Hero Ng, without quite interrupting the stream of cynicism, nudged her. She shook her head and pulled herself together, a little shamed. If it was bad for her, what was it like for him, trapped in a strange body, resurrected to deal with a crisis he'd been half glad to avoid by dying? He'd no more asked for this than she had, even if it was Mallory and Samael who had tricked them into each other.
She couldn't call Ng a coward. And she couldn't fail him by being a coward either. Nor could she fail Tristen, or Perceval, or even Benedick.
She let Ng show her the map. And sighed. 'I don't know what we're going to do,' she said. 'We found Tristen' — she tried not to notice Benedick's worried glance when she said 'we'— 'but he's in a private ward. He's tanked.'
'For a grown man,' Benedick said, 'he needs a lot of rescuing. All right. I'm going to have to talk to Caitlin.'
Rien rubbed at her throat. 'Would it be better if I did?'
'The least fun part of being an adult is facing your own mistakes.' Benedick patted her shoulder. 'But if she won't hear me, then yes, you're on.'
Rien sucked on her lip, unsure if what she felt was relief at being let off the hook, or outrage over being patronized. Maybe you could feel both at once.
Maybe you could feel all sorts of things, all of them mutually contradictory.
Rien said, 'After you, Father.'
The monitor lead them to Caitlin. One must be able to find the Chief Engineer. And Caitlin, to Rien's surprise, was immediately accessible. She sat in an office that was little more than a collection of chairs and interfaces, screens and keyboards and holographic panels bristling from every surface and each wall. The door was a slider rather than an iris, and it was open wide.
Caitlin Conn looked up when they entered, lips thinning. And she stared not at Benedick, but at Rien. Her left hand moved slightly, pinky and ring finger stretching as she blanked her screens, but not before Rien saw schematics of the
'Chief Engineer,' Benedick said, 'I need to talk to you about our brother, and our daughter.'
To her credit, Caitlin only nodded, and gestured them inside the door. It shut as soon as they cleared the entry, the sudden silence disconcerting. Rien found herself crowding back against the panel, which did not slide open from the pressure. Caitlin must have locked it.
Quickly, Benedick outlined their suspicions about Arianrhod and Ariane, while Caitlin steepled her fingers and listened. Rien had to admit, she was impressed by how well Caitlin listened. Active listening, intent and focused.
Rien found herself staring back, fascinated by the freckles on the back of Caitlin's hands, the ones speckling her face and hairline. Still, Caitlin's expression gave away nothing. Even when Benedick explained that they thought it was Arianrhod and Ariane, colluding, who had arranged for Perceval's maiming and abduction.
But when Benedick got to Tristen, she stopped him momentarily with an upraised finger, and Rien thought she checked something through her symbiont. Of course it could bring her any information she needed. The screens were merely a way of organizing, externalizing, and categorizing. Like writing lists.
'He should have been released,' Caitlin said. 'I'll see to it. Continue. Once you have him back, what then?'
'We're going after Perceval,' Rien said.
'With Samael.'
'I don't see a way around it.' Benedick put his hand on Rien's shoulder, and she allowed him to take up the thread of conversation again. 'We'll need an angel. And we need to choose an angel to support, if Rien—'
'Hero Ng,' Rien corrected, and then blushed blue as she realized what she'd just done.
'Hero Ng,' Caitlin echoed, 'is correct that we'll need a unified A.I. to hold the world together.'
'He is confident in his assessment. And he knows where Perceval is. Or he is nearly certain,' Rien said, the phrasing not her own.
Caitlin seemed to know it. She smiled bitterly and stood, bouncing on her toes, radiating vibrant energy. She came around the desk. She wasn't much taller than Rien, but her arms and neck showed evidence of muscle. A black-hilted unblade bumped at her hip.
'I
'And watch over Arianrhod.'
She bit her lip. 'I can have Arianrhod detained. And questioned. If you two are willing to stand surety.'
'Meaning?'
'Meaning if she proves innocent, you could be sued for false accusation.' Caitlin's hand rested, Rien thought unconsciously, on the unblade's hilt. Her thumb caressed the pommel. She turned over her shoulder and glanced at the blanked-out screens. 'I wish we still had Susabo,' she said. 'That was a no-nonsense sort of angel. I'd back him over Samael.'
'Was it Samael who killed him?'
'It was the stone that killed him. Or weakened him. But yes, it was Samael who ate what was left. And I couldn't defend him. So now we have Inkling, who is fierce, but small. As angels go. And we have Samael.'
'And Rule has Dust?'
Caitlin shook her head, arms folded, head cocked to one side consideringly. 'Rule has Asrafil. The Angel of Battle Systems. Or maybe Asrafil has Rule, and Samael has us.'
'And Dust has Perceval,' Benedick said, and Caitlin nodded.
'Yes,' she said. 'Come on. If we're going to choose, we need to be about choosing.'
'I thought you were staying here,' Benedick said.
Rien drew a breath. She hoped not. She wanted Caitlin to leap to the defense of her daughter.
'Making the ship ready for flight is a vital undertaking,' Caitlin said, and Rien's heart fell, as it had fallen when she looked at Arianrhod and saw something about as genuine as the gift of sugar cookies. And then Caitlin uncrossed her arms, letting them swing from the shoulders, and continued, 'So is retaking the command center. And there are a lot of Engineers
'Cat?' Benedick asked.
She looked up at him, not quite a glare but also not forgiveness, and said, 'Let's go decant our brother.'
26 the devil of the stair
Dust said, 'The child is nothing. Ariane is coming, and with her, Asrafil. Accept me.'
His captain of desire stood on the empty bridge, cloaked in her shadowbright wings, and ran her hands away
