Provenance I - Flee The Bonds (36 page)

Francois’s mind flashed back to the cosmic ring that enveloped the Prefect in MP 14. Unfortunately,
Thibeauchet Technologie
did not manufacture Cogents, and he had never seen one like Steve’s before. ‘Can our artificials not stop them?’

‘They are all gone, sir. Also, we cannot contact Marshal Kellermann.’

Francois slid a sideways glance at Morton. ‘Marshal Kellermann is dead. You must stop fighting and retreat. When I take command of Provenance, I can control the Prefects. Then I will call you,
bonne chance
.’

‘To you also, sir.’

Francois did not intend to call on those Prussians ever again. They had betrayed France once before, he would not give them the opportunity to do so again. He turned to the rigid Morton. ‘Have you found her?’

His eyes narrowed on the insolence of Morton’s raised finger, a moment later the machine spoke.

‘She’s on a flight to Provenance, ETA twenty-three fifteen.’

Francois
délibérations
dropped to the MCD, 22:16. He tapped the screen.

‘Hello, Francois.’

Kacee’s beauty still warmed his desire. ‘
Ma Cherie
, why did you leave? I came to help you.’

‘What do you want?’ Her tone remained flat, her brown eyes cold.

‘The woman of the Resistance is still alive, and that is good. She has knowledge of an attack on Provenance. You must find her and guard her until we arrive.’ Francois was unsure of the significance of the dolphin, but he did not intend to let SIS find it first.

‘The decree’s been declared, I already have orders.’

Francois rolled a finger at Morton. ‘These orders are from SIS Command.’

‘Fine.’

‘Thank you, Kacee, I will see you soon.’ She would obey an order from SIS, everyone did.

Francois turned back to Morton. ‘Find someone on Provenance to accompany her. When the target is found, take the dolphin and secure them both. They are not to be harmed.’ He continued, aware of an artificial’s capacity for parallel thought processes, ‘Situation?’

Morton picked at his immaculate fingernails, ‘CONSEC Command have ordered Advocates to fall back to the red zones. Apparently, they do not want to kill unarmed civilians. As a precaution, every ship is being evacuated to Provenance. News of the black Prefects is spreading fast. The Council are concerned.’

Francois nodded. ‘As they should be.’
As all humanity should be.

A light on Francois’s MCD flashed red, the blank screen spoke, ‘We received your message, can you confirm this?’

‘Yes. I have found the key.’

‘They must be brought to Provenance immediately.’

Francois inhaled deeply. His entire campaign depended on this moment. ‘I will bring the trigger and the key with my protection force.’

‘That is understood.’

Francois exhaled as the MCD blinked off. He could now finish his victory speech.

He slanted his gaze to Morton. ‘Is
our
protection force ready?’

‘Yes. One thousand four hundred Defenders and sixty artificials. All Resistance and all have CONSEC clearance.’

‘
Excellent
.’ Francois stood up. ‘You must be careful with Steve, his reflexes are
extraordinaire
. It was he who killed Captain Lacusta.’

‘How do
you
know that?’

Francois smiled. ‘Because he brought the brain of Captain Lacusta to my house.’

01:26 SUN 05:11:2119

Praetorian DV-14, LEO

Steve stared up at the dimmed circle of blue light shining through DV-14’s stale cabin. Its contemplative silence rattled by a sedated Dee’s snoring in the seat to his right. They were scheduled to dock in fifteen minutes.

He tilted his head and whispered, ‘Anything?’

Alex sat on his left, in what would have been a window seat. ‘No, shall I contact her again?’

‘Better not.’ Kacee had agreed to Steve’s request to move Penny to Alex’s quarters. She’d seemed pleased to hear from him, and frightened.

Alex read Steve’s mind again. ‘Are you sure you can trust her?’

‘I’ve little choice. Morton will have uploaded the information about Penny, and the fact you can’t reach Dobriana means they’re closing in.’

‘Dobriana won’t say anything.’

Steve compressed his lips. ‘I’m afraid she will. When we’ve secured Penny we’ll go and find her.’

‘You won’t have time; you’re leading the main assault with Francois.’

‘I need to find Penny before SIS do. She holds the key, literally.’

Alex’s brow creased. ‘I don’t understand.’

‘Last Friday, when you drugged me, you were searching for the other dolphin. You didn’t find it, so you modified my MPS to track me — and keep me alive. You’re SIS.’

Alex recoiled, pressing against the fuselage, ‘I can’t be. I can’t!’

Steve stared impassively into desperate green eyes. Between the index finger and thumb of his right hand, he held a slender charred cylinder. ‘Do you know what this is?’

Alex shook his head.

‘It’s a bidirectional transducer. Prefects don’t wound, it avoided hitting your chest so I’d find the dolphin. Unfortunately for SIS I also found this. That’s how they’ve been controlling you.’

‘It’s not possible, I would have noticed the scar.’

‘Have you checked under your armpits lately?’

Alex shook his head again.

Steve marvelled at the subtle changes in Alex’s features. ‘Whoever built you put in more than just time and effort, and I think I know who — and why. When were you last offline?’

Alex glanced down, ‘21-04-2118.’

‘That’s when SIS programmed you, probably to spy on SCITECH initially. Luckily they didn’t find your core CPU, which I think prevents you from harming me, and that includes divulging Penny’s whereabouts.’ Steve tapped the MCD attached to his protector suit’s sleeve. ‘Do you recognise these people?’

‘No.’

Steve arched his eyebrows, ‘Try again.’

‘I promised.’

‘Not possible. Come on, Alex, time’s running out.’

‘They’re your parents. I was their assistant.’

‘Do you have the correction algorithm?’

‘No.’

‘But they did program you didn’t they?’

Alex lowered his head. ‘They gave me a special HPU.’

‘What’s special about it?’

‘It has a biofield lock. It can only be removed by you.’

‘And the dolphin?’

Alex looked up. ‘I don’t know, your parents said you’d know what to do.’

Steve inhaled deeply, ‘Did they say anything else?’

‘Only that they didn’t want you to look for them. I’m sorry.’

‘That’s okay. I haven’t seen them for years.’

‘What happened?’

For the first time in his life, Steve opened the locker willingly. ‘I’m a twin, was a twin. There was an accident and my brother, Matt, died. I joined the Academy and mum and dad went to Provenance. I never saw them again.’

‘Didn’t you try to contact them?’

‘Lots of times. I gave up eventually.’

Steve pointed at Alex’s chest. ‘That dolphin is one of an interlocking pair Matt and I were given at our Christening. I thought Matt’s had been buried with him. They’ve an inimitable laser cut, resonance frequency and composition. They will only ever match each other.’ In case of eavesdroppers, he decided not to mention their other attribute, the one that made them ideally suited to their task. ‘I think you
do
have the correction algorithm, you just don’t know it.’

‘I’m not really an SIS agent, am I?’

Steve returned the transducer to his thigh pocket. ‘Not anymore.’

Dee stirred. ‘Are we going up or down?’

Steve shifted right. He’d removed a metal fragment from Dee’s left calf and administered two litres of crystalloid and a large dose of happiness. ‘Up. How’re you feeling?’

Dee rolled his shoulders and bounced his knees, ‘Great.’ He raised an eyebrow, ‘Better than I should be.’

‘I wanted to leave you behind, but Francois ordered otherwise.’ Steve leant in, ‘Just make sure you’re standing next to him when it wears off.’

Dee raised his head and looked around. ‘Guess we ain’t making a social call.’

‘The Council have requested a protection force. We’ve been assigned to the bridge deck.’

‘Why? It’s full of AHs and SIS.’

Steve lowered his voice. ‘Francois’s going to attack it.’

Dee rubbed his face with both hands. ‘Are we fighting the Resistance or SIS?’

‘SIS. They intend to use this so-called protection force to take control of Provenance. They probably also know that Francois has the same idea. If he does manage to take the bridge, we’ll take him and shut down the AHs. CONSEC will take care of the rest. However, before all that, I need to find Penny.’

Dee turned in his seat. ‘What’s she doing up here?’

‘Kacee poisoned her.’ Steve ignored Dee’s flared nostrils; culpability lay with whoever issued the order. ‘SIS and Francois both need what’s inside Alex’s head and Penny’s the key to unlocking it. If this attack fails, and it probably will, I need a plan B.’

Dee blew out. ‘Just point me in the right direction.’

Steve tapped his MCD and made the connection to Admiral Smithson.

‘Hello, Steve. Problems?’

‘Not yet, sir. Can INC reinitialise the Marionette directive?’

‘They can, but I’m not sure it’s going to work. We had the same idea, until SIS broke the uplink.’

‘I think I can open a gateway into Provenance and re-establish it.’

Admiral Smithson scratched his chin. ‘Okay. I’ll let you know when we’ve opened the channel. Smithson out.’

Dee gripped Steve’s arm, his face etched with emotion. ‘I’m sorry, Steve, I got it all wrong. Everything.’

Steve glanced at Alex’s affable expression before replying. ‘You didn’t get your priorities wrong.’

They rocked forward. Clunks resounding through the cabin signified their arrival.

01:48 SUN 05:11:2119

Bureau 00-00-00, Provenance, LEO

Kacee wanted to look away, but she could not, dare not. Fear of being exposed locked her gaze.

The Interrogator’s stiff black and red uniform circled the nurse’s crumpled green one. ‘Where is the woman named Penny?’ His baleful tone lingered in the windowless room’s antiseptic air; a stifling, claustrophobic room, tiled in gleaming white.

Ensign Nurse Dobriana Annissiara stared unblinkingly; she had no choice. The overhead lamp’s cruel beam glinted on her eye clamps, less so on the surgical chair they’d strapped her to. She was in the grip of SIS’s talons, helpless and alone.

His voice softened, ‘We have located your parents. They send their regards from Servyansk.’

Dobriana’s body quivered, tears rolled down puffy cheeks. Her round face was a testament to her Ural heritage, its paleness to her impending torment.

The Interrogator stopped and leant in. ‘Where is she?’

Dobriana sniffed in response.

‘You will regret that.’ He stepped sideways and reached out. A metal trolley left the darkened corner and jangled into the spotlight.

Dobriana’s bloodshot eyes panicked, her neck straining against the plastic strap gouging her glistening forehead.

Kacee inhaled deeply and stepped into the light, ‘Enough. You’ve failed.’

The Interrogator’s snarl lashed out, ‘You are here to evaluate her answers. Not to interfere!’

‘You’re an artificial, so I guess that makes you an expert in female psychology.’ Kacee’s heart pounded beneath her purple tunic.

The brittle polymer face cracked along the eyes. ‘They all talk in time.’

‘Yeah well, time is the one thing we haven’t got. Leave us.’

His face twisted, ‘Be careful—’ A female voice sliced through the hostility, ‘You have three minutes, Lieutenant Merblayn.’

The Interrogator bared his teeth and stormed out.

Kacee looked down. Dobriana’s baby-blue irises stared from bulging globes of red streaked ivory. Human eyes fascinated the soulless AHs. Kacee removed the eye clamps and head restraint, set them on the trolley and pushed it into the corner.

Dobriana blinked, her eyelids lost in swollen mounds of shiny raw pink. Kacee reached out and stroked matted hair from the strap-marked forehead. She’d received three requests to find Penny, only Steve’s offered nothing in return.

She took hold of Dobriana’s clammy hand and leaned in close enough to smell sweaty cherry blossom. ‘We’re going to take Penny to Alex’s room. Just nod.’ Dobriana did as asked.

Kacee unfastened the straps. ‘Nurse Annissiara has agreed to take me to the target. I’ve told her if she does this, her parents won’t be harmed.’

The shadowy corners spoke. ‘Agreed.’ Kacee lowered her head, her compressed lips forming an optimistic smile to cover the lie. She suspected Dobriana’s parents were already dead. There was one surety with SIS. Retribution was total.

‘We will send an escort.’

Kacee peered up into the corner. ‘No need. Nurse Annissiara can barely see and the target is going to be woken from cryostasis. I can manage.’

‘We will send an escort.’

* * * *
 

Kacee hooked her arm into Dobriana's and stepped from the deck-car into the dingy coolness of Depot 33. Two Defenders followed them to Rack 01.

The Monitoring Unit beeped and the cryotube shimmered into life, its stark light exposing the jaundiced hue of Penny’s pale skin.

Kacee turned to the Defenders. ‘Help me.’

It took several minutes to clothe the shivering Penny in an orange revival suit. Kacee ignored her stare. Wide-eyed bewilderment had given way to narrow-eyed suspicion.

‘I know you. Where am I?’

Kacee fastened Penny’s collar. ‘We’re here to help you.’

The taller Defender stepped back and drew his pistol. ‘Let’s go, Command are waiting.’

Kacee straightened. ‘She needs medical attention first.’

‘Our orders are to take her directly to SIS Command — someone will be along to take care of you two.’ He stepped towards Penny.

The shorter Defender’s pistol sliced down, catching the taller Defender behind the ear. He fell against a cryotube and slid down into a heap. His assailant holstered. ‘We’d better get going.’

‘Who are you?’

‘
Not
SIS. I was asked by a mutual friend to help you.’