A Dark and Hungry God Arises (31 page)

- so special that the cops would rather chance losing her to the Amnion than say no to her. Or else being pregnant is part of what made her special — perhaps because it gave her an excuse to go to Enablement.

The cops had a reason of their own for sending her and Captain Nick there. '

'I guess, ' Davies murmured thinly.

The Bill's eyes glittered. 'You can do better than that. '

'No, I can't, ' Davies protested. He didn't like sounding so frightened. It came to him too easily. 'You must know something about how the Amnion force-grow babies.

You know I got my mind from her. That's why you think I can answer your questions. But I have some kind of memory block. Maybe it's amnesia. Or maybe those memories were never transferred. I can remember her whole life until Starmaster was destroyed. After that it all stops. I only know what she told me.

'She didn't have time to tell me much. The Amnion came after us - we were running for our lives all the way here. '

'So what you're saying' - the Bill ran his tongue around his thin lips - 'is that our Captain Nick had the colossal and imponderable gall to cheat the Amnion on one of their own stations. Is that right?'

'It's more than that, ' the woman interposed. 'He's saying Succorso had something so valuable to offer them that they were willing to trade force-growing for it. And then he cheated by not giving it to them. '

'Is that right, Davies?' the Bill repeated. His. eyes caught and reflected the light like polished steel.

Here Davies was on surer ground. The Bill couldn't possibly guess how the Amnion had been cheated, or by whom. Tuning his fright to truculence, Davies answered,

'I don't know. I wasn't born yet when they made their deal. All I know is, they came after us. They tried to blast us a few days ago, but Succorso evaded them somehow. '

'That could be true, ' the woman said to the Bill.

'Maybe force-growing did leave holes in his memories.

We don't know enough about it to be sure. But didn't you say Captain Succorso was about to make you some kind of offer when I walked in and' - she smiled sardonically - 'distracted him?'

'I did, ' the Bill confirmed. 'He was. He had a deal in mind. He may have been about to offer me the same thing he offered the Amnion.

'But you weren't the only distraction, you know, ' he added. Without belittling your effect on Captain Nick, I must point out that there were other factors. '

The woman shrugged. 'I'm not so sure. You saw the look on his face - he nearly had an infarction. I think you'll be making a mistake if you believe anything is more important to him than getting even with me. '

The Bill considered this as if Davies weren't present.

'Then you don't credit the notion that he's working with Morn Hyland for the cops?'

'Of course I credit it, ' she returned calmly. 'It's quite possible. He should have died after what I did to him.

How did he survive? He must have gotten lucky - must have been rescued. That would have brought him to the attention of the cops. They could easily have recruited him them. Trained him, supplied him with a ship and cover, given him everything he needed. All I'm saying is that I think now his priorities have shifted.

'Which, ' she concluded, 'only makes him more dangerous. '

'On that we agree, at any rate, ' the Bill said in his boyish voice. 'Captain Nick is dangerous. If he weren't, I wouldn't have to take his demand for young Davies seriously. '

His long head swung back toward Davies. 'But there is just one small flaw in your intriguing theory that Captain Nick and Morn Hyland are working together - that they went to Enablement in order to cheat the Amnion and draw them here; so that they could spring some kind of unexplained UMCP trap. For the moment, we'll ignore the question of who the trap's intended victim is.

Could it be aimed at me? Is it designed for the Amnion themselves? Or is it merely a means to recapture Captain Angus? Never mind.

'Young Davies, the flaw in your theory is this. A few hours after Captain Nick visited me and nearly made his mysterious offer so that he could buy you back, he personally delivered Morn Hyland to the Amnion sector.

She hasn't been seen since their airlocks closed behind her.

'How do you account for this?'

Like Nick, but for very different reasons, Davies nearly had an infarction -

delivered

- and couldn't afford to show it. He ducked his head to shroud his eyes, but that wasn't enough; he had to conceal the way his muscles bunched and knotted to fling him at the Bill's long throat -

Morn Hyland

- had to conceal the passion and panic firing through him as if his nerves were high-tension cables; absolutely couldn't afford to rage or cry out -

to the Amnion.

If he unlocked his heart for an instant, he would go berserk. Sobbing Morn Morn MORN he would attack the Bill and the woman until they killed him.

As if his larynx were full of sand, he gritted out, 'I'm not sure. I keep telling you she and I didn't have much time to talk. And I can't remember anything that happened to her between when Starmaster went down and I was born. '

Nick had given his mother to the Amnion. To punish her for rescuing her son from Enablement. For using her zone implant to mislead him. And to compensate them for his failure to deliver Davies now. But Davies was the one the Amnion wanted, not Morn; he should have gone to them in her place. He had nothing to lose except the few days since he'd climbed out of the creche; she would lose an entire life.

Yet it was already too late to save her. By now her genetic ruin was certainly begun and probably complete.

Even if he threw himself on his knees and begged begged, the Bill to trade him for her, even if he told the Bill everything he knew or could guess about her so that the Bill would understand how valuable she was, it was too late. Nothing could reach her now.

Nothing of her remained human except the part Davies himself carried - the part he used for a mind.

He couldn't hide the focused yellow glare in his eyes as he raised his head.

'But it fits, doesn't it, ' he said in the same abraded tone.

'It's consistent with the rest of what they're doing. It looks worse, but it's really no different than going to Enablement. They're putting her neck in the noose because they've got something to gain by it. '

The woman watched him steadily, as if she were starting to respect him. Softly she pronounced, That's absurd. '

A wail Davies couldn't quash rose up in his chest.

Clenching his fists until his arms shook, he shouted, 'Did she look like she was trying to resist? Did she fight him?'

His loss seemed to recoil from the concrete and fall to the floor. Abruptly he regained control of himself.

Almost quietly, he continued, 'Or did they just talk to each other along the way?'

The Bill, too, watched Davies. Shadows muffled the brightness of his eyes. 'They talked, ' he admitted. 'I have it recorded. But their voices aren't clear. I don't know what they said. '

'In that case' — because he was desperate, Davies let nothing wild or impossible stand in his way — 'I think you should consider the possibility that she's protected somehow. Maybe Succorso didn't cheat the Amnion.

Maybe he made a deal with them. The pursuit might be a ruse. Maybe the Amnion have already agreed not to touch her — and she has some good reason to trust them.

'Or maybe she's immune. '

'Immune?' The Bill kept his tone low, but his voice cracked like a lash.

Inspired by urgency, Davies replied, The Amnion design mutagens. Why can't' - he searched Morn's memories for names - 'Intertech or some other UMC research facility design antimutagens?' Hurrying so that he wouldn't have time to falter, he finished, 'Maybe that's what Nick was going to offer you. Before he was distracted. '

The Bill stared at Davies with his mouth open. Past his teeth and tongue, his throat gaped like a hole - a gap into darkness. When he closed his jaws, he had to swallow twice before he could murmur, 'This is chaff, star-shine. He's inventing it. '

Color flushed the woman's cheeks; her eyes were wide with surprise. 'But it makes a certain kind of sense. '

The Bill swung around to face her. 'What sense?

'Suppose it's true, ' she replied without taking her gaze off Davies. 'Suppose Succorso and Hyland are working together. For the UMCP. Against us. ' Her voice was vibrant with implications. 'And they have some type of antimutagen. That's the bait, the trade - that's what they offered the Amnion. They went to Enablement to make a deal. Using her pregnancy as an excuse. Then they came here. With a retinue of defensives.

The whole point is to destroy us - destroy Billingate.

The Amnion want the antimutagen. Succorso and Hyland offered to trade it for our destruction. But the Amnion can't just come here and blast us. That would ruin their credibility with every illegal in human space —

it would set them back decades, maybe centuries. They need an excuse. '

Davies stared back at her as if he were stunned by what he'd started; but he didn't interrupt.

'So the deal, ' she went on, 'is that Succorso would offer you the antimutagen. Then, after he had time to get away, the Amnion would fry Thanatos Minor. And Succorso would spread the story that you were dealing antimutagens - that the Amnion destroyed Billingate to stifle the secret. A lie like that might pacify the rest of the illegals enough to keep them in business.

What went wrong is that Succorso changed his mind when he saw me. Suddenly revenge was more important than the cops. So he didn't offer you the antimutagen.

He's got other ideas now. But the Amnion aren't going to take that lying down. They sent Marc Vestabule to Captain's Fancy to demand Hyland as a hostage - a way to guarantee Succorso keeps his part of the deal. She's safe as long as he doesn't renege. '

In silence Davies pleaded with the Bill to believe her.

He wanted to believe her himself.

'It still doesn't-' the Bill protested.

'Listen!' the woman insisted. 'It does make sense. Politicians think the same way you do. The fastest way to get rich is to work the middle between enemies. But that's less effective if the enemies are actually fighting. To really get rich you need the conflict - and you need peace. You need the kind of peace that preserves the conflict. What Succorso and Hyland are doing gives both sides something they want. The cops get rid of us - the Amnion get the antimutagen. Which makes a war less likely in the short term, and makes both sides stronger over the long haul. If you were in Holt Fasner's position, you might do the same thing. '

The Bill couldn't contain himself. Like an angry child, he shouted, 'But we don't have any reason to think it's true! Just because a scared brat with an imprinted mind says it doesn't make it a fact! For all we know, he's inventing the whole thing. He's probably just trying to frighten us because he figures the more frightened we are the longer we'll hold him, and while we hold him he's safer

'Then tell me something. ' Now the woman faced the Bill. Neither of them paid any attention to Davies. Holding her companion's gaze hard, she asked, 'What's Succorso doing with Thermopyle and Taverner? Plotting something, obviously - but what? Why? Gam-Mine only caught Thermopyle because Succorso set him up. What have they got to talk about?'

'No. ' The Bill shook his long head unsteadily. 'You tell me. '

Her gaze sharpened. 'Didn't you hear them? What happened to all your bugeyes — your wires? What good are they, if they can't pick it up when something important happens?'

The Bill shrugged as if he were slightly embarrassed.

'They were in a public bar. Not by coincidence, I'm sure.

There was a lot of background noise. And Captain Angus took offense at the nearest wire. He chased her away.

Also not by chance, I'm sure - although I have no idea how he identified her - because Captain Nick later singled her out for one of his notorious seductions, and by that time he knew enough about her to disable her transmitter.

'Then the bugeyes in the bar developed a fault. So far that looks like a coincidence. '

If the woman was surprised, she didn't show it. 'What did he want her for?'

The twisting of the Bill's mouth suggested distaste.

'Sex, of course. And he wanted to scare her, apparently so she would tell him where his merchandise is being held. As far as I can discover, that was his only reason for disabling her transmitter - to scare her. Otherwise he wouldn't have left her alive to tell me what happened.'

'All right.' The woman nodded sharply. Then it does fit.

'Seducing and disabling your wire is just a distraction.

He did it to confuse you. I think what he really wants Thermopyle and Taverner for is to help him against me.

'Right now, his position is too weak. The antimutagen is his only lever. He's hanging on to it - risking his deal with the Amnion - because it's all he has. But if he can persuade or possibly trick Thermopyle into helping him, he'll have an ally. Then he can go ahead with his original plans and still have a chance at revenge.'

The Bill met her gaze for a moment longer.

Slowly they turned together to face Davies again.

'Well?' the Bill asked, nearly whispering. 'You started this. What do you make of the fact that Captain Nick has been seen drinking on the cruise with your father?'

Davies could hardly speak. Nick Succorso had turned his mother over to the Amnion for reasons which had nothing to do with antimutagens. The loss of her made him feel orphaned, maimed. And the reaction to his lie was dramatic — so dramatic that it stunned him. The first couple of times the Bill and his companion mentioned Angus Thermopyle's name, it made no impression on him. As far as he was concerned, his father was unreal: an abstract concept; a man who may never have existed.

But as they repeated Angus' name and turned toward him, he began to hear what they'd said. Captain Angus Thermopyle was here. With a man called Taverner.

Apparently out of nowhere, Davies' father arrived just when his mother was lost.