The Prefect

CHAPTER 4

An alert chimed on the cutter’s console. Dreyfus pushed the coffee bulb back into the wall and studied the read-out. Something was approaching from the Parking Swarm, too small to be a lighthugger. Guardedly, he notched up the cutter’s defensive posture. Weapons unpacked and armed, but refrained from revealing themselves through the hull. Dreyfus concluded that the approaching object was moving too slowly to make an effective missile. A few moments later, the cutter’s cams locked on and resolved the foreshortened form of a small ship-to-ship shuttle. The vehicle had the shape of an eyeless equine skull. Black armour was offset with a scarlet dragonfly, traced in glowing filaments. He received an invitation to open audio-only communications.

“Welcome, Prefect,” said an accentless male voice in modern Russish.

“How may I be of assistance?” With some effort, Dreyfus changed verbal gears.

“You can be of assistance by staying right where you are. I haven’t entered the Swarm.”

“But you’re very close to the outer perimeter. That would suggest an intention to enter.”

“To whom am I speaking?”

“I might ask the same question, Prefect.”

“I have legal authority in this airspace. That’s all you need to know. I presume I’m dealing with an assigned representative of the Swarm?” After a pause—which had nothing to do with timelag—the voice replied: “You may call me Harbourmaster Seraphim. I speak for all ships gathered in the Swarm, or docked at the central servicing facility.”

“Would that make you an Ultra?”

“By your very narrow definition of the term, no. I do not owe my allegiance to any single ship or crew. But while they are here, all crews are answerable to me.” Dreyfus racked his memory, but he did not recall any prior dealings with anyone called Seraphim, Ultra or otherwise.

“That’ll make life a lot easier, then.”

“I’m sorry, Prefect?”

“It could be that I need access to one of your crews.”

“That would be somewhat irregular.”

“Not as irregular as turning a drive beam on a habitat containing nine hundred and sixty people,

Harbourmaster.”

Again, there was a lengthy pause. Dreyfus felt a prickle of sweat on the back of his hands. He had jumped the gun by mentioning Ruskin-Sartorious, which was in express contravention of Jane Aumonier’s instructions. But Aumonier had not counted on Dreyfus being approached by someone willing to speak for the entire Swarm.

“Why are your weapons in a state of readiness, Prefect? I can see them through your hull, despite your baffle-cladding. You’re not nervous, are you?”

“Just sensible. If I could see your weapons, I’d expect them to be in a state of readiness as well.”

“Touche,” Harbourmaster Seraphim said, with a chuckle.

“But I’m not nervous. I have a duty to protect my Swarm.”

“One of your ships could do a lot more damage than one of ours. I think that’s already been adequately demonstrated.”

“Yes, so you said. That’s a serious accusation.”

“I wouldn’t make it if I didn’t have solid proof.”

“Such as?”

“Shipping movements. Forensic samples from the habitat, consistent with torching from one of your drives. I can even give you the name of a ship, if you—”

“I think we need to speak in person,” Harbourmaster Seraphim said, with an urgency Dreyfus hadn’t been expecting.

“Stand your weapons down, please. I am about to approach and initiate hard docking with your ventral airlock.”

“I haven’t given you permission.”

“But you’re about to,” Harbourmaster Seraphim replied.

As the lock cycled—coping with the different pressure and atmospheric-mix protocols in force on both ships—Dreyfus emptied his mind of all preconceptions. It never paid to make assumptions about the physical manifestations of Ultras. They could look as fully human as any Panoply operative, and yet be crawling with furtive and dangerous machines.

Dreyfus had seen stranger than Harbourmaster Seraphim, though. His limbs and torso were encased in the bright green armour of a powered exoskeleton. His head had a shrunken look to it, his mouth and nose hidden behind a grilled silver breathing device that appeared to be grafted in place. There was a chrome-plated input socket set into the left side of his skull—Ultras favoured direct hook-up when they interfaced with their machines—but other than that there was no suggestion of extensive cyborgisation. He had long, black hair drawn back into a single braided tail. His delicate, pale hands reminded Dreyfus of the imprint of a bird’s wings in ancient rock.

“Thank you for letting me aboard,” Seraphim said, the voice emanating from somewhere beneath his throat.

Dreyfus introduced himself, then escorted the Ultra into the cutter’s habitation area.

“Is there anything I can offer you by way of hospitality?”

“Can you run to blood dialysis?”

“I’m afraid not.”

“That’s a pity. My ship’s having trouble purging my fatigue poisons. I think the filters need changing, but I can’t ever seem to find the time to return to the central servicing facility.”

“How about coffee instead?”

“I’ll pass, Prefect. Now: concerning this disagreeable subject we were about to touch on.”

“Nine hundred and sixty casualties. That’s way beyond disagreeable. Those people weren’t ever on my radar, Harbourmaster. That means they were just decent human beings trying to get on with their lives without hurting anyone else. None of them made it out alive.”

“I’m sorry about the deaths. Truly, I am. We do have souls, Prefect Dreyfus. We do have consciences. But I assure you this could not have been what it appears to be.”

“I can place the Accompaniment of Shadows near enough to rule out the involvement of any other ship.” Seraphim touched one hand to the side of his breather mask, as if making some microscopic adjustment to his airflow settings.

“Have you considered the possibility that someone else committed the crime, yet wished it to appear the work of an innocent crew who just happened to be in the neighbourhood?”

“There’s nothing my boss and I would rather have than an excuse not to stir up trouble with the Ultras.

But we know of only one thing that could have sliced open the Ruskin-Sartorious Bubble, and that’s a Conjoiner drive.”

“You’ve ruled out the possibility of something else: a weapon, for instance?”

“There’s nothing that could have done that.”

“Maybe nothing known to us now. But no one would deny that things were created in the past—terrible, destructive things—that may have survived into the present era. We’ve all heard talk of the hell-class weapons—”

“I’m a prefect, Seraphim,” Dreyfus said patiently.

“I deal in known facts, not speculation. And I don’t have to look for some fabled weapon from the dark ages. I have proof that a drive was involved. That’s all I need.”

“There must still be a mistake. No crew would perpetrate such an atrocity.”

“Even if a deal went sour?”

“Children act out of spite, Prefect Dreyfus. We’re not children.”

“All right. What about an accident?”

“A Conjoiner drive doesn’t just switch on spontaneously.”

“Fine. Then someone had to have their hands on the controls. Glad we cleared that up.”

“We’ve cleared nothing up. What are you expecting me to do?”

“I want you to prevent the Accompaniment of Shadows from leaving the Swarm. That’s step one. Step two is you stop any of her crew from jumping ship. Step three is you use your influence to bring the captain to justice.”

“That’s a lot of steps you’re asking for, Prefect.”

“It’s my job.”

“And if I don’t do as you say?”

“We’ll have to review the existing trading arrangements. There are ten thousand habitats open for business in the Glitter Band, Harbourmaster. But you don’t get to talk to any of them without our blessing.”

“We’d find workarounds.”

“I don’t doubt it. But I’d like to see how your profit margins hold up. I imagine things might get very unpleasant for a man in your position.”

“Don’t ever threaten us, Prefect,” the Harbourmaster said.

“Why not?”

“Because you need us a great deal more than we need you.” Sparver knocked before entering Thalia’s office, even though the passwall was transparent. As a Deputy Field III—the highest ranking before promotion to full field status—Sparver was two full grades above Thalia. He would have been within his official rights had he walked in unannounced, as Dreyfus would most likely have done. But in all his dealings with Thalia, ever since she’d joined the team, Sparver had scrupulously treated her as an exact equal. The daughter of Jason Ng had enough to deal with without petty displays of rank, especially from another deputy.

“Boss man keeping you busy?” he said, as Thalia looked around from her work.

“It can’t be helped.” She took a swig from a coffee flask before rubbing her eyelids.

“The Perigal issue was already a high-priority item before Ruskin-Sartorious came in. I’m just glad that Dreyfus trusts me to handle both tasks.” Sparver stood next to her console, scanning the information scrolling past on multiple panes. Thalia made light of her speed-reading ability, but her Klausner index was still much higher than his own.

“The boss trusts you. Don’t worry about that.”

“But he has his doubts.”

“Why d’you say that?” Thalia stopped the scrolling panes.

“It would have made sense for me to go out to the Ruskin-Sartorious Bubble. I know core architecture better than anyone.”

“But you were already busy.”

“I’m even busier now. That wasn’t really an argument for me not coming along.”

“Dreyfus knew I could take care of the core,” Sparver said.

“If we’d run into anything thorny, you could have signed out a cutter and met us at the Bubble within an hour.”

“I suppose so.”

“Thalia, listen to me. The boss thinks very highly of you. He may not show it, but that’s just his way. He wouldn’t have brought you onto the team in the first place if he thought otherwise. Trust me on this.”

“I’m just worried that he thinks I’m under-performing.”

“Has he said anything to that effect?” Thalia frowned.

“Not exactly, no.”

“Well, then.”

“I still can’t help wondering why he didn’t ask me along to the Bubble.”

“Because it was a potentially dangerous operation.”

“More so than a lockdown?”

“Potentially. If someone wanted to destroy the Bubble that badly, they could easily have come back for another go if they saw prefects crawling all over it.”

“But they didn’t.”

“Point still stands. Reason Dreyfus didn’t ask you to join the team—apart from the fact that he was trying not to exhaust you—was that he didn’t want to place one of his best deputies in a high-risk environment. Lockdown’s different—you had to be on the squad. But this time? I think the boss made the right call. And it has nothing to do with your abilities not measuring up.”

Thalia looked sheepish.

“I guess all this sounds silly to you.”

“Not at all. When I first started working with him, I spent months wondering what the hell I was doing wrong. Not a word of praise ever escaped his lips. Then slowly it dawned on me: if Dreyfus keeps you on the team, that’s the praise.”

“But now… it’s different, right?”

“Not really. Once in a blue moon he throws me a crumb of encouragement, but other than that I get exactly the same treatment as you.”

“It doesn’t look that way.”

“That’s because you’re still the new addition to the team. When I make full field, I’ll get promoted to another section and you’ll fill my slot. Then Dreyfus’ll bring in someone new, someone who’ll feel exactly the way you do now.” Thalia glanced over his shoulder at the waiting passwall.

“Do you like him, Sparver?”

“There’s no one in Panoply I’d rather work for.”

“Not what I asked.”

“I know, but that’s the answer you’re getting.” He spread his hands.

“I’m a pig, Thalia. There are prefects who won’t look me in the eye because of that. Dreyfus specifically requested I be assigned to his team. He can be as cold-hearted and uncommunicative as he wants, and I’ll still owe him for that.”

“There are prefects who won’t look me in the eye either,” Thalia said.

“There you go. We both owe the boss man. Now why don’t you pipe some of that workload over to me and I’ll see what I can do to take the burden off you?”

“You don’t have to do this.”

“And I’m not claiming to know as much about beta-levels as you. But I thought there might be some routine tests I can run while you’re getting on with the clever stuff.”

“Actually, now that you mention it…” Thalia’s hands moved over the console again.

“I’ve run standard recovery algorithms on all twelve recoverables, using the Tianjun protocols. Five or six of them look hopelessly corrupted, but I need to run a second set of tests to make absolutely sure.” Sparver nodded.

“Using the Lisichansk protocols, I’m guessing?”

“It probably won’t make any difference—if you can’t get a clean resurrection with Tianjun, Lisichansk isn’t likely to do any better. But for the sake of completeness, it has to be done.”

“I’ll get on it.”

“Appreciated, Sparver.”

“Anything else I can do for you?” Thalia looked down at her hands, still poised above the console.

“There is something. But it isn’t that kind of favour.”

“Go ahead.”

“When I joined the team, I asked you what had happened to Dreyfus, why he is the way he is.”

“I vaguely remember.”

“You said you didn’t have all the answers, but one day you’d tell me what you knew.”

“I did,” he admitted.

“It’s been five years, Sparver. You can give me something now.”

“Have you asked around?”

“I don’t do much asking around, in case you hadn’t noticed.”

“Fair point. Have you run a query through the Turbines?”

“It didn’t seem right, digging around behind his back.”

“Whereas talking about him isn’t a problem?”

“It’s different,” she said, giving him a warning look.

“I’m asking you as a friend to tell me what happened to him.” Sparver felt something in him give way. He’d made a promise to her when she joined the team and he couldn’t renege on that now, even though he’d hoped she’d forgotten.

“It’s not what happened to Dreyfus. It’s what happened to someone he cared about. Her name was Valery Chapelon.”

He could tell that the name meant nothing to Thalia.

“Was she his wife?” Sparver nodded slowly, feeling as if he’d committed a grievous betrayal of confidence.

“What happened?” Thalia asked.

“It was eleven years ago. Now ask yourself how long Jane Aumonier’s been the way she is, and that should tell you all you need to know.” He waited for the reaction to show itself in her face.

Jane Aumonier floated with her arms folded, her chin lifted, her eyes bright with intense focus.

“You’re back sooner than I expected,” she said, when the safe-distance tether brought Dreyfus to a stop.

“I made progress.”

“I seem to recall that my recommendation was that you were not to engage.”

“They forced my hand. I didn’t enter the Swarm, but I did have a talk with someone claiming to speak for it.”

“I’m guessing you encountered the harbourmaster, in that case.”

“I didn’t know you’d met.”

“Once or twice in the past. Never face to face. He’s a slippery customer, but all told I’d rather deal with him than most of his predecessors. My impression is that he’s open to reasoned debate.” Dreyfus would have shifted awkwardly were he not floating on the end of the tether.

“I hope so.” Aumonier’s normally inexpressive face became stern.

“You didn’t push him, did you?”

“We don’t have time to pussyfoot. Once the story breaks that Ultras are torching habitats, Seraphim and his friends are going to have a lot more to worry about than a few gentle hints from me.” Aumonier’s attention flicked back to one of her read-outs. Her eyes glazed: for a moment, she could have been light-seconds away in body and mind.

“Well, you’re right that we don’t have much time. Our effort to mask the catastrophe is still holding but we’re fending off more queries by the hour. Word is beginning to reach the other habitats that something may have happened. It’s only a matter of time before someone decides to have a look-see, or sends a query we can’t answer in a convincing fashion.”

“Then what?”

“Then life gets interesting,” Aumonier said darkly.

“In which case, I’m glad I was forceful. If Seraphim’s the reasonable man you say he is, maybe we’ll get somewhere.”

“We’re playing with fire, Tom.”

“We didn’t choose the game,” he reminded her.

“This is what they pay us for.” Aumonier was silent. Dreyfus began to think she was done with him, that she had returned her attention to the ever-shifting display wall and forgotten his presence. It had happened before, and he took no slight from it. But when she spoke he knew that she had only been summoning the courage to talk about something painful.

“Tom, there’s something you need to know. It’s about the scarab.”

“Good news?” he asked, despite the fact that everything in her tone said otherwise.

“Not good news, no. Or at least something we don’t understand. As far as I’m concerned, that’s bad news by definition.”

“Tell me.”

“You know what sometimes worries me the most? It’s not that they won’t ever be able to get it off me. I have confidence in their abilities, maybe more than they do. Demikhov’s team is the best I could ever hope for.”

“So what’s worrying you?” asked Dreyfus softly.

“That I won’t be able to dream. What happens when you don’t dream for eleven years, Tom? Does anyone really know?”

“I’m sure you’ll be able to dream.”

“But we don’t know for sure. What if the parts of my brain that used to dream have withered away from not being used? What if they’ve been taken over by some other part? That happens, you know. The brain rewires itself all the time.”

“You’ll dream,” he said, as if that should be reassurance enough. After a silence, Aumonier said, “They’ve detected a change inside it. Components have moved. I felt it myself. They don’t know what to make of the change.”

“I thought Demikhov said they understood everything inside it.”

“He’s never claimed that, just that they know enough to be able to get it off me, one day.” Dreyfus studied the thing attached to the back of Aumonier’s neck. It was a fist-sized machine shaped like a red chromed beetle, clamped into place by its legs, a dozen sterile prongs that dug into her skin.

“Why now?” he asked.

“These last few days have been stressful for all of us. I can’t get much out of Demikhov, but I can guess what he’s thinking. We already know the scarab has a tap into my spine, so that it can read my blood chemistry. We also suspect that it has a field trawl, so that it can tell if I start falling asleep. I’ve no doubt about that—occasionally I feel the itch as it runs its fingers through my brain. I think it has enough to go on, Tom. It’s responding to my stress levels. Something in me has crossed a threshold, and the scarab has responded accordingly.”

“But apart from the change, the movement of components, it’s done nothing?”

“It may be preparing for something, waiting for my stress levels to notch higher. But no one in the Sleep Lab will tell me anything. I think they’re concerned about what might happen were I to become even more stressed.”

“I’ll talk to Demikhov,” Dreyfus said.

“Get the straight story.”

“I’d appreciate that.”

“It’s the least I can do.”

“The thing is, I can’t let this distract me from the present crisis. But I thought you deserved to know.” She swallowed hard.

“In case something happens to me.”