Eisenhorn Omnibus

I'd asked the question so I could test his reply and get a measure of his veracity. As he answered, and I probed delicately out with my mind, I found the last thing I was expecting.

'Why are you psi-shielded?' I asked.

'Just a precaution/ he said.

Against what?' I demanded.

Against this moment/ Fischig said. There was true anguish in his eyes. He drew the compact bolt pistol out from under his cape.

'Fischig!' Medea howled in horror.

Barbarisater was already in my hands, humming. 'Don't be a fool/ I said.

He'd only be a fool if he was doing this alone.

The words were not vocal. They were burning wires of psychic venom wrapped around a monstrous cudgel of mental force that smashed into the back of my skull. I stumbled forward, half-blind. Medea fell over hard, totally unconscious.

I saw figures emerging from the doorways off the lounge space all around. Five, six, more. Men dressed in the hooded, burgundy armour of an inquisitor's personal retinue, their chest plates decorated with gold leaf in the form of the Inquisition's crest. Two of them grabbed me and ripped the force sword from my slack fingers. The others aimed their weapons at me.

Don t hurt him! Don't hurt him!' Fischig cried.

The guards dragged me round to face an individual emerging from the lounge's greasy kitchenette area. I saw a tall man in black armour and robes, with a monstrous face that had been surgically deformed to inspire fear and loathing. It was equine, snouted, with a mouth full of blunt teeth and dark pools for eyes. Fibre-wire and fluid-tubes formed gleaming ropes across the back of his skull.

He'd once been the pupil and interrogator of my old, long-dead ally Commodus Voke. Now he was an inquisitor in his own right.

'Eisenhorn. How simply vile to see you again/ said Golesh Constantine Pheppos Heldane.

The guards dragged Medea and me back on board the Essene. I was still dazed. I could hear Fischig begging Heldane to order his men to be more careful with us.

Oh, what a mistake Fischig had made.

As we were bundled through the stations docking gantries, I saw the sleek black shape of an Inquisitorial cruiser now occupying the dock station next to the Essene. Heldane's ship. It had probably lain concealed in the atmosphere of the gas giant until the trap was sprang.

They took us into the main stateroom. Heldane's men, and I guessed there must have been a full detachment, had secured the Essene.

'How many travellers with you?' Heldane snapped at me.

I made no answer.

'How many?' he repeated, following his words with a blade of psi-pain that made me cry out. I needed to concentrate. I needed to rebuild my mental defences.

Feigning injury, I looked around and took stock. Maxilla stood nearby, surrounded by guards, glowering. Eleena was sitting bolt upright and pale on a couch. Medea was sprawled on the floor, just waking up. There was no sign of Aemos or Kara.

'Four!' said Maxilla. These four. The rest are my crew, servitors all of them, slaved into my ship/ He was playing the part of the innocent shipmaster, outraged at the invasion of his vessel, distancing himself from his troublesome passengers. But I knew he was frightened.

You're lying. I can tell/ said Heldane, pacing round Maxilla. Your defences are good, I'll grant you that, ship-master. Don't lie to me/

'I'm not-' Maxilla began and then cried out in pain.

'Don't lie to me!'

'Leave him alone!' Fischig boomed. 'He's just the captain. The ship-master, like you said. He's not part of this/

Heldane looked round at Fischig with a withering stare. You made this happen, chastener. You came to the ordos and begged us to save your dear, heretical master from damnation. Well, that's what I'm doing. So shut your mouth and let me get on with it. Or would you rather I probed the minds of these delicious young ladies?'

'No.'

'Good. Because the ship-master is rather interesting. He's not altogether human, is he? Are you, Tobias Maxilla? Your defences are admirable, but only because your brain isn't entirely organic. You're so much a machine, sir, you hardly deserve the title 'man', do you?' 'Look who's talking/ Maxilla said bravely.

I felt the psi-surge from across the room and it made me wince. Hel-dane's inhuman features folded into an angry, animal roar and Maxilla stumbled, cried out and fell to his knees, showers of sparks exploding from burned-out servos in his neck, right shoulder and right wrist.

'Now will you answer, metal man/ Heldane leered at Maxilla, 'or shall I burn out another part of your blasphemous body?' 'There are five/1 said loudly. 'Five of us/

'Aha… the heretic speaks/ Heldane switched round to face me, his attention drawn from Maxilla, at least for a moment.

'The other member of my party is my savant, Aemos. I'm sure you remember him. He's in the infirmary/

'How very obliging of you, Gregor/ Heldane said. I prayed that I had outwitted him. Heldane could undoubtedly feel from our minds that someone was missing. If I showed him Aemos, I hoped he would be satisfied and miss Kara entirely. 'I would advise you to leave him there/ 'Why?'

'He… there was an accident/1 said. 'He is damaged/ ЛУагр damaged?' 'No. He will recover/

'But he is infirm because of contact with the warp?' 'No!'

Heldane turned to a couple of his men. 'Go to the infirmary. Locate this man. Kill him and incinerate his remains/ 'God-Emperor, no!' I cried.

I tried to get up, tried to reach out with my mind to wrest Barbarisater from Heldane's hands. I was too weak and he was too strong. Another psychic assault smashed me to the floor.

'Is everything all right?' a new voice asked. 'There was a lot of unseemly shouting just then/ 'Everything's fine, my lord. Welcome aboard/1 heard Heldane say. I rolled over and saw the newcomer enter the Essene's stateroom. He was resplendant in his brass power- armour, his augmetic jaw as stubbornly set as the last time I had seen him. 'Osma…' I whispered. 'Grand Master Osma of the Ordos Helican, if you don't mind/ he said

sourly.

He had been elevated. Orsini was dead and Leonid Osma had finally achieved the rank he had spent his life chasing. So much had happened in the Helican sub-sector since I had become preoccupied with mnning and staying alive. Osma, my nemesis, the man who had once tried to have me declared

extremis diabolus and who had imprisoned me, tortured and hunted me, had now become the master of the Ordos Helican and my supreme overlord.

The guards dragged me up onto the mezzanine area of the Essene's stateroom and sat me in one of the chairs facing the long banquet table. They stood back, and Osma and Heldane approached. Osma was holding Barbarisater and studying the intricate workings of the blade. His own huge power hammer was anchored to his belt.

Heldane sat down facing me.

There's no love lost between us, Eisenhorn. I won't insult you by pretending there is. Make things easy for all of us. Confess/

'Confess what?'