The Marriage of the Living Dark

“So what do we do now?”

Karr, crouched down behind the reception desk, glanced across at his friend. “I guess we wait and see. If they wanted us dead, we’d be dead by now.” That much was true. The cover in the lobby was poor. A good marksman would have had no trouble picking them off. And without exposing themselves fully, there was no way they could change that situation.

“Who were they, do you think?”

“I’d say they were working for whoever did that, upstairs.”

Chen gave the tiniest nod. One thing was sure. The men they’d run into weren’t Security. If they had been, they’d have been dead by now, because Security looked after its own.

Then again, there was little chance they’d get out of here alive. The only possible reason they were still alive was that someone wanted to know who they were, and where they’d come from. And as they had no intention of being taken, that left pretty few other options.

What wotdd I do? Karr asked himself.

He’d use gas, of course. Or stun guns. Or ...

He swallowed, saddened suddenly by the thought that they would die here, in a strange universe. And for what? Why, they wouldn’t even get the chance now to take a pop at DeVore.

Outside, beyond the security cruisers that surrounded the front of the lobby, a craft was setting down: a big, black, shiny thing that was different in kind from the bulkier, armoured Security vehicles. It looked the kind of thing a businessman might fly.

Karr raised his gun, looking through the sights as the craff s door hissed open then folded back into the roof.

A big man stepped out, a multi-coloured coat draped about him, its surfaces seeming to wink like a prism in the late afternoon sunlight The figure was unfamiliar, but the face, even without its bulging eyes, was unmistakable. “Kim!”

Chen raised his gun and looked through the sights. “It can’t be. Look at the size of him. He’s got to be six-six easily.”

But Karr was certain of it Staring at the man, he saw what the Kim he knew could have been under different circumstances. Saw just what physical handicaps he had overcome in their own world.

Whereas here, in this world ...

Kim was talking to the Security chief. Karr saw anger on the man’s face, but Kim stared him out, then gestured for him to go.

There was a moment’s tense eye to eye confrontation between the two, then, furious, the Security man turned on his heel and, gesturing angrily to his men, began to leave.

At the same moment craft were setting down. Men spilled out. Armed men, who looked to Kim for instructions. “What are they doing?” Chen asked. “I don’t know. But it looks like he’s taken over from Security. Maybe he owns the building.”

“Well... it looks like we’re about to find out He’s coming over. What do you want to do?”

Karr looked to Chen and shrugged. “I guess I’d better speak to him. Cover me.

But don’t fire unless they fire first”

Lowering his gun, Karr stood, then stepped out from behind the reception desk. Up ahead of him the outer glass doors of the lobby hissed open and the man in the many-coloured coat stepped through. He took a further couple of paces towards Karr then stopped, frowning.

“Gregor? What the hell are you doing here? I thought you were in Washington?”

Karr narrowed his eyes. “Kim?”

The man shook his head, then. “Do you know me?” “I think so. In my world your name is Kim. But you are not half the man you are in this world.”

At the mention of different worlds, this other Kim nodded, his eyes widening.

“So you are from elsewhere.”

Karr hesitated, then. “If you’re not Kim, then who are you? What do you call yourself?”

The man smiled, then put out a hand to Karr. “My name is Mister Joseph Josephs.

But you can call me Joseph.”

The girl’s mother was surprised to see him back so soon.

“Mister Huang ... Is something wrong?”

“We have to leave here earlier than we planned. Pack two bags, Madam Yin.

Essentials only. I can buy whatever else we need when we get there.”

The Madam looked alarmed. “Where are we going?” “To Tientsin spaceport I have a craft there. From there we’ll fly out to my country place, in Sichuan Province.”

“Sichuan?’ She stared at him, highly dubious now.

“Sichuan. Now get ready. And send the girl to me!” The tone of command in his voice - one he but rarely used - did the trick She turned and disappeared inside A moment later the girl appeared Her eyes looked tired, as if she’d just been woken.

“What is it?” she said, coming across and putting her arms about him, as if he had been her lover months and not a single day. “Mama says we are to go to Sichuan.”

“I have a summer place there. An estate. Up in the hills. You’ll like it I’ve horses ...”

“Horses?” She looked excited. “I love horses.”

The closeness of her aroused him. Despite the urgency of the moment, he wanted to fuck her once again. He reached down and placed his hands over her buttocks, the thinness of the garment she was wearing letting him feel the warmth of the flesh almost as if he touched it She looked up at him, wide-eyed. “You want to? Now?” He shivered, recalling how she had bewitched him the last time he’d been with her. “Not now,” he said, denying the need he felt. “Now go and help your mother pack. We must be gone from here.”

Fei Yen clung to him a moment longer, then turned and disappeared back through the door. Li Yuan stood there, staring at the doorway, then sniffed the air. Mei met. Plum blossom. He shivered, then turned, confused momentarily. Tongjiang. If they could get to Tongjiang they would be safe Even if the world collapsed about them.

The two men met on the apron just beneath the shuttle. Though they were dressed differently, they looked identical, and Wyatt, looking on, stared in disbelief. “Howard!” the two men said as one, embracing each other warmly. “You’re looking good,” the newcomer said, standing back a little. “So what’s happening here?”

“A little setback. But I’m dealing with it” The newcomer nodded, then looked past his double. “Wyatt! How good to see you. You’re dead back where I came from. They had you executed in public. Big fucker with an even bigger sword took your head from your shoulders. I’d have brought a tape if I’d known.”

Wyatt had blanched, but the paradigm DeVore seemed amused by the news.

“Executed, eh? Who would have thought it? And you, Howard?” “My world is dead. Or as good as. Thaf s why I came to lend a hand.”

There was a narrowing of eyes. Both men looked at each other intently a moment, then, as if they had come to some perfect understanding, grinned again. “So who are we fighting?” the newcomer asked. “Ward? Li Yuan? Karr?”

DeVore shook his head. “None of those. Our enemy here is a man named Josephs.

Joseph Josephs.”

“Never heard of him.”

“Nor I until five minutes back.”

“You got a picture of this guy?”

DeVore nodded. “Come over to my craft I’ll brief you as we fly back in.” “And I’ll brief you,” the newcomer said, putting his arm about his twin’s shoulders. “There’s something you ought to know about yourself. Something rather important.”

Joseph sat on the bed beside the naked body of his other self and wept He had not dreamed - had not even guessed - what he would find in the apartment, nor had Karr thought to warn him.

To find he had two brothers, and to find them dead, horribly murdered in this way. It was too much.

He looked up, wiping away his tears, and saw the sympathy in Karr’s face. “You say there was a gateway, here in the room?”

“Yes.”

“So where is it?”

Karr shrugged, then, remembering something, blinked. “It went before ... Jelka said so.”

“Jelka?”

“Your wife . ..” Then, realising that Joseph was looking at him blankly, looked down. “Kim’s wife. She’s back on Kalevala.” “Kalevala?” “Their estate. On Ganymede.”

Joseph stared at him, men huffed out a sigh. “I think you’d better start at the beginning, Gregor. Ganymede? The Ganymede thaf s Saturn’s moon?” “Yes,” Karr said, “only right now if s halfway to Eridani...” Joseph gave a short laugh, then looked back at Kim. Frowning, he took the edge of the sheet and wrapped it over the corpse. “I wish I’d known him.” “He was a lovely man,” Kao Chen said, his own eyes misted. “A real giant” Joseph met Chen’s eyes, and saw that he meant nothing ironical by the comment. He nodded, acknowledging what was said, then stood. He looked about him, as if in a dream, then looked back at Karr.

“You know nothing about the gateway?”

Karr shook his head. “Only Kim and K. knew how it worked. The equations were ... well, difficult to say the least” “Hmmm.” Joseph seemed to sniff the air, then frowned. “Why would it shut off?” “Pardon?” Karr said.

“The gateway. If it powered itself ... why did it shut down?”

“I don’t know. Maybe someone switched it off.”

“Jelka?”

Karr shook his head. “No. She wouldn’t know how.”

“Then who?”

Joseph turned, then walked through to where they had laid out K.’s corpse. His clothes lay nearby where DeVore had thrown them. Bending down, Joseph went through the pockets, then looked up, smiling.

“There! Look, Karr. This has to be it!”

It looked like a marble. A simple piece of coloured glass. But inside the tiny transparent sphere was a tiny flaming snake - a snake that was swallowing its tale.

Looking at it, Karr shuddered. It was the key!

Joseph stared at it a moment, as if to try to fathom how it worked. And then he laughed and, holding it in his hand, gently squeezed it From the other room came a cry of surprise. “If s back!” Chen yelled, poking his head round the door. “The gateway’s back!”

Joseph looked to Karr. “Will you go first, Gregor?”

“To break the news?”

Joseph nodded, but he saw how much the thought of it troubled Karr. The giant stood there a moment, staring at the prone figure on the floor, and then he nodded. “Alright,” he said, an anger in his eyes as he looked up. “But then we come back here, okay? We come back and finish the bastards!”

The morphs clearly considered him no threat. And why should they? They had seen the damage to his head. And so Daniel found himself alone in the operating theatre, the faint vibration of the constantly revolving ship the only sound. Slowly he sat up, wincing, the pounding in his head threatening momentarily to black him out He closed his eyes and counted. By forty he was okay again. Opening his eyes he carefully looked about him, making the tiniest movements of his head, careful not to set it off again.

He had to bandage it up somehow. To hold himself together long enough to do what he had to do. There was surgical tape on the trolley nearby, and a scalpel. He slowly swung his legs around, then stood. The pounding returned. Again he closed his eyes. Only thirty this time and the giddiness went, but the back of his head felt as if it was about to fall out through the gap in his skull. Okay. One thing at a time. First he’d tape his head together. He tore strips from the roll of plaster and, gingerly - almost as if he was doing it to someone else, it felt so strange - he formed a tight web of tape about the back of his cranium.

There! That should do.

He turned slowly. Now he needed something to kill the pain. Because there would almost certainly be pain, and he wanted to feel nothing. Daniel limped across to the dispensary, each step a small agony.’Grimacing, he reached up and, slipping the catch, pulled the cupboard door open. Pills. Endless pills. But which ones?

He saw a name he recognised and took the packet down, staring at the label. Shit! They were injection only. He looked about, then saw an injector-gun on the second shelf. He took it down and loaded it with four of the capsules, then held the nozzle to his arm, pulling the trigger twice. Relief was immediate: a flood of warmth and reassurance. He slipped the injector into his pocket. Two was enough for now. He’d save the others for a top-up if he needed it Daniel turned, resting his back against the cupboards. If what he’d heard was right, there were less than two dozen morphs on board. The very last of DeVore’s once glorious forty thousand. That meant they’d be stretched thin. And that meant that they would be keeping their prisoners in as few places as possible, to make it easier to guard them.

If they’d kept that many prisoners ...

Not the bridge. And not here. Which left only a few other possibilities. One was the recreation hall at the very centre of the craft, and that wasn’t likely while they were in orbit, because it would be difficult to mind prisoners in a nil-gravity situation.

It was more likely that they had them in the cargo holds. There was room enough and more down there.

But would they have kept Emily and the others with them? He decided not DeVore would want his prize prisoners kept apart Not only so that they could be specially looked after, but also to break down the morale of the rest of the contingent Daniel limped across and took the scalpel from the trolley, then, after wrapping it in a cloth, slipped it into his pocket He crouched, drawing the cloth back and looking on the shelf underneath.

“Kuan Yin!”

There was a gun! He remembered now. Emily had put it there. And there it had sat all this while, hidden beneath the hanging cloth. Daniel reached in and took it out, studying it. It felt like it was loaded. He checked. Yes, there were a full fifteen rounds in the cartridge. Enough to do what he had to do. Enough to give him an advantage.

He straightened up, then stood a moment, mentally preparing himself. One chance.

He had one chance to get this right. And not just for himself. For all of them.

Cameras...

He glanced up. The camera over the door was on, transmitting an image of the room. If anyone was watching, they’d have seen him get up. They would have seen him take the scalpel and the gun.

No time, he thought, knowing that if they had, they’d be on their way right now. He walked over to the door. It was locked, but there was an override. He flicked open the panel, exposing the touchpad and punched in the first half of the code. 1.4.AJLL. The top line went green. His fingers tapped out the second half of the code. A.L.L.4.1.