Chasm City

THIRTY-TWO

“You look like you’ve seen a ghost,” Zebra said.

She had forced me to sit down in the atrium and drink something hot and sweet and nondescript.

“You can’t begin to imagine.”

“What was so bad, Tanner? It must have been something you were expecting, or you wouldn’t have asked the Mixmaster to give you the scan.”

“Let’s say fearing, rather than expecting, shall we?”

I didn’t know where or when to begin, or even with whom. Ever since arriving around Yellow-stone my memories had been damaged, and I’d had the added complication of the indoctrinal virus to deal with. The virus had given me unwelcome glimpses into the psyche of Sky Haussmann, and yet at the same time aspects of my own past had begun to come back into focus; who I was; what I was doing; why I wanted to kill Reivich. All of those things, disturbing as they’d been, I could have come to terms with. But it hadn’t stopped there. It hadn’t even stopped when I started thinking and feeling my way through Sky’s past; vouchsafed secrets no one else knew about his crimes. Nor had it stopped when I started having confused thoughts about Gitta; remembering her from Cahuella’s viewpoint rather than my own.

Even that I could have begun to rationalise, with some effort. Contamination of my own memories by Cahuella’s? Well, it was possible. Memories could be recorded and transferred, after all. I couldn’t begin to imagine why some of Cahuella’s experiences should have become intermingled with my own, but it wasn’t unthinkable that it had happened.

But the truth—the truth that I was beginning to glimpse—was more disturbing than that.

I wasn’t even wearing the right body.

“It isn’t easy to explain,” I said.

Zebra answered in a hiss, “People don’t just walk into Mixmaster parlours and ask to be scanned for internal tissue damage—not unless they half expect to find something.”

“No, I…” I stopped. Had I imagined it, or had I just seen that face again, near the mingling crowds around Methuselah? Perhaps now I was really hallucinating, pushed over the edge by what the Mix-master had shown me. Perhaps it was my destiny to see Reivich everywhere I looked now, no matter what the circumstances.

“Tanner…?”

I dared not look any deeper into the crowd. “There should have been something there,” I said. “A wound which should have been present, but wasn’t. Something which happened to me once. It was healed… but nothing heals that perfectly.”

“What type of wound?”

“My memories tell me I lost a foot. I can tell you exactly how it happened; exactly how it felt. But there’s no sign of the injury.”

“Well, the regrowth procedure must have been very sophisticated.”

“What about the other wound, then? A wound the man I was working for sustained at the same time? He took a beam-weapon discharge right through him, Zebra. That showed up.”

“You’re losing me, Tanner.” She looked around, her gaze catching on something or someone for an instant before returning to me. “Are you trying to tell me you’re not who you think you are?”

“I’m giving it some serious consideration, let’s say that much.” I waited a moment, then added, “You’ve seen him too, haven’t you?”

“What?”

“Reivich. I just saw him; for a moment I thought I might be imagining him. But I wasn’t, was I?”

Zebra opened her mouth to say something—a denial, quick and fluid, but it just didn’t come. Her veneer had cracked. “Everything I told you is true,” she said quietly, when words returned. “I’m not working for him any more. But you’re right. You did just see him.” After a pause, she said, “Except that isn’t really Reivich.”

I nodded; I’d half guessed the truth already. “A lure?”

“Something like that, yes.” She consulted her tea. “You knew there’d be time for him to change his appearance as soon as he arrived in the city. In fact, it would be the only sensible thing for him to do. And that’s exactly what he did. The real Reivich is out there now, somewhere in the city, but you’d need to take a tissue sample, or get him under a Mixmaster scanner before you’d know for sure. And even then you might not be certain. They can change everything, you know, given time. Even Reivich’s DNA might not betray him, given enough money.” Zebra paused. Out of the corner of my eye I could see the man, still hovering at the fringe of the crowd gathered round the big fish. It was him, yes—or at least an extremely good facsimile. Zebra said, “Reivich knew his cover was good, but he still wanted to flush you out. That way he could sleep at night and—if he wished—revert to his old appearance and identity.”

“So he persuaded someone to assume his shape.”

“There was no persuasion involved. The man was more than willing.”

“Someone with a death wish?”

She shook her head. “No more than any other immortal in the Canopy. His name is Voronoff, I believe, although I don’t know for sure, since I was never that close to Reivich. You won’t have heard of Voronoff, but his name’s fairly well-known in Canopy circles. He’s one of the most extreme Gamers; someone for whom the hunt was always going to be too tame. He’s good, too—or else he wouldn’t still be alive.”

“You’re wrong,” I said. “I have heard of Voronoff.”

I told her about the man I had seen jumping into the mist in the chasm, when Sybilline had taken me to the restaurant at the end of the stalk.

“That makes sense,” she said. “Voronoff’s into anything involving extreme personal risk, provided there’s a large element of skill involved. Dangerous sports, anything which gives a genuine adrenalin kick, and which forces him to confront the thin border between mortality and his own longevity. He would never stoop to hunting now; he’d just regard it as an amusement, not a real game. Not because of its unfairness, but because there’s no personal risk to the participants.”

“Except for one participant, of course.”

“You know what I mean.”

She was silent for a moment before continuing, “People like Voronoff are extremists. For them the usual methods of controlling boredom just don’t work any more. It’s like they developed a tolerance for it. They need something stronger.”

“And putting himself in the firing line was just the ticket.”

“It was controlled. Voronoff had a network of spies and informers keeping track of you. When you first thought you’d seen him, he’d already seen you.” She swallowed. “The first time, he kept Methuselah between you and himself. It wasn’t any accident. He was more in control than you ever realised.”

“It was a mistake, though. He made it too easy. He made me wonder what was going on.”

“Yes,” Zebra said, knowingly. “But by then it was far too late to stop him. Voronoff was out of our control.”

I looked into her faintly striped face, not needing to prompt her further. She said, “Voronoff liked his role too much. It suited him too well. For a long time he acted the way he was meant to—keeping a discreet distance; never letting you see him. The idea was that he would plant a trail of clues which would lead you to him, but in such a way that you thought you’d done all the work yourself. But he wanted more than that.”

“More danger.”

“Yes.” She said it with deep finality. “Laying down clues and waiting for you to follow them wasn’t enough for Voronoff. He started to make himself more prominent—placing himself at ever greater risk, but always maintaining an edge of control. That’s why I said he’s good. But Reivich didn’t like it, for obvious reasons. Voronoff was no longer serving him. He was serving himself;

finding a new way to stave off the boredom. And I think it worked, being in that role.”

“Not for me it didn’t.”

I stood up, almost upsetting the table as I did so. And one hand was already beginning the journey to my pocket.

“Tanner,” Zebra said, quickly, reaching for the hem of my coat as I stepped away from her, “killing him won’t change a thing.”

“Voronoff,” I said, at the top of my voice—not actually shouting it, but projecting like an actor of great renown. “Voronoff—turn around and step away from the crowd.”

The gun gleamed in my hand, and now people began to notice it for the first time.

The man who looked like Reivich met my gaze and managed not to look too surprised. But he was not the only one who met my gaze. I had managed to get everyone’s attention by now, and those who were not trying to read my expression were fixated by the gun. If the hunt was as endemic amongst Canopy dwellers as I had been led to believe, many of these people would have seen and handled weapons of far greater potency than the pistol I hefted now. But never in a place as public as this; never with such crass vulgarity. Judging by the looks of shock and bewilderment and revulsion I saw, I might as well have been pissing on the ornamental lawn which fringed the koi pond.

“Maybe you didn’t hear me, Voronoff.” I sounded sweetly reasonable to my own ears. “I know who you are and what this is all about. If you know anything about me you’ll also know that I’m fully capable of using this.” I had the gun aimed in his direction now, double-handed stance with my feet slightly spread.

“Drop it, Mirabel.”

It was not a voice I had heard recently, nor had it come from the crowd. I felt a touch of soft metallic cold against the nape of my neck.

“Are you deaf? I said drop the piece. Do it fast or your head’ll be following it down.”

I started lowering the piece, but that wasn’t good enough for the speaker standing behind me. He increased the pressure against my neck in a manner which strongly suggested it would be in my best interest to let the gun drop.

I did.

“You,” the man said, evidently addressing Zebra. “Kick the gun to me, and don’t even think about trying anything creative.”

She did as she was told.

I saw a hand reach out in my peripheral vision and snatch the gun from the ground; the pressure of the weapon against my neck changed slightly as the man knelt. But he was good; I could tell that, so—like Zebra—I wasn’t tempted to even think about trying anything creative. That was good, because I was all out of creativity.

“Voronoff, you fool,” said the voice. “Look what you nearly got us into.” And then I heard clicking sounds as the gun was inspected, followed by a tut of amusement from the hidden speaker, whose voice I almost recognised. “It’s empty. The damn thing was empty all along.”

“News to me,” I said.

“I did it,” Zebra said, shrugging. “You can’t blame me, can you? I had a feeling you might end up pointing it at me, so I just took a precaution.”

“Next time, don’t bother,” I said.

“Not that it exactly mattered,” Zebra said, doing a poor job of masking her annoyance. “You never even tried to fire the fucking thing, Tanner.”

I angled my eyes upwards, as if I was trying to look behind my own head. “Are you involved with this clown?”

That got me an acute stabbing pain between the ears. The man said, projecting his voice out to the people who were staring at us, “All right; this is Canopy security; the situation is under control.” I saw a flash of identity in my peripheral vision; a leatherbound card embossed with scrolling data which he waved at the crowd.

It seemed to have the desired effect; about half the people drifted away and the others tried to pretend that they had never really been interested in what was going on. The pressure eased and the man sidled around to my front, pulling up a seat for himself. Voronoff had also joined us, the exact facsimile of Reivich disporting himself opposite me with a scowl of displeasure written across his face.

“Sorry for spoiling your little game,” I said.

The other man was Quirrenbach, although he had changed his appearance since our last en-counter, looking meaner, leaner and a great deal less patient and bewildered. The gun in his hand was small and dainty enough to have been a gimmicky cigarette-lighter.

“How’s the symphony coming on?”

“That was a very sneaky thing you did, Mirabel; leaving me like that. I suppose I should thank you for returning the money that you made on my experientials, but you’ll excuse me if I don’t overwhelm you with a flood of gratitude.”

I shrugged. “I had a job to do. You didn’t figure in it.”

“How’s that job looking now?” Voronoff said, still sneering at me. “Time for a rethink, Mirabel?”

“You tell me.”

Quirrenbach flashed a quick grin at me, like an aggressive ape. “Tough talk from someone who didn’t even know his gun wasn’t loaded. Maybe you’re not quite the professional hotshot we’ve been led to believe.” He reached over and helped himself to my tea, maintaining eye contact all the while. “How did you know he wasn’t Reivich, by the way?”

“Have a guess,” Zebra said.

“I could kill you for betraying us,” Quirrenbach said to her. “But right now I’m not sure I can muster the enthusiasm.”

“Why don’t you start with Voronoff, dickhead?”

He looked at Zebra, then at the man disguised as Reivich, as if weighing the idea seriously. “That really wouldn’t do, would it?” Then his attention returned to me. “We caused quite a stir back there, Mirabel. It won’t be long before what passes for authority here comes to take a look, and I really don’t think any of us want to be around when that happens.”

“So you’re really not Canopy security?”

“Sorry to shatter your illusions.”

“Oh, don’t worry about that,” I said. “They were shattered quite some time ago.”

Quirrenbach smiled and stood up, the tiny little gun still nestling in his fist, as if with one spasm of his fingers he might crush it to shreds. He danced the barrel between Zebra and myself, holding his fake ID in the other hand like a talisman. Voronoff, meanwhile, produced a weapon of his own; between them they had us comprehensively covered. We walked through the crowd, Quirrenbach daring anyone to pay us anything more than glancing interest. Neither Zebra or myself made any attempt to resist or escape; it would not have been worth it.

Only three vehicles were parked on the landing ledge, cowled dark shapes glossy with rainwater, roof-mounted arms partially extended in readiness for flight, like three upturned dead spiders. One was the car in which Zebra and I had arrived. I recognised one of the other cars as well, but not the one to which Quirrenbach was leading us.

“Are you going to kill me now?” I asked. “Because if you are, you could save yourself a lot of trouble by throwing me over the edge here. There’s no need to spice up my last moments with a ride through the Canopy.”

“I don’t know how I’ve managed without your brilliant shards of wit, Mirabel,” Quirrenbach said, with a long-suffering sigh. “And, incidentally—not that you care—the symphony happens to be coming along rather splendidly, thank you.”

“That wasn’t a cover?”

“Ask me about it in a hundred years.”

“If we’re going to talk about people who hesitate to kill others,” Voronoff said, “you might crop up in the discussion, Mirabel. You could have dropped me when we first met around Methuselah. I’m rather puzzled that you didn’t at least try. And don’t say there was a fish in the way. You may be many things, Mirabel, but sentimental isn’t one of them.”

He was right: I had hesitated, much as I preferred not to admit it to myself. In another life—at least on another world—I would have dropped Reivich (or Voronoff) almost before I had mentally acknowledged their presence. There would have been no ethical debates about the value of an immortal fish.

“Maybe I knew you weren’t the right man,” I said.

“Then again, maybe you just didn’t have the nerve.” It was dark, but I caught the quick flash of Quirrenbach’s grin. “I know your background, Mirabel. We all do. You were pretty good, once, back on Sky’s Edge. Trouble was, you just didn’t know when to pack it in.”

“If I’m so washed up, why the special attention?”

“Because you’re a fly,” Voronoff said. “Sometimes they need swatting.”

The vehicle readied itself as we approached, a door opening in one side like a drooling tongue, plush steps set into its inner surface. A pair of heavies shadowed the door, packing indecently large weapons. Any lingering thoughts I had entertained of resistance vanished at that point. They were professionals. I had a feeling they wouldn’t even allow me the dignity of jumping over the side; that if I tried it they would put a pair of slugs in my spine on the way down.

“Where are we going?” I asked, not sure if I really wanted to know the answer, or if I could even expect an honest reply.

“Space,” Quirrenbach said. “For a meeting with Mister Reivich.”

“Space?”

“Sorry to disappoint you, Mirabel. But Reivich isn’t in Chasm City at all. You’ve been chasing shadows.”