Zero (47 page)

“
She knew?”

“
Judging from the way she reacted when I turned up on her doorstep...” His eyes went far away again. “Yeah, I'd say she knew.”

“
But we ran a DNA test,” Hugo said. “Spinn ran one and didn't...” Realisation slammed into him. He snarled and turned to the medbay workstation. “Spinn,” he barked into the comm whilst rooting through the medbay data.

“
Captain?” Spinn's reply sounded nervous.

“
Medbay. Now,” then Hugo cut off the connection. He turned back to the figure on the bunk who was staring at the bulkhead again. “LIL are planning an uprising?”

Webb nodded.
“Using Duran McCollough Junior as a figurehead. Fitzroy thinks it will unite the Lunar Strip and make them willing to throw themselves on Service swords. But Hugo...there's more.”

Hugo felt his skin go cold.
“To do with why we had get out of Service space?”

Webb turned his gaze on him, glassy and tired.
“Admiral Pharos is LIL.”

Hugo took a second to find his voice.
“What?”

“
This whole thing... it was her. Her and Fitzroy.”

Hugo stared at him.
“No.”

“
Saw her with my own eyes, Hugo,” Webb said, cleaning more cuts and flinching. “She was all for having my memory wiped and using me as a puppet this evening.”

“
But... she... she gave us our missions...”

“
They came from Luscombe,” Webb countered.

“
Under her supervision.”

Webb shrugged.
“I'm willing to bet she didn't know about the Splinter operation. Hence her jumping on your case when it was over. And as for AI... well... didn't you get the feeling we weren't supposed to come back from that?”

Spinn came in then and stood against the bulkhead, glancing between Hugo and Webb. It was a long time before Hugo could trust his voice to be steady.
“Spinn,” he grated.

“
Captain?”

“
You knew?”

“
Sir?”

Hugo sprung to his feet.
“You knew who Webb really was?”

Spinn
looked between them again, eyes widening. He swallowed. “I'm sorry, sir.”

“
You knew all along?”

Spinn took a step back, though Hugo hadn't moved.
“Sir, Pharos commissioned me to track him down when he was still a child. I was the one charged with... with...”

“
With keeping him watched?” Webb's didn't look at the doctor.

Spinn swallowed again.
“I was keeping him safe.”

“
Safe?” Webb laughed then. It was a horrible sound.

“
Why didn't you say anything?” Hugo growled, taking a step closer to the researcher. “From the minute we heard LIL were trying to recruit him, you must have known why.”

“
I -”

“
We could have saved him, Spinn,” Hugo closed the distance between them and shouted in his face. “He'd still be alive, if we'd known. You bastard. You spineless, treacherous bastard.”

Spinn's jaw worked and his body stiffened.
“Fifteen years I've lived with this, Captain. Fifteen years I watched More, Rami, and others, poor nobodies, bleed and die for this blasted ship – for the Service – when the whole time I knew they were just using us. Using every one of us to keep him hidden but alive, while they bided their time until he became a political advantage, or a loose end to scrub out. Fifteen years I had to watch and say nothing.” His face took on an imploring expression as he looked over Hugo's shoulder to Webb. “The minute I said anything that would be it. His ignorance – all of your ignorance – was the only thing that kept him alive as long as he was.”

“
I want you off my ship,” Hugo growled.

“
Hugo,” Webb said.

“
The next colony, satellite, fuck it, you can get off at Haven for all I care. You're done. I never want to see your face again.”

Spinn's gaze didn't waver.
“If those are your orders, Captain, I will follow them. Though Admiral Pharos was the one who commissioned me. The
Zero
will be finished if she finds out you've relieved me.”

Hugo ground his teeth.
“Admiral Pharos has joined LIL.”

Spinn's brow clouded.

“It's true, Spinn,” Webb said, throwing another sterilising wipe into the disposal. “This clone thing was all her idea.”

“
No,” Spinn shook his head. “No. The Admiral charged me with watching over Webb. To keep him safe... exactly so he couldn't be used in this way by the enemy. She would never -”

Webb sighed.
“She's dicked you, my friend. Dicked us all. She put out the contracts. She recruited the Splinters.”

“
That was her too?” Hugo said, heat washing through him.

Webb nodded.
“Through untraceable back channels we gave her, most probably.”

“
Why?”

“
Lunar 1 would never fight for anyone, LIL or Service. She knew she'd have to take it by force if she wanted a united Lunar Strip and there was no way she'd get enough Servicemen aboard to do the job without drawing attention.”

“
This isn't true,” Spinn said, shaking his head. “X6-119 was the source of the Splinters' credit. She ordered it destroyed -”

“
To cover her tracks,” Webb said, staring at the bulkhead. “Under a rather convincing cover of an official mission, of which there will be a record, somewhere. I bet she knew we'd exceed the orders and send crew aboard too, Hugo. And that I'd be with them.”

Hugo went cold.
“That's why it was so heavily armed. And why every knew who we were. And... and why they...”

Webb nodded.

“No,” Spinn was still shaking his head. “She admired Duran McCullough. I know that's true. That's why she wanted his son kept safe. But she's a loyal Service Officer. She would never side with rebels. She fought against the Lunar rebellion...”

“
Did she?” Webb stared at his hands.

Spinn just stood there blinking.

“She was a captain then,” Hugo mumbled. “Captain of a relief team that was charged with clean-up work on the moon and colonies. Her unit never fought in the battles.”

Spinn was staring into space, looking dazed.

“Spinn,” Hugo said, quietly. He pulled his gaze round, wide and distant. “My orders still stand. Lock yourself away in the brig. If you're lucky we'll wait until we can get back to the Orbit before we throw you out.”

Spinn blinked at him a few times. For a moment he thought he might say something more but he just turned and left the medbay, moving like someone in a waking nightmare.

“Hugo. They may have lost their toy dictator, but they're not going to stop now. Pharos issued the assault order whilst I was there.”

“
We have to warn someone.”

“
Who?”'

Hugo balled his fists and uttered a wordless exclamation.
“We can't just let them declare war without warning anyone.”

“
Luscombe...” Webb mumbled.

“
How do we know he's not in on it all?”

“
The good admiral mentioned him whilst I was there. It doesn't look like she thought highly enough of him to include him in her schemes.”

“
Luscombe then,” Hugo muttered, sitting himself back at the workstation.

“
Then what?”

“
We'll see what his orders are.”

“
No,” Webb said. “Then what with me? Is what the Service has in mind any better than what LIL were planning? Because if not, I'd just as soon take my chances in the Haven shipyards too.”

Hugo turned in his seat. His throat felt tight.
“I would have come for you anyway,” he said, quietly. “Whether Luscombe ordered it or not.”

“
Would you?”

Hugo nodded.
“I don't care whose son you are. You've spent your life as a soldier of the Service. And you are my crew.”

Webb was shaking his head.
“The man you're thinking of is dead, Hugo. It's not me.”

“
I lost him and then I used and lied to you and almost lost you too. I've made a lot of mistakes, Webb. But I'm going to try and make them right.”

“
Just as soon as you've saved the world?”

“
Not that I'm sure the world deserves it,” Hugo muttered.

Webb stared at a point just over his head for a minute.
“I'm sorry, Hugo.”

“
What for?”

Webb looked at him then.
“I told you in Tranquillity Hall that it wasn't over. But it is now. All of it. I shouldn't have said those things.”

Hugo swallowed.
“I think I deserved some of them,” he said quietly.

A half-smile played about the clone's mouth.
“How did you know what I'd do?” he said, barely above a mumble. “In Tranquillity, I mean?”

Hugo swallowed and looked away.
“Because it's what I would have done.”

“
He believed in you, you know,” Webb said after a heavy silence. “Webb, I mean. The real Webb. He thought you were a good captain.” Hugo tightened the grip he had on the back of the chair, blinking through the heat behind his eyes. “A stubborn asshole,” Webb added, another ghost of a smile lingering about his mouth. “But a great captain.”

Hugo felt a corner of his own mouth
turn up but then he stared hard again at the clone. “Why didn't you talk?”

“
What?”

“
When we found you,” Hugo mumbled, keeping his voice steady with an effort. “The blade was still working. You hadn't talked. Why?”

Webb's smile widened.
“Because I'm an even more stubborn asshole than you?”

Hugo out-and-out grinned before he could stop himself then shook himself and stood.
“Lie down before you keel over. I'll send Rami down to fix you up. I want you fit to accompany me when we get to Command.”

“
Service Command?”

“
Yes,” Hugo said. “You know, I'm beginning to suspect Luscombe's the only one in this whole damn Orbit on our side.”

“
I guess we better hope so.”

He ordered Rami down to medbay from the bridge and took over at the controls.
“How are we doing?”

“
Okay, Captain,” More said, eyes locked out the viewscreen. They were just skirting the edge of the asteroid belt and More was steering them between the scattered rock. Hugo glanced at the course overview on the display and helped compensate the port. “Though you ought to know that we're entering Haven space. There's a mining team rigging a satellite about fifty clicks to starboard. We'll be showing up on their scanners soon.”

“
Head towards them.”

“
Sir?”

“
We're dumping Spinn.”

More threw him a confused glance.
“Sir?”

Hugo ground his teeth.
“The man's a traitor. He knew all along who Webb was and why he was targeted.”

More blinked again.
“Who was he?”

Hugo swallowed.
“He's... was... McCollough's son. LIL wanted him as a figurehead for a new revolution.”

More stared at him a moment, his normally stoic face open
with shock. He shook his head and pulled his attention back to the controls just in time to avoid a collision. “And Spinn knew?”

“
He was Pharos's man...charged with tracking Webb down and keeping him watched.”

“
The admiral
knew?”

Hugo nodded.
“Knew. Knows. Is planning a revolution with the knowledge.”

More shook his head again, staring out the screen and looking pale.

“I take it you didn't? Know, I mean.”

More threw him a baleful glance.

“Thank God. That's at least one person in my crew who hasn’t been lying to me.”

“
What are we going to do?”

“
We're getting the mutinous scum off this ship,” Hugo grated. “Then we're getting back to Command to warn them. What’s that look for?”

“
Nothing, sir.”

“
Thomas,” Hugo growled.

More was silent for a second, not looking at him.
“Permission to speak freely, sir.”

“
Just spit it out.”