Chaos Space - Marianne de Pierres [120]
Thales would not be fooled again by a veneer of philanthropy, as he had been with Gutnee Paraburd.
I can change. I can learn.
He suddenly longed to see Bethany. This longing came with a surprise realisation. He had come to rely on her opinion in such a short time. Despite her blunt ways, Bethany understood men of this calibre, had mingled with these calculating types all her life. Her own brother was one.
‘And you say you travelled here on a biozoon piloted by a female. How does an educated young man from Scolar find himself on such a beast? I’ve heard they have the odour of a butchery.’
Thales lifted his gaze to meet his saviour’s. Tekton was of a similar build to him, but his skin was unnaturally tight over his skeleton, and his face was without eyebrows or eyelashes, his head without hair. It created an effect of brittleness and witlessness that was clearly misleading. Tekton lacked neither energy nor perspicacity.
‘I have never been in such an establishment, but it does remind me of the smell of vinegar-cured meats,’ said Thales.
Tekton wrinkled his pert nose. ‘How appalling.’
‘You become accustomed to it, Godhead, as one does with anything, over time,’ Thales added.
‘I am not one to accustom myself to anything. But tell me how this came about—you and the biozoon? You mentioned blackmail—a word that one should never utter lightly.’
‘There is nothing light about my situation, Godhead, except perhaps your intervention in it.’ Then Thales told him how it had started: Gutnee and his deceptive courier mission, Sophos Mianos, and his escape with the Baronessa and her mercenaries.
‘Can you tell me why a Latino noblewoman was meeting with OLOSS officials between Scolar and its shift station?’
‘They were suspicious of her biozoon and did not wish it to come close to our planet. The Baronessa comes from a place called Araldis; a distant mining planet that has recently been overrun by an alien species. She was the only one to escape—saved by her ability to pilot the biozoon. She is fiercely determined to save those that are left—but OLOSS are not convinced.’
Tekton did not respond immediately and appeared to be listening to another voice. So Thales went back to contemplating the bubble of the gene gun. What were the contents intended to do, he wondered? If he still had access to Alambra he could ask her to research the function of the orbitofrontal cortex. He missed her voice in his head. Mouds were another thing to which one became accustomed.
‘And this Latino woman is still with you?’ asked Tekton abruptly.
‘Yes. She is charged with returning me to Edo, as are the mercenaries. Then Lasper Farr will oblige her with a force to recapture her world.’
‘Lasper Farr?’ Tekton’s thin-lipped mouth fell open in undisguised shock. ‘Carnage Farr?’
Thales nodded angrily. ‘It is an apt name. At his best he is psychopathic. At his worst... who can say what such a man could do?’
‘He is the one who has sent you here to retrieve the DNA? Or was it the man Gutnee?’
‘Farr discovered that my blood contained a barrier substance used by couriers. He ... questioned me at some length, and compelled me to come here and receive the DNA. I am to return it to him instead of to Gutnee.’
Tekton’s lips curved in a sly smile. ‘You could say that he saw an opportunity.’
Thales nodded again. ‘To ensure my compliance he infected me with a bacterium that the barrier will not stop. I must return the DNA—and myself, obviously—to receive the antidote.’ He stopped then. Sick of it all, and of himself. Perhaps he had told the Godhead too much about his situation. But leverage was what he needed, and that was something he sensed that Tekton could provide.
‘Then our meeting is most providential, Thales Berniere. And I look forward to meeting the Latino Baronessa.’
‘She is a most refined woman,’ allowed Thales, ‘who has been forced into poor company.’
‘Aaah, yes,’ said Tekton. ‘That is something we must all zealously guard against.’
Thales nodded a third time. On that point, he and the Godhead were in complete agreement.
Bethany