I frowned. “What key difference?”
“On the first run, you were being hit by multiple pressures. Adika’s relationship crisis. A disturbing target mind. Your own reaction to finding Fran’s body. Having to avoid getting too close to Sapphire and her team was an additional stress factor. On the second run, you just had to cope with a single target mind.”
Lucas pulled a pained face. “I was worried about letting you take on chasing Mercury. You were in an emotional whirlpool after waiting to see if Rothan would live or die. You’d watched that unsettling message from Fran. Adding the pressure of reading Mercury was obviously going to be a strain, but I couldn’t think of any viable alternative options.”
“That’s because there weren’t any other options. There wasn’t time to get another telepath to take over our target, you couldn’t order us to walk away and leave Mercury free to burn the Fire Casualty Centre, and you couldn’t send our Strike team after him without my support. Just imagine what would have happened to Forge, and to Sapphire’s Beta team as well, if I hadn’t warned them about Mercury dropping that fire bomb on them.”
Lucas winced. “Exactly. So I risked setting things up to ambush Mercury. I thought we could pull out at any moment if you seemed under too much strain. I wasn’t allowing for Sapphire’s Beta team spying on our comms and disrupting our chase. I’ve never known an emergency run descend into total chaos like that. I’m terribly sorry. You should really hit me again.”
“I don’t want to hit you again. What happened wasn’t your fault. It wasn’t Soren’s fault either. You must understand why he reacted the way he did.”
“Everyone understands why Soren reacted the way he did,” said Lucas sadly. “Most human beings capable of emotion would have lost control in a similar situation.”
I hesitated before speaking again. I had some questions bothering me. I thought I knew the answers to them but I had to be sure. “What happened at the end of the run? I’ve got fragments of Soren’s thoughts, Mercury’s thoughts, and Forge’s thoughts all muddled up together. There’s an image of Mercury falling. He’s dead, isn’t he?”
“Yes.”
“Soren?”
“I’m afraid he’s dead too.”
“But Forge is alive, isn’t he?” I asked urgently. “He must be. There’s what has to be an image from his thoughts, where he’s holding onto the ladder and looking down at the other two falling.”
“Forge is very much alive,” said Lucas. “He’ll have some dramatic bruises for the next few days, but the Strike team are used to being covered in bruises.”
I sighed with relief. “Is there any more news about Rothan?”
“Rothan’s condition is steadily improving. His doctors say that his youth and physical fitness should mean he makes a rapid recovery.”
I gave another sigh. “That’s good about Forge and Rothan. Not so good about Soren. I hope Sapphire won’t blame us for his death.”
“I’m sure she won’t. Her own people were there and will tell her what happened.”
Multiple thoughts were churning through my mind, but one was more important than the rest. “If Mercury is dead, then we’ve nothing to lead us to Jupiter or Mars, and the joint attack is only a week away.”
“It’s no longer a joint attack,” said Lucas. “Venus was supposed to stab you, and Mercury was going to light a great fire, but they’re both dead. Jupiter is just a puppet master, so that means only Mars will be attacking, and we have a full week to work out his plan and deal with him.”
He paused. “I knew you’d be asking all these questions, Amber. I accepted I’d need to answer them to give you some peace of mind, but you must stop worrying about the case now. Buzz was right about bringing you Outside. She says you should stay here for at least another six hours to complete your recovery, and I feel we should follow her instructions exactly.”
“Six hours! It looks as if the sun will be setting soon, so we’ll freeze to death with just these Carnival and Halloween cloaks over our ordinary clothes. Where did these cloaks come from anyway?”
Lucas laughed. “When we came out here and discovered how cold it was, I sent a couple of the Strike team back into the Hive to scavenge extra clothing. The exit is surrounded by offices, so the only things around were some boxes of costume cloaks and masks left behind after an office party. We’ll have proper clothes and tents soon though. The Beta team are on their way through the Hive, and they’re bringing all the camping equipment we used on our long trip Outside.”
Lucas reached up to adjust the crystal unit in his ear. “Adika, how long will it be before the tents get here? I’d like to get Amber out of this icy wind as soon as possible. I wouldn’t mind getting myself out of the icy wind as well.”
I heard a faint murmur that was Adika answering him. I wriggled an arm free to adjust my own ear crystal and discovered it was missing. Lucas had probably stolen it to stop me being disturbed by the sound of voices.
“I’m delighted to hear that.” Lucas adjusted his ear crystal again, and turned back to me. “The Beta team should be here soon. Buzz is coming with them in case you need her support. Like most of the Hive, she’s afraid of Outside, so she’ll be staying just inside the exit doors. Her plan is to work on her fear so she can eventually join us Outside at times like this.”
“You think we’ll be taking refuge Outside on a regular basis?”
“Back in the early days of your telepathic training, we had a conversation about the Hive needing you to fill a dangerously stressful role. I said that your unit staff would do everything we could to help you relax and be happy.”
“I remember. We discussed the huge apartment, the luxury food, and,” I pulled a face, “Lottery choosing attractive young men for my Strike team.”
“We knew you liked being in the park. I thought you found the minds of the birds and animals helpful, so the park keeper has been bringing in new species. I should have made the logical connection that being Outside would help you even more, but I didn’t. You used to have such a great terror of Outside that I assumed it would keep having a negative effect on you. Foolish of me.”
“It wasn’t foolish at all.”
“Yes, it was. A Tactical Commander shouldn’t make the basic mistake of failing to re-examine his options after a situation radically changes. Buzz walked into our unit, looked at things with a fresh perspective, and told us the blindingly obvious.”
Lucas paused. “Today you hit your limit, overloaded, and collapsed. If you show any signs of fragmentation on future runs then we’re taking you Outside immediately. I …”
He broke off because there was the sound of voices from somewhere behind us. “That must be the Beta team arriving with the tents. Would you like us to have a tent over here where it’s quiet, or shall we join the rest of them by the camp fire?”
I felt an odd pleasure at the mention of the word fire. It rekindled images of the sheet of flame falling down the air vent, and Mercury’s delight at the thought of men burning like human candles. I was clearly suffering some lingering effects from sharing the firebug’s thoughts. I shook my head to dismiss them.
“You want us to have a tent over here then?” Lucas reached for his dataview.
I realized he’d misinterpreted me shaking my head. “No, I’d like to join the others by the fire.” I clutched my array of cloaks and scrambled to my feet. “Where is it?”
Lucas stood up, the dark Halloween cloak billowing around him in the wind. “This way.”
We walked through the trees, and now I could smell smoke on the wind. I quickened my pace, eager to reach the fire, and instantly wondered if my eagerness was my own or belonged to Mercury. I could convince myself it was my own eagerness. On the long trip Outside, we’d sat round the camp fire on dry evenings, cooking food, talking, and laughing at Eli’s jokes. Fires were attractively warm and friendly things, especially on a bitterly cold day like this.
I saw a crowd of men in a clearing ahead of us, busily erecting tents, and pa
used to watch the frantic activity. The Alpha and Beta Strike teams were working together, so I was struck by the number of them. There’d be a few more bodyguards watching me from among the trees as well.
“Forty men on my Strike team,” I muttered. “More than a hundred people in my Telepath Unit. All of them fussing over the wellbeing of one telepath. Is it really worth it?”
Lucas smiled. “Respectfully point out that we all do plenty of other work as well as fussing over your wellbeing, Amber, but yes, it’s well worth it. How many times have you stopped an assault or murder before it happened?”
“I didn’t stop Fran’s murder.”
“Nobody could have stopped Fran’s murder. She gave her killers information on how to avoid being caught. She arranged to meet them alone. She made them furiously angry. She did everything except hand Mars the knife he used to kill her.”
“I suppose that’s true.”
I stood still for a moment longer, troubled by my memories of the chase after Mercury, especially the way it had ended, with me hitting Lucas and screaming … Well, I didn’t know exactly what I’d screamed before I collapsed, but the whole of my Alpha Strike team would have heard it, and my bodyguards had witnessed me attacking Lucas like a wild thing.
It was going to be embarrassing facing them after that, but I had to do it sooner or later. I forced myself to walk out into the clearing, and saw all the bustle of activity stop as every man turned to stare at me. I tried to pretend to myself that their tense body language was just because they were Strike team trained and alert for danger, but failed. The truth was that my behaviour earlier had frightened them.
Adika came up to us, his face carefully neutral, and handed each of us a bulky padded jacket. I dropped my Carnival cloaks, and thankfully slid my arms into the comforting warmth.
Lucas tugged his jacket on as well. “Amber is feeling much better now. She’d like us to have one of the tents over here.”
Adika waved at the nearest tent. There was an awkward moment of silence, and I felt I had to say something.
“I’m sorry I acted strangely after the run. The combination of Mercury’s mind and Soren’s mind was very difficult, but hopefully it won’t happen again.”
“We’d certainly prefer you not to collapse again, Amber,” said Adika, “but I wouldn’t describe it as acting strangely, and there’s no need to apologize for it.”
“I was actually talking about hitting Lucas.”
Adika shrugged. “I wouldn’t describe that as acting strangely either. I’m often tempted to hit Lucas.”
I heard a ripple of laughter from the watching Strike team, and they seemed to relax. I had my telepathic abilities firmly shut down, too nervous to read even Lucas’s mind, but I could guess what they were thinking. Amber had behaved oddly after that run, but she was herself again now.
Lucas sniffed suspiciously. “What’s that dreadful smell? Please don’t tell me that you’re doing camp fire cooking again.”
“Camp fire cooking?” I repeated hopefully. “Are you making any of that pastryish, breadish thing? The one with the bits of stuff inside it?”
“We are,” said Dhiren. “We’re making some with the usual recipe, but also trying several new experiments.”
“We’re all going to die,” said Lucas, in apocalyptic tones. “Do you want to rest in the tent now, Amber?”
“No. I’d like to sit by the fire and watch them cooking.”
Lucas sighed, but led the way towards the fire. I wanted to sit right next to it, I wanted to feed it with branches until it blazed out of control, but I forced myself to pick a spot on the fringes of its warmth instead. I sat down and leaned my back against a tree.
Lucas sat next to me. “If we stay out here until the end of the six hours, we won’t be heading back to the unit until very late in the evening. You can decide whether you’d rather spend the night here in the tents.”
I grunted an acknowledgement. Dhiren, Kaden, and Eli were busy cooking food. The rest of the Alpha and Beta teams were finishing putting up tents and drifting to sit near the fire, but I noticed someone was missing.
“Where’s Forge?” I asked. “Were his bruises so bad that he had to go for medical treatment?”
“I don’t think so. He was here a few minutes ago.” Lucas called out in a louder voice. “Adika, what have you done with Forge?”
Adika was studying a tent that had a slight list to one side, but he turned his head for a moment to call back to us. “Forge is inside the Hive exit with Buzz. She wanted someone to advise her on how to adjust to being Outside, and suggested Forge, so I sent him over.”
I groaned.
“Something wrong?” asked Lucas.
“I’m just worried why Buzz specifically asked for Forge to help her. I know she thinks Forge is deliciously handsome, but I warned her he was still getting over breaking up with Shanna and isn’t ready for another serious relationship yet.”
Lucas grinned. “I think Forge can defend himself against any unwelcome advances. He’s twice Buzz’s size, trained in unarmed combat, and carrying a gun.”
“That’s true,” I said dubiously, “but Buzz can be a little unscrupulous about these things. I remember her telling me that she once trapped a boy in a lift with her so she could persuade him to kiss her.”
“If she traps Forge in a lift, he can use his ear crystal to call his Beta team to rescue him.”
I saw Eli coming towards us. He held out two plates of the oddly shaped pastry items that I remembered from our last trip, and I grabbed one.
“Which of these pastry things are made with the old recipe, and which are the experiments?” I asked.
“We’re not sure. We got a bit muddled during the cooking process.” Eli offered the other plate to Lucas.
“No, thank you.” Lucas shook his head firmly. “I’m too young to die. I’ll have a protein bar and a crunch cake later.”
I munched my way through three of the pastries, couldn’t manage the fourth one, and coaxed Lucas into eating it. Warm, contented, and full, I leant back against my tree.
“Admit it,” I said. “The pastries taste good.”
“That one was less bad than usual.” Lucas pointed towards the camp fire. “You can stop worrying about Forge. He’s over there with Eli, and the blissful expression on his face makes me think he’s been enjoying Buzz’s company.”
I watched Forge talking to Eli, and frowned. Forge did look suspiciously happy. “You think that he’s ready to move on from his relationship with Shanna then?”
Lucas laughed. “As an expert in behavioural analysis, I think that Forge has already moved on at express belt speed. Not that it takes any expertise to work out what’s just happened between him and Buzz. Most of the Strike team seem to have taken one look at Forge’s face and leapt to the same conclusion.”
Eli was certainly looking amused about something. He handed two plates of food to Forge, and leaned forward to whisper in his ear. Forge flushed with embarrassment.
I sighed. “After years of seeing Forge with Shanna on Teen Level, it’s strange to think of him being with someone else. I just hope that Buzz hasn’t rushed him into anything he’ll regret.”
Matias sneaked up behind Forge, and tried to steal a pastry from one of the plates, but Eli slapped his hand away.
“Bad manners!” he scolded.
A memory hit me. Mercury falling down the air shaft, his body in agony, his mind raging that fate was guilty of such unfairness, such injustice, such extremely bad manners.
“Did you want to speak to Forge before he goes back to Buzz?” asked Lucas.
I was too deep in shock to answer him. I’d just worked out who Jupiter was.
Chapter Twenty-seven
To avoid attracting attention, we took the lift right down to Level 100, and used an express belt there to travel back through the Hive. Everyone thought of Level 100 as the lowest of the hundred accommodation levels of the Hive, but it was really just a maze of tanks an
d pipes. It was nearly midnight when we started our journey, so there was virtually no one working among the dusty pipes to stare at the large number of muscled men loaded down with heavy backpacks.
The members of the Strike team chattered away happily, but I barely said a word as we rode through the Hive. We went through the open bulkhead doors between Navy Zone and Blue Zone, Blue Zone and Turquoise Zone, and on through the colours. All the way, my mind was focused on the problem of Jupiter.
I was sure I was right about Jupiter’s identity. I’d seen Mercury thinking the words “extremely bad manners”, the exact phrase that Sapphire had repeatedly used when talking to me. By itself, that could have just been coincidence, but Lucas had made the point that Jupiter knew too much. That was very true. What profession in the Hive would have access to information on Law Enforcement cases, while also knowing highly restricted facts about other worlds that orbited the Truesun?
If Jupiter was a telepath, then it would explain everything. A telepath could have used the phrase “extremely bad manners” when talking to Mercury. A telepath could access Law Enforcement systems. A telepath could pick up random secret information from the minds they read.
I couldn’t casually throw accusations at another telepath though. I had to talk to Jupiter first to rule out any possible mistake.
“Jump belt.” Adika’s voice interrupted my thoughts.
I followed him off the belt and to the familiar bank of express lifts that served our unit. Lift 2 was giant size, designed to take the combined Alpha and Beta teams at once, but not when they were loaded down with camping gear as well.
“The Beta team will have to wait here for the lift to come back for them,” said Adika.
Adika, Lucas, the Alpha team, and I went into the lift. I noticed that Buzz chose to stay and wait with Forge and the Beta team rather than come with us.
The lift headed up through the accommodation and industry levels of the Hive. As soon as the doors opened on Industry 1, the Strike team members hurried off with their load of camping equipment. Lucas turned to face me.