much as I would have liked to beat the shit out of the wee bitch, I knew we didn’t stand a chance. I was willing her to die. She might yet if I got on the net and she stood too close to any automated weapon system, or there were other accidents that could happen to her. Make my man think I was dead and sleep with him, would you?
‘What now?’ I asked her, as willing her dead hadn’t seemed to work.
She was staring at Rolleston’s body. I wasn’t sure what I’d expected – contortions, mutations, something loud and flashy – but he’d just keeled over. He looked really surprised. She looked at me, startled that I’d spoken.
‘I’ve ordered the Black Squadrons to stand down. I’ve told them that Rolleston’s dead. We won’t attack unless we are fired on. I think you should go now.’
‘We’re taking our dead and we’ll need a shuttle to come and get us,’ I said. She glanced over at the monstrosity Cat had become and nodded.
I stood up and limped over to her. She ignored me, just staring down at Rolleston.
‘Why?’ I asked.
‘Because he didn’t know enough to be afraid any more,’ she said. She was wrong: all Rolleston had had was fear.
‘That’s not what I mean.’
She turned to look into my eyes. I’d been told that she never looked anyone in the eyes. Hers were grey. She wasn’t as ugly as I thought she’d be. I thought back to Dundee, when the orbital weapons platform had hit the rigs. She could have killed us then. I suspect she’d had many opportunities to kill us.
‘I don’t know. Out of all of them he was just so… human.’
I looked at her for a while and she held my gaze. I nodded and turned away. Mudge had managed to crawl to Merle and was holding him, trying not to hurt his arms. I hugged Mudge fiercely.
‘Ow!’ But he hugged me back.
I could never tell him the truth. I was sure he would kill me if he knew what I’d done. If he knew that Jakob had died in Maw City four months ago, would it make it easier or worse for him?
‘Why didn’t the virus kill you when I stabbed you?’ Rannu asked. The Grey Lady didn’t look at him but there was a ghost of a smile on her face.
‘There’s no biotech in me; I’m just really good.’
Rannu’s eyes widened.
Epilogue
Only I knew. I knew because I had made contact with Them. Through Ambassador, the soft warm whisper in the back of my head, I had managed to communicate with Them. Rannu, Pagan, Mudge and Jakob had been separated and were being kept under guard. This was in itself a novel concept for Them.
They were not sure what to do with us. As a race they moved in concert, They were one. There was no common ground for Them to understand the madness of individuality. They barely understood death. When They told me that one of us had malfunctioned They certainly didn’t understand grief. Or at least I thought They didn’t until Ambassador started to sing. It was beautiful. The others had joined in.
No body could have survived the abuses that Jakob’s had received. Mudge’s chemical cocktail had kept him alive just long enough to do the job. He had finally succumbed to the radiation poisoning he’d fought against for most of his life. On the streets of Fintry growing up, then Them, then the Cabal’s henchmen and finally Gregor, his best friend turned into a monster. It had taken a nasty little Nazi punk to kill him.
I finally got to see the body. Ambassador had managed to convey my pain to Them. I think they thought I was suffering the way They had when They’d first been attacked by the Cabal. They were trying to fix him. They had dissected him. They knew the metal and plastic components were mostly working and had stripped them out. There had been so much metal and plastic and so little flesh. They had burrowed deep into what remained, tasted his dead flesh, sampled it, figured out how it worked so they could replicate it and grow it around the metal and plastic.
I threw up and became hysterical. I think I lost it, maybe for a few days, but we were still being kept separate so the others never knew.
I meant to tell the others. I really did. I meant to ask Them to destroy the copy but I couldn’t. I rationalised it to myself. We’d need him if we were serious about trying to stop Rolleston. In the end I think it was just the fantasy of a lonely girl whose boyfriend had died. Selfish wee bitch.
I had wanted him. I had needed him. It hadn’t worked out very well. Probably because at some level I knew it wasn’t him.
I was pretty sure that Pagan suspected. Mudge must’ve known at some level, they were so close. Rannu would never have suspected. For all the deceit in their world, people like that trust each other, they have to.
I think that Jakob started to suspect after the Citadel.
I’m sorry, Jakob. You didn’t deserve that.
Millions had died in the bombardment, then thousands more in the fleet engagement, the battle on the net and as a result of the net crashing.
Parts of Africa, Europe and the Americas had been hit by the seed pods bearing Crom Cruach, which had started to transform the terrain around it without Rolleston’s sick guidance. Even now people were fighting to control its spread.
The net was free of Demiurge and God. It was back to the way it had been before. It was as if all our efforts to see the truth told had been for nothing. There were unconfirmed reports of Pagan’s ghost being seen on the net. There were few sightings of the gods of the net and none of them were confirmed. That was good, as I couldn’t think that they’d be very happy with me. Still I couldn’t allow myself to be too frightened to go online.
A terrified assault shuttle pilot had taken us off the Bush. Bran had ordered the Black Squadron creatures to help us off and carry the dead. Cutting Cat out of the biomechanical spider’s body had been brutal. Rannu had had to help Merle out of the room.
Of course we hadn’t been party to the negotiations and had no idea what the Grey Lady had said to Akhtar and the other leaders, but she and the Black Squadrons were allowed to take the Bush and the surviving frigates and leave on the proviso that they never returned and never had any contact with humanity again. It seemed risky but I was sure that Bran would keep her word. I think it was a problem the world leaders were glad to see the back of. It was funny to think of one lone woman leading a fleet of monsters who’d sold their humanity.
More than three quarters of the people possessed who survived the mass exorcism committed suicide. Of the remaining quarter many ended up in mental institutes. After all, possession by Demiurge was little more than viral insanity. I wondered if, after his exposure to Rolleston’s insanity, Jakob would have been okay. I think he would have survived, but it would have haunted and tormented him for the rest of his life.
At least after the exorcism most of the relevant people had stood down or surrendered their commands. We didn’t find out until afterwards, but there had been a significant fifth column operating on many of the ships that had been under Rolleston’s command, and during the action there had been a number of mutinies. Most of them had been put down by automated systems controlled by Demiurge. In many ways they were the bravest of the people who had stood up to fight. They’d had nearly no chance and still done it.
Lalande 2 had declared independence. There were some familiar faces in the managing council. The corps had kicked up a fuss. They would have to pay and treat people reasonably. It would bite into their profits. Tough shit. Nobody on Earth had the stomach for any more fighting. Besides, it would be much cheaper for Earth if the colonies had to look after themselves. The Sol system would remain their biggest trading partner. We were always hungry for resources. The other colonies were expected to follow suit.
Sharcroft was dead. He liked spending time in sense simulations, power fantasies where he was whole, young, physically powerful and worshipped. Where he could hurt people. Pagan had found this out when we’d worked at the Limbo facility. Despite his flaws and jealousy, Pagan had truly been one of the most remarkable hackers of his generation and had stepped up to save us all. Again. He had developed a black assassination
