‘No!’ Annalie howled despairingly.
Sola put her face in her hands.
Beckett smiled triumphantly. ‘Cuff them all. Then my old friend Spinner can show us where he’s hidden my research.’
Will and Pod had snuck back into the canteen to look for a mid-evening snack. The canteen was now closed, but they hoped there might be something they could liberate from the fridge.
Just as Will opened the fridge door, an alarm started to blast.
‘Whoa!’ Will said, slamming it shut again. ‘Those Sundians really care about their food!’
‘It’s not just the canteen, it’s everywhere,’ Pod said. ‘Something’s wrong.’
‘Let’s get out of here,’ Will said.
They scampered out of the kitchen and crossed the darkened dining room, heading for the door. Will heard movement outside; he grabbed Pod and the two of them ducked under a table.
Someone looked into the room, did a quick sweep, rifle at the ready, then, seeing nothing, moved on.
‘Was that an Admiralty marine?’ Will whispered.
‘Sure looked like it,’ Pod said.
They looked at each other aghast.
As abruptly as it had started, the alarm switched off again.
‘We’ve got to find the others,’ Will said.
Sola led the way to the control room, the operational heart of the Ark. The door was huge and heavy, like something on a submarine. ‘Open it,’ Beckett ordered.
‘It’s locked,’ Sola said. ‘When the alarm was triggered, the control centre locked down automatically.’
‘Are you trying to tell me the chief engineer doesn’t know how to override the lock?’ Beckett said.
Sola looked at Spinner. ‘It’s all right,’ he said.
Sola gave him a grave look, then entered the sequence that would override the security and unlock the door. It swung open.
There were three Sundians on duty inside. ‘Sola, thank goodness!’ one of them said as Sola stepped into the room. ‘We got a report of intruders but—’
The Sundian broke off as he saw the marines pushing in behind her.
‘You. Out. Now,’ Beckett said.
With guns pointed at their heads, the Sundians had little choice but to do as he said.
‘Lock that door,’ Beckett said, when they were gone. ‘I don’t want any surprises. Now. What have you brought me here to see?’
‘Show him,’ Spinner said.
In the centre of the control room was a large empty space. Sola went to a control panel at one edge of the space and tapped and swiped some commands. A huge three-dimensional display appeared. It showed a complex network represented by jewels of light strung on a vast system of glowing lines, different sections in different colours, as complex as a brain or a galaxy.
‘What are we looking at?’ Beckett asked.
‘This is the Ark,’ Sola said. ‘Every system, every function, all the data.’
Beckett studied it. ‘And why,’ he said, ‘should I care about that?’
‘The research is there inside it,’ Spinner said.
‘Yours and Sola’s?’
‘Vesh’s too.’
Beckett smiled. ‘You know I’ve already got Sujana and Dan’s research, don’t you? Sujana’s seen the error of her ways. After all this is done I’m going to set her up with a new job back in Pallas. Important work, good money. She’ll be able to take proper care of her mother.’
‘I don’t believe it,’ Sola said. ‘Why would she agree to go back?’
‘She’s had plenty of time to think about it,’ Beckett said. ‘And she always did believe the work was important.’
‘You threatened her mother,’ Spinner said.
‘I didn’t have to,’ Beckett said. ‘Once I’d explained it all to her properly, she was happy to come back.’
‘So, what,’ Sola said sarcastically, ‘you’re putting the band back together?’
‘I am,’ Beckett said. ‘You want to join? I could use you.’
‘Not in a million years,’ Sola said.
‘What about me?’ Spinner asked. ‘Am I invited back?’
‘No,’ Beckett said icily. ‘I don’t need you.’ He turned to Sola. ‘Show me the research.’
‘If you can find it, you’re welcome to it,’ Sola said.
Beckett smiled. ‘I thought we were past this.’ He turned to one of his marines. ‘Shoot the girl.’
The marine hesitated.
‘Okay then, I will,’ Beckett said, and pointed a gun directly at the centre of Annalie’s forehead, cocking it ready to fire.
‘Stop it!’ Sola said, turning pale. She swiped and flicked, keyed in passwords, swiped and flicked again. The system moved and flashed, changed colour, zoomed, and reconfigured itself until the network showed three webs of glowing colour, distributed right through the huge whole.
Beckett put his gun away and walked right into the display, his face brilliantly lit by the glowing colours.
‘Aha,’ Beckett said. ‘I want to see what’s in those files.’
‘The files are encrypted,’ Spinner said. ‘They’re all encrypted. You couldn’t get Dan or Sujana’s files to open, could you?’
Beckett’s face flushed with anger, but then he smiled. ‘No,’ he said, ‘I couldn’t. But now I’ve got the master key, haven’t I? That’s what your piece is. The key that unlocks all the doors.’
‘That’s exactly what it is,’ Spinner said. ‘The key that unlocks the door to destruction. Forty years ago, the Collodius Device caused catastrophic changes to our world. We agreed back then that no one should have that kind of power ever again. Then, fifteen years ago, you started trying to rediscover those secrets.’
‘And you went along with it,’ Beckett said.
‘We made a mistake,’ Sola said. ‘We thought some good could come out of understanding the process.’
‘But that’s not why you wanted it,’ Spinner said. ‘You wanted a weapon. What were you thinking? Did you actually plan to use it? Or was it just there to threaten anyone who wouldn’t fall into line? Be good or we’ll send another Flood.’
Beckett was shaking his head and chortling. ‘Still so paranoid. Why can’t you accept that our motives were pure?’
‘There’s nothing pure about you, or your motives,’ Spinner said. ‘You and your cronies in the Admiralty would do anything to keep the world dependent on you. Keep us all believing the world’s such a dangerous place we need a huge standing navy to keep us all safe. Safe from what? Pirates? Refugees?’
‘Pirates are a genuine threat,’ Beckett said.
‘Come
