Caine Black Knife

‘When the gods would punish us, they answer our prayers.’ ”

He leaned forward and rested his elbows on his knees. “This wasn’t what I wished for.”

I rolled my eyes around the cream-colored walls. “Not exactly the top of my Christmas list either.”

“Michaelson-Caine-” He sighed. “What should I call you?”

“You can call me Jonathan Fist.”

He frowned at me. “Jonathan Fist?”

“He made a deal too.”

“I don’t get it.”

“That’s because you’re thinking in English. The original name is German.” He shook his head. “And?”

I just shook my head. “Nobody fucking reads anymore, you know that?

“Fist, then. Please understand. I’m sixty-six years old. I was trapped on Overworld three years ago when you cut off Studio operations on Assumption Day. Along with all the Actors and scouts and Overworld Company personnel and everybody else. I thought I would die there, finally, after all. I mean, we didn’t know what you had done; all any of us knew was that we couldn’t get home. I was near retirement, looking forward to watching my grandchildren grow up. . and then-”

“Yeah.”

“I was in Kor when it happened. All I could think to do was get to Thorn-cleft, to the Railhead. . but when I got there, of course they were as trapped as I was-but they had a copy of, well, your recording. .”

I knew which one. “Yeah.”

“I am sorry-it was clear how much she meant to you-”

“It seems like a long time ago.”

He cleared his throat. “Anyway-finding out that the dillin were actually gates to Earth. . I remembered Hell, and the Tear of Panchasell, and there was one slim chance that we could see home again, if we could find a way to open the dil. .”

“I get the picture.”

“And that was all I wanted. To get home. That was all any of us wanted. But when we finally. .” His voice trailed off.

“They made you an offer.”

He nodded. “Do you have any idea what it’s worth to the Board to have Overworld access again? Plus we’re importing griffinstones-did you know that there are magickal effects possible here? Do you have any idea what can be done with the combination of magick and cybernetics?”

“Yeah.”

“Some of your recovery, in fact-” He stopped. “You knew?”

“You’d be surprised what I know. Look, Rab-uh, I should call you Faller, huh?”

He nodded. “Rababal died twenty-five years ago.”

I shrugged. I shrug a lot these days. The more I know, the less I have to say.

He said, “I have a very, very good thing going on the Battleground right now. I am very close to a retirement that is a great deal more comfortable than I could have ever hoped for-and then you show up, and I thought-I mean, think about it. Think about our history. Or my history, if you want to put it that way.”

“I get it.”

“And it’s not just that. Every Company man on Overworld has strict instructions to hand you over on contact, Caine.”

“Fist.”

“It would have meant my job at the very least. Possibly my life.”

“I told you: I get it.”

“It wasn’t personal.”

I nodded. “You probably won’t believe this, but I didn’t come to Purthin’s Ford to pee in your soup.”

He offered a tired-sounding chuckle. “Give me something I can take to the Board of Governors, Caine. That’s all I want, you know. That’s what I came here for. Just. . something. Something to make them think I’m not completely useless.”

“Tell them I’ll play,” I offered. “Tell them you convinced me. We can negotiate.”

He stared at me. “You mean it?”

“Sure. We don’t have to butt heads, Faller. Unless you want to. I know what it’s like to have the Bog on my neck. I’m not gonna wreck you just for doing your job, man.”

“You-” He blinked, closed his mouth, and tried again. “All I had to do was ask?”

“You know how rare it is that anybody just asks?” I nestled my head back into the pillow and stared at the blank cream ceiling. “When anyone wants anything from me, they’re always trying to bully me or blackmail me or play on my guilt or shame or fucking beat me into submission. The best I get is a generous bribe. Nobody ever even suspects that I might so much as cross the fucking street just because I’m not one hundred percent pure shitbag.”

“I can see how that must hurt. Poor misunderstood mass murderer.”

He was laughing at me. I joined in. “They’re off by at least a percent or two.”

So we had our little chuckle. It didn’t last.

He said, “Do you-do you really think you can make a deal with the Board? After everything you’ve done?”

“Depends. I need you to get some recording equipment in here. The Bog can do that for you, huh? All up- and-up.”

“I don’t get it.”

“There’s things about the situation over there that I’m pretty sure they don’t know. There’s things I can do for them that I’m damned sure they don’t know.”

He gives me a half up-and-down, half sideways seminod of noncommittal agreement. “I can. . I suppose I could come back, well, online. .”

“You can?”

He tapped his skull behind his left ear. “My thoughtmitter. . I suppose-since you-they’ve decided it pays them to keep an eye on what all of us are doing over there.”

“Works for me. How bad are things on Home? I mean, I’m guessing-because you’re here and all-that Angvasse didn’t go berserk and kill everybody.”

He nodded. “She-is not your biggest fan.”

“She’s on board with your whole Smoke Hunt game?”

“I-don’t know. After-well, I haven’t seen her. No one has.”

That couldn’t be good news. “What about Markham?”

“Lord Tarkanen is. . I suppose you’d call him Acting Justiciar. Pending confirmation by the Lords Legendary.”

“Fuck me like a goat. Orbek?”

“The Justice never happened. She didn’t show up.”

“So? They let him go or what?”

He shook his head. “I’ve had-more pressing concerns.”

“It’s that bad?”

“I would never have dreamed everything could go so wrong so quickly.”

“Good.”

He frowned at me. “It is?”

“The worse shit gets, the better I do.”

“If that’s true”-he sighed and sagged forward until his chin rested on his hands-“you’ll probably end up king.”

Which brings us to more or less now.

Without my help, the best you can hope for is destruction of your Black-Stone operation, and permanent loss of your access to Home-that is, Over-world. I repeat: that’s your best. Remember that