“The alien’s right behind us, Captain. It slowed down a bit when it realised where we were going, but it’s still mad enough to keep after us, once it’s looked around for a trap. I take it there is a trap here, Captain?”
“Oh, yes,” said Silence. “Have you hurt it at all?”
“I shot it and blew it up with grenades, and Diana dropped half a wall on it, but all we did was annoy it.” She looked round at the destruction of the alien’s heart, and raised an eyebrow. “Very thorough, Captain. You do realise that everything here will repair itself, given enough time?”
“Time is something we’re all rather short of, Investigator. Before he died, Commander Starblood found time to activate the Base’s self-destruct system. A small nuclear device hidden somewhere on this level is due to detonate in just over eighteen minutes.”
Frost stared at him. “You’re jinxed, Captain, you know that?”
Diana raised her head and glared at him speechlessly, still too out of breath to talk, but her eyes spoke volumes.
“Whatever you’re planning, Captain, start it now,” said Frost. “The alien will be here any second, and it’s in a really bad mood.”
“Don’t look at me,” said Silence. “It’s all down to Carrion now.”
“Yes,” said the outlaw quietly. “Somehow, it always comes down to me.”
“Because you’re the best, Carrion.”
“Thank you, Captain.”
Diana wiped the sweat from her face with her sleeve, and then suddenly raised her head. “Listen. It’s close now. Very close.”
They all looked down the corridor, into the gloom. There wasn’t a sound to be heard, but they could all feel a faint vibration in the floor under their feet. Silence looked at Carrion.
“Please, Sean. For them, if not for me.”
Carrion smiled slightly. “You always did know how to fight dirty, John.”
Silence nodded, and moved away to stare down the corridor. Frost joined him, and they trained their disrupters on the concealing shadows. Diana finally straightened up as she got her second wind, and found herself a corner to stand in where she could be out of everyone’s way. Carrion stood alone in the centre of the room, leaning on his staff, his thoughts elsewhere. He couldn’t help feeling he’d come a long way by strange routes to reach this place, this moment. Everything he’d been through, all the rage and fear and heartbreak, just to end up fighting beside John Silence once again. He smiled slightly. Whatever happened, it was good to have seen John again. It was like finding an old coat you used to wear, or a cup you used to drink from as a child. Comforting in its familiarity, tested in its worth, something you could depend on. Silence was back, at his side, and if Carrion had to die, this was not a bad way to go, among people he liked and respected.
Among people. It had been a long ten years, without a human face or a human voice. But still, there had been the Ashrai.
He lifted his legs and sat cross-legged in midair, hovering alone in the middle of the room, his staff lying across his knees. He reached deep inside himself and unlocked his power, channelling it through his power lance, calling up everything he’d ever been or hoped to be. He could feel his esp building, pressing at his shields, eager to be free and loose in the world. He had learned many things in his time on Unseeli, whether he’d wanted to or not, walked paths few humans even knew of, and it had changed him. He was more than human now, a bastard child of Man and Ashrai, and the alien was about to find out what that meant.
He threw his mind up and out, searching for the voices in the wind that were always there, just on the edge of his consciousness. Bright lights blazed in his mind, dazzling him with their presence. They were old and powerful and utterlyinhuman, warm and familiar and comforting; his friends and his adopted people. He called, and they came for him, where they would not have come for any other. The outlaw Carrion, once a man named Sean, talked to the Ashrai in a language and manner that had nothing human in it.
Silence looked back at Carrion, floating unsupported in midair, and felt his hackles rise. There was more than ten years’ difference in the outlaw’s cool, serene face, and sometimes it seemed to him that he didn’t know this man Carrion at all. His voice was still the same, but sometimes Silence thought he saw someone else looking out at him through Carrion’s eyes. Silence shrugged. He’d put all their lives in that familiar stranger’s hands, and it was too late now for second thoughts. His head snapped back as something stirred in the darkness at the end of the corridor, and then the alien came storming out of the shadows towards them, horribly fast and unstoppable. It raised its blunt, unseeing head, and its awful howl reverberated in the narrow space.
Silence and Frost fired their disrupters. The vivid energy beams seared through the alien’s vast body, exploding the black flesh and spattering it across the walls, and didn’t even slow it down. They put away their guns, drew their swords, and raised their force shields. They stood ready to meet the alien, knowing they couldn’t hope to stand against it, but doing it anyway because it was their job and their duty, and because there wasn’t anything else they could do, after all. The alien burst into the room, into what had been the heart of its web, its shell, and there was no time left for anything.
And then the Ashrai came.
Silence walked in the metallic forest, each gold and bronze and silver tree blazing like a star. The trees were singing, and though he was not a part of it, still the song trembled in his bones and in his soul, as though it was something he hadknown and left behind, long ago. Sean and Frost and Diana walked with him, all of them glowing like the trees. Frost looked younger, happier, at ease with herself, and for the first time since he’d met her, she wore no weapons. No sword or gun or grenades. She looked almost naked without them, but her eyes were clear and untroubled. Sean looked much as he used to, in the days when they could still be friends, with nothing to separate them. He smiled at Silence, and there was understanding if not forgiveness in the outlaw’s eyes. And Diana shone more brilliantly than any of them.
The Ashrai walked in the forest, dead but not gone, huge and awesome, with their gargoyle faces and huge bodies, clawed hands and piercing eyes. They sang in harmony with the trees, and power burned brightly in them. The song and the power roared in human and Ashrai alike, building and building, vast and potent, blazing so brightly they knew they had to use it soon or it would burn them all out. The force that drove them focused and concentrated in one person, and Silence had enough of himself left to be faintly surprised that the focus was Diana, not Carrion. Diana Vertue, inhumanly treated but still human, more of an esper than the Empire had ever allowed her to be, unbroken and above all still somehow innocent, with purity of heart and thought and purpose. The power blazed in her, and without rage or hatred she turned it on the alien from outside. It was in the forest too, burning in strange hues, silent and malignant. It shrank back as the song of the trees washed over it, pure and piercing in Diana’s voice, and in a moment that seemed to last forever the alien’s light guttered and went out and was gone.
And with the alien gone, a host of new voices sounded in the metallic forest—the one hundred and twenty-seven men and women of Base Thirteen, free at last from the terrible thing that had been done to them. Their lights flickered and went out one by one, and there was no sadness in their leaving. It was what they had hoped andprayed for. Two familiar faces smiled briefly—Stasiak and Ripper, bound together on one last journey. They saluted briefly, and were gone. Diana looked out over the Base, and reached casually down to lower the force screen and stop the nuclear countdown. The clock stopped ticking and the bomb disarmed itself, and as simply as that, it was all over.
And then the Ashrai withdrew a little, and looked at John Silence, Captain of the Darkwind, ambassador of the Empire. The man who gave the order for the scorching of Unseeli. Silence stood alone, offering no explanation or defence, because he had none. He didn’t ask for mercy for himself, because he expected none, but he did ask it for Frost
and Diana, because both were innocent, in their way. They smiled and came to stand beside him, facing the Ashrai, because, after all, they belonged together. And that left just Carrion, once called Sean, standing alone between Ashrai and humanity, both and neither. The outlaw leaned on his staff and said nothing.
He passed judgement on us, said a multitude of voices. Now it shall be passed on him. He must die.
No, said Frost. It was his duty.
No, said Diana. He has made atonement.
He must die.
No, said Carrion. He is my friend.
As you wish.
And then the Ashrai were gone, and the lights in the trees seemed a little less magnificent without them. And Silence and Carrion and Frost and Diana turned and walked away from the metallic forest, knowing that the memory of its song would always be with them now, wherever they went and whatever they became.
CHAPTER ELEVEN
* * *
All the Ghosts Come Home To Roost
THEY left Base Thirteen, stepping one at a time past the unmoving metal doors, and stood blinking owlishly at the evening twilight. Dark clouds filled the sky, filtering the light into shades of grey, but even so, it seemed uncomfortably bright after so long in the darkness of the Base. The sun was a crimson ball riding low on the sky, but the metal trees still blazed fiercely against the falling night. The mists were thickening, moving slowly among the trees like restless thoughts. Three moons drifted high on the evening sky, pale and listless like the memory of sunlight.
Silence stretched slowly, feeling an almost physical relief now that the mission was over and he could finally relax and wind down. It hadn’t ended in quite the way he’d thought it would, but then, that was Unseeli for you. Things seemed to have worked out well enough. All that remained now was to return to the Darkwind, and spend his time in Quarantine working out a written report his superiors could believe. He had a feeling that might take some time. He looked across at Carrion. The outlaw stood alone, a little away from the others, his face calm, his gaze fixed on the metallic forest. His cloak hung about him like the folded wings of a bird of prey, and Silence thought he could still sense some of the deadly power Carrion had unleashed in the Base. He wasn’t the man Silence remembered, and he didn’t know whether to feel sad or relieved. The old Carrion had been desperately unhappy. But the outlaw had found something in his exile with the Ashrai, and Silence thought it might just be peace.
Investigator Frost was calmly running through an inventory of the weapons she’d used up in her fight against the alien and its offshoots. She still had a surprising number left, though Silence was damned if he knew where she’d hidden them about her person. And Diana Vertue, his ship’s esper, his daughter, was staring out at the glowing metal trees with wide, fascinated eyes. Silence stirred uneasily as he saw something in her face of the cool alienness in Carrion’s gaze. He looked out at the trees, and a faint echo of the Ashrai song moved within him. He knew the song would always be with him now, murmuring quietly in the depths of the back brain, where all the important, instinctive decisions are made. But already the strength of the vision was fading, slipping away from him even as he tried to hold onto it. Perhaps that was for the best, after all. He couldn’t have retained the song in all its power and still have remained human. He’d seen what it had done to Carrion. And to Diana. He moved over to stand beside her, and she nodded politely to him before looking back at the trees.
“How do you feel, Diana?”
“Strange. Tired. Different. I don’t know, Captain. I’ve got a lot to think about. I just wish we could have saved some of the Base personnel.”
“They were already dead long before we got here,” said Silence. “At least we were able to set them free. That’s something. I’m not sure how much I believe of what I saw when the Ashrai sang. I can’t believe the alien had captured all those souls in its machines … but I’m glad we did the right thing, anyway.”
Diana nodded slowly. “What will happen to the trees now, Captain?”
“They should be safe enough. That strange crystal-based hyperdrive you and Carrion found in the crashed alien ship changes everything. According to Carrion, it’s vastly superior to ours. We’re going to have to study and duplicate the alien drive, if we’re to stand any chance against the aliens. And since this new hyperdrive apparently doesn’t need the heavy metals our drives use, we don’t need Unseeli’s trees anymore. I suppose there’ll still be some mining here, as long as some of us are still using the old drive, but that’ll die out, over the years. Unseeli will finally be safe from the Empire, for the simplest of reasons—because Unseeli has nothing the Empire wants anymore.”
“There’s going to be a war with the aliens, isn’t there,” said Diana, and there was no question in her voice.
“It’s inevitable,’” said Silence. “As their species spreads out, looking for new spawning grounds to colonize and dominate, they’re bound to encounter human planets. And since their whole existence is dependent on taking over and transforming every other life form they come across, I don’t really see any chance of our two species agreeing to coexist. You saw the alien’s home planet, in that memory crystal. There’s no place in their life cycle for peace or diplomacy or mutual interests. They live only to expand, transform, and assimilate everything they encounter. They probably wouldn’t even recognise us as a sentient species, just new genetic material to add to their melting pit. They’re a deadly threat to the whole Empire, and the Empire has always known how to deal with threats. There’s a war coming all right, and it’s going to be the bloodiest, deadliest war in our species’ history; a war for the survival of humanity.”
“Right,” said Carrion. “At long last the Empire has found a species as deadly and single-minded as itself. The war will never end till one species or the other is extinct.”
“Right,” said Frost. “It’s going to be magnificent. I can hardly wait.”
There was a pause as her companions looked at each other and decided they were going to pretend she hadn’t said that. Silence cleared his throat.
“I think we’d better get back to the pinnace. It’ll be night soon, and this place is cold enough during the day. Odin, I take it you’re still listening in. How are the repairs going? Are you ready for us to board yet?”
“The repair situation is well in hand, Captain. The pinnace is ready to take off at a moment’s notice. However, I’m afraid I can’t let any of you back on board.”
There was a long pause, heavy with meaning, and when Silence finally spoke, his voice was calm and even and very controlled. “What do you mean, you can’t let us back on board? You agreed that if we saved the Base and its contents from destruction, you’d take us back to Quarantine on the Darkwind.”
“I lied,” said the AI. “My programming allows me to be flexible under emergency conditions. It was important to motivate you to protect Base Thirteen and its contents, so I lied. I never had any intention of letting you back on board. I’m afraid all of you are contaminated by this new alien species, and I must protect the Darkwind.”
“Listen, computer,” said Silence. “Conditions on Unseeli after nightfall are practically subpolar, and the Base is a mess. You can’t just abandon us here.”
“Yes I can, Captain. My programming is most explicit on this matter.”
“To hell with that,” said Frost. “Computer, Code Red Seven. Acknowledge.”
“Code Red Seven acknowledged, Investigator.”
“Power up the pinnace and stand ready to transport us all back to the Darkwind, to start our Quarantine.”
“Yes, Investigator.”
Silence looked at Frost. “Code Red Seven? Even I don’t have that kind of Security clearance.”
“Neither do I,” said Frost. “I stole it, some time back. I always thought it would come in handy one day. And anyway, Investigators are supposed to use their initiative. The computer will do what it’s told now. Won’t you, Odin?”
“Yes, Inve
stigator. I will serve you to the limits of my programming. I will follow your orders. …”
“Computer.”
“Yes, Investigator?”
“Shut up.”
“Yes, Investigator.”
Silence looked at Carrion, and indicated with his head that he wanted to talk to Carrion in private, a little away from the others. The outlaw nodded, and the two of them moved casually away from Frost and Diana.
“My offer of a Pardon still stands,” said Silence quietly. “Your experience in defeating the alien makes you a valuable asset. The Empire is going to need what you know. You could come back with us, Sean. With me. Rejoin the Service, become an Investigator again. Things have changed in the ten years you’ve been away. You could write your own ticket, Sean. And we could be together again, just like old times. What do you say?”
The outlaw looked at him for a long moment. “My name is Carrion, Captain. Sean died a long time ago. I have no wish to return to the Empire, with all its petty politics, hatreds, and destructive rages. I don’t belong there anymore. I’ve walked the path of the Ashrai for ten years now. I can’t go back to being human again. To being only human. Before you came, I was a part of the song of the trees, of the Ashrai. I’d forgotten most of my past. You’re a ghost to me, John, an echo of a past that no longer has any real meaning for me. I haven’t just left humanity, I’ve moved beyond it.”
“Then where will you stand, during the war?” said Silence.
“With my people,” said Carrion. “With the Ashrai.”
“I’ve missed you, Sean. Please. I don’t want to lose you again.”
“You lost me ten years ago, John. It’s too late to try and find me now. Neither of us are the people we used to be. I belong here now.”
“In other words,” said Frost, “he’s gone native.”
Silence and Carrion looked round sharply, both of them startled. Neither of them had heard Frost approach, but then, she was an Investigator, after all.