“I understand you’ve stayed in some other London places too,” said Odette.
“We were in a hotel for the first couple of nights,” said Simon, “and then Claudia moved in here and got set up. The rest of us rented a house by Hyde Park that was rather pleasant, although we had to abandon it and come here after the Chimerae tracked us down.”
“I was thinking more of the other place, the one that burned down.”
“Ah yes, that was insane. I actually took on a team of Checquy! Can you imagine?” Odette didn’t point out that it had been half a team. Or that he had apparently been turning civilians into human bombs there.
“You have a surgical suite here?”
“Our last one,” said Saskia. “There’s another one gestating in a house in Madrid.”
“Let’s move into the conference room,” said Simon, and he opened a door at the end of the hallway. The conference room was large—it appeared to take up half the floor—and mostly dark, with dim pools of light dotted about. A narrow band of windows looked out onto the city, but thick blinds cut out almost all the light, showing just silhouettes of the buildings around them.
A long conference table covered with familiar detritus stood before the windows. Odette recognized the laptops that Simon used and Saskia’s sketchpads. Pim’s tablet computer sat on a pile of newspapers. A deep plastic tray filled with pink jelly marked the place where Mariette must have been accustomed to sitting—her father had created a biological computer for her. A figure was hunched over at one end of the table. The person was seated in darkness, but cords of light glowed on the head. As they approached, the figure sat up and turned toward them, and Odette recognized the face.
“Mijn God, Claudia!” Her friend’s eyes were gone. Instead, many clear plastic tubes poured from her sockets. They spread out and back, draping over her head and hanging down over her shoulders to trail away into the shadows. Odette saw, inside the plastic, the white and black strings that made up synthetic nerves, as well as some copper wires. “What in God’s name have you done to yourself?”
“Odette,” said Claudia, and her voice chimed oddly. “It’s good to see you.”
Odette refrained from stating the obvious. It took all her strength, but she managed it.
“No, I actually can see you,” said Claudia. “I’m looking through Saskia’s and Simon’s eyes.” Odette turned to look at the other two. They nodded. “I really wish you wouldn’t nod,” said Claudia peevishly. “It’s like watching that damn movie with all the little handheld cameras. If you could all just sit, that would be great. Odette, sit next to me. Saskia, could you please sit across from her?” Odette sat automatically, her back to the window, and Claudia fumbled for her hand, found it, and squeezed it. “I’d hug you, but moving around like this is a pain in the ass. And the eyes.”
“What is this?” asked Odette.
“Communications,” said Claudia simply. “Surveillance. We had access to a couple of agents within the Checquy, but to stay abreast of all the developments we’ve had to turn to other, more direct means of observation.”
“You hacked into the brotherhood’s communication structure,” said Odette tiredly. “I saw what you did to Ernst’s secretary.”
Claudia nodded slightly, and the wires shifted on her shoulders. She put a hand up to her face. “Ow! Damn it, I have got to remember not to move my head,” she said. “Honestly, I can’t wait until I get all this stuff removed and my eyes are out of the refrigerator and back in my head. Anyway, yes, Odette, I did that.”
“All this, just for that one trick?” said Odette. Which was pretty juvenile anyway. “After that, you know the brotherhood stopped using internal telephones.”
“They thought they did,” said Claudia. “But actually, I’ve been looking through a lot of people’s eyes. It’s not easy, but I can activate anyone’s communications implants without their knowing. I can see what they see and hear what they hear. Mainly it’s been secretaries, but the secretaries learn all the important things anyway.” Odette thanked her lucky stars that she’d never had the phone implants put into her. “Plus, I can surf the Net with this, which makes up for the inconvenience a little bit. I’ve been watching a lot of movies.”
“You still had at least one Checquy traitor on your side, though,” said Odette. “Didn’t you? Sophie Jelfs.”
“We had someone keeping an eye on you, certainly,” said Claudia. “And I was looking through her eyes too.”
“In fact,” said Odette, “you’ve had quite a few new people working for you. You’ve even been making them, somehow. Like that clone who led the attack on the car at Hill Hall.”
“Saskia, could you please nod for me?” asked Claudia. “It’s killing me not to be able to bob my damn head. And don’t roll your eyes like that because I’m looking out through them.”
“Who was that man?” Odette asked. “What was he?”
“So you haven’t figured it out?” said Saskia.
“Don’t gloat, Sas, it’s really annoying.”
“I’m sorry, really,” said Saskia, “but I was so pleased with the idea, and I finally get to share it with someone.”
“The rest of us stopped being impressed a while ago,” said Simon drily. “Especially since it meant tying ourselves to a tremendous pain in the ass.”
“It was still brilliant,” said Saskia defensively. She turned back to Odette. “From the very beginning, we knew we were going to need more information, more help. We were only six people, after all. And then we lost Dieter on the trip over here.”
“I saw his body in that whale creature,” said Odette.
“It was quick,” said Saskia sadly. “But I’m sorry that I can’t say it was painless. He collided the vessel with a ship, and the feedback killed him. Losing him meant that, more than ever, we needed an ally. Someone who hated the Checquy as much as we did and who could bring us information about them.”
“Oh my God, Saskia, I can’t take any more lead-up,” said Claudia. “Just bring her in.” Saskia shot Claudia a sour look, which was totally wasted since she couldn’t possibly have seen it. She sighed, got up, and strode away into the darkness.
“You seem to be giving an awful lot of orders,” said Odette suspiciously.
“It’s one of the things that comes with not being able to do stuff for yourself,” said Claudia. “Plus, she’s been so self-congratulatory about it.”
“So, where are the others?” asked Odette. “Mariette and Pim?”
“Pim’s over in the surgery,” said Simon. “He’s wrapping up a little project. And Mariette is out—you’ll see them later.”
“Well, that will be good,” said Odette. She was still trying to come to terms with the situation. Every few moments, they would all slide into the easy, casual tone they’d enjoyed before everything happened. They were eager to show off for her, but the conversation seemed very careful, as if they were trying not to shock her. I guess it’s strange for everyone. A door opened in one of the temporary walls, and an arm of light cut into the darkness as Saskia returned, accompanied by a familiar figure. As they approached the table, Odette found herself clenching her left hand into a fist. Her right hand trembled a little but remained obstinately unclenched.
“Pawn Sophie Jelfs,” said Odette, and her disgust could be heard in her voice. Saskia looked at her with surprise, taken aback by the contempt. Odette realized she was as outraged by Jelfs’s treachery to the Checquy as she was by Jelfs’s treachery to her.
“Not quite,” said Jelfs.
“I beg your pardon?” said Odette coolly.
“You can call me Sophie if you like, I suppose,” said the woman. “But I’m not a Pawn, and my last name isn’t Jelfs.” Odette kept her mouth shut. There’s something here I’m not seeing, she thought.
“My real name is Gestalt,” said Sophie, a small smile twisting around her lips. “Rook Gestalt, although I’ve been informed that my rank was stripped from me.”
“That can’t
be,” said Odette. “Rook Gestalt’s female body was killed. Fell out a window.” Sophie’s face soured. “There are only three Gestalt bodies left, and they are all imprisoned.”
“Well, you’re wrong on a few counts,” said Sophie. “First, my female body didn’t just fall out a window. I was shot by a girl who was acting under the control of Myfanwy Thomas. Then I fell out the window. And there aren’t three of my bodies in Checquy prisons, there are four. And now there are a few more bodies running about, thanks to my friends here.” She gestured around the table. “They very obligingly grew me some new ones, including this one.” She tapped her own chest.
“But you can’t clone Checquy powers,” objected Odette. “The Broederschap tried for centuries. All it got was regular people. Unless”—she turned to Saskia—“did you manage it somehow?” Saskia shook her head.
“You’re quite right,” said Simon. “You can’t clone powers. If you clone Gestalt, any of Gestalt’s bodies, all you get is a new person. One that’s completely unconnected to the hive mind.”
“Useless.” Sophie sighed.
“But there is an exception,” said Saskia. “A child whose parents are both part of the Gestalt hive mind will be part of the Gestalt hive mind too.”
“That fourth body I mentioned?” said Sophie. “The one in prison? It’s a baby I made. My female body and one of my male bodies had sex and conceived it. I suppose really it’s a toddler now.”
“I understand that,” said Odette. “It’s disgusting, but I understand how it works. However, the female Gestalt is now dead. So how could any new ones be conceived?”
“You can harvest eggs from a dead body,” said Saskia. “Gestalt’s female body, Eliza, was retrieved by the Checquy after it fell out the window.”
“After it got shot and fell out the window,” said Sophie testily. “It’s not like I got drunk and just toppled out.”
“The body was not in good shape, to say the least,” said Saskia delicately. “But the Checquy had put it in the fridge almost immediately, and that bought us some time.”
“I thought the Checquy destroyed the bodies of their dead,” said Odette. “They’re burned, and the ashes are scattered from some mountains.”
“Bitch Myfanwy Thomas’s little initiative, yes,” said Sophie. “But before they do all that, they examine the hell out of the bodies. It’s the Checquy’s last opportunity to unravel the mysteries of their people.”
“One of the Broederschap’s moles among the Retainers was in the morgue,” said Claudia. “We got in contact with him, and he smuggled Saskia in.”
“Walking into that place was absolutely terrifying,” confessed Saskia. “But I retrieved as many eggs as I could from the corpse. Most of them had deteriorated and were no longer viable, but there were still quite a few we could use, especially once I applied some rejuvenation techniques.”
“And the sperm?” asked Odette. “It takes two parties to make a baby.”
“Checquy prisons are still prisons,” Sophie said with a shrug. “And no prison is completely cut off from the world. All sorts of things can get smuggled in or out if you have enough money or the creativity to come up with some interesting threats for the guards.”
“We had both,” Simon put in. “And there was a guard who had already sold his soul to the Broederschap.”
“There I was, rotting in four different prisons around the country,” said Sophie. “I had no idea that there were some people fiddling around with my female remains. And I was extremely surprised to receive an invitation to meet with some mysterious people. The message said that they might be able to arrange my freedom in exchange for helping them to harm the Checquy. All I had to do was provide a little bit of semen, and they’d arrange a meeting. What did I have to lose? I provided the product and then waited. To be perfectly honest, I thought they were going to break one of my bodies out, or maybe smuggle a representative in.”
“So why did you think they wanted the semen?” asked Odette, frowning.
“I thought they were freaks.” Gestalt shrugged. “After all, like you and the Checquy, I assumed that the death of Eliza meant the end of any new bodies. But then, a few days later, I was suddenly more.” Her eyes glowed. “I was aware of a new body to slide into. I opened my eyes, and I was here, sitting up in a metal box filled with jelly.”
“Just a little child,” said Saskia. “A lovely little boy with white-blond hair. He opened his eyes and immediately started talking terms.”
“The last time I made a deal with the Grafters, I wasn’t asking for much,” said Sophie. “Power, wealth, the opportunity to kick arse. This time, I was much more strategic.”
“The deal was simple,” said Simon. “We would provide Gestalt with more bodies. Bodies outside the prison system. Gestalt would use them to act on our behalf as well as sometimes directing our troops, disposable soldiers who would be equipped with Broederschap weapons.”
“Gestalt has been far better than the British criminals we started out with,” said Saskia. “Much more competent, much more organized, much more disciplined. It was easier to modify the new bodies and put in the enhancements as they grew. Plus, it turns out that common criminals are not the most professional people on earth. You saw them, Gestalt was leading them at the assault near that ostentatious country house.”
“The Sophie-body was stationed in the hotel,” said Claudia, “to both observe the delegation and keep an eye on you.”
“And I provided valuable insights and knowledge about the Checquy,” said Gestalt. “Let’s not forget that.”
“We worked out the details over a few hours,” said Claudia, “and then the body broke down.”
“Well, we had accelerated the growth drastically,” said Saskia.
“This body, the Sophie body, took quite a bit longer to grow,” said Gestalt. “But as a result, it’s going to last longer.”
“Not that much longer,” objected Odette. “It’s inversely proportional. Do you know what that means? The more you accelerate the growth, the less time the body will last.”
“Thank you, yes, I know how math works,” said Sophie. “And you may recall I’ve already been in a couple of bodies that have rotted away abruptly.” She shuddered. “But that’s where we come to the point of payment for my services.”
“We’re realistic about Gestalt’s commitment to the cause,” said Saskia.
“Fucking over the Checquy is a bonus,” said Sophie. “And I still want to kill that bitch Thomas. But it’s not my end goal.”
“So what is your end goal?” asked Odette.
“Being alive,” said Sophie. “Being free. With bodies that won’t just fall apart after a few days or weeks.”
“All of the Gestalt bodies we created were grown at an accelerated rate,” said Saskia. “And we took care to ensure that they could not make any more without our help.” Odette recalled that the Gestalt body that had rotted away in the Rookery prison cell had been given a vasectomy.
“All the males were neutered, and this Sophie body has no viable eggs,” said Gestalt, “thanks to a couple of injections from my friends here.” The woman did not look best pleased at this fact. “But there are two new ones out there in the world,” she said with a look of utter satisfaction. “Pure and clean, without any modifications or accelerated growth.”
“We agreed to create two zygotes that have been implanted in civilian women,” said Saskia. “They will grow at the normal rate and develop into a male and a female. After the normal gestation period, they’ll be born, with a normal life span ahead of them.”
“I can feel them now,” said Gestalt, closing her eyes. “Little lights in the darkness.”
“It is impressive,” said Odette. “Why didn’t you use the Gestalt bodies to do the suicide bombings in the cities? Why did you have to use civilians?”
“We obtained Gestalt’s services relatively late in the piece,” said Simon. “And besides, the systems we implanted required special conditions. The
y had to be the right blood type and possess specific hormones and antibodies. We could only use people who had successfully undergone organ transplants.”
“And even then it was not easy,” said Saskia. “These were extremely complex designs that Claudia stole from the Broederschap archives, well beyond even our skill levels. Several of the candidates rejected the implants.”
“But how did you find them?” asked Odette, curious despite herself.
“It’s not just people I can hack with these things,” said Claudia, stroking the cables that poured out of her skull. “Hospital records, government databases, it’s all extremely useful. Except for the Checquy, of course, who haven’t even plugged their mainframe computers into the web.”
“That’s really quite sensible of them,” said Simon. “I always roll my eyes whenever I read about government computers getting hacked.”
“I don’t understand how you could do it,” said Odette.
“Well, the delivery system was difficult; there were some missteps,” said Simon. “But the product itself was a rather clever tweaking of the original toxin. ’Dette, I think you’d really appreciate the changes I made.” He sat back and folded his arms, the picture of a white, rubber-skinned person pleased with himself. “And do you know, I believe that rendering it nonfatal actually makes it a more effective weapon. Sometimes we get so caught up in the physical aspects of our technology, in the meat, that we ignore the psychological applications.”
“I’m not talking about the technical expertise, Simon!” shouted Odette, and they all jumped. “I’m talking about maiming people!”
“We tried to keep the civilian carnage to a minimum, really,” said Claudia.
“Are you serious?”
“It could have been worse,” said Simon. “So much worse.”
“This comes back to the choice,” said Saskia. “The choice between us and the Broederschap.” She was calm, her chin resting on her folded hands. “It’s a choice you couldn’t make, and we don’t blame you for that.”
“I made it,” said Odette.