Katya's World (33 page)

The
Baby
’s sensors were nowhere near as sensitive as the
Vodyanoi
’s, nor was her computing power sufficient to create sonar maps of the same sophistication Katya had seen of the battle while they were still aboard the Terran boat. None of that mattered when you were actually travelling through the battleground, Katya thought. Her displays were full of explosions, cavitation noise, imploding compartments.

“
I don’t think they’ve managed to lay a finger on the
Leviathan
,
”
she reported.
“
It’s like fighting a shadow.
”
Another flash on a display board, sound converted into light for easy viewing.
“
That was the FP-1. She’s taking a real beating. She’ll sink if the
Leviathan
doesn’t cease fire.
”

Lukyan didn’t comment on it. Instead he flicked the switch that activated the IFF unit.

Katya watched the green light on the Judas box cycle on and off, sending out an electronic lie to the
Leviathan
, that the
Baby
was its long lost #6 combat drone.
“
If it sees through this, Kane, what will it do?
”

Kane considered.
“
If it was j
ust the
Leviathan
, it would
ignore it. If it detected us, it would kill us without hesitation, now its list of enemies is so extensive. But it’s not just the
Leviathan
. Its behaviour is moderated by Tokarov and I didn’t know Tokarov well enough to be able to make any guesses.
”

“
None of us did.
”
Lukyan’s voice was cold.
“
None of us. I still can’t understand how a man could… do that. It’s worse than suicide.
”

“
No.
”
Kane was quiet.
“
No, it’s a lot like suic
ide. If Zagadko was still alive - or Petrov - t
hey might have been able to predict his behaviour. Especially Petrov. He’d have made captain soon enough. Good judge of character.
”

They sat in silence. Katya had been trying not to think about the message the
Vodyanoi
had intercepted from the aircraft sent to hunt Petrov’s stolen transporter. S
o Tasya had shot them down. T
hey were all dead, Petrov, Suhkalev and all the others. She thought back to how it had been Petrov who’d tried to comfort her in his own distant fashion when she’d thought her uncle was dead.
“
I liked him,
”
she said into the silence.

Another light flashed on her display, more insistent, brighter. At the same moment she realised what it was, the telltale pulsing tone started to sound through the hull.

“
Torpedo!
”
called Lukyan. He was already pulling the steering yoke over and down.
“
Evading!
”

Katya remembered the last time he’d done this, he’d trusted the Navcom to perform the evasion. Of course, on that occasion they were hit multiple times and almost died.

She felt the
Baby
pitch sharply and perform a corkscrew descent as Lukyan made for the next deepest thermal layer scattering noisemakers in their wake. Through the din in her headset, she could still plainly hear the fast pulses of the
Yagizban
torpedo’s sonar and the hiss of its impeller motor until, abruptly, it stopped. The pinging ceased altogether and the hum of the impeller turned to a dying shriek even as it diminished in amplitude.

“
There’s something wrong with it,
”
she reported.
“
I think it’s sinking?
”
She checked for an IC resolution and it confirmed that the torpedo was tumbling into the depths. A moment later it exploded. She looked at the others.
“
I have no idea what happened there.
”

Kane looked around as if he could see through the hull.
“
I can make a guess.
”

Lukyan nodded and killed the
Baby
’s engines, neutralising their buoyancy so they coasted along for a few metres under no power. Katya suddenly understood.

“
The
Leviathan
?
”

Lukyan looked grim, and there was misery in his voice when he said,
“
Why didn’t I try harder to leave you behind, Katya?
”

“
Where there’s life, there’s hope,
”
said Kane.
“
They say that where I come from.
”
He coughed.
“
Of course, they say all sorts of rubbish, but I think that one’s true. While we live, nothing is certain. We w
alked out of the
Leviathan
once;
perhaps we can do it again.
”

Lukyan was unconvinced.
“
And what if it just sinks us?
”

“
You’re a cheerful soul, aren’t you? Think about it; if it had wanted us dead, it would hardly have bothered stopping that torpedo. It saved us for a reason.
”
They gripped the sides of their seats as the
Baby
was abruptly jerked upwards.
“
We’re about to find out why.
”

“
What exactly
are
those cables?
”
asked Lukyan as the
Leviathan
withdrew its grappling tentacles into the metallic hemisphere in the ceiling of the docking bay. A moment later, the chamber started to empty of water.

“
Biomechanics. Biological principles applied to technology. I never liked it. I like my machines to look like machines.
”
Kane patted one of the
Baby
’s structural ribs almost fondly.

Inside a minute the chamber had been pumped so dry it was hard to believe it had been full of water anytime in the previous hour. Without discussion, they cracked the seal on the minisub’s aft hatch and clambered out. The exit door slid soundlessly open and they climbed the slight incline to reach it.

On the other side of the door, Kane stopped them and pointed at the floor by the hatch’s edge.
“
There. That’s been worrying me.
”
Katya followed his finger and saw a quantity of dark powder. She started to bend to touch it, but he stopped her.
“
I wouldn’t get it on you, if I were you. Too easy for some to get in your mouth and that wouldn’t do you any good.
”

Katya stepped away from it, unsure.
“
What is it?
”

“
I had my suspicions when we were last here so I took enough for an analysis. It’s a very, very fine powder made up all sorts of metals and metallic salts, some of them very heavy and very toxic, that’s why it’s not a good idea to risk ingesting it. Some very rare minerals in it.
”

“
So what is it?
”

“
Soup,
”
said Lukyan.
“
Dried out Soup from the ocean bed. Is that right, Kane?
”

Katya thought back.
“
We detected the
Leviathan
in the middle of the Weft. There’re lakes of this stuff there. It must have been lying in one. Maybe its airlock seal isn’t as tight as it should be and some of the stuff leaked in
”
She shrugged.
“
Okay, it’s interesting, but why should we care?
”

Kane sighed in sharp exasperation.
“
Why should..? Katya, use your eyes. We’re not
in
the airlock! How is it in the corridor but there’s not a trace of it in the airlock itself?
”

“
Maybe there was but it washed out when it picked us up the first time,
”
she replied sharply.

Kane opened his mouth and then shut it again; he hadn’t thought of that.
“
That’s possible. I’m just trying to understand why the
Leviathan
’s been behaving so oddly, even before Tokarov joined with it. I thought perhaps the matrix of its synthetic intelligence had been contaminated with particles of Soup.
”
He looked so crestfallen that Katya felt sorry she had snapped at him and even sorrier that she had shot down his theory.
“
I’m just trying to understand.
”

“
If the airlock seal failed under the pressure,
”
she offered,
“
maybe some other seal did too. Perhaps Soup did get in and poison the AI.
”

That cheered Kane up.
“
Yes. Yes, of course, you’re right. If your idea’s right, that doesn’t mean mine isn’t right too. Or at least, some of it.
”

Lukyan was eager to get on.
“
Some of it?
”
he grumbled.
“
There’s more of it?
”

Mistaking Lukyan’s sarcasm for interest, Kane nodded.
“
Yes, I was also wondering if the trace of Soup was simply evidence that the airlock had been used after I left the first time and before coming back with you and Tokarov.
”

Lukyan’s disinterest faded slightly.
“
Are you suggesting somebody might have come aboard and sabotaged the
Leviathan
? Who? When?
”

“
Why?
”
added Katya.

“
Three excellent questions and I have a single answer for all of them. I don’t know. It was just a thought. It just occurred to me that an accidental contamination would be more likely to cripple the
Leviathan
. What happened seems so…
”

“
Deliberate,
”
finished Katya. She was beginning to think he had a point.
“
But we don’t know who or how or why or when. You need motive, opportunity and method before you have a case, and you have nothing.
”

“
No,
”
he admitted,
“
I don’t. Just an ugly sense of purpose behind everything that’s happened. That’s not much.
”
He sighed.
“
Oh, come on. Let’s get this over with.
”
The three of them continued walking up the blank white corridor towards the interface chamber.

They paused at the door as Kane stopped them.
“
Do we have anything that, in poor visibility, might just possibly be mistaken for a plan? Once we’re through that door, things might happen very quickly.
”

“
Talk to Tokarov,
”
said Katya.
“
We have to talk him around.
”

“
I doubt there’s much of Tokarov left, at least mentally. It’s still worth a try. And if his personality has been completely destroyed, what then?
”

“
We kill him,
”
said Lukyan.

“
Uncle!
”

“
I’m sorry, Katya, I know that sounds cold. There’s no choice, though.
”

“
You can try killing him, but you’d be wasting your time,
”
said Kane.
“
If the
Leviathan
has finished processing him, it will just be using his brain for extra storage space. If he dies, it’s a nuisance to the
Leviathan
, but that is all.
”

Lukyan crossed his arms.
“
What, then?
”

Kane looked uncomfortable.
“
Let’s just see how it goes, shall we?
”

“
That’s it then? If there isn’t enough of Tokarov left to talk to, we don’t know what we’re going to do next?
”

“
In a nutshell, yes.
”

Lukyan shook his head.
“
We’re doomed.
”

“
War’s have been won on thinner plans than that,
”
said Kane.

“
Not as many as have been lost,
”
retorted Lukyan. He stepped up to the door.
“
Not much point in asking if we’re ready, is there?
”
He tapped the control and the hatch opened.

Some images are destined to stay in the mind’s eye for the rest of one’s life. Katya knew that, if she lived through this, what she saw in that room would haunt her in the moments before sleep and in the dreams that followed. She had braced herself for the worst thing she could imagine; Tokarov’s mummified corpse caught in a paroxysm of agony forever perhaps, the moment of interface caught forever in tableau. What she actually found was far, far worse.

Tokarov was alive, but what a diseased impersonation of life it was. The interface chair had grown
into
him, the matter of the throne having grown hundreds, thousands of wiry cables like the grappling tentacles in the docking bay. The cables were thinner here, black and glistening in a foul oily fashion. The tips of the tentacles were all imbedded in Tokarov’s flesh, latching onto nerve endings and muscle ganglion, hijacking his motor functions and devouring his reason. His pale skin seemed dark with the mass of tentacles, some as thin as threads, some as broad as fingers, that cut and penetrated and usurped and writhed his whole body. A hemisphere in the ceiling directly above the throne dangled yet more, vanishing into his ears, his nose and his eyes. Only his mouth had been left alone and they could all hear his ragged breathing even from the door.

Lukyan swore. Katya fought down the urge to vomit. Kane only watched. He lifted his own hand to inspect it and Katya noticed several small crescent-shaped scars on him, the marks of the
Leviathan
’s failed attempt to interface with him. She wanted to hate him for shirking this fate and leaving it to befall somebody else, but she couldn’t. She didn’t like to think what she might have done herself to avoid this hideous devouring.

Kane lowered his hand and, with infinite reluctance, took a step forwards. Instantly, a section of the chamber’s ceiling dilated and the Medusa sphere descended on its stalk. Kane froze in mid-step as several purple targeting dots appeared on his face and chest. He took a slow breath and said quietly to himself,
“
I’m not dead, am I? No? That’s good. Stepping back now.
”
He reversed his stride, but the sphere continued to target him.

“
Kane, you’re the only one who’s been targeted. Katya and I are clear,
”
said Lukyan in a measured, conversational tone,
“
that’s different from last time.
”

“
It seems personal,
”
whispered Katya.

“
I was thinking that myself.
”
Kane looked down at the half dozen targeting spots that moved slowly across his chest like confused insects.

“
You knew,
”
said the
Leviathan
, but it was not the even tones of their last visit. The intonation was human.
“
You
knew
!
”

“
Of course I knew, Tokarov,
”
said Kane directly to the human wreckage in the chair.
“
I warned you to stay away from that thing. I wish I’d known about your ulterior motive for staying behind. I’d never have agreed if I had.
”

“
I can feel it. It’s eating my mind.
”
The
Leviathan
’s voice –Tokarov’s voice – was full of horror and, worse still, defeat. Katya knew he’d given up and accepted this terrible fate.

“
Every time you express your personality, the
Leviathan
will monitor it as a malfunction, hunt down the section of your brain that generated it and… I don’t know what to call what it does. Reconfigures it, I suppose.
”
There was no catch in Kane’s voice, but Katya was surprised to see a silent tear roll down his cheek.
“
I’m so sorry, Tokarov. If there was anything I could do, I would do it.
”

“
I… No! Not me! The
Leviathan
doesn’t trust you anymore.
”
The machine voice modulated and cracked with emotions it had never been created to express.
“
The Yagizba Conclaves attacked. You are their ally. You are an enemy. You warned me. You are the only one who knows. You are a friend.
”
The targeting dots shuddered around Kane as man and machine warred.
“
Kane is a real and present threat. Kane can help me. Kane is a category one threat. Kane has to… It fears you, Kane. It fears you!
”

Kane looked up at the Medusa sphere.
“
Learnt about fear, have you?
”
He took another step back.
“
That’s not necessarily a good thing.
”

“
I know what you did, Kane. It’s all in the
Leviathan
’s memory. I know how you poisoned yourself to prevent interface.
”

Lukyan shot a hard glance at Kane, who was at pains not to return it.
“
Yes, well. Desperate times make for…
”

“
That was clever,
”
interrupted Tokarov in the
Leviathan
’s voice.
“
I wish I’d been as clever.
”

“
Not your fault. Maybe I should have been more specific in my warnings. Anyway, you didn’t have the resources handy.
”
Kane slid his hand nonchalantly into his jacket pocket. When it came out again, Katya saw it cradled a pressure syringe. In its transparent barrel, a black liquid. She kept her face expressionless with a massive effort of will and returned to looking straight ahead.