been informed, but—”
“I hadn’t.” He was trying to keep his fury in check, not wanting to take out his anger on this kid the way he had abused Thyssen earlier.
“But I still want to talk to Prefect Aumonier.”
“Prefect Aumonier is in no fit state to talk to anyone,” said a gruff male voice behind Dreyfus. He pushed
himself around to see Gaffney floating towards him along the same corridor he’d just traversed.
“I’m sorry, Field, but that’s just the way it is.”
“Let me talk to Jane.” Gaffney shook his head, looking genuinely regretful.
“I hardly need impress on you how precarious her situation is. The last thing she needs right now is someone upsetting her unnecessarily.”
“Jane isn’t going to be the one who’s upset if I don’t get to see her.”
“Easy, Field. I know you’ve had a tough time today. But don’t use it as an excuse to lash out at your superiors.”
“Did you have any part in removing Jane?”
“She wasn’t ’removed’. She was relieved of the burden of command at a time when it would have been an intolerable imposition for her to have continued.” In his peripheral vision, Dreyfus saw that the two guards were looking straight ahead with resolutely neutral expressions, pretending that they were not party to this high-level scuffle. Neither man had summoned the senior prefect. Gaffney must have been lurking nearby, Dreyfus thought: waiting until he tried to visit Aumonier.
“What’s your angle here?” Dreyfus asked.
“Lillian Baudry’s a good prefect when it comes to the details, but she doesn’t have Jane’s grasp of the big picture. You’re counting on her making a mistake, aren’t you?”
“Why on Earth would I want Lillian to fail?”
“Because with Jane out of the picture, you’re one step closer to becoming supreme prefect.”
“I think you’ve said more than enough. If you had the slightest idea how ludicrous you sound, you’d stop now.”
“Where’s Baudry?”
“In the tactical room, no doubt. In case it’s escaped your attention, a crisis has been brewing while you’ve been pursuing your own interests.” Dreyfus spoke into his bracelet.
“Get me Baudry.” She answered immediately.
“Prefect Dreyfus. I was hoping to hear from you before too long.”
“Let me talk to Jane.”
“I’m afraid that wouldn’t be wise. But would you mind coming up to tactical immediately? There’s something we need to discuss.” Gaffney looked on with a faint smile.
“I was on my way there before I ran into you. Why don’t we go there together?”
Baudry, Crissel and Clearmountain were in attendance when Dreyfus and Gaffney arrived in the tactical room. The seniors were peering at the Solid Orrery from different angles. Dreyfus noticed that four habitats had been pulled out of the swirl of the ten thousand and enlarged until their structures were visible.
Crissel indicated a vacant position.
“Take a seat, Field Prefect Dreyfus. We were hoping you could explain something to us.”
Dreyfus remained standing.
“I understand you were part of the lynch mob that removed Jane from power while I was outside.”
“If you insist on characterising events in those terms, then yes, I was party to that decision. Do you have a problem with it?”
“Have a guess.”
Crissel stared at him equably, refusing to take the bait.
“Perhaps you haven’t been paying attention, but there have been worrying changes in the state of the scarab, likely harbingers of something medically catastrophic.”
“I’ve been paying plenty of attention.”
“Then you’ll know that Demikhov is deeply concerned about Jane’s future prognosis. All that thing on her neck is waiting for is a trigger. When her stress hormones float above some arbitrary level, it’s going to snip her spine in two, or blow her to pieces.”
“Right,” Dreyfus said, as if he was seeing something clearly for the first time.
“And you think removing her from office is the key to lowering her stress levels?”
“She’s in the safest therapeutic regime we can devise. And when this is over, when the crisis is averted, we’ll look into a strategy for returning Jane to at least some level of functional responsibility.”
“Is that what you told her? Or did you lie and say she could have her old job back when things have blown over?”
“We don’t have time for this,” Gaffney purred, the first time he had spoken since their mutual arrival. He’d taken a seat next to Lillian Baudry. His hands rested on the table, the fingers of one caressing the clenched fist of the other.
“Take a look at the Solid Orrery, Field.”
“I’ve seen it, thanks. It’s very pretty.”
“Take a better look. Those four habitats—ring any bells?”
“I don’t know.” Dreyfus smiled sarcastically.
“What about you, Senior Prefect Gaffney?”
“Let me spell it out for you. You’re looking at New Seattle-Tacoma, Chevelure-Sambuke, Szlumper Oneill and House Aubusson. The four habitats Thalia Ng was scheduled to visit and upgrade.”
Dreyfus felt some of his certainty evaporate.
“Go on.”
“As of just over six hours ago, all four habitats have been unreachable. They’ve dropped off abstraction.” Gaffney scrutinised Dreyfus’ reaction and nodded, as if to emphasize that matters were exactly as grave as they sounded.
“All four habitats dropped off the net within sixty milliseconds of each other. That’s
comfortably inside the light-crossing time for the Glitter Band, implying a preplanned, coordinated event.”
“You’ve always vouched for Thalia Ng,” Crissel said.
“Her promotion to field was fast-tracked on your recommendation. Beginning to look like a mistake now, isn’t it?”
“I still have total faith in her.”
“Touching, undoubtedly, but the fact is she’s visited four habitats and now they’ve all fallen silent. All she had to do was make a series of minor polling core upgrades. At the very least, doesn’t that suggest procedural incompetence?”
“Not from where I’m standing.”
“What, then?” Crissel asked, fascinated.
“I think it’s possible…” But Dreyfus tailed off, feeling a sudden reluctance to state his theory openly. The seniors regarded him with stony-faced indifference.
“The deep-system cruiser that rescued us—is it still flight-ready?” he asked.
Baudry spoke now.
“Why do you ask?”
“Because the one way to settle this is to pay a visit to Aubusson. That’s where Thalia was due last. If one of my deputies is in trouble, I’d like to know about it.”
“You’ve done enough gallivanting around for now,” Gaffney said.
“We’re in a state of emergency, in case you hadn’t noticed.” Baudry coughed gently.
“Let’s deal with the other matter, shall we? And please—sit down.”
“What matter would that be?” asked Dreyfus with exaggerated civility. But he took his seat as Baudry had requested.
“You brought a Conjoiner into Panoply, in express contravention of protocol.” Dreyfus shrugged.
“Protocol can take a hike.”
