"An alien from an unknown species came to Unseeli, from out of the endless night beyond the Rim, and its ship crashed near here. We'd never seen anything like that ship—grown as much as built, out of meat and bone as well as steel and crystal. We cut open one of its walls, and guts fell out. But the alien wasn't there. It had already made its way to Base Thirteen and slaughtered every living thing it found there. Afterwards, it did terrible things with their bodies. We killed the alien, eventually. John Silence, I, the young esper Diana Vertue, and Investigator Frost. John. My friend, my enemy. We were always so close; bound together and torn apart by honor and responsibility.
"The alien ship isn't here anymore. Empire scientists took it away, to study, and from its alien technology they devised the next generation of stardrives—the E class—and more, besides. The alien we killed was just the forerunner of a very advanced, very deadly species. John and I always expected more of them would come, to challenge and invade the Empire, but they never did. Perhaps the Terror got to them first. The universe is a very big place…" Carrion looked at Lewis again. "So. Two hundred years. Is John… ?"
"John Silence died long ago," said Lewis. "I'm sorry. There are statues to him all over the Empire."
"So," said Carrion. "My only friend is dead. My last link with Humanity is gone." He said it slowly, as though unsure how he felt about it. "And you're the new Deathstalker. You look like a warrior, which is more than Owen did, except when he got mad at someone. I only met him a few times. A dark, sad, disturbing figure. A good man, undoubtably, but he scared the shit out of me."
"Why aren't you in the official legends?" said Rose. She was back on her feet again, but keeping a respectful distance. "If you were as closely tied to the other heroes as you claim?"
Brett winced. "Gives whole new meaning to the word blunt, doesn't she?"
"They probably left me out because I embarrassed everyone," said Carrion, entirely unmoved. "I never apologized for my treason. I embraced it. And I never gave a damn for the Empire or Humanity. I only fought alongside John because he asked me to."
"You mean… you didn't follow the blessed Owen?" said Jesamine.
"Hell, no," said Carrion. "I knew enough to stay well clear of him. He had that hero stink all over him. And everyone knows that heroes die young, and bloody, and mostly take their friends and companions down with them." He smiled coldly at Lewis. "Just like you will, Deathstalker."
Lewis decided it was definitely time to change the subject. His hopes of persuading Carrion to join him were looking increasingly remote. "Tell us about the heroes you knew, Sir Carrion. We know only the legends. What were they really like?"
Carrion frowned, and for the first time seemed uncertain. "When heroes become legends, so much of the truth is always lost. I knew men and women, flesh and blood. Important figures, yes, but still… They were people first, flawed and vulnerable—which perhaps makes their heroism all the greater. Owen—perhaps the only real hero I ever met. Death on two legs. Honorable, brave, damned. Knew he wouldn't live to see the end of his war, but never let that stop him from doing what he knew to be right. Hazel—a free spirit, no matter what it cost her. A scrapper, a rebel, never giving too much of herelf to anyone for fear it would be betrayed. She really should have known better than to love a Deathstalker.
I never really knew or trusted Jack Random or Ruby Journey. I always knew they had their own agendas. And I never met the Haden-man, before he died, or afterward. No, I was only there because John needed someone to be his friend, to be his good right hand and guard his back. For all the death and suffering and broken promises between us, he was still a better man than he thought he was. He never really got over the death of his one true love, Investigator Frost."
He stopped as he took in the blank, puzzled looks on their faces. "Am I to take it she didn't make it into the official legends either?"
"Not even the apocrypha, as far as I know," said Lewis. "Who was she, Sir Carrion?"
Carrion shook his head slowly. "She deserved to be remembered. She and John made a great team. Unstoppable. She went into the Madness Maze, and survived. Hell of a fighter. She was cold and vicious and I never liked her. Hell, I don't think anyone did but John, but I respected her. He loved her, even though she was an Investigator. I don't know whether she ever loved him. Whether she was capable of it. She died in his arms, in Lionstone's Court. It doesn't seem right that she should be forgotten…
"Let's talk about the Terror. There was a voice that came out of nowhere after the Recreated had been defeated and then reborn as the new Rim worlds. I never knew whose voice it was. It said the Ashrai were originally created for a purpose, not just to tend the metallic trees. They are old, the Ashrai, and they have forgotten much. Perhaps it is their purpose and their fate to battle the Terror. Perhaps you serve their destiny in coming here. You said you were outlaws, like Owen and his people. What happened? And why are you here?"
"We're hoping to track down the missing Owen Deathstalker and Hazel d'Ark," said Jesamine. "Our dearest legend is that Owen will return to save us all, in the hour of the Empire's greatest need. If anyone knows how to stop the Terror, it's got to be him. No one else is going to. The Empire's a mess. A complete psychopath's running things, we were all outlawed for not going along with him, and the Golden Age is going down the toilet."
"Nothing changes…" murmured Carrion.
"So we're searching for any survivors of the age of heroes," said Lewis. "Hoping to find clues on where to look for Owen and Hazel. It's a sign of how desperate we are that we've started with you, Sir Carrion. No offense."
"Legends," said Carrion, almost kindly. "The patterns never change, though centuries pass. But I was only a part of history, not legend, so all I have to offer you is the painful truth. Owen Deathstalker is dead. He died long ago and far away, saving us all from the wrath of the Recreated."
For a long moment, no one said anything. They were all hit hard, even Lewis and Jesamine, who'd been told this before. But it was one thing to hear it from Shub and the Dust Plains of Memory, machines who might or might not have their own agendas, and quite another to hear it from a contemporary of Owen—someone who'd been there when it happened. Brett saw something in Lewis and Jesamine's faces.
"You knew, didn't you? You already knew this, and you said nothing!"
"We have been given reason to believe that Owen will yet return to us," Lewis said carefully. "And no, I don't understand how. Sometimes… you just have to have a little faith."
"What about Hazel d'Ark?" said Brett, almost glaring at Carrion. "Is she dead too?"
"I don't know," said Carrion. "She left Haden, after learning of Owen's death. Perhaps John discovered what became of her. But he's gone. Your only chance for answers is to go to Haden, and pass through the Madness Maze. There are many answers and many mysteries to be found in the Maze."
"You've been through it," said Jesamine. "What's it like, really?" There is nothing else like it, in all the Empire," said Carrion. "It's almost alive. It breathes and sweats and knows what moves you. It changes everyone differently. Or perhaps it helps us change ourselves. It is a thing of power and miracles, and it is very old. And there's something else; some deeper secret, hidden in the very heart of the Maze. John and I were never allowed close enough to find out what.
We weren't considered worthy. Only Owen was ever allowed to penetrate the heart of the mystery."
"Only Owen?" said Lewis, frowning. "What about Hazel d'Ark?"
"Only the Deathstalker," said Carrion. "There is some unknown connection between the Deathstalkers and the Madness Maze." He broke off abruptly, looking up at the opaque shimmering sky above them. "Well, this seems to be Unseeli's day for unwanted visitors. Five Imperial starcruisers have just dropped out of hyperspace and are moving into orbit around this world. Just like old times…"
They were all looking at him. None of them doubted what he was saying. There was something about Carrion…
"How do you know this
?" said Brett, almost whispering.
"The Maze," said Carrion. "I know many things now, whether I want to or not. Someone's trying to communicate with the Ashrai. I suppose I might as well talk to them, while I'm human. We'll need to use the comm systems in Base Thirteen. When we're in there, stay close. The base has been dead for centuries, but it is still a dangerous place for the unwary."
"He's talking to you, Brett," said Lewis. "Don't touch anything."
"I am hurt and wounded," said Brett.
"You will be, if you don't do as you're told," said Lewis. "Saturday, you'd better watch the door while we're in there. Feel free to eat anyone who isn't us or the Ashrai."
"Dinnertime's coming," said the reptiloid cheerfully, staring up at the clouded sky. "Just as well. Some of you were beginning to look especially tasty."
"Is he joking?" said Jesamine.
"Best not to ask," said Lewis.
Carrion led the way into Base Thirteen. The great metal entrance doors hung limply from their supports. They moved jerkily apart under Carrion's hands, all power gone. Inside, what they could see of the lobby was a mess. The light from the open doorway didn't penetrate far into the centuries-old gloom. The place looked to have been thoroughly trashed, with shattered furniture, dents and cracks in the metal floor, and even some holes in the outer wall, through which some light reluctantly entered. There didn't seem to be any power, no working lights or tech. On the very edge of the light, they could just make out an old-fashioned reception console.
Lewis and his companions hesitated just inside the door, waiting for their eyes to adjust to the gloom. None of them liked the feel of the place. They could sense all those piled-up years from the bad old days of Empire, just waiting to ambush them. Base Thirteen smelled of death. Carrion walked forwards into the dark, his face entirely calm. He stopped by the reception console and passed one hand slowly over it. Deep within the base, old systems sluggishly awakened, and lights reluctantly flickered on, one by one, until the reception area was full of a kind of twilight glow that, if anything, made the place seem even spookier. Brett started to edge backwards, until Rose took him firmly by the arm. Comm panels on the reception desk hummed suddenly with static, and a single viewscreen glowed into life on the opposite wall, putting itself on standby. From all around came the sounds of machines waking up, as system after system came back on line.
"I don't get it," Jesamine said quietly. "If the base was shut down two hundred years ago, where's all this power coming from?"
"From me," said Carrion. He shouldn't have been able to hear her from such a distance, but no one was really surprised that he could. His hands moved slowly over the comm controls, as though reluctantly remembering skills long since abandoned when he became Ashrai. The viewscreen on the wall cleared to show a fleet captain standing at strict attention on the bridge of his ship. His uniform had been pressed and cleaned to within an inch of its life, and helped to distract from his young face. Probably one of Finn's creatures, thought Lewis. "Newly promoted just for this mission. An experienced fleet officer would have had more sense than to come to Unseeli. The captain looked startled for a moment at the unexpected face before him, but then he thrust out his jaw and glared truculently from the viewscreen. This is Captain Kamal, of the Imperial starcruiser Hector, on official business. Identify yourself!"
"I am Carrion, of the Ashrai." Carrions voice was harsh, flat, subtly inhuman. His eyes were very dark. "Why have you come to Unseeli, Captain? You must know we do not welcome visitors."
"You have given sanctuary to those most notable traitors Lewis Deathstalker and Jesamine Flowers, and their associates. All are guilty of crimes against Humanity. I have orders to bring them back to Logres, dead or alive. I require you to assist me in this matter. And with regard to your veiled threat, five starcruisers now orbit your world. The Empire goes where it will, to do its will. You will cooperate, in the name of King and Parliament, or face the consequences."
"He's not my king," said Carrion. "And your parliament has no authority here. This is Unseeli, home to the Ashrai. This is not a human place, and you should not have come here. Leave, while you still can."
Captain Kamal looked like he was going to explode. "Who the hell do you think you are, to speak to me that way! I represent the Empire! I speak in Humanity's name!"
"And I am Carrion. Investigator. Traitor. Ashrai. I bring bad luck. I am the destroyer of nations, and of worlds. With Owen Deathstalker and Captain John Silence, I walked the breathing corridors of the Madness Maze. I speak for Unseeli. Leave or die. You have no other choices."
"Lies, defiance, and open threats," said Captain Kamal, smiling tightly. "You will come to regret this insolence, before I have you executed. My pinnaces are already landing—carrying enough war machines, gravity barges, and armed troops to ensure that if the aliens do interfere, they will be made to regret it. I will have the traitors, one way or another. I don't know who you really are, Sir Carrion, but no doubt my interrogators will drag it out of you later, at their leisure."
He had more to say, but Carrion shut down the comm panels, and the viewscreen went blank. Carrion stared thoughtfully into space as Lewis and the others came slowly forwards to join him at the reception console. Lewis cleared his throat uncertainly. Carrion's eyes seemed very far away.
"Sorry to have dragged you into our mess, Sir Carrion. I didn't think they'd track us down this quickly. Lead us back to our ship, and we'll get the hell out of here. They'll never catch us once we're off the ground. The Hereward's got speed and stealth capabilities you wouldn't believe, though I'd rather you didn't ask why. I think the sooner we're gone, the better; we don't want to start a war between the Empire and the Ashrai."
"Too late," said Carrion, watching something only he could see. "Hundreds of pinnaces are falling towards Unseeli. The starcruisers are firing their disrupter cannon from orbit, to blast clearings big enough for the pinnaces to land in. I can hear the trees screaming, dying. The Ashrai are gathering. Let the Empire forces come. None of them shall leave here alive." He turned suddenly to look at Lewis, who almost flinched at the dark, alien, impersonal power in that gaze. "But you must understand this, Deathstalker. Our audience is over. What we do now, we do for ourselves. We will not fight on your behalf. Your fate, your mission, are nothing to us. Return to your ship and leave, if you can. Find Owen, if you can. We want nothing to do with Humanity, or the Empire. We preserve ourselves, to face the Terror when it comes." He smiled suddenly. "Good-bye, Deathstalker. Good luck. And if you do find Owen… remember me to him."
"That's it!" Jesamine said angrily. "We came all this way, just for that? What's the matter with you? The whole of Humanity is under threat of extinction!"
"You say that like it's a bad thing," said Carrion. "Humanity is currently invading my world. Again. You always were a selfish, brutal race. Perhaps something better will arise to replace you."
"You don't really think you can stop the Terror on your own, do you?" said Rose in her deep, cold voice.
"We stopped the Recreated."
With Owen's help," said Lewis. "You owe us, Sir Carrion. You owe me, through my ancestor's name. Give us safe escort and protection back to our ship, at least. It's a long way back to the Hereward, and you can bet Kamal will have located it by now and sent troops to block our way. Dammit, at least show us what we'll be facing!"
Carrion didn't move, but the viewscreen on the wall flared into life again. Whole sections of the metallic forest were exploding, the huge trees shattered by the energy beams stabbing down from orbit. The scene changed, to show countless pinnaces punching through the cloud layer; transport ships carrying everything the Empire needed to make war on Unseeli. The scene changed again, showing war machines lumbering out of the cargo bays of landed pinnaces—great hulking monstrosities of gleaming steel, studded with guns. Gravity barges rose slowly into the air, shimmering with force shields as they plowed their way through the tightly packed metal trees. Troops disembarked in strict ord
er, imperial marines who wore the scarlet cross of the Church Militant on their battle armor. They moved out, fanning through the forest, relentless as army ants.
"I should have known," Lewis said grimly. "Finn's packed the troops with his own people. One will get you ten they're Neumen as well. Pure Humanity, Sir Carrion; a new creed since your day. Lionstone's illegitimate children, who believe the only good alien is a dead alien. And the scarlet cross means they're religious fanatics. I think we can safely assume they're more interested in bringing us back dead rather than alive."
"Talk about overkill," Brett said bitterly. "A whole army, just for us? It's not fair. My stomach hurts."
"About time I got some healthy exercise," said Rose. She was smiling, and her eyes were shining. "The odds just make it more of a challenge."
"Yes," said Saturday, his great head poking through the doorway. "It will be good to be killing again. I'm really quite peckish."
Lewis looked at Carrion defensively. "Hey, I didn't get to choose my companions."
"Neither did Owen," said Carrion. "And he didn't do too badly. And after meeting Ruby Journey, there's not much that shocks me." He looked at the screen again. "Two hundred years since the overthrow of the Iron Bitch, and nothing's really changed. Poor John. He would have been so disappointed."
"Can you reopen communications with the Hector?" said Lewis. "Maybe I can negotiate a truce… or something."
The viewscreen flickered, and Captain Kamal was back again. Lewis stepped forwards to stand before the screen, automatically adopting his old stance of Paragon authority. "This is Lewis Deathstalker. You came here for me, not the Ashrai. My companions aren't important either. You want me. Call off your war, and let my companions go, and I will surrender myself to you."
"No!" Jesamine said immediately. "Lewis, you can't! They'll kill you!"