Mirror Space - Marianne de Pierres [69]
‘What are you doing?’ Bethany was at the bedroom door. ‘Don’t be rash, Thales. It’s not like I’m a—’
He stiffened. ‘I know exactly what I want to do now and it doesn’t involve you. In fact, it’s important that it doesn’t.’ He swung the small bag over his shoulder.
She looked for a moment like she might try and block his path but with a sigh she stepped out of the way. He paused, and reached back to lightly touch her arm. ‘You’re a kind person, Beth, with a brother who is a monster. Get away from him. I hope you find your daughter.’
She didn’t respond until he reached the front door.
‘Thales. Wait! There’s something you should know before you leave.’ She switched the light on so that they could see each other properly and came over to him. ‘I have some contacts here. Friends. People that support me . . . not Lasper.’
‘The Mio?’
She dropped her head and then lifted it again. ‘Yes. The Mio told me that Tekton was booked on a ship to leave today. He didn’t make embarkation. The ship left without him.’
Thales shrugged. ‘Maybe he changed his mind.’
‘All his possessions were on board, including that ridiculous sculpture.’
Thales’s chest constricted. He didn’t like Tekton, but the man was of his own ilk and had helped them both - even if it had only been out of expediency. ‘That is strange.’
Bethany came close to him. Close enough to whisper. ‘My friends saw him being escorted by a Lamin to Lasper’s habitat. He hasn’t come back, Thales.’
‘You think . . .?’
She nodded. ‘It may be that he wants to keep word of the DNA you retrieved from Rho Junction from reaching the creator. I am scared for you as well. If you leave my protection then please at least use my. . . network.’
‘Leaving your protection?’ echoed Thales. ‘You think you can protect me?’
Her anxious expression faded and she pressed her lips into a stern line that reminded Thales of her brother. ‘Whether you accept it or not, while you’re with me, you’re safer. Lasper will consider hard before harming one of mine - and not give a second thought to your life if you are not.’
‘Are you saying you can control the Commander?’
‘Not control - but there are things about us that you don’t know - about me.’
‘More things, you mean?’ He gave her a humourless smile.
‘There is a group here that wants to replace Lasper with me as the leader of Consilience.’
‘But you’re a scientist, not a soldier. And the Stain Wars ... I mean, it wasn’t you who averted the war. You told me that you were with the Mios.’
‘Yes. Near the Mio moons at the site of the last incursion. I was with a Mio ship, dissecting dead Extropists. Recorded history leaves out all the subtleties, Thales. As a philosopher you should know that. Look what happened to your prophet Villon.’ She rubbed her hand across the bridge of her nose. ‘What’s important is that you’re safe while you’re here.’
‘What do you mean?’
‘I mean that the truth about the war isn’t recorded anywhere official. The official stories don’t tell us that OLOSS was the original aggressor and that they used mercenaries to spark the fighting on Longthrow so that they could learn more about the Extros - what weapons they had and how they were evolving.’
‘How they were evolving?’
‘Yes, Thales. They wanted Extro fatalities so that they could find out their evolutionary secrets. Examine their Post-Species processes.’
‘But why? We don’t want their kind of evolution. That is the whole point of our division - our separation from them.’
‘No, we don’t want to follow that path. But that doesn’t mean we don’t want to know what they’re doing. The Extros have advanced biotechnologies that we could use.’
‘Then why don’t we just trade for it?’
Beth touched the bridge of her nose again in a little gesture of frustration. ‘It’s not as simple as mere trade. There’s fear and competition at stake, and a host of other things - territory and beliefs.’
He thought over what she’d just told him, and it made him even more restless. She