Against Gravity (29 page)

“Really? Do you think so?”

“Kendrick—”

“Look, there’s planes landing and taking off from here all the time. I’m locked in a cell, and I don’t have a fucking clue what’s going on.” At least with the
constant roar of the aircraft landing or taking off outside there was less chance of anyone hearing him speak.

A long sigh from the bracelet’s speaker. “Kendrick, nobody’s going to get you out but you. But that’s going to mean some cooperation.”

“Cooperation?” Kendrick studied the bracelet in his hand. “What are you talking about?”

“I can get you out of there, but I need you to do something in return.”

“Tell me.”

“You need to get yourself to the Maze. If you just agree to do that, I can help you find a way out of the cell.”

Several seconds passed as Kendrick closed his eyes, then opened them again to find the bracelet was still there and he was still in his cell. “I know, you asked me before, but I just
can’t do it,” he replied. “Besides, it’s—”

“Off-limits? God, there’s a war on, in case you hadn’t noticed. Los Muertos have enough on their hands to distract them. I need you to get here, Ken.”

“Peter, where precisely are you? Are you telling me that’s where you are – down there?”

“Just tell me you’ll do it.”

A roar filled the cell as another plane took off. “You need to tell me more. You need to tell me what it is that’s so fucking special about me that every lunatic with a gun and a
grudge is now chasing after me.”

“Look, I already told you that: out of all of us who are still alive, you’re the one closest to the Bright in terms of the way your augmentations developed. If Draeger is so
interested in you, it can only be because you represent the highest achievement of Sieracki’s research programme.”

“Peter—?”

“Ken, understand this. The Bright are hammering at you with everything they’ve got. You have no concept of the energy resources available to them, but I’ll bet Draeger has an
idea, and, thanks to Hardenbrooke, Los Muertos do too. The Bright are like children who’ve figured out how to build a nuclear reactor and are using it to make phone calls. We’re talking
serious overkill.
If it was up to Robert, you’d never know about any of this, but the Bright want you too much even for Robert to be able to do too much about it.”

“The woman interrogating me here thought I could somehow get Los Muertos on board the
Archimedes
.”

“With your particular affinity with the Bright, they figure they stand a better chance of boarding the station and staying alive there if they have you along with them. Also, Los Muertos
knew that Draeger had you flown out to Cambodia – and they know everything about the programme of treatments that Hardenbrooke administered to you.”

“Right: so apart from wanting to haul me up there, Los Muertos also kidnapped me because I’m important to Draeger.”

“At last! Give the man a sticky bun! Took you fucking long enough to grasp that, didn’t it? They all think you’re special, and to a certain extent you are. But not, perhaps, so
much as they think. Now, will you come to the Maze?”

Kendrick groaned. “You haven’t given me one good reason to.”

“If you do, I’ll give you something you want very badly – something you’ve been seeking, for a long time.”

“What?”

“I can get you the proof of Draeger’s direct involvement with the Labrat research programme. But before that you have to come here.”

“What if I say no?”

“But you won’t, will you?”

“You’re serious, aren’t you? You can give me that kind of proof, Peter?”

The bracelet had fallen silent. Kendrick stared at it, knowing that it wasn’t real. He dropped it on the concrete floor of the cell. It clattered as it landed, the plastic cheap and
slightly scratched. He kicked at it gently and it slid a metre or two across the floor. It resolutely refused to disappear or evaporate.

Then, because he could think of nothing else to do, Kendrick turned his attention back to the lock. He caressed the smooth, machined steel box, thinking about McCowan’s words.

Yes, damn you, I’ll do it.

Suddenly, it was there: the electrons running through the lock’s circuitry were like bees buzzing in a hive. Kendrick’s hand tingled where he touched the surface of the lock and,
although he couldn’t feel it or even sense it in any way, he imagined information flowing through the nanotech augmentation that riddled his flesh, bio-aug programs analysing the interior of
the lock, reaching out and distantly manipulating its complex innards.

Somehow, in some arcane way more like magic than science, McCowan was doing this – through Kendrick. He thought about a dead mind reaching out through his fingertips from buried lightless
corridors – and shivered inwardly.

The box made a soft
click-thunk
sound and softly, very softly, the door swung towards him.

Kendrick stood, transfixed. Perhaps he’d done something wrong the last time and—

But it wasn’t that. The lock had been designed to keep a Labrat imprisoned.

Get to the Maze
, McCowan had said.

Could he really bring himself to go back there? Would it even be possible?

Perhaps it would, Kendrick thought. Perhaps there were even more miracles to be found there.

If he went – and if McCowan was telling the truth about Draeger.

Another aircraft took off, sounding as if it had barely skimmed the roof. Kendrick had to resist the urge to duck. Very softly, he stepped out into the corridor. He halted when he found that
he’d stopped breathing, clutching at his chest in panic, wondering if his throat was blocked. Yet he didn’t even feel out of breath, though the impulse to suck in air and breathe it out
again appeared to have gone – at least for now.

Kendrick stepped back into the cell to try to deflect the subsequent wave of panic that threatened to swamp him. This wasn’t like the last time, when he’d found himself on the
Archimedes
. This was real.

Very deliberately, he expanded his chest, drawing air into his lungs and then pushing it out again. He repeated this a few times until he felt nature take over: his lungs began moving without
the need for conscious thought on his part.

His mind reeled. How long had this been going on? Seconds, minutes . . . more? What in Christ’s name had his body been running on in the meantime?

What was
happening
to him?

Kendrick went back to the open cell door and glanced down the corridor. Ten metres or so away, he could see one edge of a desk and the side of a guard’s head. There was a bend in the
corridor there, which meant that whoever was currently minding the store didn’t necessarily have a completely clear view down towards the cells – although it would take the guard only
an instant’s glance to see Kendrick peering out from his cell.

He moved soundlessly down the corridor, away from the guard. He reached a door after what seemed like an eternity. The guard hadn’t so much as glanced up yet. Kendrick was amazed to find
that the exit wasn’t even locked. A glass panel at eye level allowed him to peer out at the dark shapes of nearby buildings looming beyond the jail. He reached down very gently to the metal
lever of the door handle.

The lower edge of the door scraped noisily against the tiles under his feet and, glancing down, Kendrick saw that a shallow groove had been scraped away after many years of use. Just then,
another plane thundered overhead. He glanced back to see the guard’s head flick up, but the man was looking away from him. Kendrick watched as the guard nodded to someone who had just entered
the jailhouse from the opposite end.

No time to waste. Kendrick pushed the door open wider, the air outside shaking with the sound of braking jet engines and screeching tyres. Taking advantage of the racket, he slipped out through
the door and into the night.

Adrenalin surged through Kendrick’s body, filling him with intense joy. He was
out
. The dark hulk of a military transport jet screamed overhead, so close that he felt he could
almost reach up and touch it. But where now?

The whole complex was fenced off, as he’d noticed on his way in, which meant more guards to deal with. Unless he could steal transport there was no certain way to get back to
civilization.

Kendrick stood against the wall, just beside the open door. He stole a glance back along the corridor and saw that his guard was now talking into a databand on his wrist. Kendrick’s
stomach lurched sickeningly as the head of a second soldier suddenly popped out of the open door of Kendrick’s cell. Kendrick dodged back out of sight quickly.

He slipped along the side of the cell block, moving as fast as he could and taking advantage of the deep shadows there, ducking occasionally as a series of jeeps and trucks roared by, heading
for the airfield where another huge cargo jet was approaching fast. Further away, Kendrick could see other trucks pulling up to a screeching halt before unloading dozens of uniformed men. Shouts
came from somewhere close.

He ran towards an empty hangar a short distance away and watched from the shadows as the trucks returned the way they had come, kicking up great clouds of dust.

A klaxon sounded, strident and abrasive in the night air. Kendrick guessed it was for him. Uniformed men started heading towards the hangar he was lurking beside.

Time to get moving. He rounded a corner, trying to find a way towards the base perimeter. Then, through the gloom, he spied a fence several metres high.

But, when he saw what lay beyond it, Kendrick stumbled to a halt, gaping. He didn’t know a great deal about spacecraft, but he knew enough to realize what a military orbital shuttle looked
like.

There were three of them. Vast tarpaulins were being pulled off them to reveal their gleaming black carapaces. Kendrick stared at the smooth bulge of their fusion engines. He remembered seeing
the huge rockets, still shrouded, earlier and wondering what they were.

Each one was mounted on an enormous movable platform that resembled a wide-bodied truck. Because of the much smaller size of these shuttles’ engines – and because their fuel
requirements for reaching orbit were modest by comparison – they were a lot more compact than the old-style versions that had been in use almost a century earlier. Like most modern
spacecraft, they also lacked the external disposable boosters once necessary to get those earlier giants into orbit.

Kendrick also knew, from his research into Draeger’s part in the development of the fusion technology that had made such craft possible, how these shuttles could be moved into position and
deployed in just a few hours.

The night lit up like midday.

At first Kendrick’s senses did not register the explosion, only a surge of heat and pressure. Then he became aware of a fireball engulfing the perimeter fence perhaps a half-mile distant,
the noise of it rolling over him like a sonic boom.

The sound of shots came from somewhere nearby. Kendrick moved deeper into the shadows and waited long, tense moments.

After the light from the fireball had almost faded, a low, tooth-rattling vibration began to surge through the ground under his feet, followed by an almighty roar. Seeing fire blossom at the
base of one of the shuttles, he started to head for the edge of the base, keeping close to the hangars as he did so.

Before long Kendrick found himself at the base perimeter, near a cluster of buildings that had a large number of jeeps and trucks parked outside. It occurred to him that he hadn’t seen
Caroline in the jailhouse – so where else would they be keeping her? Instinct told him now that if she was anywhere it would be somewhere in the buildings directly ahead. He tried not to
think about the possibility that they’d put her on board one of the shuttles.

Kendrick stopped at an abandoned jeep that had its engine still running. He prayed that its rightful owners wouldn’t suddenly reappear. Climbing into the driver’s seat, he flipped
the vehicle over to manual control, then began to drive off carefully, keeping his head down. Now that he’d had more time to look around, the base itself didn’t seem to be all that
large.

He halted the jeep after a few seconds and tapped at its command screen, located just to the right of the steering wheel. Three pre-programmed destinations appeared, listed in alphabetical
order.

He glanced into the rear of the jeep and saw that a rifle had been left there. He reached back to pick it up, surprised at its weight. He had no idea how to use the damned thing, but just
knowing it was there gave him some comfort.

Kendrick dropped the weapon onto the passenger seat next to him, then brought the jeep’s destination list back up with a single tap on its screen, selecting the location it had most
recently come from.

The vehicle began to move off slowly but soon picked up speed. It slowed at one point when its bumper sensors picked up the body heat of a group of soldiers. Kendrick ducked his head, hoping
fervently that they wouldn’t try to commandeer the jeep for themselves. But they didn’t even spare him a glance. They were too busy losing control of the situation.

After only a hundred metres or so – about a quarter of its way across the base – the jeep rolled to a stop outside a one-storey building among the cluster that Kendrick had already
spotted earlier. He jumped out, grabbed the rifle and took a look around.

Caroline could be anywhere.

Hearing voices nearby, Kendrick ran half-crouching along the side of a wall. Around a corner he saw what appeared to be a troop carrier parked alongside a loading bay. A surgical pallet had been
placed in the back of the vehicle, a bundled shape strapped to it.

A soldier emerged next to the loading bay and spotted him.

Shit
.

Kendrick brought the rifle up to his shoulder without thinking.
Is the safety on?
he wondered, realizing that he had no idea. He aimed just as the soldier ducked back through the door.
Kendrick almost didn’t spot a second soldier coming out of the driver’s side of the troop carrier. He swung the rifle towards the man and squeezed the trigger, reacting out of panic
more than anything else. The driver’s shoulder exploded in a burst of blood and bone. The rifle’s recoil almost jerked the gun out of Kendrick’s hands.