Dark Star (15 page)

“Well, you are, aren’t you?” Dalton said.

“You saw the note I left in the book in my office; there seems little point in denying it. I can see you’ve made up your mind.”

“You’re on the Pantheon list; I’ve seen it.” Dalton leaned towards him, hands clenched hard in the cushions. “You’re part of the whole problem, you’re part of the people who made the MalX.”

“So you are closer to that Rosie Black than Sulawayo has let on, I see,” Jebediah said. “She didn’t mention you being involved in that last fiasco up in Nation lands, but I assumed you were there. That is how you injured yourself, isn’t it? Doing Riley Shore’s dirty work?”

“Where is Rosie?” Dalton said. “What have you done with her?”

“Done?” He raised an eyebrow. “Son, I don’t want to hurt her. I’m trying to change Helios, make it better, and your friend is part of that solution. Why would I hurt her?”

“So you’re saying you are behind the rebellion within Helios, that you want to stop them? But you can’t have always been like that. How long have you been part of Helios?”

His dad sighed. “A very long time. Before you were born.”

“And what did you say to Chris when he found out?” Dalton sprang up, unable to sit any longer. He took a step towards his father, towering over him. “Were you still part of the great hierarchy then? Did you find his questions a problem? Is that why you let him die? You knew about the MalX. Your goddamn Helios created it and you left him out there; you may as well have killed him yourself.” He was shouting, his muscles quivering with rage. He wanted to grab his father and shake him, but he couldn’t quite do it. The words filled the air between them, the long held accusation echoing back off the walls.

Jebediah didn’t move. He stayed sitting back against the couch. “I did not kill your brother,” he said quietly. “That was a mistake, a terrible, terrible error that I will live with for the rest of my life.”

“At least you
will
live,” Dalton said. “That’s not much compensation for Chris, is it?”

A tiny muscle moved in his father’s cheek. “No, it is not.”

“What are you going to do then? Make it all better, make Rosie help you get the cure from Pip and save the world? I find that hard to believe, Dad.”

“I’m doing what I can, whatever I can to save those I have left. And you are one of them, you and your mother. Don’t judge me for that.”

But Dalton stepped away, shaking his head. “You talk about us like you care, but it’s only words.” He went to the window and stared unseeing over the city.

“You could help me,” Jebediah said to his back. “Come with me to the Enclave. You can see your friend, ease your mind that she’s all right, and help me change things. This … alliance you had with Riley Shore, it was misdirected, that’s all. I can overlook it. We could work together on this, instead of it tearing us apart.”

Dalton almost laughed. “Tearing us apart?” He faced him. “And since when have we been close? Do you really think I trust you enough to do that?” But his father didn’t change expression, didn’t speak and Dalton wondered about going with him. He could find Rosie, maybe get her out. It could work in his favour. But would his father actually allow it? And how could he convince him that he really did believe in his dad’s cause of changing Helios, when all he wanted to do, with his whole being, was tear it all down. Helios had to go; there was nothing to save. Like their family, his father had destroyed it.

“Why don’t you bring Rosie to me instead and I’ll leave?” he said. “I’ll go away. You can disown me; you won’t have to deal with me or my misdirection any more.”

Jebediah appeared genuinely sad and reflective. “Are you sure that’s what you want?”

“I want you to let Rosie go, yes. Then you won’t see me again, not if you don’t want to.”

His father took the silver com from his pocket and activated it. “That really would break your mother’s heart,” he said. “I’m sorry you feel that way.” He spoke into the com. “Vin.” He looked at Dalton with weariness. “Sorry, son, but this is for your own good.”

Dalton began to back away. “What are you talking about?”

The lift doors chimed and opened, and three large black garbed men came in. Three on one, he had no chance.

Dalton spun on his father and lunged at him. “You son of a bitch!” he shouted but it was no good. The first man was on him in seconds, a hard arm around his neck, the second and third took him to the ground. Dalton struggled, but something cold and sharp touched his neck and the last thing he saw before the lights went out was the back of his father’s shoes as he walked away.

“Headache again?” Gillian emerged from the shower stall rubbing a towel over her hair and caught Rosie pressing her fingers to her eyes. She stopped.

“No, just tired,” she lied.

“Yeah, bitch of a workout today.” Gillian dumped her towel on the floor and began dressing. Already in her uniform, Rosie slumped on the bench waiting. They were the last ones in the bathroom after an exhausting morning of training that she’d barely got through. She was out of energy.

She’d spent the last three days feeling like she was in prison. All day, every day, had been taken up by fitness training, weapons or tactics classes. And an operative had been shadowing her and Gillian every waking moment, as if Alpha was waiting for them to try something again. Every night she dreamed of Pip, of him dying, of the manacle and a darkness coming for her. She was exhausted. And the dark spot in her vision was growing. Along with a constant headache, she also now had a catch in her chest when she breathed in that scared her. The implant degradation was getting worse. It was frightening, and left her dull and slow. A bad thing to be in here. She’d had no chance to find out more about what she’d overheard Alpha talking about or to talk to Gillian. Except for now. She took in the empty bathroom. For the first time they were alone and she had to take advantage of it. Gillian groaned as she tried to comb out her tangled hair. “Why can’t they get us some proper cleanser?”

Rosie folded her dirty clothes and reached out a hand to grab Gillian’s elbow. “Why don’t you run some more dry blast over it, might help. I’ll wait for you.” She looked meaningfully at the shower compartment and Gillian’s disgruntled expression cleared.

“Yeah, right, good idea.” She dropped the towel and headed with Rosie back to the shower.

They shut themselves in and turned the shower on high, using the hum of the mechanics to cover their whispers.

“What’s up?” Gillian got straight to the point.

“We’ve got to talk.” Rosie chose her words carefully. She didn’t know Gillian well, but she had a gut feeling about her. She could be helpful if she could convince her Helios was far from perfect. “So you’re part of Sulawayo’s rebel group,” she said. “How much do you know about me?”

Gillian said, “You mean, why you’re here? I know you’re not any ordinary joiner, if that’s what you’re getting at. Sulawayo doesn’t tell me much, but she did say you’ve got some special info we can use. My job is to make sure you fit in, watch your back.”

“It’s a bit more complicated than that,” Rosie said. “I made a deal when I came here with people I thought were a rebel group working inside Helios to change things.”

“What do you mean, who you
thought
was a rebel group?”

Rosie hesitated. “How much do you trust what you’re told here? I mean, do you believe all the things Helios told you at the beginning, about what they think of the Ferals and everyone, how they think the world should be?”

Gillian looked uncomfortable. “Maybe at first, but I was only eleven.”

“After you lost your family.”

“Yeah. After that. Helios was kind of my saviour; they got me out of the mess.”

“But did they?” Rosie said. “Do you remember what happened back then, when the gangs came to your farm? How long after did Helios show up? Just in time to save you, right, but not to save anyone else?”

“I don’t know; I was a kid.” Gillian leaned away from her against the wall.

“Yeah,” Rosie said, “but you weren’t stupid, and you sure aren’t now. Do you really believe they’re just going to give you back your family farm, after everything you’ve seen here?”

“Maybe not. I don’t know.”

“And have you ever wondered if they were the ones who sent the gangs, that they’ve been lying to you?”

Gillian knocked her head gently against the tile. She looked up at the ceiling, then back at Rosie. “So maybe there’s a reason I joined Sulawayo’s rebellion,” she said defensively. “Maybe I’m only working things the way I know how. What’s your point?”

“That you can’t trust what you’re told here, by anyone, that Helios always lies, always. And I think you know that.” She waited, watching Gillian watching her. “I overheard some stuff the other night, when I was out. I heard Alpha.”

“And?” The defensiveness disappeared from Gillian’s expression, she seemed interested now.

Rosie’s pulse quickened at the risk she was taking, but she desperately needed an ally. “I heard him talking to someone, one of the Pantheon members.”

“Hang on, who?”

“The Pantheon, the five people who really run Helios,” Rosie said. “Don’t you know about them?”

“Yes, a bit.” Gillian appeared wary. “Sulawayo told me about them at the beginning, but how do you know who they are?”

“It’s part of the information I have that Sulawayo wants,” Rosie said.“I know who every member is, and the last place they were located. It’s one of the things I traded to come here, but,” she rushed on as Gillian opened her mouth to speak, “that’s not the important point. The point is Alpha was talking to the man who is supposed to be the leader of Sulawayo’s rebellion. A Pantheon member. Did you know that?”

“No, she’s never told me who the leader is,” Gillian said.

“His name’s Jebediah Curtis, but, Gillian, it’s all a lie. I heard Alpha say the rebellion was a lie, a front. There is no rebellion to change things in Helios for the better. Curtis has been lying to Sulawayo and working with Alpha behind her back. The rebellion is under their control, and they’re not trying to change Helios, they want to take over. I’m not sure exactly what they’re going to do, but I don’t believe they have any intention of making things better. They’ve been using you and Sulawayo. God the things he wants to do–”

“Wait.” Gillian put up a hand, but Rosie kept going.

“Do you know about the MalX, Gillian? How Helios created it?”

“Of course I do,” she whispered furiously, “it’s one of the reasons I joined the rebellion, to stop the Pantheon from using it the way they want to. We’re looking for the cure.”

“And I’m the one they want to use to get it,” Rosie said. “Except they lied about how they want to do that. Well, at least Jebediah Curtis lied to Sulawayo about what to tell me. I made a deal with them to allow them access to the cure in exchange for protecting the person who has it – but they have no real intention of doing that. They want to capture him, use him like a lab rat, like the Pantheon wanted. And if they manage that they will eventually kill him. And I can’t let that happen. I don’t know exactly what Jebediah and Alpha’s plan is but I don’t believe any of it is good. I think maybe they want to do worse than the rest of the Pantheon ever wanted, but they want the power all to themselves. The rebellion isn’t a way to change things; it’s a takeover, Gillian. A lie and they want you to believe it.”

“But why should I believe you?” Gillian said. “I don’t know you.”

“No, you don’t, but I think you believe me anyway. You’ve seen things, haven’t you, heard things that don’t add up? Can you say you haven’t?”

Gillian pressed her lips together. “What do you want from me?”

“I need to get into Alpha’s room, search it. He talked about other things that night, something called Dark Star, and I need to know what it is. It’s important, but to do that I need another stylus to get me past security.”

“And you want me to get you one?”

“Yes.” Rosie took in a long breath, aware of the precipice she was treading.

Gillian’s expression was cautious. “Let me think about it.” It was all Rosie could ask for.

“Okay, thanks,” she said.

“Yeah, well,” Gillian reached for the dry blast control. “We better get moving or people will start wondering.”

The rest of the day was taken up by classes on surveillance techniques and code reading.

Rosie sat with Gillian and Freddie at lunch in the cafeteria, but Gillian didn’t give any sign of what she thought of their morning conversation. “You get me any of that berry drink?” she said to Stefan as he joined them.

“None left. It’s blue juice.” Stefan slid a cup at her and sat opposite Rosie, all elbows and knees. Freddie was perched on the seat next to Gillian and kept sending glances at Rosie that made her unsettled.

“You want something, Freddie?” she said.

“No.” Freddie blinked. Rosie wished she could put her finger on why the kid made her feel so uncomfortable.

“You going to finish that?” Stefan pointed at the remnants of her lunch.

“Have it.” She pushed the tray towards him.

“Can you help me with navigation tonight, Gillian?” Stefan shoved a forkful of vegetables into his mouth.