Part 23 (1/2)

Diana looked at her blankly. ”You mean, we're leaving? But we've barely scratched the surface here!”

”You're leaving. I'm staying. I think we can be fairly sure there aren't any living crew left on board, or you'd have sensed them by now. So the only answers we're likely to get are from that crystal. Take the marines back with you; the crystal needs their protection more than I do. Well, don't just stand there, esper. What are you waiting for?”

”I can't find my way back out on my own,” said Diana in a small voice. ”Can you come back with me to show me the way?”

Stasiak looked at Ripper, and then back at Diana. ”Leave her here? Are you sure?”

”That's what she said,” said Diana. ”Do you want to argue with her?”

”Not really, no,” said Ripper.

”I don't know, Rip,” said Stasiak. ”Anything could happen in there.”

”Anyone else and I might be worried,” said Ripper. ”But we're talking about an Investigator, after all.

Anything that runs into her has my deepest sympathies. Besides, do you really want to look her in the eye later and tell her you ignored a direct order?”

”Not really, no.” Stasiak looked down the slope at the s.h.i.+p below. ”What's it like in there, Diana?”

”Fascinating!” Now that she was out of the s.h.i.+p and back in the open again, Diana lost her nervousness and found herself bubbling with excitement, almost ready to rush back into the s.h.i.+p and explore it again.

Almost. ”I've never seen anything like it; the whole structure's a combination of organic and inorganic materials, lying side by side and functioning together.”

”You mean, like a cyborg?” said Stasiak, peering uncertainly at the huge shape below them.

”I suppose so, yes, but on a much greater scale. The whole thing's alive, or at least it used to be. I'd love to spend more time with it, but the Investigator was most insistent we get this memory crystal back to the pinnace. Typical. The moment you find anything interesting, the Empire immediately finds a way to take it away from you.”

Stasiak smiled. ”If you can't take a joke, you shouldn't have joined.”

”I wasn't exactly given a choice,” said Diana. ”Espers do what they're told.”

And then the wry smile vanished from her face as she looked past Stasiak. The two marines spun round to discover what she was looking at, and their hands fell to their guns. Among the violet and azure trees at the edge of the forest a man dressed all in black was walking unhurriedly out of the mists. His face was hidden by his cape's cowl, but they all knew who he was, who he had to be. He walked past without sparing any of them a glance, and started down the slope towards the alien s.h.i.+p. Diana shuddered as he pa.s.sed, and had to fight down a sudden urge to reach out and touch him, to make sure he was real, even though the sensors said he wasn't. Instead, she watched silently with the marines as the man in black came to a halt before the s.h.i.+p and looked at it thoughtfully, leaning elegantly on his ivory staff.

”Is that him?” said Diana softly. ”I thought he'd be taller.”

”Not very impressive,” said Ripper. ”But then, legends rarely are, in the flesh.”

”Carrion,” said Stasiak, his voice low and harsh. ”The man who lived with the Ashrai. The traitor who turned against humanity, for the sake of savages who still ate their meat raw. I've done some things in my time, and been ashamed of some of them, but I never betrayed my own species. Never.”

”Take it easy, Lew,” said Ripper. ”We don't know the whole story.”

”We don't need to.”

”Why does the Captain think he's so important?” said Diana. ”I mean, all right, he can fool the pinnace's sensors, but he's just another outlaw. Isn't he?”

”Carrion's a killer,” said Captain Silence. ”And he's very good at it.”

The esper and the two marines spun round again, to see Silence standing at the edge of the forest behind them, leaning against a tree trunk for support.

”Captain!” said Diana, blus.h.i.+ng with embarra.s.sment. ”I didn't hear you approach . . .”

”Obviously,” said Silence. ”Security on this mission is going to h.e.l.l.” He broke off, grimacing as pain from his injured ribs. .h.i.t him. Diana took in his torn and bloodstained uniform and started towards him, but he stopped her with an upraised hand. ”I'm all right. I just ran into a little opposition from the local ghosts.

Carrion rescued me. And no, I don't want to talk about it. Odin told me about the Investigator's discovery, and I brought Carrion along to take a look at it. How long have you been here?”

”Not long,” said Diana. ”The Investigator and I made a brief foray into the s.h.i.+p, but there's no sign of any crew. We did find what appears to be an alien memory crystal. The Investigator decided it should go back to the pinnace for a.n.a.lysis. She's still inside the s.h.i.+p.”

”I thought she might be,” said Silence. ”Carrion's going to join her. Between them, they should come up with some answers.”

”Pardon me for asking, Captain,” said Stasiak, ”but what makes the traitor so important?”

”Carrion used to be an Investigator,” said Silence. ”One of the best. Trained to outthink species that don't think as we do.”

”If he was that good,” said Ripper, ”what went wrong? How did he end up siding with the Ashrai?”

Silence smiled humourlessly. ”Perhaps we trained him too well.”

He looked down at the alien s.h.i.+p below, and the others followed his gaze. Carrion had climbed up onto the s.h.i.+p and was examining the entrance Diana had found. His black cloak hung about him like folded wings, and he looked more than ever like a carrion crow, feasting on a dead carca.s.s.

”What's that staff he's carrying?” said Stasiak.

”A power lance,” said Silence.

”But they're outlawed!”

Silence smiled briefly. ”So's he.”

Carrion threaded his way through the twisting corridors of the alien s.h.i.+p, following the ragged path Frost had cut through the webbing. It led him eventually to a vast circular chamber deep in the heart of the s.h.i.+p, a great metal cavity studded with bulky, enigmatic machinery on all sides. The curving walls were pockmarked with tunnel mouths of various sizes, many high above the floor with no obvious way of reaching them. Thick strands of rotting gossamer hung from the ceiling, interspersed with long crystalline creepers that gleamed and sparkled in the unsteady light as they turned slowly back and forth. The flickering light came from deep in the tunnels, casting strange, elongated shadows on the floor and ceiling.

The air was hot and humid and thick with the stench of rotting meat. Frost stepped out of the shadows and into the light, and Carrion nodded to her courteously.

”I know you,” said Frost.

”No,” said Carrion. ”That was someone else. I am Carrion. I bring bad luck. I am the destroyer of nations and of worlds.”

Frost raised an eyebrow. ”Really?”

”The Ashrai believed it.”

They studied each other for a while in the uncertain light, and whatever they recognised in each other's faces they kept to themselves.

”I'm surprised you remember me,” said Carrion finally. ”It's been a long time.”

”All Investigators remember you,” said Frost. ”The Academy still holds you up as a bad example. You broke the prime rule; you got involved.”

”I broke my conditioning,” said Carrion. ”But then, I was always involved, with one species or another.