from here.”
“What is this?” Joshua asked. It definitely wasn’t a firing squad on the other side of the ornate double doors in front of him, and hopefully not a courtroom either.
“The First Admiral will see you now,” the captain said.
“Er,” Joshua said lamely. “Okay, then.”
The large circular office had a window overlooking the asteroid’s biosphere. It was night outside, the solartubes reduced to a misty oyster glimmer revealing little of the landscape. Big holoscreens on the walls were flashing up external sensor images of Avon and the asteroid’s spaceports. Joshua looked for
The captain beside him saluted. “Captain Calvert, sir.”
Joshua locked eyes with the man sitting behind the big teak desk in front of him, receiving a mildly intrigued gaze from Samual Aleksandrovich.
“So,” the First Admiral said. “Lagrange Calvert. You fly some very tight manoeuvres, Captain.”
Joshua narrowed his eyes, unsure just how much irony was being applied here. “I just do what comes naturally.”
“Indeed you do. I accessed that section of your file, also.” The First Admiral smiled at some internal joke, and waved a hand. “Please sit down, Captain.”
A blue-steel chair swelled up out of the floor in front of the desk. Alkad Mzu was sitting in the one next to it, body held rigid, staring ahead. On the other side of her, Monica and Samuel had relaxed back into their own chairs. The First Admiral introduced the demure Edenist woman beside them as Admiral Lalwani, the CNIS chief. Joshua responded with a very nervous twitch of greeting.
“I think I had better start by saying the Confederation Navy would like to thank you for your part in the Nyvan affair, and solving the Alchemist problem for us,” the First Admiral said. “I do not like to dwell on the consequences had the Capone Organization acquired it.”
“I’m not under arrest?”
“No.”
Joshua let out a hefty breath of relief. “Jesus!” He grinned at Monica, who responded with a laconic smile.
“Er, so can I go now?” he asked without much hope.
“Not quite,” Lalwani said. “You’re one of the few people who knows how the Alchemist works,” she told him.
Joshua did his best not to glance at Mzu. “A very brief description.”
“Of the principles,” Mzu said.
“And I believe you told Samuel and agent Foulkes that you would submit to internal exile in Tranquillity so no one else could obtain the information,” Lalwani said.
“Did I? No.”
Monica pantomimed deep thought. “Your exact words were: I’ll stay in Tranquillity if we survive this, but I have to know.”
“And you said you’d stay there with me,” Joshua snapped back. He scowled at her. “Ever heard of Hiroshima?”
“The first time an atomic bomb was used on Earth,” Lalwani said.
“Yeah. At the time the only real secret about an atom bomb was the fact that it was possible to build one that worked. Once it got used, that secret was out.”
“The relevance being?”
“Anyone who visits the location where we deployed Alchemist and sees the result, is going to be able to figure out those precious principles of yours. After that, it’s just a question of engineering. Besides, the possessed won’t build another. They’re not geared around that kind of action.”
“Capone’s Organization might be able to,” Monica said. “They certainly thought they could, remember? They wanted Mzu at any price, incarnate or just her soul. And who’s going to know where the Alchemist was used unless you and your crew tell them?”
“Jesus, what do you people want from me?”
“Very little,” said the First Admiral. “I think we’ve established to everyone’s satisfaction that you’re trustworthy.” He grinned at Joshua’s sour expression. “Despite what that may do to your reputation. So I’m just going to ask you to agree to a few ground rules. You do not discuss the Alchemist with anyone. And I mean anyone.”
“Easy enough.”
“For the duration of our current crisis you do not put yourself in a position where you will encounter the possessed.”
“I’ve already encountered them twice, I don’t intend to do it again.”
“That effectively means you will not fly anywhere outside the Sol system. Once you get home, you stay there.”
“Right.” Joshua frowned. “You want me to go to Sol?”
“Yes. You will take Dr Mzu and the
“They’ll get it eventually,” Joshua said softly. “No matter what agreements they sign, governments will try to build Alchemists.”
“No doubt,” Samual Aleksandrovich said. “But such problems are for the future. And that is going to be a very different place to today, is it not, Captain?”
“If we solve today, then, yeah. It’ll be different. Even today is different than yesterday.”
“So. Lagrange Calvert has become a philosopher?”
“Haven’t we all, knowing what we do now?”
The First Admiral nodded reluctantly. “Perhaps it’s not such a bad thing. Somebody has to find a solution. The more there are of us searching, the quicker it will be revealed.”
“That’s a lot of faith you have there, Admiral.”
“Of course. If I didn’t have faith in the human race, I would have no right to sit in this chair.”
Joshua gave him a strong look. The First Admiral wasn’t quite what he’d envisaged, the gung-ho military archetype. That made him more confident for the future. Slightly. “Okay, so where do you want me to take the doc in the Sol system, exactly?”
Samual Aleksandrovich smiled broadly. “Ah yes, this is one piece of news I shall enjoy imparting.”
Friend Jay, please cry not.
Haile’s voice was no stronger than the memory of a dream. Jay had closed up her mind as tight as her eyelids. She just lay on the floor, all curled up, sobbing at . . . everything. Ever since that terrible day on Lalonde when the Ivets went mad, she and Mummy had been torn further and further apart. First the cramped house on the savannah. Then Tranquillity, where she’d heard rumours of the possessed taking Lalonde out of the universe—even though the paediatric ward staff had been careful about allowing the refugee kids access to any news. Now this, flying like an angel to another galaxy. Where she’d never get back from. And she’d never see Mummy ever again. Everyone she knew was either dead, or about to be possessed. She wailed louder, so much it hurt her throat.
The back of her head was full of warm whispers, pushing to be let in.
Jay, please restrain yourself.
She is developing cyclic trauma psychosis.
