The Grand Wheel

He turned back to Scarne. ‘Let me tell you about that Marguerite Dom. He’s a maniac – he just has to gamble! He doesn’t care what he has to put up as a stake, he’ll sacrifice anything, anyone, Sol itself. He’ll put up his own mother and go for broke …’

The Pawarce figure began to dissolve, becoming insubstantial, transparent, holes appearing in it. In seconds it had dissipated into random fragments and joined the mist.

The roaring and hissing grew louder, then faded as Scarne was drawn through a black, vortex-like tunnel. The round, pebble-eyed face of the Legitimacy interrogator loomed up out of nowhere, raving at him. ‘You’ve made a mess of your situation, Scarne. Trying to fool us with this – junk! Now you’re going to have to make it back into the Wheel as best you can. You’re on your own. If you can’t come up with something genuine soon ….’

‘They’re up there,’ Scarne groaned. ‘I swear to the gods the equations are up there on Luna …’

The nightmarish vision collapsed into a jumble of vague impressions, of disturbed mutterings and blank periods accompanied by nothing except nausea.

He awoke to find himself lying on a bench. Above him soared the vaulted roof of Sanfran station, and for some moments he stared at it, unable to move. Then, with an effort, he levered himself to a sitting position, his head throbbing.

As he checked the time, he noticed that he was wearing his own clothes again. Just over an hour had passed since he had entered the washroom on platform sixteen. His body like lead, he dragged himself to the nearest holbooth, and soon, after getting the number from the directory, he was through to the Make-Out Club.

Cadence answered, slipping into the chair across the table from him in the little holbooth room.

Her eyes widened to see him. ‘What happened to you, Cheyne? Where have you got to? Jerry’s furious –’

‘I had a black-out,’ Scarne interrupted her. ‘I don’t know what happened. I just woke up on a bench here in the station.’

‘Oh. Are you all right?’

He nodded. ‘I think so.’

‘The others called in to say you’d disappeared. They’re out looking for you now. We’d just about written you off, this end.’

‘Well, here I am. I’ll find my own way to you, shall I?’

She frowned. ‘How come they didn’t find you at the station? Did you go somewhere else?’

‘I’ve no idea.’

‘Well, you’d better come right over here. Things are happening. I’ll tell Jerry – don’t be long, now.’

‘What things?’ he started to say, but she cut the connection. The holroom dwindled. He was back in the plastic booth, staring at the scanning plate.

I played it all wrong at the SIS centre, he told himself as he emerged from the booth. I have other information I could have traded – about the Pendragon creature, about Dom’s galactic contacts. But it’s too late now. They’d never believe me.

The drug, he thought suddenly. It was the drug that was responsible for these mental experiences – coupled, probably, with impetus given by the jackpot’s brain-charge. That item, too, he would file away for future reference.

Wearily he trudged towards platform sixteen.

‘What are you, some sort of brain-rotted cripple?’ Soma accused harshly when Scarne reported to his office. ‘You want nurses, or something?’

Scarne was apologetic. ‘I’m sorry,’ he said.

Soma seemed unwilling or unable to give him more than a few seconds of his attention. He was ferociously busy, glancing through piles of tapes and papers he had stacked on his desk, handing some to an underling who incinerated them, while others went back to file. While he was doing this he barked orders at people who came into the office.

‘Whatever it is, it can be sorted out later,’ he said. ‘We’re leaving. Word just came through: the Legitimacy is staging a raid on Dom’s demesne – the bastards will be sorry for pulling a stunt like that, by Lady. Not that it makes much difference, we have our plans, too. Dom and his retinue are pulling out, to Chasm. That includes you and me.’

‘Chasm,’ Scarne repeated thoughtfully. ‘That’s quite a way from here.’

‘The Legits won’t be able to get their claws on us there,’ Soma said. ‘We were to have had a venue there shortly in any case. We’ve brought our schedule forward a bit, that’s all.’

‘Is it just you and me that are going from here? What about the others?’ Scarne coughed softly.

Soma looked up. He grinned wolfishly. ‘Hungry for your little girl friend, eh? Don’t worry, Cadence is on the list too – if only to keep you happy. You should be proud. You’re one of Dom’s specials.’

Scarne suddenly became concerned for his SIS supply. ‘Have I got time to pack a case?’

‘Don’t be more than five minutes.’

As he left, Cadence passed him on her way into the office, and smiled nervously to see him. He hurried to his apartment and collected what he needed. Minutes later he rejoined her, Soma and three other members of the Make-Out staff in a cubicle elevator which took them all the way to the summit of the tower city.