Crashing Heaven (35 page)

[Oo, I bet Harry’s ears are burning! Though he’s probably concentrating too hard to notice. Little fly.]

[ He’s still out there?]

[ He thinks he’s almost hacked into me. Into my web! My lovely little web! Ah, the ninja code’s reporting back.]

[ What are you up to?]

[All my plans are paying off. You’ll see.]

[ Fuck’s sake, Fist.]

On the screens, Penderville continued his confession. ‘I understand that, after my death, Devlin helped the Yamata gang create a series of false flag attacks that were blamed on terrorists and used to justify the execution and fetch-caging of a number of key anti-war activist groups. These activists were for the most part allied with or supported by Grey, hence the attacks on him.’

Shouting broke out across the room. Penderville’s words were lost in the melee. Kingdom’s voice became a high-pitched scream, the sound of metal grinding on metal. ‘Can you not see that this ridiculous conspiracy theory is a lie?’ he was yelling. Other Pantheon members were shouting, too, some in support of him, some against him.

Despite the ferocity of the onslaught, East was unruffled. ‘Now let’s hear from the dead,’ she said, speaking with a news anchor’s dispassion.

The screens showing Station increased in size. The images each held shifted, zooming in on individual streets. Jack realised that they were closing in on void sites. Crowds had gathered round each one. Images of children hung over each void site. They were still broadcasting their messages of grief but beneath them, the dead had returned. They stood in shimmering rings, fetches who had climbed out of the Coffin Drives and, through the omnipresence of the weave, found themselves able to manifest in the streets of Station. It was an apocalypse, of sorts.

‘Bringing in audio,’ said East calmly, and each screen was suddenly roaring out the voices of the dead. They were speaking as one. ‘ … working for peace, and we found ourselves under attack. Every single one of us was killed by one of Kingdom’s operatives. Every single one of us was caged in the Coffin Drives, unable to speak of this. They told you we were terrorists, but none of us were; they told you that we were threats, but none of us were; they told you that we hated humanity, but really we love life. Kingdom made you afraid so that you would agree to war with the Totality, but he has always been the real enemy. Reject him!’

The last two words of the speech were a great, triumphant roar.

‘Now they’re starting the speech again,’ explained East. ‘Others have risen, too.’

The screens shimmered, becoming a kaleidoscope of many different views. They danced through streets and houses, parks and shops. Some even showed the darkness of space or the cramped confines of chainships. Fetches were everywhere, drifting like angelic ghosts, tightly embracing the living or just standing, looking round in wonder and disbelief, at last free from the Coffin Drives.

None of them had skulls for heads.

‘They’re free,’ said East. ‘Nobody controls them any more.’

‘But – this is a disaster!’ shouted Kingdom. ‘If nobody controls them – that means artificial intelligences are loose, everywhere! It’s a direct threat to us! Remember how we lost our homeworld!’

East just smiled. ‘I think your terrorists have something more to say.’

The screens flicked back to show a single void site. The fetches ringed round it were chanting. Jack saw that they’d been joined by a number of scrappily dressed, happy looking children. Their words were clear.

‘Shut down Kingdom! Shut down Kingdom!’

‘No!’ howled Kingdom.

The chanting became louder and louder. The camera pulled back. The chant had been taken up by the crowd that had formed round the void site. The camera pulled back still further. There were crowds across the whole of Homeland, shouting against Kingdom. The view flicked to Docklands. There too, the streets echoed with voices.

‘Shut down Kingdom! Shut down Kingdom!’

‘These terrorists will break Station. We need to shut down East’s media networks. If their message is heard, they’ll destroy everything we fought for,’ gasped Kingdom, his rich voice shattered by panic.

‘Good,’ said Grey. The blindfolded raven was gone; now the man stood there, smartly dressed and looking very relaxed.

‘You!’ gasped Kingdom. ‘You dare to come here!’ He turned away from Grey to address the group. ‘This criminal is manipulating you all,’ he snarled. ‘We must freeze Grey and close down East. It’s the only way to protect us from their lies. There is no alternative.’

‘The evidence against you is strong, Kingdom,’ said East implacably. ‘And we can’t stand in the way of the people. As you’ve said yourself, many times.’

Sandal’s highly stressed voice rang out like a power drill. ‘We need to debate this properly. It’s not what we’re here for now.’

A snowflake weighed in. ‘The Totality has always claimed that we were not responsible for the lunar atrocity. We have already been able to confirm some aspects of this interpretation of the facts. We believe that Penderville and these other freed minds are telling the truth.’

‘Perhaps Sandal has a point,’ said Grey smoothly. ‘We should be fair to Kingdom. Should we take steps to protect him? If we isolate his board from his key subsidiaries then the shock of this sudden crash will be lessened. We can then call this meeting to a halt, and investigate in more depth, at our leisure.’

[ Fucking gods,] said Fist. [Protecting their own.]

[ What?] replied Jack.

‘No! No!’ said Sandal, his voice almost a scream. ‘As chair I insist we complete voting on our original motion. We must decide whether or not to attack the Totality.’

‘I think a little patience might be in order,’ soothed Grey.

[ Right, fuck this,] snapped Fist. [ Where’s Harry? Aha!] He shook, and then staggered a couple of paces forward. He looked suddenly drunk.

[ Fist!] shouted Jack. [Come back here! What are you doing?]

‘Oh no!’ Fist shouted, theatrically. ‘Oh no!’ He took another uncertain step, then swayed round till he was facing Jack. He raised his hands to his head, so nobody else could see his face. He gave Jack a slow, confident wink. And then, he arched his back and threw himself down, hitting the ground with a clatter. Patches of overlay disappeared around him, revealing a white-painted concrete floor. ‘He’s possessing me!’ he yelled. ‘I can’t stop him!’

Grey peered over, mild worry on his face. ‘Jack, this is a very serious moment. You really should keep him quiet.’

Jack barely heard. He could feel system after system tumbling out of his control. [ Fist?] he called out, but there was no reply. The puppet was no longer a presence in his mind.

‘What’s happening?’ asked Ifor.

‘I think he’s let Harry come through,’ Jack replied.

Fist’s limbs smashed themselves against the ground, again and again, a small blur of fevered movement. Jack couldn’t understand what he’d been trying to achieve. Whatever it was, it seemed to have failed. His thoughts clouded over for a moment, as if a great shadow had passed across them.

‘Is he all right?’ said Ifor.

‘It looks like he’s lost control.’

‘Oh yes,’ said a voice with a strong Docklands accent, speaking out of Fist’s mouth. ‘
OH FUCKING YES!
’ Fist’s whole body was shaking. It began to grow.

‘I warned you both so many times about carelessness,’ said Grey, sounding a little less relaxed.

‘Security! Security!’ squawked Sandal. His six square sides showed images of burly men and women in riot gear.

Kingdom was trying not to look worried. He took one step back, and then another. There was a sharp hissing sound. The shape that had been Fist’s body was the size of a full-grown man. The shaking began to slow. First his torso and then his limbs returned to clear sight. He was someone different now. He rose to his feet. He was wearing a jaunty fedora, a raincoat that billowed around him and a sharp suit and tie. He had a smile on his face that was at once triumphant, lethal and irresistibly charming.

He was Harry Devlin.

‘So,’ he smiled. ‘Which one of you cunts is up for a hostile takeover?’

‘
SECURITY!
’ bellowed Sandal.

‘They won’t come,’ Harry told him. ‘Fist was still plugged into the lift. I killed it. Comms too. You’re all locked in now. With me.’ He turned, looking around the room. ‘Well, well, well. All of you here together. And the Totality, too. So many birds to kill with one stone.’

There was a wall in Jack’s mind where Fist should be. He beat against it, but it was impossible to break through. He heard sounds from behind it. Combat machinery was grinding into life, complaining like a broken giant slowly waking from a deep, concussed sleep.

‘Do something!’ said East, the anxiety in her voice sounding subtly forced. ‘Won’t somebody do something?’

The Rose leapt towards Harry, scarlet clothing becoming brutally functional combat armour. Harry laughed, and clicked a finger. There was a dog at the Rose’s neck and the weight took her balance from her. She skidded and fell, a flailing tumble of limbs. The dog fell with her. As they both hit the ground it became something both more and less than itself. Losing all definition, it flowed over her, a tide of darkness covering her completely. For a moment, it was possible to make out the shape of her body. She screamed. The scream was suddenly and completely cut off. Then there was nothing where she’d been but another empty patch of concrete.

‘He’s locked up all her non-essential systems,’ gasped Ifor. ‘That’s impossible.’

‘No,’ said Jack wearily. ‘Not for Fist. And Harry’s controlling him.’

Harry staggered and put a hand to his head, then recovered himself. Now all the Pantheon were shuffling back, trying to put as much distance between themselves and him as possible. Only the snowflakes didn’t move, pulsing with unreadable colours.

‘I just force-triggered a full internal self-audit,’ explained Harry. ‘It’s a vast resource drain, she’ll be out of action for the next hour or so.’ He was a little paler than he had been. He controlled his shaking voice. ‘Just like that.’ He chuckled, once again in control of himself. But his hair was a soft grey, where before it had been black. ‘So it’s true. Accountant plus puppet equals Pantheon gun.’ He turned to Jack. ‘I couldn’t believe it when I saw Fist’s weapon systems. Crying shame, giving all that power to you. What the fuck would you ever use it for?’ He turned back to the Pantheon. ‘All this Homelands wanker’s good for is fucking other men’s wives. But I’ll deal with him in a moment. I’ve got you lot to sort out first. You screw us all, every single day. And I’m going to start with the biggest cunt of them all.’

He pointed at Kingdom.

‘You.’

‘No. Please. You don’t know what you’re doing,’ begged Kingdom, his voice thin with fear.

‘Oh, I know all right. I know exactly what I’m doing.’ Black dogs appeared, lined up on either side of Harry. They tensed, ready to pounce, snarling out anger and threat. ‘You promised me so much, Kingdom. But you didn’t deliver any of it. So I’m not going to fuck around with an audit. It’s hostile takeover time. And I’m going to take everything you’ve got.’

Kingdom cowered backwards as the seven dogs leapt. They lost form as they flew towards him, stretching out to become long, hard shadows, staining the air with darkness. When they hit him their black liquid mass slicked across his body. He screamed until the darkness covered his face. He stopped struggling very quickly, becoming a dark, inchoate statue.

Harry strolled towards him. ‘All ready for me now, aren’t you?’ he said triumphantly, and then turning to the Pantheon, ‘None of you got the balls to try and stop me? No?’

‘I’ll never let you get away with this, you bastard,’ spat East. ‘I’ll have every journalist of mine exposing you!’

‘I’ll be a hero,’ replied Harry confidently. ‘I killed the entity that dropped a rock on the moon and started the Soft War. That’s what your journalists will write, or I’ll have them looking for sources outside an airlock, and I’ll put you in a closed audit loop for the rest of time.’

And with that, he reached out and touched the dark figure that had been Kingdom. His body disappeared into it. His clothes, suddenly empty, dropped to the floor. There was a moment of silence.

‘Shit,’ said Jack, stunned. ‘I think we just lost.’

‘We have to get out of here,’ gasped the Twins.

‘We can’t,’ stuttered Sandal. ‘The lift’s still locked.’

Powerlessness was a new experience for the gods.

‘What are we going to do?’ whimpered one of the Twins. ‘I don’t want to be lost in my own accounts forever!’ The other Twin sat down with a thump. ‘Our lovely hotels!’ she wailed. ‘Our medical centres! Our agri-sites! Who will care for them if we can’t?’

Only Jack noticed a little hummock suddenly appear in Harry’s clothes. It was somewhere under his waistcoat. As the gods sobbed, or just stood in shocked silence, it moved towards the neck of his shirt, where a familiar face popped out.

[ Well,] beamed Fist [ That went about as well as it could have done. How fortunate for Harry that I carelessly left such a clearly signposted route into Kingdom’s core systems when we broke into his headquarters.]

Jack couldn’t find any words to say.

Fist clambered to his feet and addressed the assembled divinities. ‘Thank fuck Harry was SO excited about becoming a god that he left my cage door open,’ he chirped, before forcing a little pain into his voice. ‘It was agony watching him attack Kingdom. Agony!’

‘You saw it all, then?’ asked Sandal nervously.

‘Oh yes,’ replied Fist. He stifled a pretend sob. ‘All of it. The horror! Oh, the horror.’ He was clearly enjoying himself hugely, despite the fact that his hair too had turned grey.

[ You’re play-acting,] said Jack. [ Harry’s damaged you. And what about all the people who rely on Kingdom? You’re playing with their lives.]

[ There’s enough of me left to finish the job,] replied Fist. [And they’re all taken care of. Like I told you, I’ve spent a lot of time thinking about consequences. Sit back and watch a master at work.]

There was a mature confidence in his voice that Jack had never heard before. Fist switched back to speaking out loud. ‘But, looking on the bright side, most of my weapon systems are still largely intact. Even after such terrible misuse of them. Misuse over which I had no control whatsoever. Misuse that even damaged me!’ He pointed at his newly aged hair.