Part 16 (1/2)

The layout was identical to the Polar Lights Polar Lights, and he soon found his way to the c.o.c.kpit. All systems had been left ready to go so he went. Impulse power 90 only, but enough to get him clear of the station and its security.

'Message incoming, Falsh,' purred the computer.

Falsh waited a few moments before calling up the screen. Like he was relaxed about it. Then he called up the sphere.

The Agent's loathsome face appeared, fat and grey, its dead fish-eyes staring. 'Are you running from us, Falsh?' it asked softy, its voice like worms curling around old bones.

'I was headed home,' said Falsh calmly. The Agent's gill-ears quivered with each syllable as it processed his words; he hated that. 'It's been a long night.'

'Indeed.'

The Agent stared on, unsettlingly still.

'We want what you promised us, Falsh. We have invested heavily. We want a return.'

'You think I'm happy about losing out on this deal?' Falsh allowed a little anger to creep into his tone. 'You think I wanted wanted Carme blown to pieces?' Carme blown to pieces?'

'Yes,' replied the Agent with unsettling calm. 'I discussed the situation with the Blazar crew on Thebe. They all insisted the order for its destruction had come directly from you.'

'Lies,' said Falsh flatly. 'Trying to cover up their own incompetence.'

'Was it incompetence that prompted NewSystem Deconstruction to destroy Thebe soon afterwards?

An attempt to destroy further evidence of your treachery?'

Falsh held himself still and straight, trying to mirror the Agent's own body language. 'I resent and refute your allegation.'

A little smile seemed to hook up the ends of its tiny mouth. 'Others came looking on Thebe.'

'What?'

'A male and a female. They came in your s.h.i.+p.'

Somehow, Falsh kept his face neutral. 'They're my agents. I sent them to investigate Blazar because, like you, I was furious at their incompetence.'

'In your own, personal s.h.i.+p.'

'Yes. It is my own personal business, after all.' He cleared his throat. 'My executives know nothing of this deal you know that.'

'I thought perhaps they too were investors. Acting on behalf of another power.' The Agent was still smiling, and now it nodded. 'I thought perhaps you had sought to sell this weapon to them too, Falsh. And that, like me, they did not believe your lies about Carme's accidental destruction.'

'For heaven's sake '

'I imagined they had taken your s.h.i.+p against your will. Being human in appearance they could investigate more subtly than I.' It held out its hands.

'Whereas I must resort to force.'

Falsh licked his dry lips. 'Did you kill them?'

91.'Have they not reported back to you, Falsh?' He snorted. 'Then perhaps you did not tell them that NewSystem Deconstruction had been ordered to destroy Thebe. How negligent of you.'

'Now listen, I invested heavily in that inst.i.tute '

'As did we.' A sickly yellow glint had come into its dead eyes. 'And now its work is successfully concluded, you have a weapon you plan to sell for a higher price than you agreed with us while we have nothing.'

Falsh brought the full force of his gaze to bear, a look that had drawn tears from even the c.o.c.kiest execs. 'If you are correct, and I do have this weapon,'

he said quietly. 'Perhaps you should be conducting this conversation with a little more respect.'

The Agent regarded him coldly, but said nothing.

'We shall meet in person,' Falsh told him. 'I have evidence that proves there is no conspiracy against you. I promise you, you shall be satisfied I am telling the truth.'

'Very well,' hissed the Agent. 'Where can we meet?'.

Falsh pretended to consider. 'There is a FILOC-P under construction outside Joves.p.a.ce. I'll have the workers sent to Callisto to enjoy the demolition display tomorrow. The podule will be empty, and adequate for our purposes.'

'I shall be prepared for treachery, Falsh,' the Agent warned him. 'And remember, my masters will be awaiting the outcome of our meeting with some antic.i.p.ation.'

Once the Agent had uploaded the coordinates and killed the conversation, Falsh told the s.h.i.+p's computer to steer him back to the station.

The man and the woman. Two of the agitators, at least. First they'd breezed straight into the heart of his Empire, now they had been snooping around on Thebe and using his own s.h.i.+p to get there! What did they know, who was running them. . . ?

But from what the Agent had said, they must surely be dead now.

Unsolved mysteries Falsh could live with. But no one must ever know the truth of what was created at the Inst.i.tute.

92.

Chapter Twelve.

Trix felt her hackles rise as she caught a glimpse of movement along the gantry, about ten metres away. Scuffling, sc.r.a.ping, breathing hoa.r.s.ely, the creature. . .

What the h.e.l.l?

She stared in disbelief as a bizarre animal, looking like a fat bald turkey with bloated pig legs and a cow's rump, shambled into view. The parson's nose marked the spot where the head should've been.

'It's a chiggock!' The Doctor crouched down as if to meet it on its own level.

'Poor thing. Its back legs are broken.'

'I've served up one of those things in a salad!' said Trix. 'Where's its head oh no! It's never shoved up its '

'It doesn't have a head,' the Doctor said darkly. 'Just a breathing hole. It wasn't bred to look, or hear, or sense anything at all. It's a foodthing, alive only in the most technical sense.'

'So how come it's heading our way?'