‘No. At first, for a short while, I was somewhere else. Working, but not so hard. I was alone, I think. By that, I mean there were no people about. But I sensed other souls like me. They were distant. Not so clear.’
Flowers looked at Mary. She gave him a worried look back. Pierce was obviously referring to “Pandora’s Box”.
‘Could you sense how many?’
‘No. But lots.’
‘Where were you?’
‘At first? Not on Prebos. As I said, there were no other people. On Prebos you always know there are other people about.’
‘OK, Pierce, thank you. You’re being very helpful.’
‘How?’
‘In a minute if you don’t mind: we’ll come back to that. Can I ask you more?’
‘OK, go ahead.’
Scat’s curiosity had pulled him back from the window. He was engaging in the conversation, rather than just mindlessly passing on Pierce’s answers.
‘For how long were you up there, or wherever, before being put to work on the Runnymede wormhole?’
‘I’m fairly certain I was on Prebos for years.’
‘How many years?’ Mary asked, forgetting herself.
‘Four or five perhaps—though there wasn’t much purpose to it. It was as if they didn’t quite know what they wanted to do, or how to go about it. It was very chaotic. Then I was brought here, to Runnymede.’
Again, Mary and Flowers exchanged glances. Scat could see by their worried expressions that they were expecting these kinds of answers.
‘When did you begin to sense there were other people about?’
‘That was when I was on Prebos. Perhaps a day or two after I first realised I was a soul. It could have been more or less.’
Flowers turned to Mary.
‘That would coincide with what Makindra has owned up to,’ he said. He then turned his attention back to the space just to the left of Scat.
‘Let’s jump ahead, Pierce. When the wormholes stopped working, more recently, why didn’t you pass through?’
‘You mean onwards and upwards?’ Pierce asked, mockingly.
‘Well, yes.’
Pierce didn’t answer right away. He stayed silent for an awfully long time. Mary spoke.
‘Pierce? Are you still there? Has Mr Flowers upset you?’
‘You think I’m upset?’
Mary didn’t know how to answer. It seemed a logical observation.
‘No I’m not upset. I’m thinking.’
Scat cut in.
‘Pierce, if you say you’re a soul, how come you got “soul” while you were still alive?’
‘I don’t know! I said I’m thinking about that right now.’
Scat gave Mary and Flowers his answer. They both looked concerned, though Scat couldn’t work out whether the concern was for Pierce or for something else. He continued to ask his own questions.
‘When Lynthax had you working the wormhole did you understand what was happening to you?’
‘Of course I did. I can sense you, I could sense them. I reached out several times, but the unbelieving beggars weren’t listening.’
Scat passed on his reply.
‘So you knew you were confined to a, a,’ Flowers had trouble knowing what to call the energy marbles, ‘the marble?’
‘Yes.’
‘Did you try to escape?’
‘I couldn’t. I was still stuck inside the marble when they brought me on board their starflyer, or whatever it was. They had some kind of sub-light lock on it. They didn’t release the lock until they had replicated everything. Even then, I couldn’t leave. Until now.’
‘How many other souls passed through you to the new planets?’ Flowers asked.
‘Thousands. I stopped counting. It was awful.’
Scat could sense the feeling in Pierce’s words.
‘I think he's getting a little emotional, sir.’
‘OK. We’ll stop now. Thanks Pierce. Would you give us a few minutes?’
Scat looked at Flowers as though he was a moron. How would Flowers know if Pierce was giving them 10 seconds?
Mary sat back in her seat and tried to relax. Flowers got up and walked across the room, deep in thought.
‘It seems to confirm everything, Mary. Sadly.’
‘Yes, I suppose it does. What’s next?’
‘We let him know what’s going on,’ Flowers said, throwing a thumb in Scat’s direction.
Well excuse me, Scat thought, I’m still here, even if Pierce has buggered off for a nap!
150
Flowers began to explain. ISRA had been thinking long and hard about the corporations’ role in the Outer-Rim. So had the Blocs. Things were changing fast. There had been developments.
He twittered on about democracy, sovereignty, allegiance to Earth, migration and a few other related topics. Scat nodded, happy to be free of Pierce for a short while. He had gone quiet.
Then Flowers got to the point.
‘Scat, we now know a lot more about the reason for the wormhole failures.’ He paused, looking at Mary.
‘We now understand the technology was “borrowed”.’ Flowers actually made air-quotes with his fingers to emphasis the point. ‘It was borrowed from another species, Scat, another quite advanced species.’
Scat looked at Mary for confirmation.
‘Yes,’ she said, nodding.
Flowers continued.
‘We now know that this species didn’t give Lynthax this wormhole technology. Rather Lynthax acquired it from a defective craft in the vicinity of Prebos. Actually, you were there when they found it.’
Scat added two and two together. So ISRA’s gotten some Lynthax employees to talk.
‘What else did they tell you?’ he asked.
‘Well,’ Flowers said, again looking at Mary, carefully considering his next words, ‘He wasn’t happy about it.’
Scat didn’t understand. Then it dawned on him.
‘You mean you’ve been speaking to this “species”?’
‘Yes. What did you mean?’
‘I meant, what else did Lynthax tell you? What does he look like?’
‘Oh! Well not much,’ Flowers replied, ignoring Scat’s second question. ‘Not until we confronted them with what the Collector told us. That’s his name, by the way. Or at least that’s what he calls himself. Since then, of course it’s been fairly easy to get them to tell us what they were up to – with the exception of Petroff, of course; he’s still holding out for a deal. But that’s not the point.’
Again, Flowers paused.
‘Scat, we’ve been invited to send a diplomatic mission to the Collector’s galaxy.’
Scat’s eyes widened a little.
‘We’re really in no position to say no. This trip is really to verify what the Collector had told us.’
‘And that was …?’
‘That the Collectors use human souls to power their wormholes.’
‘What?’
‘Humans souls.’ Flowers looked embarrassed. It did sound very “out there”, no matter how many times he ran it past himself, and even though he was there when the Collector first appeared.
‘How many?’
‘Quite a few, so we gather, although it’s early days. We haven’t been talking for long,’ Flowers replied. ‘But the Collector is seriously pissed at us for holding him back from his last harvest, so he isn’t being too, well, expansive. We have to tease it out of him, carefully.’
‘So Pierce is …’ Scat began to say, his voice trailing off.
‘Real. Yes’
‘No way! He’s just a monkey on my back—or in my head. How could he have given you anything to help you with what this Collector guy told you?’ Scat didn’t want to believe it.
‘Well he did. He confirmed Prebos. He confirmed other souls. The time-line was right. He had already confirmed the name of the person who killed him. Remember Scat, you were never privy to any of these things. Only Pierce was. The Collector and Pierce t
ie up.’
Scat slumped a little further down his chair. True, he had known for years that Petroff had Pierce vented, but, not by whom, exactly.
‘This “Collector” guy: he speaks English?’ he asked.
‘No Scat. He doesn’t,’ Flowers replied. ‘He brought a soul with him to act as translator. Or so he said he did. We all heard what was being said, but we weren’t sure how.’ He looked at Mary. ‘Now it’s clear. In any event, Scat, we’ve been invited to send a team to establish relations.’
‘So why are you telling me this? Who else knows?’
‘Very few people know about it at the moment, but that’ll change. And we’re telling you because we have a proposition for you.’
Scat had given up guessing about what might be next. He just nodded.
‘In return for your pardon, the pardon of all the rebels, and independence for Trevon, we want you to bring Pierce along with us on the mission: the diplomatic mission.’
Scat sat up, ready to punch the air, but something brought him to a full stop. He hesitated.
‘But I already have a pardon, don’t I,’ he said, knowing nothing had yet arrived.
‘Yes, but, the Blocs are insisting that we tie all of this together—your attendance along with Pierce, in return for pardons and independence. So is the ISRA board.’
‘Sounds like you’re desperate.’
‘We are, Scat.’ Flowers conceded. ‘I’m sure it’s obvious. You’re the only one with a lead into Pierce. We think we could use him at the other end. On the QT.’
‘Not me then?’
‘No, well, maybe yes. As an interpreter—for Pierce.’ Mary clarified. ‘Really, it’s a terrific deal. We just need your word that you’ll see it through to the end. When you get back, Trevon gets its independence, subject to it trading with Earth.’
‘Independence? For chaperoning a ghost?’ Scat couldn’t believe his luck—this monkey on his back was turning out to be quite useful. Pierce, don’t you go anywhere, he thought to himself.
‘I’m glad you’re pleased, Scat,’ Pierce replied. ‘Just sign on the dotted line.’
‘Yes,’ Mary replied. ‘As we say, things are changing. They’ll change even more over time. This will be the most important diplomatic mission ever undertaken. After all, it’s a meeting between species from different galaxies. And we’d like to come back with our souls.’
Scat didn’t need any further encouragement. He had already made an assessment. This Collector guy would not have invited Earth to send a diplomatic mission just so’s he could take a few more souls. And, in any case, taking their souls would likely spoil the talks. If signing a document and attending some diplomatic mission meant that Trevon got its independence, and the rebels got their pardons, then he would do it.
‘Where do I sign?’
151
Puffed up and smiling, Scat strode into his bunk and headed straight for the coffee percolator.
‘Birdie, we’ve just been pardoned,’ he said, looking over his shoulder. ‘Oh, and ISRA promises to give Trevon its independence sometime in 2221: fully endorsed by the UN. I’ve just sent Nettles the details.’
Goosen didn’t say anything. He wiped his eyes free of sleep.
‘And we’ve got ourselves some long-term employment,’ Scat added. ‘We’ll be accompanying ISRA on a mission concerning some stolen “souls”, or whatever they are, and a bunch of aliens called the Collectors, or some such thing.’
Scat was immensely pleased with himself, but Goosen wasn’t catching the mood. He expected more of a reaction.
‘Come on buddy boy. Smile. It’s what we’ve been working for.’
Goosen sat upright on his bed. He looked at Scat as though he was on drugs.
‘Been speaking to Pierce again, have you?’ he asked.
‘Yes—wait. Yes, I have, but on behalf of ISRA,’ Scat replied, realising Goosen was being sceptical. ‘Here!’
Scat brought up a copy of the pardon on his graf and threw it across to him. He switched on the coffee percolator and leaned against the sideboard, watching Goosen as he flicked through the clauses.
Goosen looked up.
‘Jeeze, Scat. So it’s true. We have a pardon. And independence?’ This time his face beamed.
‘Yep! By the end of 2221, so long as Nettles doesn’t overdo the demands, that is. He’d be a prick if he did.’
‘A pardon and independence? Just for going along on some junket?’
‘That’s what I thought, but “things are changing”, Mary says, so we caught a lucky break at last. It’s about time.’
‘I’ll say. So, when are you off?’
‘Not just me, Birdie, you too. And Pierce.’
Goosen looked at him sideways again. The mention of Pierce made him think that this was one very elaborate leg-pull. He looked disappointed. Scat noticed.
‘Seriously, Birdie. Pierce exists. You’ve my permission to speak to her highness about it. She convinced me!’
Birdie just looked at him, sighed and flopped back onto his bed.
‘You poor, poor bastard.’
152
Goosen wasn’t truly convinced until Mary asked him to sign a confidentiality agreement and liability disclaimer. She then placed his pardon on the desk, signed it, scanned it and handed it over. She congratulated him and then told him to pack. They were to join the other diplomatic mission personnel as they gathered on Trevon for a briefing. They were then to get some dedicated training.
‘Bless!’ Goosen said quietly to himself. ‘I’m farking free at last!’
‘Free to help Scat with Pierce. For as long as it takes, with pay,’ Mary reminded him.
‘Yes, of course, Ma’am. And with a clothing allowance, I see.’ That had pleased him no end: his coveralls were starting to fall off him.
‘Any ideas about where you’ll go afterwards, Goosen?’ she asked.
‘Trevon, of course: it’s my home.’
‘And you, Scat?’
‘Well to be honest Mary, Earth isn’t for me anymore,’ Scat replied. Besides, I’m persona non-gratis—still, he thought to himself. I doubt a pardon will sway public opinion, any. ‘I’ll probably plumb for Trevon, unless we can get back to Concord.’
‘Well, good luck with that. In the meantime, your transport to the starflyer is ready. Don’t forget to take Pierce along for the ride.’
‘They won’t forget me,’ Pierce assured Mary. ‘I’ll stick to this one like a limpet mine. One false move and he’s history.’
‘Pierce says he’s here and ready to go, Mary,’ Scat said.
Outside the building, Scat loaded the baggage cart with a couple of duffel bags. It was all he had left in the world. Goosen had even less. Aside from his graf, he had a small holdall, but at least he was smiling. He was genuinely pleased to be a free man again. Scat slapped him on the back.
‘Let’s go. We’ve got work to do,’ he said.
‘Ease up, Scat. We’re not on a mission-mission, we’re on a diplomatic junket, chaperoning a ghost with diplomatic immunity and all that. After what we’ve put up with these past years, it’ll be like slumming it at Disney. Let’s enjoy ourselves for a change.’
Just inside the door of the NARRie quarters, Mary took issue with Flowers.
‘Why couldn’t we tell him that we’d already agreed to independence: that we couldn’t seriously try to deny them it—given what we now know about ourselves?’
‘And argue with him?’ Flowers asked. ‘No. If that man knew independence was a given, he would have told us to take a hike.’
‘But are you comfortable leading him on like that? Aren’t you the least bit worried for your …?’ Mary could not quite bring herself to say the soul word. It was very personal. She felt as though she was getting too close to Flower’s inner-self just by raising the topic. Flowers heard the hesitancy in her voice, but he understood what she was trying to say.
‘It wouldn’t have worried me a month ago, Mary, and, yes, it does worry me now
. But we need Pierce with us on that mission, that’s all there is to it. And that means we need Scat. I’ll worry about my soul afterwards.’
Mary looked across the apron to watch Scat and Goosen disappear on their way to the Starflyer. She agreed with him but added a caution.
‘Just don’t leave it too late, Charles.’
153
A technician dimmed the lights and the speaker rose from the front row to make his way to the lectern. He played with his glasses, fiddled with his jacket sleeve and then picked up a laser pointer. A long moment later, he realised it wasn’t the projector remote and put it down. The technician flicked another switch.
Out front a slide appeared:
‘The Challenges Ahead’
ISRA Pre-Talks Address
Professor Thomas P Feldman
Department of Inter-species Diplomacy
Trevon
‘Good afternoon, ladies, gentlemen. Welcome to the Department of Inter-species Diplomacy,’ he said as he smiled nervously. ‘I never thought I’d get to say that in my life time, but there you are—finally.’
No one laughed so he ploughed on, covering much of what Scat and Goosen already knew about Lynthax, Prebos, the wormhole, and then thousands of wormholes. There then followed none at all, millions of emigrants stranded on planets 10s of thousands of light years from Earth, the unexpected visit, the resulting diplomatic confusion and consternation, the secrecy and so on.
Then he moved on to the part in the story that was to involve Goosen, Pierce, himself and the other 200-odd delegates.
‘…and so, we move on to the most difficult diplomatic challenge in human history.
‘The Collectors are not of our galaxy. We know very little about them, aside from what we glean from our infrequent meetings.
‘However, it is not this contact between species from different galaxies that is of the greatest significance to us. The greater significance is in the reason for it.’
Scat leaned forward in his seat. Goosen fidgeted. Pierce was silent for a change. This was as close as they had come to an explanation for the mission. Finally, the 200-strong delegation was about to get the “inside-story”.
‘The Collectors were not much more advanced than we currently are when they learned how to create wormholes. That was a very long time ago. That discovery changed their economic and cultural values, just as wormholes were beginning to change ours.