Zero (25 page)

“
You know I would have told you if you'd asked.”

Hugo spun around to see Doll closing and locking the door behind her.

“I'm sorry,” he said. “I needed to know -”

“
That you could trust me?” Her smile was soft and a little sad.

“
Can we?” Hugo said.

“
I may not be Service-mad, my boy, but don't worry. I do not have the leanings of my late husband. I didn't then. I don't now.”

“
You kept his name.”

She shrugged.
“I loved Duran. Still do. The part of him I knew anyway. He wasn't a bad man. He just had strong beliefs about a future for his people.”

“
He was willing to sacrifice a hell of a lot of those people for those beliefs.”

Doll regarded him coolly.
“If I were mean-spirited I would mention the amount the Service was willing to and did sacrifice in retaliation. But that's not something I like to think about much. Come. I bet you ignored me earlier when I told you to eat.”

Hugo followed her down into the kitchen where she shrugged herself out of her tunic and set about boiling water and opening tins.

“Did you know what he was going to do? Governor McCullough?” Hugo asked quietly.

“
No. I watched him watch his people trying to scrape lives out of vacuum and saw the anger build. But I didn't realise where he was going until it was too late,” she said, pouring the contents of a can into a pan. “I tried anyway. For the sake of peace, I told myself. But his drives were always more powerful than his desire for personal happiness. I left when I saw he wouldn't come back from the edge. I came here to attempt to do my bit to ease the fallout.”

“
A youth unit?”

“
St Augustine's,” she said, turning round and leaning against the counter. “That shows up in my records, does it? Interesting.”

“
That's where you met Webb?” Hugo guessed.

“
It was the only unit that managed to hold on to him long enough to name him. He was happy there, I think. For a while. Then the Service came for him.”

Hugo felt the blood drain from his face.
“You know?”

“
Oh, yes, I know,” Doll said, turning and getting mugs out from a cupboard. “The
Endeavour,
the
Zero
, everything. I was there when Spinn made the deal.”

“
Spinn?”

“
He was the recruiting agent. He brokered the deal with St. Augustine's for a young, nameless orphan with intelligence and potential.”

“
What was the deal?”

She shrugged, not looking at him.
“An offer the unit couldn't refuse, apparently. Then they took him away in the night. And I let them.”

Silence stretched between them for a while as Doll stirred the mixture on the electric stove and made up mugs of sweet-smelling tea.

“They gave him a life,” Hugo said into the quiet.

“
They bought his life. Like you would buy a flyer or a shipwright contract. They bought him, programmed him and now they own him. Just like the rest of that crew.”

“
The Service saved all that crew from youth units and backwaters,” Hugo said, willing anger to flare. “Without the
Zero
they'd be lost.”

“
They'd be free,” she said mildly as she placed a plate and a mug in front of him.

“
They'd probably be dead. Or worse.”

“
At least they would have made their own paths.”

Hugo shoo
k his head, glaring at the food.

“
Here,” she said, handing him a fork. “Eat.”

He looked up at her, took in her shorn head and the shrapnel scars on her face. She had a heaviness in her eyes. Then he took the fork and started on the stew. It was synthetic meat but the sauce was rich and savoury and he dug in, unable to deny how hungry he was.

“Webb has a purpose,” Hugo lumbered on, not looking up as Doll sat and started on her own lunch. “And St. Augustine's benefited.”

“
After they took Ezekiel, the Service paid off the managers and shut the unit down. It was about the same time their hold on Lunar 1 slackened all round. I tried to keep track of what happened to him, but that’s not so easy with the
Zero
. Next time I saw him he was the man you know and it was too late to save him. I have since faced up to the fact that it was too late the minute I let them take him away. Maybe even before then.” Her face took on a far away look for a moment before she took another mouthful.

“
So the youth unit closed down and you buried yourself away in the meltworks?”

“
It's a living. And I hear things. It helps me keep track of the bigger picture and not forget who I am or what I've done.” She looked up at him. “You think I'm full of shit, don't you?” Hugo swallowed his mouthful but didn't answer. “That's okay. I hope you never have to come to understand what it's like to fail someone who depended on you. Finish your tea.”

Hugo scraped his plate clean and swallowed the last mouthful of his tea and Doll took the dishes to the washer.

“I met your parents once, you know,” she said. “Many years ago, in Sydney, when Duran was still using words to try and win his battles. They were fine people, I remember. Stood tall and talked well. Every inch of both of them said they belonged to something they believed in. But what about you, Hugo?”

“
What about me?”

“
Do you believe the Service is worth your life?”

“
I believe in peace,” Hugo said. “The Service fights for peace. So I fight for the Service.”

“
Fighting for peace,” Doll shook her head. “I never understood that notion.”

“
Peace has to be won,” Hugo said, wishing his palms would stop sweating.

“
You saved a lot of lives with that decision you were publicly disgraced for,” Doll said as she straightened and closed up the washer. “Do you think the Service shares your idea of what peace actually is?”

“
Whatever the outcome of my actions,” Hugo said. “I disobeyed orders.”

“
To do what you thought was right.”

“
If everyone thought they knew better, the system would crumble. The Orbit would fall into anarchy.”

“
Is that what your parents taught you?”

“
It's what life has taught me. Look what happened on this colony. And on Haven.”

“
You ever been to Haven, Hugo?” Doll asked.

Her change in tack caused him to frown. He shook his head, wiping his damp hands on his trousers.

“You should. It would be educational.” She pulled her tunic back on and then stood looking at him for a while. “Tread carefully Hugo. And I don't just mean on Lunar 1.”

He sat and glowered around the kitchen for a while after she left
the apartment again, waiting for the whirling uncertainty to settle into anything: determination, indignation, anger. But his mind kept flowing between everything like rainwater down rocks and couldn't catch a hold. He growled and got up and went back up the stairs, thinking he'd go back to the workstation, when the door buzzer went. He paused on the stairs and it buzzed again. He climbed the rest of the stairs and stood staring at the intercom, heart thumping.

A crack on the glass of the window had him pulling his weapon and spinning before he realised what it was.

“Hey, Kaleb. It's me. Let me in, already.”

Hugo let out a breath in a rush and holstered his weapon. Even through the frosted glass he could tell Harvey was grinning at him. He
fished out the keycards then went and pulled open the door. Harvey bundled past him, laden with packs that clinked and jangled.

“
I know it's a hole but you gotta love the industrial markets on this colony,” Harvey said, dumping her loads on the table. “You don't need a licence for anything.” She looked around. “Where's Webb?”

“
We found Armin.”

She paused and looked up.
“And?”

Hugo opened his mouth to reply when the door buzzer went again. He looked at Harvey who was staring at the intercom looking uncertain, then her wrist panel beeped.

“It's Webb,” she said, looking at the display. “Hey,” she said, pushing the control.

“
Wanna let me in?”

Harvey
went to let him in whilst Hugo started unzipping packs and unloading boxes of ammunition.

Webb came in, pulling off his cap and wiping his forehead on his sleeve.

“What happened?”

Webb shook his head, dropped himself into a chair.
“Hannah took Armin and his pal to another fence's joint. They were in there for the best part of an hour.”

“
And then?”

“
Then they moved on to another. They went all over the sector calling in on info wranglers, fences and a couple of places owned by other underground-ring types. If I didn't know any better, I'd say they were trying to drum up business.”

“
You mean we did it?” Harvey said, pausing from laying out goggles and climbing wire. “We stopped them?”

Webb nodded, a tired smile on his face.
“From whatever they were planning with that shit at the warehouse...yeah, I think we did.”

“
We need to take them down for good before they get another contract,” Hugo said.

“
Sooner than that even,” Webb said, face sombre.

“
Why?”

Webb looked between them.
“They went to the
Seven Sisters
.”

Hugo paused.
“To get Evangeline?”

Webb shook his head.
“They walked in through the bar. If they wanted to kill her, they'd've waited for her to leave and shot her in the back. No. They went to talk.”

“
Crap,” Harvey said.

“
What?” said Hugo. “What am I missing?”

Webb sat forward in his seat.
“She's a fence with some reach. And because of the mess with us, they’ve got her over a barrel. I followed them to her office -”

“
You did what?”

“
Relax, Captain, I used the back way.”

“
There's a back way?”

Webb smirked.
“There's always a back way.”

Hugo sighed and sat down.
“And?”

Webb's face fell.
“They got what they wanted.”

“
Which was?”

“
Us.”

“
What?”

“
They contracted Evangeline to track us down and bring us in.”

“
Fuck,” Harvey said, flinging herself on the bench. “We're screwed.”

“
We're not screwed yet,” Webb said. “This is good news.”

“
What is?” Hugo ground out.

Webb grinned.
“Evangeline was told to go after the
Zero
.”

Hugo paused.
“They think we're all on it?”

“
Uh-huh.”

“
You're sure?”

“
Heard it with my own ears.”

Hugo frowned.
“Where exactly were you?”

“
Air ducts are wonderful things, Captain. But either way, that's the good bit. The bad bit is Evangeline is out for our blood and her reach is considerably wider than the Splinters'.”

“
We need to get a message to the ship,” Hugo said.

“
Doll's workstation is capable of a secure link. I'll get something to them tonight. Don't worry, Captain,” Webb said, looking keenly at him. “More and Rami can handle themselves. It isn't the first time.”

“
We need to get this thing done,” Hugo said, leaning forward. “And quickly.”

“
We will,” Webb said, grinning. “I've got us a starting point.”

“
Do I dare ask?”

“
I followed Armin all the way home,” Webb's grin widened. “I know where the son of a bitch lives.”

“
Nice one,” Harvey said, grinning.

Hugo swallowed, not liking either of their smiles.
“After the mess at the warehouse,” he said, “the ringleaders will be getting together to re-group. And soon.”

Hugo jumped when Webb slapped him on the shoulder.

“You're getting good at this, Hugo.”