Veteran (60 page)

‘I thought you’d pop like a balloon when they drilled into you? How’d it feel to be violated?’ I asked. Gregor just stared at me. I sighed, or rather the animated virtual representation of me sighed. ‘What the fuck are you doing?’ I asked.

‘What’s necessary,’ he said.

‘Don’t give me that cryptic shit; you know as well as I do we can’t afford it,’ I said. He should know better.

‘I apologise. It was necessary for me to begin the transformation—’

‘Into what?’ I asked.

‘A form more useful for the job.’

‘How’re you going to look?’

‘Different,’ he said.

Morag and Pagan were just watching.

‘You needed to tell us about the job before you did that,’ I said.

‘I apologise. I realised I was cutting things pretty fine as regards the transformation, but you’re right. I knew that you’d eventually find a way to contact me,’ he said.

I just looked at him. I felt like really having a go at him but there wasn’t a great deal of point. That didn’t change the fact that I was pissed off with him.

‘So what’s the job?’ Pagan finally asked, breaking the tension.

Gregor looked over at him. ‘EVA into the heart of the Teeth.’

‘Penetrations like this have never worked before. I don’t see any reason why they should start working now,’ Pagan said.

‘Because I will be broadcasting a Them biometric signature. They will literally have to identify you by sight to compromise you,’ Gregor told him.

‘Part of your transformation?’ Morag asked. Gregor nodded.

‘You’re turning into one of Them.’ I said. I needed to remember that regardless of how much Gregor looked like Gregor in the net, not only was his body changed but the way he thought was as well. He wasn’t us or Them but something in-between.

‘Not exactly,’ he said. I was getting sick of this.

‘If you can disguise yourself then why not go alone?’ I asked.

‘I cannot disguise myself as one of Them. It’s not as simple as shifting form. I will be broadcasting a biometric field which will disguise us from Their sensors, but They’ll still be able to ID us visually.’

‘So be sneaky,’ I suggested. I was trying to remember how we’d been talked into this. Gregor was beginning to look somewhat exasperated.

‘We will get caught. Remember, They’re effectively a hive mind. I am not part of that. We will eventually be compromised and I will need your firepower. Also, Crom could affect me and I cannot risk infection. You will need to dispose of it.’

‘If Crom infects you?’ I said.

‘You need to ask?’

‘What exactly is Crom and how is it being delivered?’ Pagan said.

‘About twelve years ago the Cabal seeded the entire belt with unmanned probes manufactured from Themtech. They were organic and broadcast a Them biometric pattern. They were very small but even then Their defences caught and destroyed a lot of the probes but enough got through. They secured themselves as close to major concentrations of Them as they could get. Very basically they were nanite factories producing Crom and sophisticated receivers. When the Cabal is ready they will send a transmission which will release what are effectively smart spores.’

‘How many are there?’ Morag asked.

‘I don’t know,’ Gregor said.

‘Then how are we supposed to find them?’ Pagan asked.

‘We just need to find one, and I know where a few of them are. Then we hack the receiver and send a self-destruct code, which will in turn be transmitted to all the other devices.’ He pulled an envelope out of the pocket of his combat trousers. It was very old-fashioned looking, pre-FHC, with a wax seal and everything. Gregor pushed it across the table to Pagan. Pagan just looked at it. Something occurred to me.

‘I thought only Rolleston had Crom.’

‘The seeds are an older version of Crom - they’d just infect and kill the aliens. Rolleston has the information required to reprogramme the seeds for the sequestration strain of Crom.’

‘He must have done it by now,’ I said sceptically.

‘No,’ Gregor answered. ‘His priority will have to be releasing Demiurge and consolidating his power base with the Sirius fleet but he will get round to releasing Crom.’

‘But he could have already done it?’ Pagan said.

Gregor looked exasperated. ‘Possibly.’

Pagan’s icon shook its head. I knew how he felt. This was getting thinner and thinner.

‘You know Balor and Mudge would just have you release the killer strain of Crom to neutralise the threat,’ Pagan said.

‘Neutralise,’ Black Annis spat, her voice like broken glass being ground.

‘Militarily speaking—’ Pagan began.

‘Not going to happen, and that’s my call,’ Gregor interrupted.

‘They are a people not a weapon,’ Annis said.

‘They are a weapon if Rolleston gets his hands on them,’ Pagan pointed out.

Morag’s Black Annis icon looked like she was about to argue.

‘Okay, this is getting us nowhere,’ I said. ‘Change the subject.’

‘How do you know all this?’ Pagan asked.

‘How do you think?’ Gregor replied. ‘I was locked up in there for over a year.’

‘And they shared all this with you?’ Pagan asked sceptically.

‘No. They programmed my bioware for some pretty sophisticated applications and the rest is my training. I’ve no doubt you would’ve done the same, probably more with your information warfare training.’

Pagan didn’t answer, he just studied Gregor thoughtfully. Lights played across the letter as both Pagan and Morag interrogated the code represented by the letter with their own diagnostic programs. ‘That’s pretty well encrypted,’ Pagan finally said.

‘It’s a one-shot deal. Screw it up, corrupt it, trip any of its booby traps and it’s just junk. You’ve no idea what I went through to get this.’

‘For these spores to work they must be close to a very high concentration of Them?’ Pagan said.

‘They are,’ Gregor replied.

‘We start a firefight in an area concentrated enough for Them to visually ID us in space, then it’s over for us. We’re not going to be able to get out and it’ll be just a matter of time before They overwhelm us,’ I pointed out.

‘Just as long as you hold them off long enough to deactivate Crom,’

Gregor said. So there it was. Instinctively I took a large mouthful of the pointless virtual whisky.

‘So this is a one-way trip?’ Pagan said redundantly. Nobody else said anything. ‘I don’t want to be a hero.’

‘Either we stop it or the Cabal and Rolleston win,’ Gregor said.

‘What about the Earth governments?’ Pagan replied. ‘They have to respond.’

‘Maybe, but in time? We’re here. Now,’ Gregor said. Pagan shook his head violently. ‘What did you think was going to happen when you agreed to come?’ Gregor asked, anger sneaking into his tone.

‘I thought you’d have a better plan,’ Pagan spat back. ‘I’m out.’

‘How long do you think you can run from a Crom-infected Them and the Cabal when Rolleston’s in control?’ Gregor yelled.

‘Longer than flying into Them-central. I’d be better off putting a gun in my mouth!’ Pagan shouted back. Gregor opened his mouth to retort but thought better of it.

‘Then Morag will have to do the hacking, you fucking coward,’ he finally said and turned to look at her.

‘Morag’s out as well,’ I said.

Black Annis swung round to face me. ‘That’s not your decision,’ she said, her voice like ice.

‘Do you honestly think I’m going to send you out there to die after we’ve been through all this?’ I asked.

‘You’re not sending me anywhere; I’m going where the fuck I want!’ she shouted at me, her voice now modulated to sound like breaking glass.

‘This doesn’t help,’ Gregor said.

‘Shut up.’ I turned back to Black Annis. ‘Look, Morag, you’re right. I have no right to tell you what you can and can’t do but what I will do is sabotage any attempt you make to leave this ship.’ Her hag icon looked like it was about to throw itself across the pub table and tear out my throat. I ignored her and looked at Gregor. ‘You, me and probably Balor can go. If that’s not enough, tough.’

‘We need a signals person and it’s not enough guns,’ Gregor said.

‘Then we don’t do it,’ I told him firmly.

‘I’m going,’ Black Annis said. I lost it.

‘Why do you want to die?!’ I screamed at her. ‘For the first fucking time I can remember there’s hope - why do you want to throw that away? If I wasn’t already dead there is no way I would be going on this,’ I said more quietly. ‘If there is any possible way I could live then I would take it.’

‘I’m going to live through it,’ Black Annis said firmly.

‘You don’t know what you’re talking about,’ I said, exasperated.

‘Ambassador wanted to make peace. I’m going to talk to Them,’ she said.

All three of us just sat there staring at her.

Then Pagan started laughing. ‘It’s as good an idea as just walking in there and letting Them kill us,’ he said sarcastically.

‘Morag, I understand where you’re coming from, and I believe there will be a time for that, and you’ll probably play an important part in it—’ Gregor began.

‘Not if she’s dead,’ I interrupted, earning myself another poisonous glare from the hag.

‘But we can’t take the risk initially. What if you can’t convince Them before the spores go off? What if while we’re talking the Cabal uses the Sirius fleet to attack? What if They just kill us out of hand before we can do anything for reasons we don’t even understand? Remember, the vast majority of Them are effectively programmed to kill us on sight until They are told different. Let’s save Them first and then approach Them peacefully afterwards,’ Gregor continued as the hag listened carefully.

‘Look. You lot go and do your commando thing. I’ll go and speak to Them. I can’t see any reason not to do both.’

‘How about everyone dies?’ Pagan suggested.

Morag turned to face him. ‘That doesn’t help,’ she said.

‘Neither will us getting futilely killed,’ Pagan said. It was a good point.

‘We won’t get killed,’ Black Annis insisted. ‘I’m the Whore of Babylon, remember.’

‘You don’t know what you’re talking about!’ Pagan shouted at her. ‘You may be the infant prodigal as far as hacking goes but you know shit about war - which, by the way, this is - and we’re going to need a bit more than youthful optimism to see us through here.’

The hag opened her mouth. It looked like she was getting ready to really have a go at Pagan.

‘He’s right,’ I said quietly. The look of hurt and betrayal on the demonic icon’s features was almost comic. ‘I’m sorry, Morag, but you’ve no idea what you’re talking about. Your only communication with Them has been Ambassador. Now it doesn’t matter who started the war, but we know what They are capable of and you don’t.’

‘So I don’t get a say?’

‘So you don’t listen to those who have experience?’ I asked back.

‘Why is it you don’t believe in me?’ she asked bitterly. ‘Rannu believes in me, he trusts my abilities. Why can’t you?’ This last was aimed directly at me.

‘Rannu has faith in you,’ Pagan answered quietly. ‘That is different to belief, and in this case you still lack experience.’

‘I handled myself in Atlantis,’ she said.

‘You had to have your eyes and ears replaced!’ I exploded.

‘In the lab, not in the media node!’

‘You were horrified by what you saw and did,’ I said.

‘Shouldn’t I be?’

‘Yes,’ I admitted.

‘This was what Ambassador was made for, this is all it was made for -to create peace between us and Them. You said you’d do everything you could to stop me from going?’ I nodded. ‘Well, I’ve just locked you in your room.’

‘That’s fucking childish, Morag,’ I groaned.

‘I could lock this ship down. I’m going to try and talk to Them.’

‘We still need someone to run comms,’ Gregor said.

‘I’ll go,’ Pagan said. There was a tone of resignation in his voice.

‘You’ve changed your tune,’ I said.

‘I was just sitting here thinking how unfair it all was that we have to die here and now and thinking that this can’t be our responsibility. Where is the government to clean up this mess? Then I remembered that abdication of responsibility is what got us here in the first place.’

‘Oh,’ I said, not really following Pagan’s train of thought.

‘Besides,’ he said, glancing at the hag, ‘maybe I’m beginning to find faith.’

Mudge sat me up on the bed in my cabin. He laid out his wares on a collapsible table. There were derms, pads, inhalers, pills all the colours of the rainbow, an old-fashioned syringe and even eye drops. On top of that I still had a little of Papa Neon’s medication left. This was what I would need to see me through the next few hours. Well, at least I hoped it would. I couldn’t be too sure because instead of a pharmacist I had a junkie.

‘So you’re going?’ I said, trying to get my mind off dying.

‘Yeah, man. I’ve got a good feeling about this. I think we’re going to be all right.’

‘You’re high, aren’t you?’ I said, grinning.

‘ ‘Course I am. If I wasn’t I’d be shitting myself about my impending death. Seriously though, I think it might work. Morag’s plan, I mean.’

‘Got religion?’ I asked. ‘Pagan thinks that she’s the Whore of Babylon.’

‘The hacker myth? Wishful thinking on his part.’

‘What if we’re doing it, though? What if we’re betraying the whole human race?’ I asked.

‘I suspect we’ll be dead before we see the effects, so really you should only worry if you believe in hell. An afterlife hell, I mean, not, you know, Dog 4 hell or Coventry hell.’

‘Sometimes I don’t think you take anything seriously.’

‘Did you not see me save the world?’ he asked, getting exasperated now.

‘Well, the jury’s still out on that. Besides, didn’t you have some help?’

‘Did I? Oh, you’re just pissed off because your girlfriend is the new messiah.’

‘She’s neither. Anyway, whether the plan works or not, I’m not going to be all right.’

‘No, you’re pretty well fucked.’

‘But this’ll see me through it?’ I asked, trying to hide my worry.

‘This?’ he said, pointing at the drugs. ‘No, this will kill you. I thought that was the point.’