A Night Without Stars (60 page)

“Can you contact her, Captain?”

“Corilla might be able to,” Chaing said. Right now he wasn't about to disclose he had Commonwealth technology embedded in his hand.
Giu alone knows how Jenifa will react to that.
“The Eliters are…more organized than I realized. The bastards tapped right into our secure phone lines.”

“Talk to Corilla. Tell her I'll meet the Warrior Angel.”

“She'll be on the
Gothora
by now,” Jenifa said.

“You're probably right, but contact the Eliters anyway. And get the Air Force to put their GV15s back into the air. Send them out to their limit. I want to know where those ships are heading.”

“If it's not the islands, it has to be Lukarticar,” Jenifa said. “That's the only other thing out there in range.”

Nothing in the crypt had changed. In ordinary circumstances, Stonal might have welcomed that. Faustina looked up from her desk as he strode in to face the space machine containing Joey Stein's memories. There were no other technicians present; they hadn't been allowed back in after Joey started to communicate. The detailed plans for the sensor system he'd handed over were being worked on in a dedicated laboratory.

“Is everything all right?” Faustina asked.

“For Giu's sake, woman, wake up to the world for once! The Fallers have acquired atomic bombs. The Apocalypse is about to begin. So, no, everything is not crudding
all right.
”

She paled, taking an involuntary pace back from him.

“Switch it on,” he said, gesturing at the radio.

“I have it on permanently now,” she replied flatly.

“That bad, huh?” Joey's voice asked.

Stonal stood perfectly still for a moment. It was so unlike him to be caught out.
Stress,
he decided,
far too much stress
.
But knowing about the atomic bombs doesn't strengthen Joey's hand.
He raised his gaze to the dark circular mechanism of the wormhole at the back of the crypt, then brought the radio microphone up to his lips. “Joey, can you control the wormhole?”

“No. 'Fraid not, pal. Laura codelocked its smartnet. I don't have the software to hack it.”

“Hack?”

“The key. I don't have the key, or anything that can make a key.”

“Would Paula be able to unlock it?”

“Very probably, yes.”

“I see.”

“Is that a problem?”

“No, it is her bargaining point. If the Fallers do overrun us, she was talking about evacuating people to Aqueous.”

“Yeah, makes sense.”

“Why would Paula and Kysandra go to Lukarticar? That's our southern polar continent.”

“I don't know. What's there?”

“Nothing at all. There hasn't even been an expedition there for well over a thousand years.”

“Oh, shame. It would have been cool if it boasted a Fortress of Solitude.”

“A what?”

“Skip it; bad joke. Paula doesn't do things without cause—and certainly not at a time as critical as this. If she's going to Lukarticar, it'll be for a very good reason. Are you sure that's where she's going?”

“She sailed from Port Chana three days ago. The Air Force planes got a small radar return at extreme range before they had to turn back. A ship was heading due south.”

“
A
ship?”

“The Fallers were following her. It could have been them.”

“Let me guess: the ones with the atom bombs?”

He resisted sighing. “We believe so.”

“You have to warn Paula. You cannot let the Fallers eliminate her. She is this planet's last chance, pal.”

“She knows. It was the Eliters who told us where the atom bombs were.”

“Wow. And you're Bienvenido's top spy. That has to hurt.”

Stonal gave the space machine a fixed smile. “I've already told you, if we are overwhelmed, you also lose.”

“Oh, don't worry, pal, I'm very aware of my position.”

Stonal was shown into Adolphus's small office in the emergency bunker below the palace—even deeper than the crypt containing the wormhole. It might have been the lack of daylight for days, or those same long days breathing nothing but the mechanically purified air blowing out of the overhead grilles, but it seemed to Stonal that the prime minister's illness had advanced. The man's skin was a shade lighter than it had been when the red one code was given, and despite the stable temperature, sweat was glinting on his forehead. Age, too, had suddenly advanced across his features, wrinkles biting deeper into flesh.
Though that's probably just fear,
Stonal conceded.

Despite the utilitarian concrete walls, Adolphus had made sure the furniture was grand enough to reflect his status. The desk alone took up a quarter of the space. Seven telephones were lined up on top of it, all of them red. Three teleprinters clattered away constantly in the corner.

Adolphus waved Stonal into a seat. “What happened in Port Chana?” he asked.

Stonal gave him a careful summary, very aware that the prime minister was looking for the slightest excuse to evacuate to Byarn. “My recommendation is to keep the whole fleet of Air Force GV15s flying along the south coast on a continual basis, day and night,” he finished. “We need to know if those ships head back to Lamaran. If we spot them—especially the
Sziu
—we should probably deploy the nuclear option. It has the advantage of being offshore, so there will be no civilian casualties.”

“We've finally cornered her, haven't we?” Adolphus said. “And this wretched Commonwealth diplomat female?”

“It is logical to assume at least one of them is on board the
Gothora,
yes.”

“But why? What are they doing on Lukarticar?”

“I have to admit, that is one question I cannot answer.”

“Bring in that traitor, Corilla. Interrogate her properly.”

Stonal tented his fingers and deliberately took a few seconds to reply. “Two things. I seriously doubt Corilla will know. She is a simple go-between; it's an elementary precaution not to inform someone like that of the big picture. Second, I don't believe it's in our interest to eliminate the Warrior Angel and Paula right now. We will undoubtedly be facing the Faller Apocalypse before long. Byarn and Operation Reclaim were the best solution we could come up with before now, but Paula is offering us the prospect of Aqueous. That should not be treated lightly.”

“And she would willingly take us with her?”

“That would have to be the keystone of the negotiations, obviously. But we need her alive in order to negotiate.”

“Uracus! And you've no idea why they're on that ship?”

“No, sir.”

“What about the space machine? Does it know?”

“It says not. And frankly, I believe it.”

“I want to talk to it.”

“Sir?”

“You heard me.” Adolphus drummed his fingers nervously on the desk. “It knows Paula better than anyone; it has to be able to give us some insight. And maybe we were too hasty in turning down its offer of more knowledge. I need to know what it knows to make a full and proper decision.”

A security team inspected the crypt first, so the prime minister's arrival didn't come as a surprise to Faustina. Stonal could tell she was intensely curious, though.

“I'm grateful for all you've done,” Adolphus told her, “but I'm afraid you will have to step outside. Matters of state, you understand.”

Her curiosity deepened, but all she did was give a small nod. “Of course, Prime Minister.”

“Before you go,” Adolphus added, “please turn off all the recording apparatus in here.”

Faustina colored slightly and walked over to a table with an array of electrical cabinets on it, including several tape recorders. She switched the equipment off one piece at a time. “You're on your own,” she told them.

Adolphus hadn't taken his eyes from the gray-white cylinder since he'd arrived. “How do I speak to it?”

Stonal handed him the radio's microphone.

“Can you hear me?”

“I certainly can,” Joey replied.

Stonal wasn't sure, but it sounded like Joey was treating Adolphus with a reasonable degree of respect—which he'd never been shown.

“I am the prime minister of Bienvenido. I would like you to tell me what is on Lukarticar that's so vital.”

“I honestly don't know.”

“Can you take a guess, please? You know Paula better than anyone.”

“I won't argue with you over that statement, but my familiarity is minimal; I know of her by reputation. So I can only use logic, and tell you that if Paula is heading for Lukarticar at a time like this, then it has to be supremely important.”

“Yes, we worked that part out ourselves, thank you. I asked you to guess.”

“I can't.”

“You mean you won't?”

“No, I mean I can't. My thought routines are running in a kind of…computator, not a biological brain like yours. It is literally impossible for me to make intuitive leaps. I can only deal in facts and logic.”

Adolphus turned to Stonal. “Is that true?”

He made an effort not to reply:
It's logical
. “It's highly possible, yes.”

“So what should we
logically
do about it?” Adolphus asked.

“You could simply ask her what she's doing,” Joey replied. “If it is an action that will result in defeating the Fallers, you should offer to help.”

“But we don't know exactly where she is.”

“You have ships and planes don't you? Search for her.”

“Yes, but our planes have limited range. And sending ships to find two ships somewhere in the whole Polas Sea is a hopeless task.”

“I appreciate your point of view. In which case, I suggest launching a Liberty spacecraft into polar orbit. It is possible to see a ship's wake from low orbit, given clear conditions. An astronaut overhead should also be able to establish direct radio contact, albeit for short periods.”

“That is a possibility,” Adolphus said slowly.

Stonal was surprised to see him hesitate; the prime minister never usually lacked for confidence. “It would be useful to know what the Warrior Angel is doing, sir,” he said. “And where she's going. She was about to talk to us when the Fallers raided the bomb factory.”

“Everything will change,” Adolphus said, and his thumb wasn't pressing the microphone talk button.

“We do need to contemplate a degree of change at this point, sir. To be frank, what have we got to lose?”

Adolphus nodded slowly, his eyes never leaving the space machine. His thumb touched the microphone button. “Why should I trust you?”

“You have something I want,” Joey replied.

“What?”

“Survival. As your spy chief here keeps pointing out, if you lose, so do I.”

“I lose anyway.”

“I don't understand.”

“I'm ill, Joey Stein. Very ill. I won't survive this.”

“I'm sorry to hear that, but you are the prime minister. This world is relying on you to make the right choices now. This is what you've spent your life working toward. I know politicians; you all care about your legacy. You care about it a great deal. Don't you want future generations to remember you as the prime minister who defeated the Fallers?”

Adolphus took a step closer to the space machine, his eyes fixed upon it. “I want to live.”

Shock immobilized Stonal.
Now
he understood what this was all about. “Sir, we can't trust—”

“No!” Adolphus snapped. “You don't get to advise me on this. This is not an affair of state. This is about me! Machine, you can cure people. Can you cure me?”

“What is wrong with you?”

“I have growths. Tumors. They've spread. Our doctors can't do anything.”

“I can cure cancer in a few hours. A total rejuvenation will take a month.”

“Hours?” Adolphus whispered. He blinked against the moisture in his eyes. “It would be done in hours?”

“Yes.”

“You can't, sir,” Stonal said. “We do not know what this machine is capable of.”

Adolphus twisted around to face him, his lips open in a snarl. “I'm dying! And this…this Giu-sent miracle can save me. So don't you tell me what I can and cannot do.”

“I am responsible for your safety. This is Commonwealth technology…”

“And what exactly is the worst it can do? Kill me a few weeks early, just before I get crudding eaten alive by Fallers? No. This is my choice, my risk. You take your orders from me, Stonal, and this is my order: If I'm not out in six hours, then you push this thing down into the bottom of the deepest hole you can find. Kill it, and all the hopes it has to get back to the Commonwealth. Do you understand?”

Stonal wanted to say no, wanted to stop this insanity. This was exactly what Slvasta had warned against. It would start with a cure for cancer, but Adolphus would never stop there. This was an addiction whose culmination would be rejuvenation. And the space machine had the blueprints for medical capsules; more could and would be built.

Bienvenido would become dependent on Commonwealth medical technology, but such things couldn't be built in isolation. There would be spin-offs in every technological discipline. Commonwealth ideas would seep into society, and everything Bienvenido had built so painfully for itself over three thousand years would be lost.

He could stop it here and now, physically intervene; Adolphus in this state couldn't put up any kind of meaningful struggle. But then what? He'd be relieved of duty within an hour.
And I'll be facing the Apocalypse by myself. No flight to Byarn, and certainly no evacuation through the wormhole.
“Yes, sir. Under protest.”

“Protest noted. Machine, do
you
understand?”

“Very much.”

“All right then.” Adolphus took a calming breath, dabbing a shaking hand at the sweat that had risen on his forehead. “What do I need to do?”

“Undress. Get inside me.”

“That's…it?”

“Yes. You won't be awake for the procedure. When it's over, the tumors will be gone.”

“Why can't you just give him the medicine?” Stonal asked.

“This isn't a drug, pal. This is micron-level surgery. The tumors are broken down by active filaments and physically removed.”

Adolphus put the microphone down and walked over to the space machine. After a moment, he bent down and started undoing his shoelaces. He took his clothes off methodically, folding them neatly in a pile, clearly trying to be as dignified as possible. When he was naked, a circular aperture opened on the side of the space machine. Stonal didn't see any kind of door mechanism; the hole simply expanded like a pond ripple. A soft sapphire light shone out, revealing a chamber that made him think of a padded coffin; it certainly wasn't much bigger.