‘It’s not printed? Not even installed by octodrones?’
She shook her head. ‘It’s all designed, drawn, and created by hand, exactly as it was back in the seventeenth century. That’s why this place is so special.’
We sat at a table overlooking a sun-washed courtyard full of flapping awnings, rose gardens and an ivy-covered trellis. Kowalski had already ordered macaroons and pastries for our entree. I scrolled through hundreds of menu items before settling on French toast with butterscotch and a side helping of fresh fruit and yoghurt. Kowalski had the same.
‘It’s not much of an apology,’ she told me as she poured coffee for the both of us. ‘But I honestly thought we’d destroyed all nightware constructs decades ago. I’m so sorry you had to endure that.’
Strapped into the cradle with an insane AI, I’d not expected to ever chew solid food again, so I was grateful for the meal all the same. ‘Not too shabby a job, tracking them so quickly,’ Katherine continued. ‘I just wish we’d seized the base faster. We could have wrapped this up with a bow.’
‘We did what we could, all considered,’ I said.
‘You think?’ she asked. She must have seen something on my face. ‘Do tell.’
Was I really going to open up to someone from Harmony? I so expected their games and exploits and micromanipulation it was hard to pin down what was genuine. But I thought of the way Kowalski led her men, protected them when they needed it, how they’d instinctively protected her when Hausk had barged out. She commanded respect. Not fear, not blind obedience. Respect. It was the same intangible loyalty that Commander Sokolav had wielded, that got us through our eternal nightmare. You’ve got to admire that in a person.
‘People need figureheads to give them stability, someone to look up to, to survive the chaos the world throws at them,’ I told her. ‘It’s a messy job, and Harmony needs people with guts to get stormtech off the streets. Otherwise, we’re all dead in the water.’
Katherine took a few seconds to weigh my response up. A spray of piano key notes activated in my shib as the soundtrack changed to Debussy. ‘That’s some praise, coming from a Reaper. My men are a stubborn, rock-headed bunch, but I’ve made do with them. Harmony or not, we all want the same thing.’
‘But very different ways of achieving it.’
‘People change, Vakov. Harmony got us into this mess when they experimented with stormtech. Now it’s our duty to fix it.’
I laughed. ‘Compass is a hell of a lot less diplomatic than New Vladi. It’s all contracts and bargains there. If we have a problem back home, you either go to the Babushka or you go to the Five Courts. Or settle it via combat. Guilty parties fight it out to the death.’
Kowalski cocked her head. ‘The Babushka? You mean like the grandmother?’
‘Exactly like the grandmother.’
‘And what does this grandmother do?’
‘She’s the one person on New Vladi who can give you permission to break the law if she sees fit. And you do not mess with her.’
‘Did you ever go to her?’
A shockwave travelled up through the coils of memory. ‘Just once.’
Kowalski nodded but said no more. I liked that about her: she sensed discomfort like a bad wound. Knew exactly when to stop speaking, when to let the moment pass undisturbed. It’s a skill more people could use.
I glanced up at her. ‘So. What happens next?’
‘We’re all over it,’ said Kowalski. ‘We’re reaching out to stormdealer syndicate leaders, informers, folks who used to work the streets and know the spaceports and shipping routes these guys use. If any of them know who our new friends are, we’ll know, too.’
‘You think they’ll turn on another stormdealer?’
‘The only thing they hate more than each other is us. The question is whether they’re afraid of each other more than us, or want to get an advantage by turning someone else in. And unfortunately, the top dogs know it. They’ll skin anyone who talks, if they’re lucky. We’re talking about the control of entire asteroid floors here. Plus, we’ve got a prisoner to interrogate and salvaged intel to trawl through. Forensics are tearing the Warren apart. If they’ve left anything there, we’ll find it.’
‘And Artyom?’ I asked.
‘He’s gone dark. His apartment’s cleaned out and he hasn’t shown up for work. Plenty of lowlevel hideouts he could be biding his time in, places that won’t look at new arrivals too closely.’
‘You were going to arrest him, weren’t you?’
‘Before, not knowing if he was wired? No. But now we’ve found the base, he’s wanted big-time.’
I’d known it the moment I’d seen the drug exchange. I leaned forward. ‘How about this. If, if, I could find him, would convincing him to come in help his case?’ I knew the odds were astronomically against it, but what sort of brother would I be if I didn’t try?
‘Too big a risk for you to go looking for him solo,’ Kowalski said. ‘If we nab him, I promise you’ll be the first person I call. If you can win him over this time, that’d make a world of difference. By all means, give him a call and see if he gets in touch. Otherwise, we don’t need you urgently. I’ll call you in a few days – sooner if there’s something to be done. Until then, you’ve earned a breather.’
‘One other thing. Grim’s been having trouble with his Compass residency card. I wouldn’t have found Artyom’s route or their base in the Warren without him. I don’t want a reward, but I think he should have one.’
‘There’s good news on that front.’ A series of documents flitted into my visual overlay, the pages trimmed with platinum. Kowalski smiled at me as I realised what they entailed. ‘It took a while to bring Kindosh around, but I convinced her.’
I grinned at her. ‘Grim’s going to go bonkers when he sees this. Thank you.’
‘We’re up one live prisoner, one compound and several servers of intel. It’s
