Infinite Day (48 page)

Thirty-six hours later, Merral was in bed when the
Comet
emerged into Normal-Space. He had gone to sleep in a tracksuit precisely in case of such an eventuality and was up at the bridge within a minute.

“We are picking up signals from Below-Space.” The engineer's voice was precise. “Something is about to emerge.”

“Are you sure?”

“Yes. The detectors on this ship are better than those on the
Star
.”

Merral took the microphone and addressed the entire ship. “Calling all crew and soldiers. It looks like the
Comet
is emerging. I want you to go to action stations as swiftly as possible. All being well, we will be moving into operational mode within minutes. This is what we've come for; let's do it right!”

Then as quickly as he could, Merral went into the captain's office and put on the jacket hanging on the wall. The captain had been far bulkier, and despite some hasty alterations, the jacket didn't really fit properly, but Laura had assured Merral that as long as he didn't move too much on the chair no one would notice.

Vero came in, his face tired and waxlike. There was a look of something like embarrassment on his face. “I just wanted to say . . . to wish you the best. I've been rather busy of late.” He looked at the ground. “Sort of let things get in the way of our friendship. But this is it. Go for it.”

Laura's cheerful voice broke in on their conversation. “We have the ship on visual; Captain, it is the
Comet
.” Through the open door Merral heard cheers.

Vero sat down facing Merral, angling a second screen toward him.

Merral ordered the seizure team to take up positions in the ferry craft and moved to the desk in front of the camera.

“Let's go!” he ordered.

A green light came on. He swallowed and spoke. “This is Captain Haqzintal of the
Sacrifice of Blood
to inbound freighter. Please identify yourself and your mission.”

The only answer was silence.

Are we on the right wavelength?

Merral looked at Vero, who returned a look of frustrated bemusement.

After two minutes Merral repeated the message, but again they were greeted by silence.

They must answer us! Everything depends on them responding!

There was a crackle in the screen static, but no image appeared. Then a voice spoke. “This is Fleet-Commander the Margrave Lezaroth on Dominion vessel
Nanmaxat's Comet
.” The curt voice suddenly threw Merral back to the taut moments at Langerstrand. As he replied, he hoped that Betafor's voice modification worked.

“Welcome back, Margrave. You have been away some time. There are new rules. We need to check that you fulfill quarantine regulations. I have a medical team on board.”

A long pause followed.
Too long!

“Thank you, Captain Haqzintal, but I have received orders from the lord-emperor himself. I am to proceed full speed to the Blade of Night. You may wish to check with High Command. Good-bye.”

The screen went blank.

Vero, his mouth wide open in horror, plunged his head into his hands. “Th-that's n-not in the script!”

“I don't believe it!” Merral could hear the shock in his voice.

Don't panic!
he told himself. He stood up, feeling his legs unsteady and hit the microphone. “We need to meet urgently. The conference room. Vero, Ilyas, Helena, Luke, Azeras.”

As he ran to the bridge, his borrowed jacket flapping and Lloyd doggedly pursuing him, he saw the pale face of Laura turned toward him. “Set a course to follow.”

“How close?”

How do I know?
“Say . . . a thousand kilometers due astern of them. So that hopefully they don't notice us. Then you join us in the conference room.”

Azeras was waiting by the conference room door, his posture somehow conveying a solemn awkwardness.

“May we talk?” The voice was insistent.

“At the meeting . . .”

“No.
Here.
” Azeras drew Merral to one side. “You know what I'm going to say, don't you?”

“I can guess. It's time to give up and go home.”

“
Now
. Any other decision would be madness.” The words were impassioned.

Merral, feeling angry, struggled to restrain his words. “Sarudar, we may conclude that is indeed the right decision, but at the moment, I want to discuss all options.”

“There
are
no other options.”

“Is that all you have to say? That there are no other options?”

“Yes.”

“Is there much point in your coming to the meeting?”

“I doubt it.” Azeras gave a bitter shrug. “The game's over. You have made your gesture. It's time to get back.”

Then he turned away and, slouch-shouldered, walked angrily down the corridor.

Merral looked around the silent and anxious gathering in the conference room, then turned to the chaplain. “Luke, you'd better pray for us, because I haven't a clue what we're going to do now. My plans are in ruins.”

“No. Two or three of us pray. I am not a priest for you, Commander, however difficult things may be.” There was a ghost of a smile on Luke's pale face. “And, at the end, I'll close.”

They prayed for those on the ship and for what they ought to do, but as they did, no answer came to Merral, and when he opened his eyes, he saw that, as usual, they were all looking at him.

The envoy warned me things would not go as planned, but I had no idea how badly things could go amiss.

“I am stunned by this turn of events,” he said. “I had thought that after the long journey and after seizing this vessel the worst was over.”

His words were greeted by nods of agreement. “How naive I was. Anyway, my own view is that I cannot believe that he who controls all things would allow us to come so far in order to fail at the last moment. We can debate the theology of this with Luke at some other point. But at the moment, I don't know exactly what to do. We are currently following the
Comet
.” He paused. “I need to report that Azeras does not wish to join us. His opinion, which he expressed very strongly, is that we now turn back and return to the Assembly with this ship. That is an option that I said we would discuss.”

Merral caught Lloyd looking at him in a meaningful way and gestured for him to speak.

“Sir,” he said quietly, “can we be sure that the
Comet
was not tipped off?”

“By who?”

“Betafor.”

“I don't think we can rule it out. But we need her. Let's just bear it in mind.” Merral looked around. “What options have we got?”

In the next few minutes, Ilyas suggested they consider closing with the
Comet
and ordering it to stop and, if necessary, forcing an entry using weapons.

Vero shook his head. “Th-the threat of us using our firepower is an empty one. They have hostages.”

Laura nodded in agreement. “And opening hostilities would alert the entire system that they had a problem. There are no shortages of military vessels around, Commander. We'd have very little time to stop the ship, enter it, seize the hostages, and get away. I could do the calculations, but I don't think we can do it before some particle weapon hits us.”

The ensuing silence was broken by Luke's slow voice. “Logically, there's one point where we may be able to effect a rescue, and I think we need to examine it. Although it is not an option I care for.”

“Which is?” Merral asked, but he knew the answer
.

Luke seemed to stare into the distance. “The entry point to the Blade
.
”

There were mutters and shared looks of disquiet.

“Is that even feasible? Do we know about the Blade
'
s docking arrangements?”

Vero spoke. “We have a lot of data on this ship but very little on the Blade
.
I don't know why not; probably because it is not relevant. But there
is
some on the docking and entry areas.”

An exchange of unhappy looks occurred.

Merral spoke. “Vero, show us what you know.”

Over the next ten minutes, they looked at the images and schematics Vero had. Eventually, Merral summed up what they knew. “The good news first. Now that it's finished, the Blade is sparsely staffed. Perhaps thirty people, most of them engineers and technicians and most of them down on the lower levels. But there must also be an unknown number of guards for the lord-emperor.”

“Not good news,” Vero observed.

“True. Second, there are only two docking points, and both are currently empty.” He gestured to the model. “They meet at a Y-junction just outside the main body of the Blade
.
The
Comet
will probably dock in nineteen or twenty hours. If we can be there first, we might be able to do it.”

There were cautious nods.

“What else on the good side? No ships are positioned within twenty thousand kilometers. The gathering of the fleet is occurring and is preoccupying everyone. Have I missed anything?”

Luke stirred in his seat but said nothing.

“Now the bad news. We will be very exposed. Any rescue must be very fast. It's bound to be guarded.”

Laura raised a finger. “We also need to remember that we really don't know how the Blade works and what forces—or powers—it can conjure up. There may be more than physics operating here.”

Luke nodded.

Merral gazed around. “But a rescue here seems possible.”
It sounds pathetic.

Merral saw Vero shaking his head quietly. “You disagree?”

“Do I disagree? My friend, I don't know. We have an awesomely difficult task. It is the very heart of the darkness.”

“I can hardly dissent. Had I known that our efforts were to take place this close to where the lord-emperor is conjuring up anything and everything, I think I would not have come.”

“Then, that is perhaps why we didn't realize it.” Luke's voice rang around the room. They all turned to him.

Merral spoke. “Luke, what's your guess? Can we do it?”

The answer was a wry smile. “Commander, you seem to want to give me offices that I have to reject. I have reminded you I am neither exorcist nor priest; and neither am I prophet. If you wish to try one more attempt, I support you.”

“A last throw of the dice,” Vero muttered, and then as everyone looked at him with puzzlement, he made a dismissive gesture. “Never mind.”

Merral hesitated. “I have heard nothing that rules out this attempt. Luke reads my mind correctly. I'd say we go on and try to seize them at the very edge of the Blade
.
Any dissent?”

There was none.

“Okay, let's start the preparation. We need to put together a new plan. Plan B.”

Helena grunted. “Plan C. Plan B got us here.”

“True—Plan C. But we need to do some retraining very quickly. The really good news is that it's all going to be over in twenty hours.”

Immediately after the meeting, Merral went to find Azeras. He had expected to be greeted by a renewed outburst but found that the man was oddly restrained.

After Merral explained the decision, Azeras just shook his head. “I'm afraid, Commander, that is precisely the decision I feared you would make.” He gave a despairing shrug and threw his arms up. “Nevertheless, I support you. What else can I do? You are mission commander. I will do what I can to help.” And that, his tone implied, was that.

As Merral walked away from him toward the bridge, he found himself troubled by the conversation
. He is too compliant. I expected, and with justification, that he would protest about my recklessness, about my making another symbolic gesture, but I have had none of it. How odd
. However, the moment that he walked onto the bridge, a host of new issues enveloped him, and Azeras's behavior was forgotten.