn. "If things were as heavy as I suspected, I knew I might need heavy duty help. So I arranged some, just in case. I knew Ruby Journey, and she contacted Lord SummerIsle. Fight fire with fire, I always say. All I had to do was keep the bad guys occupied until they could sneak in."
Kid Death cut his way through the servants crowding around him, not even breathing heavily. The servants had Shub's thoughts, but their bodies were only human. He had to dodge a few disrupter blasts as the numbers thinned, but in a very short time all the servants lay dead around him, and he stood calmly among them, wearing their blood like badges of honor. He looked hopefully around for someone else to kill, but only Grace remained, still locking eyes with Ruby Journey; two women who were both so much more than they appeared.
"I hear you're not nearly as powerful alone, without Jack Random's power to draw on," said Grace.
"But I'm always growing stronger," said Ruby. "I'm much more than you could ever hope to comprehend, machine."
The Fury smiled with Grace's mouth. "I shall kill you, and take your body back to Shub
, and tear all your secrets from it."
"Dream on," said Ruby Journey.
"Want any help?" said Kit SummerIsle.
"Don't you dare," said Ruby. "This one's all mine."
She gestured with an empty hand, and a blaze of heat roared from it to smash against the Fury. Grace's skin blackened and cracked and peeled away from the blue steel beneath. The human teeth still grinned defiance as Grace's clothes went up in flames. But without Random to join with, Ruby couldn't summon up the intense heat that had melted Furies into so much metal slag, back on the plains of Loki. The heat quickly stripped away the illusion of Grace, but the machine beneath remained untouched and unaffected. It surged forward, and Ruby went to meet it with her bare fists.
Her blows dented metal where they hit, and her boosted speed was easily the match of the machine's. But it felt no pain, and took no real damage from her blows, while its steel fists broke Ruby's skin and cracked the bones beneath. Blood ran thickly from her broken nose and a crushed mouth, but Ruby just grinned with scarlet teeth and fought on, glorying savagely in the battle. She'd wanted a distraction from her main job of tracking down Jack Random, and a chance to go one-on-one with a possible Fury had been too good to turn down. She needed something to take out her frustrations on. So she pounded away at the metal head and frame, blood dripping from her cracked knuckles, damaging the shell but not hurting the machine.
All too soon she realized she couldn't beat it that way. She was dodging most of its blows, but the ones that got through were doing her real harm. She'd heal, of course, but it might weaken her enough for the Fury to escape, and she couldn't risk that. Her reputation would never recover. So she reached inside herself, deep down into the back brain, the undermind, and hauled up the power that lived there. She concentrated her heat into a single glowing fireball that materialized floating on the air between her and the Fury, blazing so brightly she could hardly bear to look at it. The machine hesitated, confused by the unexpected phenomenon, and that was all the time Ruby needed to take the concentrated heat and blast it right through the Fury's metal chest and out its back, destroying the link between the Fury and the controlling AIs back on Shub. The empty steel frame tottered on its feet and finally fell backward, landing stiff and unmoving on the floor with a deafening crash.