Weird Space 2: Satan's Reach (35 page)

Gorley widened his eyes in evident surprise. “Compassionate? You’re talking about someone who cold-bloodedly killed the bounty hunter sent after him.”

“We talked about that on the way back. He didn’t kill the woman in cold blood. He was fighting for his life. It was self-defence.”

Gorley looked as if he were about to say something, but stopped himself. He gestured. “So how did his... compassion manifest itself?”

“In a number of ways. He saved a girl from the aliens I mentioned in the report, the Ajantans. And later, when he scanned the Kallastanians we brought back... I watched him scan them one by one. It was obviously a painful experience, fearing what he might find, and then when he did find two individuals who were infected...” She shrugged. “I could see the pain this caused him.” She hesitated, then asked, “Those two...?”

“They were separated from the other refugees on landing at the port here,” he said, “and dealt with.”

She nodded, “Humanely, I hope?”

He smiled his razor-thin smile. “Of course. They weren’t told of their condition, merely given a meal, a drink which contained a painless poison. The remaining refugees are to be relocated, together, on an agricultural world in this sector.”

Janaker nodded. “Harper knew the pair were infected, and asked if they might be spared, quarantined somehow. But I think he knew what you... the authorities... would say to that.” She shrugged. “His part in the process caused him... pain, let’s say. He’s far from the cold-blooded killer you assume him to be. Also,” she went on, “he told me that he intended to set aside a portion of his monthly salary in order to pay for the treatment of a friend of his, an engineer affected by a form of alien parasitism. The cure will be expensive, but Harper is determined to help his friend. That’s the kind of person he is, Gorley.”

“I’m looking forward to meeting this... paragon,” he said.

She felt she had to defend the telepath. “Considering his upbringing, his conditioning, and everything he went through after having the cut and reading corrupt minds... I’m amazed that he has turned out to be the kind of person he has. I put that down to his experiences on the Reach,” she finished.

“He was one among thousands of individuals who are tested psi-positive and have the operation every year. They serve loyally without absconding and then killing our operatives.”

She smiled, sarcastic. “He told me about who you sent after him,” she said. “And the phrase ‘mental cruelty’ comes to mind.”

Gorley leaned forward, enraged. “You know nothing about the situation, Janaker! She was sent because she was the obvious person to do the job. She knew him, knew how he thought, could second-guess his reactions.”

And got herself shot as a result
, she thought.

She sat back. “Is that why you brought me here, to ask about Harper?”

Gorley appeared to calm down by degrees. He looked from his desk-screen to her, and then said, “That, and to give you a little information about your forthcoming mission. I want you to meet your next partner, get to know the individual.”

She groaned inwardly. “Not another Vetch?”

He smiled. “I’ll spare you that, Janaker. No, I think you’ll find your next partner more... amenable, let’s say.”

He turned the screen to her, and she stared with surprise at the revealed image. A small, blonde woman smiled out at her, her hair pulled back, a ferronnière bisecting her high forehead.

Well, she thought, this certainly beats being paired with an alien as ugly as the back-end of a dog...

“Aimee Deschamps,” Gorley said. “A telepath, fresh out of training school. This will be her first mission. You’re to go to the world of Nova La Paz, where we have our suspicions about a number of high-up officials. If you work well together, your partnership will be made permanent.”

Janaker nodded. “She looks young.”

“Twenty-two,” he said, “and inexperienced, which is where you come in. I’ll introduce you tomorrow, and give you the details of the case. After that, you can get to know each other a little.”

Just a little
, she thought? Not if she had anything to do with it...

Gorley glanced at his wrist-com. “Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m due to meet Harper in a little under an hour and introduce him to his new team.”

Dismissed, she rose from her chair and strode from the office. As she took the downchute down to the street, she smiled at her reflection in the glass wall and contemplated the immediate future. Things, she decided, were looking up.

She found the closest bar, hitched herself onto a bar-stool, and ordered a beer.

T
HINGS HAD CHANGED
little in the years Harper had been away from the Expansion. After the ramshackle appearance of societies in the Reach, Hennessy’s World appeared ultra-modern, the buildings soaring and sleek, the transport systems – the monorail that serviced the spaceport, and the inner city slideways – fast and efficient.

And all of it, he thought, under threat from the encroachment of the Weird.

He stood in the sunlight at the edge of the spaceport, an armed guard standing a discreet distance away. Even though he’d been tagged earlier that day – a subcutaneous tracker pumped into his left bicep – they obviously thought it wise to keep him under surveillance here at the port.

A big golden ship, as sleek as some massive bird of prey, stood fifty metres away. The guard had led him from the terminal building, across the apron towards the vessel, and Harper guessed that this was the ship that would be home for the foreseeable future.

He would miss
Judi
. On their return to the Expansion, it had been appropriated by the military and – with the aid of Vetch engineers and scientists – stripped of the weapons system so that bigger, more advanced versions might be developed. He had said a silent goodbye to
Judi
, but not before downloading the content of her smartcore to an array of data-pins, which he’d compressed and uploaded into his wrist-com.

A sleek black roadster approached in a long arc from the terminal building. It slowed and settled to the tarmac and three figures climbed out. One was an Expansion official in the severe black uniform of a commander, while the other two – a tall man and a shorter woman – were garbed in typical spacer uniforms.

The guard cleared his throat and gestured Harper forward.

The commander was small, rodent-like, and introduced himself as Commander Gorley. “Welcome back to the Expansion, Harper,” he said, with heavy irony. He remained with his hands firmly clasped behind his back.

“I wish I could say that it’s good to be back,” Harper responded, looking not at the commander but at the beautiful starship.

“You’ll be working, for the next six months at least, with Captain Carew and Co-pilot Takiomar,” Gorley said. “You’ll be replacing the telepath they worked with, who was shot dead in the line of duty on Bayley’s World.”

“Welcome to the team,” Carew said, taking Harper’s hand. He was a tall, severe looking man in his forties, hatchet-faced and deathly pale, who smiled sincerely as they shook hands. His co-pilot was a small woman with slanting eyes, long black hair and dark skin which reminded Harper of Zeela.

“In a little under a week you’ll be heading for Lucifer’s World at the very edge of the Expansion,” Gorley told him. “We have intelligence that suggests the Weird plan to open another portal there, with the help of infected local officials. We’ll meet tomorrow with my security team and go over the details. Before then, Captain Carew will show you around the
Hawk
.”

Carew and Takiomar moved towards the ramp, but Gorley stopped Harper by gripping his upper arm. The commander gestured for the spacers to climb into the ship, then turned to Harper.

There was a look of barely concealed loathing on the face of the Expansion man, and his next words explained why. “The operative you murdered on Rhapsody...”

“It was self-defence, Gorley–”

“Don’t worry, Harper,” Gorley interrupted, “I’m not going to have you executed for your crime, just yet. For the time being you are too valuable to the Expansion. But let me assure you that, once this affair is over and the Weird are defeated, I will personally ensure that you pay for what you did.”

Harper stared down at the commander. “Sabine Legrange tried to kill me, Gorley. I was fighting for my life. What do you think I should have done, lay down my pistol and let her drag me back here to be executed? Or let her shoot me on the spot? If anyone is responsible for her death, it’s the bastards who sent her after me.”

Gorley smiled. “She was doing her duty in attempting to bring a miscreant – and enemy of the state – to justice. You murdered her, Harper, and I will not allow your crime to go unpunished. Bear that in mind over the course of the next year or two. I’ll be watching you.”

Harper said, “I got away once, Gorley, and I’ll do it again. If you want me dead, then you should do it now. Go on... As I walk up the ramp, draw your pistol and shoot me in the back.” He smiled at Gorley, then finished, “It was what Sabine would have done, given the chance.”

The Expansion man stared at him, hatred in his eyes. “Sabine was a fine woman, Harper.”

“She was a ruthless Expansion killer,” Harper said.

“She was,” Gorley said, “my daughter.”

Harper looked into the small man’s face. His expression was rigid, wiped of all visible emotion. He was glad, then, that he was unable to read the commander’s mind.

He said, “I loved your daughter, Commander Gorley. You cannot begin to imagine my pain...”

Gorley said, “Oh, but I think I can, Harper.”

He opened his mouth to respond, and found himself saying, “I’m sorry...” and at the same time hating himself for doing so.

And with that he turned quickly and strode towards the golden ship, feeling as if a target was imprinted between his shoulder blades. Unbidden, as he stepped onto the ramp and began the short climb, images of Sabine came to him – but Sabine during the time they had been lovers: Sabine in his arms, smiling at him and declaring her love, Sabine naked as they made love, Sabine stroking his hair as they sat and watched the sun go down.

He closed his eyes, reached the top of the ramp, and paused. He stood there for ten seconds, allowing Gorley ample opportunity to carry out the extra-judicial execution. Then he turned and stared down at the Expansion man. Gorley turned quickly and hurried towards the waiting roadster. Harper entered the ship.

Carew gave him a short conducted tour, and thirty minutes later they stood on the flight-deck with Lania Takiomar and drank ice cold beers as they stared out across the port.

“I’ve heard all about you, Harper, and so that we get off on the right footing I want you to know that we – Lania and myself – are no lackeys of the Expansion. Before we were coerced into the fight against the Weird, we ran a ship hauling contraband across the Expansion.”

Lania smiled as she sipped her beer. “Among other things,” she murmured.

“I applaud what you did in getting away from the Expansion,” Carew went on. “I’m sure you’ll be happy aboard my ship.” He raised his glass. “To the success of our mission on Lucifer’s World,” he declared.

Harper and Lania raised their bottles and drank to that.

He stared through the viewscreen and briefly considered the tortuous events that had brought him to this point. Then he dismissed the past, as best he could, and thought about the future and what the next few months might hold in store.

EPILOGUE

H
ARPER CLIMBED FROM
the cab and stood before the dome that sat on the headland overlooking the falls. The sun was going down, its last rays illuminating the spume of the waterfall. Nightbirds wove through the star-filled night, their crystalline song filling the air.

He took the path around the dome and leaned against the rail, staring down at the turbulent water. For all its modernity, for all that it was the hub of the hated Expansion, Hennessy’s World was idyllic.

Who would have thought, a mere week ago, that he would be back here so soon, and contemplating working for the Expansion once again? He considered Gorley’s threat, and far from feeling apprehension at the commander’s malign promise, considered it yet another obstacle to be overcome. He was sure, when the time came for him to face the assassin, he would rise to the challenge.

For the past few days he and his new team had been briefed about their mission on Lucifer’s World. Half a dozen officials on the planet had been suspected of being infected. It would be Harper’s job to read them, identify those harbouring the Weird parasites, and leave the rest up to the accompanying security team.

After that, he would return to Hennessy’s World for debriefing and a month of rest and recuperation.

He had rented the dome for a year, with the option to renew the lease after that time. It would be pleasant to come home to his possessions, which he’d had transferred from
Judi
that week. The Expansion was paying him a generous wage, and the work should not be
too
onerous.

He entered the dome and stared around at his tapestries, his shelved books and music needles.

The sound of singing brought a smile to his lips.

“Zeela?”

She appeared in the doorway to the bedroom and smiled across at him. She wore a short yellow dress, its body-hugging material contrasting with the mocha of her skin.

“You’re home early!” she said.

“My last evening here before we phase out in the morning,” he said. “How could I be late?”

They ate at a restaurant overlooking the falls, the occasion touched with sadness.

“I’ll miss you, Den,” Zeela said as they drank and stared out at the massed core stars above the waterfall.

He told her that he would miss her, too.

He took her hand and said that he’d be back in a month or less, and that in the interim she’d have her singing to occupy her time and attention. She’d successfully auditioned for a slot at a nightclub in the city, and would start work there next week. Harper’s only regret was that he would not be here to watch her first performance.