Chapter 20
"Profit and gain," the Man said. "We ply our trade across the galaxy and hold seats on every council. We send our operatives far and wide to bring information and technology and history back to our fold. And all for what?"
NG tried to keep his mind in neutral. The Man had never spoken so openly about the guild and its purpose. He felt strangely unnerved to be hearing this now, in these circumstances.
The Man beckoned for NG's goblet. "To save a civilisation that has not the wits to realise it is under threat. Countless species have come and gone, flourished and died throughout the universe. What makes this one worthy of redemption when others have floundered? Their greed astounds me."
NG leaned forward and placed his goblet on the desk. He'd never drunk so much of the guild's famed wine before, and never heated like this. He was sure the curious reaction in the jug was increasing its potency.
He didn't want to advocate on behalf of the human race, not any more, but that was his place here so he felt the obligation to speak up.
"Aston is especially decadent, anyway," he said. "And the amount of money on offer for our two operatives was obscene. People change when fortunes are to be made. Money and power. Ultimately, that's all we care about. What else is there?"
-
The light that had been flashing was dark, the pistol lying inert. The memory of a roof in the rain was somewhere Hil didn't want to go.
Pen picked it up and waved it at him. "This is from Earth. Special Forces, advanced tech that is beyond anything we've seen out here. Bio-feedback, dna-tagged, nano-actuators. Ye gods, Hil, do you want to know what even having this here has triggered?"
No, obviously. Hil felt cold deep inside, thinking that those guys had been from Earth - the Earth military had sent in a Special Forces team after him. That elevated the whole situation beyond crap.
"Half my contacts want to get their hands on it to pull it apart," Pen said, "because they've never seen anything this advanced and the other half are backing away from me like I've got the plague, like I'm in league with Earth all of a sudden. Winter does not want a direct conflict on its doorstep right now. We've just disassociated ourselves from a hundred rebellions in the Between - we don't want to bring Earth forces trekking all the way out here because the Thieves' Guild screwed up. The odd piece of scrounged technology is fine, even the odd defection across the line," Pen looked at Elenor, "but waving a red rag at an Earth force kitted out with equipment like this, it's making a lot of people uncomfortable."
He put the gun down. "Anyway, that answers your question about who the assault forces were. What their interest in all this is, is anyone's guess. The other question, about the people who gave you the tab, is more complicated. The implant you retrieved has ID codes on it that we're still trying to crack. We managed to get past protections that were pretty sophisticated but we're still a way off learning anything useful. You were lucky not to blow yourself up getting it."
"I was blown up getting it," Hil said, "or at least she was."
Pen smiled grimly and looked at his watch. "We know it's a corporation - which ties in with your description of their set-up. Which one, we don't know yet but I have people working on it."
Pen paused and looked straight at him, unnerving intensity that he wasn't used to from Pen. "You realise, don't you, that Anya is probably dead."
It wasn't good to be confronted outright with that, but it had been playing on his mind. He'd spent three weeks in an iso-pod at Pen's place, days running before that, an indeterminate time at the guild and at least a week someplace after the crash so yes, he was aware that the time was probably long gone for a serious attempt at a rescue. He just didn't want to face it.
"I know they killed Mendhel," he said. "I hate to say it but yeah, I know, I wouldn't be surprised if they'd killed Anya too. We should have called for help. I can't remember why we didn't."
Pen looked at his watch again. "We don't have much time. Ele?"
Elenor opened the bag and picked out a handful of vials. "Antidote, in case you run into that strain of electrobes again. Stabilisers for the fractures, you could do with another week's worth. And these?" She held up the two vials he'd taken from Martha. "Don't use them."
It sucked to need to take meds and it was disturbing how relieved he felt to see the last two again, but he took the vials, putting those two in a separate pocket.
"What now?" he said.
Pen stood up. "It won't be long before the hooligans who raided the town house get around to checking the rest of my properties. We need to get you out of here. First though," he took a package out of his pocket, "LC asked me to give you this."
"You're kidding me," Hil said, almost snatching the package. It was small and heavy, neutral seals intact on its edges. "Is this it?"
"You know what LC's like. He wouldn't say. He did say though that you had to open it."
Hil stared at the package. He couldn't place it, couldn't dredge up any recollection of seeing it before. He tried to place it back in the mess of memories he had of fleeing the lab, helping LC out and desperately trying to make it to Skye before the building exploded behind them. There was nothing.
He tore open the seals and shook out the contents. A module not much bigger than his palm tumbled out. It was an AI memory back up module, which explained the weight. He tried again to place it, but if this was what they'd taken from the lab, that chunk of his memory was still missing, goosed from the accident.
He looked up at Pen. "I've never seen it before."
"There's an ASM over there. You can hook up on remote. We're shielded so don't worry about taking off the patch. If you want to be alone, I'm not going to argue. You've got five minutes then we're gonna have to go."
Pen picked up the pistol and walked out, followed by Elenor, who went up close and put an arm around the big man's waist as they walked.
The thought of hooking up with a module of uncertain origin gave him the creeps but why would LC say to open the package if he wasn't supposed to tie into the thing? It could fry the implant but that wasn't anything new these days. But worst case, it could kill him. A few weeks ago, he wouldn't have dreamed of doing what he was about to do. He peeled the dampening patch away from his neck. The skin beneath was smooth and cool. He could feel the outline of the implant embedded below the surface. The module was inactive. All he needed to do was drop it into the access machine and it would fire up. He had nothing to lose. If it screwed him, it screwed him. He was screwed anyway.
He watched the ASM accept the module and power up then settled on the sofa, head resting on a cushion at one end and feet up at the other. When he searched out and allowed the connection, it sparked into life with a jolt and a buzz that made him wince. There were a few seconds of static that rose in pitch to a point that was almost unbearable then a sudden quiet before the data stream kicked in.
The information that flooded into his mind was overwhelming at first. Star charts, calcs, lists of numbers and images flashed in front of his eyes at dizzying speed. He gasped and clenched his fists, the urge to disengage overcome by the need to know what it was. He couldn't comprehend it all straight away but the data would be there in his memory to be accessed.
Eventually, the flow of data slowed and the connection became passive. He began to probe gently, searching through the stream, looking for any sign of identification or source code, anything that would explain any of this mess. He reversed the direction of momentum the way Skye had shown him and started to query the module itself. It was tricky and dangerous and she'd always warned him away from trying it with an unknown in case of tripwires that would send a spark back at you that could kill, but in the circumstances he didn't care and took as much care as he could manage while working as fast as he could. There were barriers but he eased through and, with a jolt, realised the identity of the AI. She gave him access to a stream of images, himself and LC seen through the eyes of security cameras mounted outside the ship, running. It skipped to a scene in
side the airlock, an argument, images of LC that matched the flashes of memory he'd had. He'd won the argument and, as if his brain had been cleaned out with detergent, he knew what was coming, knew why and watched with fascination as the scene played out from the AI's memory as clear as his own.
The stored data stopped abruptly and Hil lay quietly, keeping the connection neutral and open, letting it all absorb. A tug on his ankle brought him back to the moment and he disconnected, feeling the emptiness like a loss.
"We have to go," Pen said gently.
Hil opened his eyes and sat up. He retrieved the module and dropped it back into the packet.
"It's Skye," he said. "It's all on here. What happened, why. She erased it so the guild wouldn't find any of it. LC must have had this the whole time. Did he talk to you about any of it?"
Pen shook his head. "No, but c'mon we really have to go."
"I can't let anyone get hold of this," Hil said, holding up the package. "It's got everything on it, coordinates for the drop, everything."
"Well, give it here and I'll find out who the bastards are," Pen said.
"No, you don't understand. I can give you the coordinates but this?"
"What else is on it, Hil?"
There was no way he could say. But an idea of what he had to do was beginning to form. He'd risked everything to give LC a chance to get away and now he knew why. It was time to finish this.
"Pen, I need you to help me," he said.
"Ye gods, Hil, what do you think I'm doing? Come on, we can talk on the way."
The all-terrain jeep parked outside had its engine running. Two of Pen's guys covered their exit from the building and Pen pushed him inside.
It seemed to take forever to get out of the city. The sprawl of low buildings stretching out from the edge of the city boundary gradually thinned until they were driving through mostly deserted scrubland. They drove along the coast for a while then took a sharp turn inland.
No one said a word, the hum of the air conditioning in the jeep almost hypnotising him into sleep. Elenor had slapped the patch back onto his neck before they left and he had the feeling that everyone else was shielded too.
They switched vehicles twice, one time in an underground garage in a small mining settlement just outside the city - a quick exchange with little ceremony. The second switch was outside on a desert road. Another jeep overtook them in a cloud of dust, swerving in front of them so that both vehicles careered off the track. Pen swore and yelled at them to stay inside. He jumped out and ran to the other jeep.
Hil watched, using every ounce of restraint he had not to push open the door and rush over there. Elenor put her hand on his leg, calming. Pen looked pissed, leaning on the open window and talking heatedly with the driver. The guy gave him an envelope. Pen opened it and pulled out a data board, glaring at it angrily, turning to glare at Hil and turning back to speak to the driver again. Finally, Pen waved to them and Elenor gave him a shove.
The heat out on the road was stifling. And the glare of sunlight from the pale rocky surface made his eyes sting. They ran to the other vehicle and Pen held open the door without a word. Hil tried to stop and stand there, wanting to know what was going on. Now his head wasn't pounding, his temper was finding its feet again.
"Pen," he said, wanting to argue and make a stand.
"Get in."
"At least tell me what's going on."
Pen pulled the data board out of the envelope again and held it up. "Recognise these two?"
Oh crap. It was a still image taken from a security camera, not a great picture but obviously Pen's pad at the market place, two people captured on visuals entering the den. Two people who shouldn't have been there. His world took another tilt.
"I take it you do. Hil, get in the jeep."
It was hard to argue with Pen at any time, when the big man was angry it was impossible. And Hil felt like he'd been punched in the chest. He bit his lip and climbed into the jeep. Pen jumped in beside him and slammed the door, yelling at the driver to go.
"Who are they," he demanded as they skidded off the verge and took off.
Hil looked at the picture again, resting it on his knee. "That's Kase Wibowski," he said. "And that is Martha J Hetherington. They're guild extraction agents."