while at the same time denying them to us. And if they've got the alien ship, it won't be long before they have the secrets of the new stardrive, just as we do. Our work on perfecting and better understanding the new drive has become more urgent than ever. Thank you for bringing us this news, Captain Silence. As always you serve us well. You may go now, but we'll need full reports from both of you.'
'Understood,' said Silence. 'We'll make ourselves available. One last thought for you to chew over. An esper once told me he had a clairvoyant vision of what Shub had planned for Humanity. He wouldn't tell me what he saw, but he killed himself rather than risk living to see it come true.'
Parliament muttered uneasily. Gutman leaned back in his chair, his voice carefully calm and reasonable. 'Precognition is the least understood and the least reliable of the esper abilities, Captain. Whatever vision your esper may have had, I don't think we should put too much faith in it. It's clear, though, that someone must investigate what Shub is up to.'
'I'll volunteer,' said Jack Random loudly. 'If an attack's imminent, we need to know. And I'm one of the few people who could hope to get close to Shub's dealings and still come back alive to make a report.'
'Ah, hell,' said Ruby Journey. 'Guess I'll go along as well, for the ride.'
'Your offer is gratefully accepted,' said Gutman. 'All that remains is to thank Captain Silence and his companion for the timely news they have brought. Go with Parliament's best wishes. No doubt you are eager to return to your ship. Carrion, you will of course have to turn the power lance over to the proper authorities before you can leave.'
'No,' said Carrion. 'I don't think so.'
Gutman frowned. 'Power lances are banned, and with good reason—forbidden throughout the Empire. Silence's word gives you protection, outlaw, so we do not demand your death. But you cannot be permitted to keep the lance.'
He gestured with one fat hand, and a dozen armed guards stepped forward, their guns trained on the man called Carrion. He looked at Silence, who shrugged. Carrion smiled coldly at Gutman.
'Try to take it.'
The light seemed to darken suddenly throughout the House, and there were shadows everywhere. Things moved in the gloom and hung threateningly out of sight overhead, huge and cold and unseen. There were glimpses of jagged teeth and great curved claws. A heavy wind was blowing from nowhere, gusting and violent. Something howled, a long, savage sound with nothing human in it. More voices rose on every side. There were unseen watching presences beyond number, and everyone could feel a malevolent rage hovering over them like a storm cloud. Guards clutched their guns tightly, but didn't know where to point them. Owen, Hazel, Jack, and Ruby stood back to back, ready for whatever came. People clutched each other, trying to look in all directions at once. They were only moments from panicking, and a stampede for the doors that would leave a lot of people dead, trampled underfoot.
And then suddenly the presences were gone, the wind stopped blowing, and all was quiet and still again. On his chair, on his raised dais, Gutman licked his lips nervously and cleared his throat. Everyone looked at him, but he was looking only at Carrion.
'What… what was that?'
'The Ashrai,' said Carrion. 'They died long ago, when Captain Silence gave the order to scorch Unseeli, but their ghosts lived on. Once they haunted the metallic forests, but now the trees are gone, so they haunt me. They protect me.'
'Oh, hell,' said Gutman. 'Keep the bloody lance. Now, get the hell out of here and take your unnatural friends with you.'
Carrion nodded calmly, turned, and headed for the doors, Silence at his side. People hurried to get out of their way. All except one. Diana Vertue stood in their path, and Carrion and Silence stopped before her. Diana nodded brusquely to Carrion, and then fixed her wounded eyes on Silence.
'Hello, Father,' said Diana.
'Hello, Diana,' said Silence. 'I heard you'd taken your old name back. I'm glad. I never really liked Jenny Psycho.'
'She was a real part of me. She still is, deep down. I've just… moved on. When the Mater Mundi worked her will through me, I thought I was her avatar, her focus, her saint on earth. But she abandoned me, took away the grace and the glory, and left me to live the rest of my days as a lesser being, no longer touched by Heaven. Left me alone, just like you did, on Unseeli.'
'It wasn't like that,' said Silence.
'Yes, it was,' said Diana. 'It was just like that.' She looked at Carrion. 'I heard the Ashrai sing on Unseeli. Joined my voice with theirs. They gave me a glimpse of Heaven and then went away. Better to be blind forever than to see the colors of the rainbow for only a few moments, before being thrown back into the dark again. I've been betrayed so many times; all I trust now is me. Whoever that is. I'm glad your planet is dead, Carrion. I'm glad the forests are gone. I just wish you and the Ashrai had disappeared with them. Stay away from me. You too, Father. Because I'll kill you if you hurt me again.'
Silence tried to say something, but the words wouldn't come, and in the end he just bowed to her and left, Carrion at his side. Diana watched them go, and for a moment something of her old malevolent persona crackled about her like a halo of flies.
After that everything else was pretty much an anticlimax, and Parliament soon broke up. Owen and Hazel, Jack and Ruby left through a side entrance to avoid the media and the crowds. They didn't feel like talking to strangers. There was a tavern nearby, not much more than a hole in the wall, but the booze was drinkable and privacy came guaranteed. The four of them sat around a stained and scarred tabletop, nursed their drinks, and wondered what to say to each other. They'd come a long way from the simple band of heroes Owen had put together back on Mistworld.
'Been a long time since we last sat down together,' said Jack Random finally. 'But then, we've all been busy, I suppose.'
'Not really that surprising,' said Hazel. 'I mean, all we ever really had in common was the rebellion.'
'There's still friendship,' said Owen. 'There's always friendship.'
'Of course,' said Jack, perhaps just a little too heartily. 'You can't go through everything we did without becoming… close. But I know what Hazel means. The rebellion gave us a shared purpose, something to base our lives around. With that gone, we've had to reinvent ourselves, and we're not the people we used to be anymore.'
'Right,' said Ruby. 'How the hell did we get here from there? I don't know what I expected to happen if we ever actually won, but this sure as hell isn't it. I miss… the sense of direction I used to have.'
'The certainties,' said Jack. 'I used to know who I was. I was the professional rebel. I fought the System, any System. And now I'm part of it.'
'We used to be outlaws,' said Hazel. 'With a price on our heads and everyone queuing up to take a shot at us. I sure as hell don't miss that.'
'But we can't go back to who we were,' said Owen. 'To the people we were before all this started. We had to become other people, just to survive.'
'Wouldn't go back if I could,' said Hazel. 'Hated it.'
'Right,' said Jack. 'Roots are overrated. We're like sharks; we have to keep moving or die. And sometimes that means moving on.'
'But we have to stay in touch,' said Owen. 'Who else can we talk to? Who else could hope to understand the things we've been through? The Maze changed us on many levels, and I'm not convinced the changes are over yet.'
'Don't start that again,' said Ruby impatiently. 'It's over, Owen, let it go. I won't live in the past. Sit in shitholes like this every evening, talking old battles and victories, and arguing over who did what like old pensioned-off soldiers, with nothing left to do but relive the days when their lives had purpose and meaning. My life isn't over yet. I'm damned if it is.'
'Right,' said Jack. 'That's why I volunteered us for the Shub mission.'
'Yes, well,' said Ruby, 'I'm not sure that's entirely what I had in mind.'
'Oh, come on,' said Jack. 'Where's your spirit of adventure? You said you wanted some action. So, tomorrow we make our start.'
