The Hunt for Pierre Jnr (37 page)

By now her second skin was down to a roll around her neck and she ordered her hair to change back to its natural colour. They must see the real her, her true face.

‘We do have one thing in common though. I too think it’s time to get our own back. I cannot undo what I have done, but at least I am trying to reverse it. So far I have freed thirty psis who were collected and I will continue to free more. And when I have enough, I will free our cousins on the islands.’

‘Wait a minute,’ said one of the tappers who had been silent until now. Hiero Blish, according to Piri. To Tamsin, all the telepaths had blocks up that she couldn’t see through, but Piri didn’t seem impeded. Hiero worked as a monitor for a cartel of gaming arenas in the Washington precinct, security against psionic cheating. ‘Isn’t there an elephant in the room you seem to have bypassed? What about Pierre Jnr?’

‘Tell me what you would like to know,’ Tamsin replied, spreading her hands.

‘What can you tell us about the Dome manifestation? Was it him or not?’

‘It was him. I was part of a Services team that was tracking him so I was there that day.’ Hiero at least seemed keen to hear more; it was hard to tell with the rest of the group. The benders were impressed by the force of the manifestation more than anything else. ‘Pierre is the only reason I can stand before you today. He freed me.’

‘Where is he now? Why has he not come to us instead of talking through a proxy?’ Vincent asked.

‘I am not a proxy. The truth — since you will undoubtedly delve it from me anyway — the truth is that I don’t know where he is. Four weeks ago I woke up in Joberg with a cyberdoc putting a new skin on me.’

‘So what does he want?’

‘He didn’t say. But he freed me and set me on this path, so I believe that this is what I am meant to be doing.’

‘And what is that?’

‘Fighting for a world where psis can live in peace without having to hide our abilities.’

‘Yes, Miz Grey,’ a redheaded man behind La Grêle interrupted. ‘You are certainly not the first to have thought of this ... it is an amusing pastime to speculate on. You cannot be thinking you are the first to attempt it? How do we win? Tell me that, Miz Grey, and I’ll keep listening.’

‘Together. We will win together. I know how Services hunts us. I’ve been leading them my entire adult life.’

‘And you want us to trust you?’ Vincent smirked.

‘“Traitor”, I hear you thinking. To who? To you? To psis everywhere? Where were you when they took me? Down here in the dark. It’s them I’m betraying more than you. They took me in. They manipulated me. They locked me. But when the opportunity came, I broke free. And now I’m going to win a war against them. You’re either with me, or you’re a coward.’

‘What about the marauders? You can deal with them?’

‘Anyone with a little willpower can take out a marauder, Vincent. Each suit has a fail-safe to protect it against a psionic takeover. All you have to do is control them so that their pattern changes enough to raise suspicion. Then they get frozen and can’t move until a release code is uploaded.’

‘It sounds too easy.’

‘Don’t forget fun. I think we’re going to have a good time.’

‘We haven’t agreed yet.’

‘You agreed when you started asking questions.’ Tamsin grinned.

‘Just what do you want us to do?’

‘Resist. Fight back.’

‘And then?’

‘Then we can be free.’

‘We can never be free,’ La Grêle spoke. ‘When would the fighting stop?’

‘When they stop persecuting us.’

‘Do you know so little about fear, Tamsin Grey? They will never stop, they will never be able to stop.’

‘I want psi freedom now.’ Tamsin clenched her teeth. She had presumed that they’d feel as she did, but they were in less of a rush to go up against Services.

‘We have heard the slogan,’ La Grêle answered, ‘but what does it mean to you to be free? Have you asked what must change in the world for it to be possible for us all to coexist?’

‘They must stop imprisoning our people, for one thing.’

‘It is as simple as that?’

‘It’s a start.’

‘I understand that. But what comes next?’

Tamsin didn’t have an answer.

‘You see, I know what you are fighting against. But I don’t know what you are fighting for. We all want to be free. We all want our station in life to be improved, but there are billions of people who wish that.’

‘This is different.’

‘Somewhat. But you have come to us asking for, what exactly? Support to build an army to fight against the World Union?’

‘The time has come when we can stand no more.’

‘You mean when you can stand no more. Do you know how many people are in the World Union? Sixteen billion. What are you going to do with all of them?’

‘Not all of them are locking us up,’ Tamsin insisted.

‘No, but all of them aren’t stopping it either.’

‘You’re right that we cannot win an open fight. They are many and their technological superiority is formidable. So we don’t fight. We strike, we hide. We must resist their incursions and rescue our people.’

‘You talk about psis as if they were one. I have never met you before. We have nothing in common.’ This, of course, from Vincent.

‘We live under the same oppression. The same restrictions.’

‘I don’t know about you, Miz Grey, but I have not found these to be an impediment to my lifestyle.’ The bender smiled coldly. Indeed, as Tamsin could see, most of those in this room lived in equal comfort.

‘Here in the Cape you might. But if Services set up here like they have everywhere else —’

‘Won’t your boy keep them occupied for a while?’

‘My ...?’ They meant Pierre! ‘Boy? How dare you refer to him as a boy.’

‘I told you, didn’t I? Not five minutes in and the fanatic is revealed. I don’t think there is anything more to discuss, except perhaps for whether you leave peacefully or as a mindless drool.’

Fools!

‘Miz Grey, we agreed: spoken only.’

‘I’m sorry, La Grêle. It was a moment of frustration caused by the small-mindedness of your peers.’

‘I won’t listen to any more of this!’ Vincent shouted.

Loose bricks leapt from the wall toward Tamsin’s head, only to be shattered after a few feet, shards spraying at the group of tappers who had to fling their arms up to protect their eyes.

‘Perhaps it is true what they say about benders. If their brains were bigger, they might be dangerous.’

Vincent made to rush at her, but he was suddenly stopped in his tracks and pushed backward.

‘Don’t be an idiot, Vincent. I could drop you dead in an instant or get one of your friends to crush you slowly. So don’t think there is anything you can do to hurt me. I came to talk. You will listen. Then, at the end, you can leave if you want.’

Vincent threw his arms up and turned away.

‘We need a place of our own. You live here, down below, in a grey area. That is what the data men call it. A place where they do not have the surveillance that they do in the majority of the World Union. You hide here in the Cape, in places like this, blanket over your heads, but somehow Services keeps finding you, don’t they? You hide. You all do. But you also know that if they wanted to, they could reach out and grab you at any time. I have hunted with them. I know they can bring any of us down. We need a place we can go and be safe.’

‘You won’t find it on this planet, psister.’

‘You’re right. We won’t find one. We have to make one. Here. In Atlantic, Services is weak. There are only two bases.’

‘Only two? How many times have you ever seen a Services base getting knocked down?’

‘Never. But I’ve never tried before either. I’ve been with them for ten years — I know how they do things.’

‘And Pierre?’ Hiero asked.

‘He is with us.’ Tamsin nodded. ‘He will aid us. I am sure of it.’

‘You are, we can see that, but we don’t share your confidence. Fanaticism does not impress me,’ La Grêle chipped in.

‘Will he repeat his manifestation here, Miz Grey? Destroying the city?’ Salvator asked.

‘He was attacked in Paris. He defended himself.’

‘He certainly did,’ La Grêle replied.

Sal cleared his throat. ‘I believe it is my turn now. Obviously there are some innate emotions in play here. So, we should take into account, when thinking about Tamsin Grey’s proposal, that there may already be an element of sympathy in our midst.

‘I don’t have much to say. If La Grêle tells me we can trust Grey, then that is good enough for me. But that is not the question. For me it still has to be determined if her plans are realistic, or even if the effects of them are desired. We all think a lot about being free, in the way that other humans are. It is the psi dream we all share. I have spoken of it many times with many different people. I was recently reminded of my own time in a Services area and how they came for me. I escaped, but so many do not. I cannot imagine what life is like for those who are taken.

‘In the Cape, we are tolerated because they have found a use for us. We are lucky, relative to those on the islands. It is up to each of us as individuals to decide if we are happy with our circumstances.’

He stopped to take a deep breath.

‘As much as I crave that dream, that life that all of us hope for, I do not believe in war. I do not believe that that will get us what we want.

‘There are three actions open to us. Join Grey’s rebellion and begin a life of fighting, killing and running until one side has defeated the other. Or we can abstain from taking part and simply watch to see how long the rebellion lasts. But if we want things to stay the same, then we must be prepared to stop Tamsin Grey now.’

‘Doctor!’ Tamsin leapt into a defensive stance and Okonta was instantly shielding her with his body. Then neither of them could move.

‘No interruptions, Miz Grey,’ La Grêle commanded. ‘Everyone relax your attacks. We have them in hand.’

‘Let me go,’ Tamsin spat.

‘Be quiet, Miz Grey, I just saved your life. Let us see how the rest of this conversation progresses. Alexi, did you have any more to say?’

‘No. You can take your turn, La Grêle.’

The older woman stepped forward and spread her arms to include the group.

‘Salvator has made excellent points, and as you know, open conflict has never been my approach. But ... change is coming. Change that I don’t think we, or anyone, have the power to stop.

‘I do not endorse Tamsin Grey’s plan. I believe it will result in aggravating the World Union even further. Every act of psionic aggression leads to more restrictions and more hunts. I believe the Primacy will be more determined than ever to absorb Atlantic into their system. But it is your city and your lives, not mine.

‘Another part of me wonders if Tamsin Grey is the only one of us seeing things clearly. Perhaps there is already a war taking place and she is the only one to recognise it. Maybe being on the other side of that war gives her a perspective we don’t have. I know that outside the Cape, Services have been coming down hard on any suspects they have. Many of my people have disappeared; I must presume they have been taken. There is nowhere for a psi to hide now. Once the World Union has secured everywhere else, what is to stop them coming to Atlantic and imposing control?

‘I don’t think they will ever stop. So long as the system perceives a threat, be it Pierre Jnr or us, I don’t think it can stop itself. And that is why I am willing to listen.

‘If none of you have any objections, I will commune with Tamsin Grey. If she is withholding anything, I will find it out. I will discover her true motivations so we can know if we can trust her.’

None objected. Tamsin got the impression that no one ever did. ‘It will be okay,’ she said to Piri and Okonta. ‘I don’t believe she intends me any harm.’

‘She is correct,’ La Grêle said from close behind her. ‘Your care for her is admirable, Okonta Bora, but in this instance misplaced. Your leader will come back to you safely.’

They cleared the room. Leaving just the two of them alone.

~ * ~

‘Make yourself comfortable,’ La Grêle said, gracefully assuming a cross-legged position on the floor. Tamsin mirrored her pose.

‘Where do you come from, Miz Grey?’

‘I do not know where I was born.’

‘Would you like to?’

‘Not really.’

La Grêle nodded. ‘And your parents? Would you like to know who they were?’

‘I have wondered in the past, but not any more.’

‘I find that interesting.’

‘Do you? What is so interesting about it? I’ve told you I was raised by Services.’

‘Yes. But to not have an origin must have an interesting effect on the psyche. I’m not sure I understand that sort of mind.’

‘Is this the communing?’

‘No. I am building myself up for that. Communing involves getting closer to someone than you ever have before. So with you I am naturally hesitant.’