Redemption Ark

‘I wondered when you’d pay me a visit,’ he said, with what struck Clavain as disarming cheerfulness. He lay on his back, his head on a pillow, his hands steepled across his chest, but in every sense appearing relaxed and calm.

Clavain’s exoskeleton eased him into a sitting position, shifting pressure from one set of sores to another.

‘I’m afraid things have been a tiny bit difficult,’ Clavain said. ‘But I’m glad to see that you’re in one piece. It wasn’t propitious to have you thawed until now.’

‘I understand,’ Remontoire said, with a dismissive wave of one hand. ‘It can’t…’

‘Wait.’ Clavain looked at his old friend, taking in the slight changes in his facial appearance that had been necessary for Remontoire to function as an agent in Yellowstone society. Clavain had become used to him being totally hairless, like an unfinished mannequin.

‘Wait what, Clavain?’

‘There are some ground rules you need to be aware of, Rem. You can’t leave this room, so please don’t embarrass me by making an attempt to do so.’

Remontoire shrugged, as if this was no great matter. I wouldn’t dream of it. What else?‘

‘You can’t communicate with any system beyond this room, not while you’re in here. So, again, please don’t try.’

‘How would you know if I did try?’

‘1 would.’

‘Fair enough. Anything else?’

‘I don’t know if I can trust you yet. Hence the precautions, and my general reluctance to wake you before now.’

‘Perfectly understandable.’

‘I’m not finished. I dearly want to trust you, Rem, but I’m not certain that I can. And I can’t afford to risk the success of this mission.’ Remontoire started to speak, but Clavain raised a finger and continued talking. ‘That’s why I won’t be taking any chances. None at all. If you do anything, no matter how apparently trivial, that I think might be in any way to the detriment of the mission, I’ll kill you. No ifs, no buts. Absolutely no trial. We’re a long way from the Ferrisville Convention now, a long way from the Mother Nest.’

‘I gathered we were on a ship,’ Remontoire said. ‘And we’re accelerating very, very hard. I wanted to find something I could drop to the floor, so that I might have an idea of exactly how hard. But you’ve done a very good job of leaving me with nothing. Still, I can guess. What is it now — four and a half gees?’

‘Five,’ Clavain said. ‘And we’ll soon be pushing to six and higher.’

‘This room doesn’t remind me of any part of Nightshade. Have you captured another lighthugger, Clavain? That can’t have been easy.’

‘I had some help.’

‘And the high rate of acceleration? How did you manage that without Skade’s magic box of tricks?’

‘Skade didn’t create that technology from scratch. She stole it, or enough pieces to figure out the rest. She wasn’t the only one with access to it, however. I met a man who had tapped the same motherlode.’

‘And this man is aboard the ship?’

‘No, he left us to our own devices. It’s my ship, Rem.’ Clavain whipped out an arm encased in the support rig and patted the rough metal wall of Remon-toire’s cell. ‘She’s called Zodiacal Light. She’s carrying a small army. Skade’s ahead of us, but I’m not going to let her get her hands on those weapons without a struggle.’

‘Ah. Skade.’ Remontoire nodded, smiling.

‘Something amusing you?’

‘Has she been in touch?’

‘In a manner of speaking, yes. That’s why I woke you. What are you getting at?’

‘Did she make it clear what had…’ Remontoire trailed off, leaving Clavain aware that he was being observed closely. ‘Evidently not.’

‘What?’

‘She nearly died, Clavain. When you escaped from the comet, the one where we met the Master of Works.’

‘Clearly she got better.’

‘Well, that very much depends…’ Again, Remontoire trailed off. ‘This isn’t about Skade, is it? I can see that concerned paternal look in your eye.’ In one easy movement he swung himself off the bed, sitting quite normally on the edge, as if the five gees of acceleration did not apply to him at all. Only a tiny twitching vein in the side of his head betrayed the tension he was under. ‘Let me guess. She still has Felka, doesn’t she.’

Clavain said nothing, waiting for Remontoire to continue.

‘I tried to have Felka come with me and the pig,’ he said, ‘but Skade wasn’t having it. Said Felka was more useful to her as a bargaining chip. I couldn’t talk her out of it. If I’d have argued too strenuously, she wouldn’t have let me come after you at all.’

‘You came to kill me.’

‘I came to stop you. My intention was to persuade you to come back with me to the Mother Nest. Of course, I’d have killed you if it came to it, but then you’d have done precisely the same to me if it was something you believed in sufficiently.’ Remontoire paused. ‘I believed I could talk you out of it. No one else would have given you a chance.’

‘We’ll talk about that later. It’s Felka who matters now.’

There was a long silence between the two men. Clavain adjusted his position, determined that Remontoire should not see how uncomfortable he was.

‘What’s happened?’ Remontoire asked.