A Night Without Stars (82 page)

“Yes,” the Planter replied.

She turned to the ANAdroids. “So where do we get that kind of energy from? A quantumbuster?”

“Nigel took them all with him on the
Skylady,
” Kysandra said. “There are none left.”

“Can the synthesizers build us one?”

There was a moment where the three ANAdroids faced one another. “The star,” Fergus said. “The barrier consumes a phenomenal amount of energy, but that is trivial compared with the star's output.”

“Okay. So how do we tap that power?”

“Extend a wormhole terminus into it. A wormhole is an exotic matter interstice. If you pass super-density plasma through the open channel, it can be configured to suck energy directly from it—a function similar to the barrier.”

“But then you'll need to transfer that energy to the barrier generator,” Demitri said.

“Second wormhole,” Valeri said.

“The Ursell floater,” Fergus said.

“That's one.”

Paula had the impression the audible conversation was just an overspill of their thoughts working the problem. “The machine under the palace,” she said.

“You mean the BC5800d2 I repaired?” Laura asked. “Is it still working?”

“Yes,” Kysandra said. “I have a friend working in the People's Security Regiment science team that analyzes Commonwealth technology. It's still in the crypt and codelocked.”

“Do you have the code?” Paula asked the Laura personality.

“Yes, of course.”

“Then we just have to get back there and unlock it.”

“But this wormhole is fixed to Valatare,” Kysandra said.

“If the synthesizers can manufacture a regrav drive, I will fly a space capsule back to Bienvenido,” Ry said. “It would be my honor.”

“Nice idea,” Paula said. “But dear old Captain Chaing was getting quite eager to talk to me about opening BC5800d2—on the government's behalf, of course. How organized are the Eliters in the capital?”

“As well as anywhere,” Kysandra said. “Why?”

“We link to them and ask for help. My old lifeboat package with Joey's memories was being kept in the same crypt as the wormhole, right? We just have to get the code to him and tell him to open the terminus here.”

Florian's arm thrust upward, pointing at the darkening green sky. “But Bienvenido is millions of kilometers away. We can't link that far.”

“How long for the synthesizers to build me a transmitter?” Paula asked.

“We can send a signal for you,” the Planter said.

Along with the others, Paula stood on Trüb's abnormal purple surface as the sun dropped below the horizon. The switch from day to night was quicker than sundown in any of the tropics she'd ever been to, leaving them immersed in an unnerving darkness. Without light, the purple surface was as black as the starless night.

Florian and Ry immediately switched their flashlights on. Paula couldn't blame them for that. But all the limited beams did was emphasize how insignificant they were on any scale.

They didn't have long to wait before one of the small moons came shooting up over the horizon. Even though it was gray, it shone brightly, illuminating the unsullied landscape before soaring into the planet's umbra. As it rose above them, she saw it was changing color, the undistinguished gray transmuting to a dusky gold. The second moon to come over was red, the third a pale green. That was when they saw the petals starting to distort its shape. By the time the next one had its brief time between terminator and umbra, its silver petals were kilometers across, reflecting a wash of sunlight across the purple plain below, which cast a sharp shadow from the yellow tower, sliding around faster than any clock's second hand.

“We will begin now,” the Planter said. “What is your message?”

Paula straightened her back and faced the pillar just as the silver moon passed into shadow, extinguishing its reflected radiance. “This is Paula Myo. I am a Commonwealth citizen,” she sent through the link. “The Warrior Angel and I are on Trüb, and we believe we have found a method of defeating the Fallers. But I'm going to need your help—”

“The wormhole!” Corilla exclaimed incredulously. “Paula wants us to unlock the wormhole. She needs it.”

“Paula's alive?” Chaing asked. The relief he felt was extraordinary, banishing the pain from his leg and wrist. “Where is she?”

Corilla smiled, her eyes brimming with tears she was so jubilant. “Trüb!”

“This is bollocks,” Jenifa sneered.

“I have the code!” Corilla yelled at her, abruptly furious. “It's in the message. I can unlock the wormhole. Do you understand that, you dumb bitch?”

Jenifa took an angry step toward her. Chaing's hand came down on her shoulder.

“Is she going to evacuate us to Aqueous?” he asked.

“No, she thinks she's found a way to defeat the Fallers. We have to get down to the crypt under the palace. Once it's unlocked—” Her hand flew to her mouth as her eyes widened in shock. “The space machine!” She ran across the study to the windows overlooking the Rose Courtyard. “Oh, no. No, no!”

“Crudding Uracus!” Faustina exclaimed. She was standing in the middle of the Rose Courtyard, staring up in astonishment at the square of sky framed overhead. “Are you getting this?” she asked Joey.

“Very loud and very clear.”

She twisted her head around. There were only three of her staff left, delivering chemicals in big glass dewars. They were giving her strange looks. “Where's the tractor? Oh, crud, it's back down in the garage.” She spun back to face the space machine. “Can you do it? Can you open a terminus to Trüb if the code works?”

“Yes.”

“Then we have to get you back down there.” She froze as she was link-pinged, and jerked her head up to see a figure looking down at her from one of the big arching windows above.

“There's a three-hundred-kiloton bomb in here,” Corilla told her. “And there's a PSR lunatic desperate to detonate it!”

“What?”

“She wants to spare us all from suffering the Apocalypse.”

“Sweet fucking Giu!”

“I'm not sure my force field can stand up to that,” Joey said. “Not at all.”

“What have I done?” Faustina wailed. “You should be down there with the wormhole. You could have gotten us to Trüb by now.”

“I still can be. Get the other me out of the jail cell and run, Faustina. Fucking run!”

“She's playing you,” Jenifa said heatedly as Corilla pressed herself against the window overlooking the Rose Courtyard. The red light on top of the link detector was still glowing. “Give me the keys. I'll do it. I'll end this if you can't.”

“Not a crudding chance, Corporal,” Chaing told her. “This is what I was waiting for. It's also what Stonal was waiting for. Now you need to calm down and carry out your orders.”

“Paula is Commonwealth.”

“She's going to save us. Can't you at least give her a chance to prove herself? It's what Stonal and the prime minister wanted. Or do you consider yourself above them, too?”

Jenifa clenched her jaw but said nothing.

“I know admitting you might be wrong hurts,” he said more gently. “Believe me, I know.”

Corilla turned back from the window. “We need to get down to the crypt. Now!”

“I thought you said the space machine had to be there?” Chaing asked.

“Our senior palace agent has a way around this.”

Chaing couldn't help but grin at the apoplectic expression on Jenifa's face. “Let's go then.”

It was Corilla who led them down to the crypt. They went along interminable corridors, down cramped little stairwells that had only a couple of bulbs lighting them. After the first five minutes, Chaing was thoroughly lost.

“How do you know where we're going?” he asked.

“Link,” Corilla said. “It gave me the route.”

“Who linked to you?” Jenifa asked belligerently. “Is this coming from your reactionary agent? How do they know where to go?”

“Every Eliter knows,” Corilla answered. “Same as we know every city's street map, every train timetable. It's all there in the general bands.” She paused, then gave Jenifa a sly glance. “Once we're back in the Commonwealth you can get yourself upgraded, then you'll know what it's like.”

As he limped along painfully, Chaing caught the way Jenifa glared at Corilla's back. He unclipped the leather strap on his holster—just in case.

Finally they turned out of a dank narrow passageway into a much larger corridor. At the far end, tall double doors were set into the wall. There was a desk beside them, the kind guards would use—fussing about to check if you were authorized to enter, establishing their own status. There was no one sitting behind it. Chaing approached cautiously; something as important as the wormhole gateway should be guarded.

“It's in here,” Corilla said eagerly, and turned the big iron handle.

Chaing gripped her arm. “Wait.” He still couldn't understand where the guards were.

He took his pistol out before leading the way into the crypt. Given how far they were underground, the chamber was surprisingly large. Ahead of him, a broad circle on the stone floor had been covered by a sheer white plinth, which was empty apart from odd piles of components that clearly belonged to some larger machine. Tables with scientific research equipment lined the walls. He barely paid it any attention. His gaze was drawn to the big circular machine at the far end of the crypt. It was almost featureless—a thick rim of cerulean-shaded metal, with a center of a weird gray substance that his eyes couldn't quite focus on. He couldn't help the little burst of admiration he felt at the sight of it. This was true history; the gateway had been built in the Commonwealth thousands of years ago, then used by Mother Laura to destroy the Primes in Bienvenido's darkest hour. The foundation of legends. Now here it was in front of him, solid and real.

“Great Giu,” he murmured, pushing the pistol back in its holster.

Corilla was standing beside him, her expression of awe matching his. “We can do it,” she said. “We can help the Warrior Angel defeat the Fallers.”

The sound of a safety catch being
snick
ed back was loud even in the big crypt. “I don't remember being given orders to do that,” Jenifa said softly. She was holding her pistol in one hand. The other hand was turning the door lock.

“We don't need orders to save the crudding world!” Chaing shouted.

Jenifa pulled out the link detector, its green light shining on top. “If you link to that Commonwealth artifact, you little Eliter whore, if I see this light go red, I will put a bullet in your head.”

“For crud's sake, Jenifa—” Chaing began.

She shot him.

Reports coming into the command bunker from Varlan's riverside were intermittent and confused. There were a dozen red flags on the city map table to mark the Faller incursion now, but Stonal still didn't know what they actually represented, outside of panicked shouts over the radio claiming monsters and large guns. Three of the marine boats had been removed from the river Colbal, and there'd been no contact with the remainder for over a quarter of an hour. Davorky hadn't yet ordered their emblems to be removed—foolishly optimistic, in Stonal's view.

One of the communications staff had a fast shouted exchange, and two of the red flags by the river were moved farther into the city, progressing down Vownfol Street.

“Crud,” Davorky grunted. The column of reinforcements dispatched from the palace was almost at the waterfront, but three kilometers west of Vownfol Street.

A new red flag was added to the city, placed in the middle of Bromwell Park at the far end of Bryan-Anthony Boulevard.

“Where in Uracus did they come from?” Stonal demanded. “They're inside the perimeter.”

“Size and ability?” Davorky demanded.

“Sir, scouts report several hundred, including large breeder types,” an aide reported. “All heavily armed. No vehicles.”

Stonal looked at the long straight line of Bryan-Anthony Boulevard, leading directly from the park to the palace.
A knife to the heart.
“They're coming for us,” he said.

“Sir,” one of the communications staff called, “the gate guard is reporting a very large crowd massing outside the wall. He says they're asking to come in.”

“Absolutely not,” Stonal said.

“Sir, they have children with them.”

Stonal strode over to the communications staffer. “Give that to me.” He grabbed the phone handset from the tense man. “This is Director Stonal. Who am I talking to?”

“Captain Fitzsand, sir. Assigned to the main palace gates.”

“Then listen to this very closely, Captain Fitzsand. Under no circumstances are any civilians to be allowed through the gates. Is that understood?”

“Uh, yes, sir. Sir, the crowd is claiming their children have been promised sanctuary inside the palace.”

“Let me be very clear, Captain: They have not. Do not let them in.”

“Sir, they said they're here because the Warrior Angel told them to come. That she's opening the wormhole under the palace. That she's going to take us all to safety or something.”

Stonal stared at the phone in shock. “I'm coming up to the gate. Arrest whoever claims to be the leader of this rabble. I want to talk to them!”

“Yes, sir.”

He hurried back to Davorky. “Deploy some reserves into Bryan-Anthony Boulevard. Stop those Fallers getting closer to the palace.”

“I'll do what I can,” the master general said, “but I've got the regiments positioned around the outskirts. Getting them back into the center will take time.”

“Just hold them off. I need to find out exactly what's going on outside.”

Faustina was panting heavily by the time she got to the cells where Adolphus was incarcerated; even now she had trouble thinking of him as Joey. She looked along the corridor suspiciously, but there were no guards in sight. That wasn't right, but she wasn't about to complain. There were twenty identical metal doors set into the wall, all numbered. She told her u-shadow to ping Joey.

“Faustina?” came the answer.

“Yeah. Hang on.” Her u-shadow flipped a location map up into her exovision. She hurried along to cell eight and lifted the small flap on the door. Adolphus's face stared back at her. “I've come to break you out,” she said. “Um, do you know where the guard keeps the keys?”

“What? No! Where are the guards?”

“I'm not sure. A lot of them are deserting.”

“Bollocks. Okay, stand back. I'm cutting through.”

She hurriedly took some steps back. There was a loud bang from inside the cell, then another. The lock mechanism began to smolder, and the metal sagged around it. Another bang, then Adolphus/Joey was shoving the door open.

Faustina couldn't help it; she gave him a big hug. “I screwed up,” she said. “I moved the space machine out to the courtyard.”

“Okay,” he said cautiously. “Why is that screwing up?”

So she explained about the message from space, how Paula was ready to fight the Fallers somehow. “Can you operate the gateway?” she asked, almost fearing the answer.

Joey grinned widely. “Oh, yeah. Piece of cake. I'm actually a hyperspace theorist, you know.”

Faustina smiled back weakly; there was something not quite right about that oh-so-familiar face appearing so happy. “We have to get down there. I'm not sure about Chaing's loyalties. I got word that he was on our side, but…”

“Right.” He turned to face the cell opposite and opened the hatch. “You catch all of that?”

“I did,” Roxwolf's gurgling voice agreed.

“We might run into guards. I'm armed with this e-pulse, but we could do with some backup.”

“You got it. This is my only chance to get the crud out of here.”

“Joey!” Faustina breathed.

“It's okay. We've been talking, and he's with us.”

She gave him a very skeptical look, but he pushed his sleeve up and brought his arm around. There was a flash of light as a rigid thunderbolt stabbed out of his skin and struck the lock on Roxwolf's cell door.

It only took one more shot and the lock was ruined. Joey pulled the door open. Faustina braced herself, but Roxwolf walked out nonchalantly.

“You crudding well watch him closely,” she sent to Joey through their link.

“Don't worry. Remember, I got caught by Fallers once before—actually, a million times before.”

Making sure Joey was always between her and Roxwolf, Faustina led them through the maze of passages, then up two levels.

“This is it,” Faustina exclaimed as she hurried toward a huge pair of doors. She frowned at the abandoned desk. “The guard must have deserted.”

“Good,” Roxwolf grunted.

She turned the big iron handle, and pushed. The door didn't move. She pushed harder. “It's locked,” she exclaimed. “From the inside.”

“I'll get it,” Joey told her, and raised his arm.

Chaing felt nothing as the bullet struck, only his good leg collapsing, sending him tumbling to the hard stone floor. Corilla was shrieking in terror.
Then
the pain hit, spiking through his thigh like an incandescent spear. He couldn't even cry out it was so overwhelming. He gulped for air as he finally found the courage to look. The bullet had hit halfway between his hip and knee. A neat-ish wound at the front, a horrific crater of tattered flesh and trouser fabric at the back, with blood pouring out. He instinctively grabbed the wound with his good hand to try to stanch the bleeding. His fingers slithered about as the blood soaked them.

“What are you doing?” Corilla yelled. Her whole body was rigid with shock and fear.

“Remember,” Jenifa gloated. “One flash of red, and…pow!” She walked toward Chaing and stood over him, her eyes gleaming with joy. “He's an Eliter. He was going to evacuate his kind off this world and leave the rest of us to the Fallers. Weren't you,
sir
?”

Chaing clenched his teeth, shaking his head. “Call,” he grunted against the pain, took another breath. “Call Stonal.”

“Your little whore isn't calling anyone,” Jenifa said. “You're a crudding traitor, Captain. Admit it. I want to hear you say it. Say you're an Eliter.”

“Go fuck yourself,” Chaing spat.

She smiled. And kicked the wound.

Chaing screamed. There was a moment when only pain existed. Then thin strings of bile were spewing out of his mouth and he twisted around in agony. Both hands clutched desperately at his leg as more blood pumped out.

Jenifa was laughing delightedly. “Tell me!” she demanded. “I want to hear it. Confess, Eliter!”

“Stop it,” Corilla yelled in shock. “You're killing him. Can't you see that?”

“I told you to shut up,” Jenifa pointed the pistol casually at Corilla. She nudged Chaing with her toe. “Come on, traitor. Say it.”

Chaing shrank away from her touch, whimpering softly. “Let her unlock the gateway. Paula can save us.”

“You. She can save you and your kind. Right?” Jenifa kicked him again. “I'm going to squeeze every drop of blood out of you,” she said contentedly. “I'm going to make you die in so much pain your mind will break first. Now admit it!”

Chaing could see she had dropped into that same strange zone she'd dropped into when they'd held a helpless Joffler ready for interrogation. Her rational thoughts were gone, engulfed by raw desire and frightening determination. She would not stop this until she heard him confess, no matter what the cost. “I…I…”

“Yes?” Jenifa bent over to catch his faltering words.

“Watch this.” He pressed his thumb against his knuckle. A rectangle of faint green lines shone through the blood.

“What is that?” a mesmerized Jenifa whispered.

“That, Corporal, is how non-Eliters call the Warrior Angel for help. You see, you were wrong about me. You were always wrong.” He started laughing at the fury that blazed across her face.

“You fucking traitor!” Jenifa screamed. She slammed her boot into his wound again. Chaing blacked out for a few seconds. When he came to, Jenifa was in a defensive crouch, her pistol pointing at the doors. There was a loud bang, and a bright flash searing out of the chunky iron lock.

It was very weird. If he could just concentrate, he was sure he could work out what was happening. Strangely the pain was diminishing, and he seemed rather pleasantly light-headed. His hands closed around the wound again to stanch the awful flow of blood.

It's worked,
he thought happily.
I called for the Warrior Angel, and now here she is, just like she said she'd be. How wonderful.

Jenifa had grabbed Corilla and was holding the distraught girl in front of her like a shield. The door swung open.

Joey was first into the crypt. He took a couple of confident paces, making it look like he belonged there. Then what he was seeing registered. “Holy bollocks,” he grunted.

The semiconscious man on the floor had one leg in a cast, and the other leg bleeding heavily from a bullet wound. In front of him, a compact female PSR corporal was holding a frightened girl close to her chest. But her pistol was aimed unwaveringly at Joey's head.

“What the crud is
that
doing in here?” she shouted. The muzzle jabbed toward Roxwolf.

“You brought him here,” Faustina said, coming up to stand beside Joey. “You should know, Roxwolf is helping us.”

“Bollocks,” the corporal spat. “The only person that creature ever helps is himself.”

Roxwolf opened his mouth wide, showing off a prodigious quantity of fangs. “Hello, Corporal Jenifa. Bad day, huh? Join the club.”

“Put your weapon down,” Jenifa said.

Joey reduced the power level in his OCtattoo e-pulse function; targeting brackets were jumping all over the profile of the crazy woman with the gun and her hostage shield, trying to get a decent lock. “What weapon?”

“The one that burned through metal,” Jenifa said. “The Commonwealth weapon. Where is it?”

“Oh, that? It's part of my body.”

“How…?” She gritted her teeth. “You were the prime minister!”

I know. Listen to me, Jenifa, is it?” he said, using the best kindly patriarch voice this stolen body could muster. “The gateway has to be opened. We are going to defeat the Fallers.”

“Yes,
you
are,” she said, breathing hard. “Eliters, every one of you.”

Joey grinned. “That's what you call us, but I'm more than that. A lot more. I'm from the Commonwealth itself. And we're here to take you home.” He saw the uncertainty in her eyes, the way she shifted her grip on the pistol, making sure she was extra steady.

“No,” she grunted. “No, that's a lie.”

Joey's targeting program still couldn't get a decent lock. Behind him Roxwolf took a step forward.

“Move again, freak monster, and I blow your crudding head off,” Jenifa said without taking her gaze off Joey.

“You need to calm down,” Joey told her.

“Yeah? You want to see what makes me calm?”

Targeting graphics finally framed her face perfectly. Joey linked to Roxwolf, to tell him to distract her for a moment so her pistol would waver and allow him a shot.

The green light on the little box she held turned red.

Jenifa tensed.

Joey tried to jump aside, forcing the body's ancient flabby muscles to perform the impossible.

Jenifa shot Roxwolf.

Joey fired the e-pulse. It hit the shield girl on her neck. She spasmed wildly as she dropped to the floor.

Jenifa jerked the pistol's trigger again.

Something punched Joey in the gut, sending him sprawling backward.

The next thing he knew, Jenifa was standing over him, her face eerily expressionless. Then she giggled. It was a sound that terrified Joey far more than the massive pistol, which was slowly descending toward his head.

“Traitors, all of you,” she said. “I was right. I was always right.”

The sound of the shot was thunderous.

Half of Jenifa's skull exploded, sending tatters of brain splattering across the floor and Joey's chest. He turned his head, to see the man with the wounded leg holding a pistol in a two-handed grip, a satisfied smile curling his bloodless lips. “No you weren't, Corporal,” he grunted, and collapsed.

The world was placid for a long moment. Joey rather enjoyed that. Then he finally noticed all the red medical displays crawling through his exovision, so many and so bright he could barely see anything else.