Infinite Day (26 page)

“I'm not sure I understand what you mean.”

“I am no fool.” The eyes were wide with indignation. “I may be a woman—which puts me close to being a fool, as far as your prebendant is concerned—but I'm not stupid. You removed Merral D'Avanos from power, didn't you, because he wouldn't do things your way?
He
should be on this ship.” Her voice was rough with anger now. “
He
was a man of courage and initiative. He was a true hero of the war. And Sentinel Vero . . . We know how important his irregulars were. And he advised my friend Perena Lewitz.”

This is potentially disastrous
.
“
I'm sorry you feel like that, Captain,” Clemant said, trying to put as much smoothness into his voice as he could. “I think you have misunderstood a very complex situation. I hope, in the rest of this journey together, we can try to put your mind at rest.”

“You can try,” the captain said with heavy sacrcasm. Then with a shake of the head that seemed loaded with contempt, she left the cabin.

Clemant stood there perhaps a minute thinking about what she had said and trying to see any way forward. Then he walked back to his own cabin. There he closed the door behind him and pressed the lock.
Such a useful invention.

He sat down at the tiny desk, opened a drawer, and withdrew a small folder with the handwritten words
The Agreed Account of Events
on the front. He stared for a moment and then opened it and pulled out some sheets of notes.
I have learned from D'Avanos; we cannot trust digital technology.
He turned to the final sheet. On it was a list of the twelve men and women on the
Dove of Dawn
, and beside each was a box. Ten boxes had checkmarks in them; the remaining two were empty. Clemant picked up a pen; next to
Habbentz
he put a check, and next to
Huang-Li
a firm cross.

Clemant closed the folder and put it on the desk. He had to see Delastro but felt that he needed time to recover after the last meeting.

Time to check up on what's happening.

He turned to face the wall above his bunk and issued a command. The screen came to life, and then quietly, lest he be overheard in the corridor, Clemant ordered, “Watch personnel!” The screen broke up into eleven small, separate gray images.

The engineers who had investigated the
Dove
had informed him of the internal surveillance system. They had assumed that he would disable it and make its existence common knowledge to the new crew. Instead, Clemant had found it very useful to both keep this system and conceal it. No one else, not even the prebendant, knew that he could watch and listen to everyone on the ship. At first he had had scruples about using such a powerful tool, but as the ship had descended into Below-Space the scruples had vanished in the grayness, and the rightness of using it had become self-evident.

The accusation that what he was about to do was immoral briefly returned. Clemant reminded himself that when he had more or less run Farholme, his power had hinged on knowledge. He had made it a point of pride to know what was going on and had had systems that allowed him to do that.

On this almost infinitely smaller world with its dozen inhabitants, I have an equally valid right to know. The importance of this mission means that petty considerations of privacy must be overruled. Necessity supersedes morality. Anyway, the meeting with Captain Huang-Li has confirmed that I am not entirely among friends. I need to be vigilant.

And with this, his doubts evaporated and Clemant started to watch the other eleven people on the ship. He turned to the captain first, enlarging her image to full screen. She was back on the bridge. Noting that she had gone from a slight irritant to a major threat, Clemant resolved to keep her under closer watch. He would have to access her computer files; another surveillance trick that he had at his disposal. He moved on. Zak—inevitably—was working out in the gym, grunting loudly, his T-shirt black with sweat. The two engineers were peering at an open box of wires and exchanging incomprehensible views on which wire did what. Gerry was silently huddled over her screen. The other crew members were about their duties or sleeping.

Finally, Clemant summoned up images of Delastro. He had partly expected him to be pacing the corridors, but the prebendant was in his stark room staring intently at grainy scenes flickering on a wallscreen as distorted sounds played in the background. Clemant knew exactly what he witnessed. The prebendant was watching the extraordinary imagery of the great turning point of the battle of Ynysmant, where the two creatures from the heavenly and hellish realms, the envoy and the baziliarch, confronted each other, one on either side of Forester D'Avanos.

Those images again! How many times have you played them?
Clemant leaned back in his chair and shook his head. “Oh, Prebendant,” he whispered, “you want to control this angel, don't you? Gerry has her big, bad bomb, but you—you want the envoy as your ultimate weapon.”
You are so desperate that you have even consulted occult literature in the hope it will help you. I have seen you do it.

Then, conscious that he had things to discuss with the prebendant, Clemant moved on to examine the corridors. In the port corridor on level 3 was one of the jellyfish-type creatures—a tentacled polyp half the height of a man.
I hate these things.
Clemant clenched his fists.
No wonder the early Assembly banned Below-Space travel.

The whole idea of Below-Space troubled him enormously
. It's mysterious; it's unfathomable; it has strange, alien inhabitants with extraordinary properties. I hate it all!

Then he checked the shortest way to Delastro's cabin and decided to pick another route; something with long snaking tendrils was emerging on level 4.

Clemant knocked on Delastro's door. The prebendant answered with an imperious voice. “
Enter!
”

I wish he wouldn't try to order me about; I thought this was a partnership
.

Clemant entered the room—even more starkly furnished than his own—to see Delastro, dressed in black robes, sitting in his chair with his right hand holding his staff of office.
Like a king; does he expect me to bow down before him?

Delastro wordlessly gestured him to the only other seat. As he sat down, Clemant looked up at the prebendant. Whether it was the lack of color or something else, the man's eyes seemed to be accentuated and there seemed to be a strange wild spark in them.
I honestly think he is enjoying Below-Space
.

“How are you?” Clemant asked, offering a neutral question to gauge the prebendant's mood. “We missed you at mealtime.”

“Duty, Doctor. The care of the sheep. I have been busy preparing my sermon for this evening.”

Liar! And why does he have to lecture us morning and evening?

“Of course,” Clemant said, looking around the room with its simple furniture of a bunk, spare chair, wardrobe, and small metal safe.
I know what's in that. It contains all your papers on exorcism and the mastery of the spirits and some pieces of equipment and chemicals. Neither of us trusts digital data.

The prebendant continued. “I need little food. The Lord's work takes priority over the needs of the flesh.” A sour look arose on his face. “And I have to say that I find Captain Huang-Li rather . . .
unsympathetic.
The captain irritates me. She seems to consider herself in charge, and she has a troubling lack of respect for my office. Technically able as a pilot, no doubt, but she has no sense of the spiritual.” He sniffed. “A worldly woman. She should know her place.”

“Quite.”
The fact is, she isn't in awe of you. But we will talk more of her later
.

“I gather you have heard the news from Gerry.”

The prebendant opened his hands and gave a lean smile.

“The woman has given us the weapon we have sought. Or so it seems. I have been imagining it: a wave of purifying fire across the Dominion; a white-hot, searing flame.” His voice rose. “A great, final cleansing blast over the putrid stench of all their worlds! The fire that consumes!” He waved his staff. “
We must let the fire burn!
”

“Just so.”
I won't tangle with him in these prophetic rants.

Then the rage ebbed away, and in the silence they looked at each other. Clemant realized anew that he really didn't trust or like the prebendant at all.
But for the sake of the Assembly, I must deal with him. He has the one thing I do not have and which I need: charisma
.
His verbal antics do nothing for me, but they turn the hearts of other men and women, and already most of this crew would do whatever he said.

Clemant tapped the folder he had brought. “Have you any comments on this document?”

There was a scowl. “Yes. You quite fail to mention that the forester and the dark outsider, Enand, had sold themselves to the other side. They were in the employ of demons.
That
should have been stressed. We do not wage war against flesh and blood.”

Here we go.
“You may well be right, Prebendant, but my emphasis was tactical. I wanted D'Avanos and the sentinel forgotten, so I have minimized their role as much as I can. Your strategy might have the effect of making hearers curious about them.”

“Hmm. You have always sought to spare D'Avanos.”

“Not true. I agree with you that if he had perished at Ynysmant it would have been better.”

“But he didn't.” For some moments, Delastro seemed to consider something, then gave Clemant a shrewd look. “And would it be agreed by all on this ship?”

“Gerry will agree to it.”

Delastro leaned forward like a vulture scenting a corpse. “Good. And the captain?”

“No. I have just talked to her. I anticipated that she wouldn't agree and I can now confirm it. In fact, she is likely to complain. She is a follower of D'Avanos.”

“As I suspected. I can tell from her face that she opposes us.” Delastro leaned back in his chair. “This is bad, Dr. Clemant. A Jezebel like her could ruin the Lord's work. Our calling is plain: armed with Gerry's weapons, you and I must purify the worlds. Captain Huang-Li threatens our holy mission.” He frowned and leaned on his staff. “So what do you suggest?”

“I will proceed with preparing the media clips to match the agreed account. The latest estimate is that we have fourteen days before we reach Bannermene. That gives us time to win her round.”

“And if she
isn't
won round?”

“I don't know. . . . This ship won't get through the Gate at Bannermene; it's too wide. So they will probably analyze it there or take it to bits and ship it through on a freighter. So she might stay with the ship. Possibly.” He heard the doubt in his voice.

Delastro sniffed again. “She is a captain. She would talk and be listened to. She would become a foe of the Assembly.” His voice acquired its ringing preaching tone again. “Oh, how subtly the enemy of our souls works! How cunning is the work of the enemy in our midst. Behold! The snake in the grass.” Delastro's voice trailed away, and for a long time he silently gazed at the blank screen on the far wall.

Suddenly he turned to Clemant. “She hates Colonel Larraine, doesn't she? I can see it in her eyes at meals.”

“She . . . has a low opinion of Zak. It has also transpired that she knows of the incident at Tezekal when he was overzealous in disciplining two men.”

“
That!
They deserved it. Zeal, purity, and courage must be our watchwords.”

“Of course.”

Silence fell for almost a minute.

“Doctor, can I ask you—how do you find Below-Space?”

Where has this come from?

“I am . . . managing. I miss color, and I abhor these monstrous forms. And how about you?”

Delastro tilted his head sideways and gave him a look of almost disturbing intensity. “Doctor, as the Lord's servant, I rejoice in all circumstances. Even Below-Space has its positive side. Here I see things with a strange and unaccustomed clarity.” The black-robed arms gestured upward. “There is a simplicity here that aids my concentration.”

Clemant merely nodded.
Why do I have to work with this man? At some point when the salvation of the Assembly is secure, I will have to find a way of neutralizing him. Send him back to the seminary. Here and now, I cannot do that. We need each other. As Gerry needs me, so I need him. Our fates are intertwined
.

The prebendant was speaking again. “These wretched forms trouble us. But I am working on combating them. I have great hopes that these things might be a temporary nuisance. Let me tell you that even before the outbreak of fighting, I had begun researching the matter of exorcism from some of the most ancient files in the Library.” There was an edge of dawning triumph to his words. “Guided by them, I am now able to cast out some of the smaller forms with a word of power.” He tilted his head again. “Oh, these larger things have been much more resistant and seem to ignore me. But one day, I will master them. One day too I will learn D'Avanos's trick of how to summon an angelic being like this ‘envoy.'”