Half-way there, a single harpoon shot blasted off from one of the batteries at the pole. All shining white metal, it rose into the clear, cold air upon a column of cloud to reach a height of four hundred metres. It was already angling back down to the ice as it flashed over them, soundless in its supersonic rush. It was clearly targeting the ruined lander. It struck a few seconds later. This time, there was an explosive payload; the detonation burst apart the air, the shock wave through the ice sending both of them stumbling to the ground.
She caught Ondo's eye, and a look of understanding passed between them. Concordance did want them alive, and it was making sure they had no way off the planet. They could do nothing but continue to the pole.
The Void Walker stood motionless as they approached, a calculating scowl on his features. He wore the plain grey robes of all those in his sect. He was a young man, barely older than she was. There was something predatory in his features, as if he were deciding the best moment to leap to the attack. Judging by the hunger in his eyes, the prospect of it delighted him enormously. His head was shaved bald, a caterpillar scar creeping across his skull behind his left ear, as was the case with all Void Walkers. Some part of the medical procedures carried out on them, according to Ondo.
His voice was fuzzed slightly by the energy wall, but his words were clear when he spoke. “We knew you would come. We knew you wouldn't be able to resist the temptation of the forbidden knowledge buried in the ice.”
“Why are you here?” asked Ondo. “Such a cold and lonely place to see out your years.”
The Walker's grin widened at Ondo's words. “You should know all about being cold and lonely, heretic, traitor, out there alone in your hollowed-out rock. Except, now you're not alone; now you have your companion to listen to your lies. This girl from Maes Far, or what little remains of her. What abomination have you turned her into? Your whore, programmed to submit to your every depravity?”
Selene took a step closer, bringing up the barrel of the lander blaster to point directly at the Walker's head. The energy wall might or might not be powerful enough to protect him from a close-range shot. “What do you want, Walker? What you are doing here?”
“Isn't it obvious? I'm here to complete what was started. You must die. It is clear there isn't much of you left, but even that must be burned away until nothing remains. It is because of populations like yours that evil enters the galactic mind. Your sins are to blame for all that is malevolent and cruel. There must be no survivors of Maes Far; its evils are to be cauterized.”
“What evils?”
“The fact that you don't know simply proves your debasement.”
It was the grin on his face that made her fire, unleashing a solid beam of blaster fire at his head. He stood impassive, unmoved, as the energy flared across the surface of the dome and dissipated with a rising whine. He was unharmed, but she at least felt better for having tried. He probably didn't know what the supposed evils were, either. He was a tool of Concordance, dutifully parroting the words given to him. Even if he didn't believe the words he'd spoken, he would have said them anyway. His appearance, the arrival of she and Ondo at the pole: it was all a performance, the final act in the long destruction of Maes Far. The air was thick with enemy nanosensors, recording images, streaming it skywards. The galaxy would be watching; it would be allowed to see. The last survivor a survivor no more. The iron rule of Concordance enforced. Judgement enforced.
“And what of me?” asked Ondo. It appeared he'd come to the same conclusion that she had. His voice was tinny through his suit's speaker grille. “What are your plans for me? If you simply wanted us dead, you could have struck us in flight.”
The Walker inclined his head to one side to consider Ondo. “You will be returned to Omn, to the light you turned your back on. You made vows to him, and they will be kept, one way or another.”
“And what if we choose not to come?” she asked. “What if we choose not to play our parts in this little game of yours?”
“Then I will make you play.”
“We would walk into the darkness of this world, the world you destroyed, rather than join you,” said Selene. “You can't touch us hiding away in your little bubble.” It was an empty threat, but it was all she had. They had nowhere to walk to, and more Concordance ships would be arriving in-system soon, if they weren't already there.
“Oh, I think I can keep your attention a little while longer,” the Walker replied. “You see, I haven't been alone all this time. You are not the only survivor of Maes Far. There is one other. I've had my companion, too. Would you like to meet him? You know him, of course.”
A cold horror trickled through Selene at the Walker's words. “Who?”
By way of a reply, the Walker waved a hand and, without looking back, gesticulated for someone to come nearer. The entrance to the ship was little more than a hatch leading down into the ice. Bony hands clutched at the lip, and then an old man with straggling grey hair and a look of alarmed madness climbed into the light. He squinted, cowering as he took in the scene around him, as someone might who hadn't been allowed outside for a long time. He shivered visibly, only a stained white gown, torn in several places, keeping the polar cold from his skin.
