“I’ll return to that point in a minute. First I must explain that when Com-Mine Security came to arrest Captain Thermopyle, he tried to get rid of the evidence of his crimes against me. He offered me the control to my zone implant.”
Hyland faltered momentarily, then stated, “I took it.”
That explains a lot, Cleatus breathed to Holt.
What, exactly? Holt asked.
If she controls her own zone implant, Cleatus replied, she’s a goddamn superwoman. No wonder she’s still alive.
Holt rejected the idea. That’s not enough. Even superwomen don’t have force-grown brats in forbidden space and survive. She must have had help.
“I took it,” she was saying, “even though I understood its importance as evidence.” Even though she was a cop sworn to preserve evidence. “I knew I was helping him avoid a sentence of death. I took it because I needed it. I’d become dependent on my zone implant. I wanted to control it myself. For that I was willing to let Captain Thermopyle live.
“Then I left Com-Mine with Captain Succorso aboard Captain’s Fancy. I believed I had no other choice. Captain Succorso wasn’t likely to discover my secret. If I surrendered to Com-Mine Security, they certainly would. And Captain Thermopyle would be killed.”
No shit.
“I’m telling you this,” she informed the Council, “I’m explaining my own crimes so you’ll know how I came by my information.”
Hannish had bowed her head, listening hard with her expression hidden by her hair. Cleatus couldn’t read her reaction. He assumed she thought Hyland was some kind of hero.
Before Morn could go on, Manse waved her arm feverishly, demanding a chance to speak. Len glanced at her and nodded, but didn’t recognize her. Instead he cleared his throat.
“Please forgive an interruption, Ensign Hyland. There’s a point I would like you to clarify.
“According to Director Hannish, you were given to Captain Succorso as payment for his part in framing Captain Thermopyle. But you’ve just suggested that you went with Captain Succorso voluntarily. How do you—?”
“One doesn’t preclude the other,” Hyland cut in: a woman who knew what she was talking about. “Captain Thermopyle’s use of my zone implant left me practically in sane. I made a whole series of bad decisions. Like joining Captain’s Fancy. The UMCP may have asked Com-Mine Security to let me go. They could do that. I was an Enforcement Division ensign. But at the time”—she meant before the Preempt Act—“they didn’t have the authority to issue orders. If I’d surrendered myself, Com-Mine Security would have been forced to accept jurisdiction.
“I went with Captain Succorso. The UMCP persuaded Com-Mine Security to let me go.”
She’d sold herself for the control to her zone implant.
Which may have been the only thing she’d done that made sense to Cleatus. If zone implants weren’t so damn illegal, he would have had one wired into his head years ago. As long as no one else could touch the control.
Still Hyland condemned herself with virtually everything she said. That helped.
“Thank you, Ensign,” Len murmured. He sounded strangely wounded, as if he could imagine too many of the things she didn’t say. “Please go on.”
Morn’s voice was harsh with static as she resumed.
“Since then I’ve been told that Captain Succorso and Deputy Chief Taverner were paid by UMCPDA to frame Captain Thermopyle. I’m told that his arrest and conviction served a political purpose for the UMCP. I don’t know anything about that. But I am a witness to his innocence of the crime for which he was arrested.
“And I know where to find evidence of Deputy Chief Taverner’s involvement with Captain Succorso. A playback of Bright Beauty’s datacore will show that Captain Thermopyle had traced a transmission link between Captain’s Fancy and the deputy chief.”
Cleatus’ guts clenched as he relayed this to Holt.
“Aboard Calm Horizons I discovered I was pregnant.” God, the woman was remorseless. “And I met the ship’s engineer, Vector Shaheed. Dr. Shaheed is a geneticist. At one time he worked for Intertech in the field of mutagen immunity. He was close to success when his results were suppressed and his research stopped by UMCPDA.
“Captain Succorso confirmed this. He told me that DA had completed Dr. Shaheed’s research, and that he, Succorso, had the results in his possession. They were given to him so that he could carry out covert assignments for DA in forbidden space.”
That’s hearsay, the FEA said into his throat pickup. He would need every lever he could find to shift the weight of Hyland’s appalling narrative.
“I have no direct knowledge of the source of the drug.” As if deliberately, she admitted the weaknesses of her story before anyone could challenge them. “But I can vouch for its effectiveness. Because I was pregnant, Captain Succorso took me to Enablement Station in forbidden space, where my unborn child was delivered and force-grown in an Amnion lab. At the time I observed that Captain Succorso relied on the drug for protection. On another occasion I tested it myself. When Captain’s Fancy reached the bootleg shipyard Billingate, Captain Succorso gave me to the Amnion. They injected me with mutagens. More than once. I remained human because I’d stolen some of the drug, which I used while I was held prisoner.
“I hope this is clear, President Len. I can testify that an effective mutagen immunity drug exists, and that it is currently available to UMCP agents in the name of Data Acquisition.”
Too bad it didn’t fail, Cleatus commented bitterly.
Damn, Holt murmured in his ear. I never should have let Ward talk me into giving Lebwohl that research.
Len cleared his throat uncomfortably. “It’s clear enough, Ensign Hyland. I don’t expect you to tell us why Director Dios countenanced this kind of malfeasance.” He glanced sidelong at Cleatus. “But I think you have a right to know that so far your story confirms what we’ve heard from Director Hannish.”
Hyland’s voice seemed to fade out of the speakers briefly. When she spoke again, she sounded more distant; weakened by relief. “Thank you, Mr. President. I’m glad to hear that.”
Almost at once, however, she recovered her harshness.
“While I was held by the Amnion, Captain Thermopyle and Trumpet reached Billingate. I saw very little of what happened, but I’ve been told that Deputy Chief Taverner betrayed both Captain Thermopyle and Captain Succorso. I can’t testify to that. I only know that Captain Thermopyle rescued me from the Amnion. He rescued my son, Davies Hyland, from the Billingate authorities. We were joined by Captain Succorso and Vector Shaheed, as well as by three more of Captain’s Fancy’s crew, Sib Mackern, Mikka Vasaczk, and Ciro Vasaczk. Together we escaped forbidden space during the destruction of Billingate.
“Later I learned that Captain Thermopyle had been reqqed by UMCPDA after his arrest and made into a cyborg. I can vouch for this also. I’ve seen his datacore.”
What? Cleatus wanted to demand. Seen his datacore? How?
“He was given zone implants,” she pronounced darkly. “He was controlled by a computer. In that condition, the UMCP sent him to destroy Billingate and rescue me.”
She’s lying, Cleatus panted to Holt. Must be. Dios had orders—
Seen his datacore?
No, Holt retorted. It’s true. Just for an instant his concentration cracked. Ward did this. Then he recovered. Norna warned me, but I didn’t guess what she meant.
Perfect! Cleatus snorted to himself. Dios’ treachery went that far back. My God, he’d planned for all this!
Hannish’s reactions no longer comforted him. He didn’t care that she, too, hadn’t expected Hyland to actually see Thermopyle’s datacore.
Morn hadn’t stopped. Ignoring the effects of her information, she plowed fatally ahead.
“But I guess his programming wasn’t adequate to manage him after his mission succeeded. It’s probably impossible to write instruction-sets to cover every eventuality indefinitely. For a while he was left free to make some of his own de
cisions.
“At my urging, and Dr. Shaheed’s, he took us to Massif-5. We hoped Deaner Beckmann’s bootleg lab would allow Vector to analyze Captain Succorso’s antimutagen. Our intention was to discover the formula and make it public.
“Suppressing an effective mutagen immunity drug,” she explained grimly, “is a crime against all humankind, and we meant to put a stop to it.”
Put a stop—? The woman’s arrogance left Cleatus gasping.
Earlier Hannish had reported, When Trumpet emerged from the swarm, she came out broadcasting the formula for the drug. But she hadn’t said why. Apparently she hadn’t known. As she listened to Hyland now, her eyes shone with admiration.
But Hyland was angry. Her voice sawed across the static, driven by outrage.
“Unfortunately we were overtaken by a transmission from UMCPHQ, relayed to us by UMCP cruiser Punisher and ED director Min Donner. It gave the priority-codes which controlled Captain Thermopyle to Nick Succorso.”
As Holt had ordered. To that extent, at least, Donner had kept her insubordination to herself.
What went wrong?
“This is important, President Len,” Morn insisted fiercely. “Captain Thermopyle was a UMCP cyborg. In some ways he’d been set free. Nevertheless underlying UMCP restrictions and priorities still ruled him.
“That transmission took away the last of his volition. He became Captain Succorso’s puppet.”
She paused; may have been trying to calm herself. Cleatus had time to wonder why she seemed so loyal to Thermopyle. Had she fallen in love with the murdering sonofabitch? More likely she was addicted to his particular brand of abuse.
When she continued, her tone held less violence. Instead she sounded tired to the bone; vulnerable to the cold dark implied by the speakers.
“Captain Succorso now commanded the ship. And he had no intention of releasing the antimutagen. He made that obvious. He wanted the formula, but he wanted it for himself.
“Fortunately there were other intentions at work as well. We learned later that the same transmission which betrayed Angus to Nick also issued new programming to his datacore.”
Cleatus held his breath.
“When Captain Succorso and Vector Shaheed left the ship to use Deaner Beckmann’s lab, that new programming caused Angus to reveal his priority-codes. For reasons we didn’t understand, Davies and I were given the means to resist Nick.”
There! Cleatus thought. Black murder filled his head. That’s how Dios did it. Even when he followed orders, he undermined them. And now terrible possibilities loomed overhead, straining to be born.
The votes may have been too stupid to grasp the implications; but Cleatus didn’t miss them.
Dios wanted this. He made it happen.
Despite the force of that insight, however, Hyland’s next words shocked the FEA.
“We didn’t use them,” she reported brusquely. “Instead Davies and I cut out Captain Thermopyle’s datacore and let him reprogram it to block his priority-codes.”
Cleatus was too scared to contain himself. Blaring indignation, he shouted, “You what?”
Len whirled to face him. “Mr. Fane, this is your last warning!” the President barked. “Deputy Chief Ing, if the FEA speaks out of turn again, don’t hesitate. Remove him.”
“Yes, sir, Mr. President.” Ing sounded eager.
Fuming, Cleatus closed his mouth. But he left his demand hanging in the air. Good God! he protested to Holt. She’s even more dangerous than I thought.
In disgust Holt muttered, Ward’s been so goddamn busy rubbing the lamp he didn’t notice it wasn’t a genie coming out. It’s a fucking nightmare.
With a final glare at Cleatus, Len turned away.
“Ensign Hyland,” he said apologetically, “that was Cleatus Fane, First Executive Assistant to Holt Fasner.”
“I know the name.” The sound of knives filled Hyland’s voice. “Mr. Fane, I’ve been the victim of a zone implant. I won’t treat another human being that way. No matter who he is. Suppressing an antimutagen is a crime. So is welding illegals. I’ll do anything I can to stop it.”
No question about it: the woman was an addict.
Vertigus raised a weak fist in approval. Hannish touched her palms together as if she wanted to clap. But neither of them spoke. Apparently they didn’t want to risk exasperating Len further.
“I understand, Ensign,” Len sighed weakly. “Please go on.”
Hyland paused for several heartbeats—so long that Cleatus wondered whether she’d given up. But then she returned.
“I’m almost done.
“When Dr. Shaheed finished analyzing the drug, Davies and I made Captain Succorso prisoner, and we left the lab. But then we found both Punisher and Calm Horizons waiting for us. Punisher covered us while we escaped across the gap. Later both our gap and thrust drives failed, and Punisher was able to catch up with us. We joined ship and returned here.
“If you want to ask questions,” she finished, “do it fast. We have fifty-six minutes left. I need the time.”
Cleatus Fane desperately wanted to know what she needed the time for. He understood too well how Holt might use it.
MIN
The acting UMCP director was desperately busy: sweating with strain; concentration stretched to the tearing point. From the communications pickup on Punisher’s auxiliary bridge, she commanded nearly a dozen ships positioned for Earth’s defense. She ruled UMCPHQ; directed preparations for damage-control and evacuation; supervised Center’s efforts to ready the planet for war; chose or rejected information and instructions to be included in UMCPHQ’s system-wide downlink. And she did what she could to protect the other stations within Calm Horizons’ range. Those platforms with the capacity to adjust their orbits she sent on new trajectories: the rest she covered with her cordon. Her PCR brought in three, four, sometimes five channels at once. She responded as fast as she could key her pickup.
Valor on one. Confirm targ priorities.
Center on two. Nonessential personnel duty assignments?
Two of the pocket cruisers and at least one gunboat seemed incapable of comprehending the coordinates they’d been assigned.
SpaceLab Station on four. What happened to the scan net? We can’t alter orbit blind.
Downlink control on one. Planet’s screaming for the net. What explanation shall we give?
At the same time she felt desperately useless.
She’d come all this way: from her meeting with Captain Vertigus, when she’d given him Warden’s Bill of Severance, to Punisher’s encounters with Free Lunch and Trumpet near the Com-Mine belt; across space toward Massif-5 and battle with Calm Horizons’, beyond the VI system to retrieve the gap scout; homeward with Morn and Angus in command. And yet now there was nothing she could do except manage the crisis while Trumpet’s people determined the fate of Warden Dios, the UMCP, and humankind.
She needed—
God, she hardly knew what she needed; had no time to think about it.
Center on three. Suggest evacuation of nonessential personnel now.
Min said no. Where the hell were they going to go?
Gunboat Flash Attack on two. What’s wrong with our position?
You’re off-line to intercept fire on PolyMed Station, she answered. Compensate. Get targ priorities from Center.
She needed to help Warden make restitution. She’d carried out his orders, even when they appalled her: she was as much to blame for the UMCP’s crimes—and for Calm Horizons’ presence—as he was. She would never forgive herself if she didn’t do something to save him.
But there was nothing. In every effective sense, Morn had relinquished the cruiser when Dolph and the command module had carried Trumpet away. Yet that gave Min no relief. She’d decided long ago—was it only hours, or days?—to let the children of Warden’s secret desires carry out the roles he’d prepared for them as they saw fit. Her frustration no longer centered on Punisher.
Everything that mattered was in so
meone else’s hands. Since she couldn’t go along with Dolph and Angus, she would have to live without her own forgiveness.
Center on two. Sledgehammer confirms targ priorities. Give her eight hours and she might be able to use them.
PR uplink from the emergency session on one. Vertigus wants to reintroduce his Bill of Severance. Fane proposes dechartering instead, rechartering with someone else as director.
Damn Cleatus Fane!
Valor on five. Reconfirm targ priorities? You want us to include UMCHO?
Min keyed an acknowledgment. She feared instinctively that Fasner might interfere with the command module and Trumpet.
Warden had put her in this position for a reason. Presumably he wanted her to survive so that she might pick up the pieces of humankind’s defense after his efforts to bring down the Dragon had destroyed the UMCP. And presumably he’d picked her instead of someone else because he’d believed or hoped that she would let Morn and Angus make their own choices. She didn’t know anyone else who would have done the same.
It wasn’t enough for her. She meant to do the job he’d given her; intended to fulfill her oath of service to the absolute limit of her abilities. But it was no consolation—
Earth uplink on four. All major cities report escalating riots. Local police demand support.
We don’t have any, Min snapped back. Tell them to concentrate on protecting disaster installations, planetary defenses, lives, in that order. They can worry about property later.
She needed more.
This whole gamble is your idea, Morn had told Angus before Trumpet broke radio contact. If you don’t see it through—She may have shrugged. I’ll kill myself.
No, you won’t, he’d snorted back. Not anymore. Then he’d warned, But you better jump like hell when the excitement starts. There’s going to be a gap where Calm Horizons can take a crack at you, You can bet your ass she’ll do it.
I understand, Morn had answered. I think Patrice can handle it.