Jack blinked. His head jerked to left then right until he found her. He swung his whole body round to face her. ‘I’ll break you, you bitch.’ His voice was higher than usual. It had a rasping, semi-formed quality to it. The girl giggled. ‘Don’t you laugh at me. I’ll show you,’ he snarled, lurching towards her. His legs were stiff, barely bending at the knees. One arm swung up to point. ‘I’ll take you offweave and fuck all your data.’
A man stepped protectively in front of her.
‘You just try it, mate.’
‘I will,’ screeched Jack. ‘I’m untouchable!’ He stumbled towards the man, fists raised. Then there were three InSec agents between them, one placating the girl and her partner, the other two holding Jack.
‘What do you think you’re doing? They insulted me! Me!’
One of the policemen slipped a pair of handcuffs around Jack’s wrists, securing them behind him. Then the other started to walk him toward a police flyer, parked on the other side of the street. Jack’s face reset itself, moving from anger to shocked surprise. It was as if it only had a few very specific expressions to choose from.
‘What is this? Where are you taking me? I know my rights! Don’t you know who you’re fucking with?’
When they reached the flyer, there was a brief scuffle. Jack broke away from the policemen. His expression changed sharply to show manic happiness. He started off down the pavement, running in an awkward, stiff-legged way. His pursuers were much quicker. One of them tackled him and he crashed awkwardly to the floor. A gash on his cheek oozed blood. It dripped on to his clothes, but he didn’t notice.
This time, he didn’t put up a struggle when they reached the car. The door clunked shut behind him. The two policemen climbed into the flyer’s front seats. The lift-off was rapid. There was someone sitting next to him. His head turned quickly, then jolted suddenly to a halt. His eyes snapped closed and back open. His face was blank.
‘Hello, Hugo,’ said Lieutenant Corazon. ‘I can’t think how many laws you’re breaking by taking Jack for a walk like this.’
‘I’m not Hugo. I’m Jack.’
‘Don’t take the piss, Hugo. You’ll only make it worse for yourself.’
‘I had to do it.’
Jack’s voice – or rather, Fist’s – had something of a wheedle to it.
‘You’re riding him. It’s illegal under Station law, and outside the terms of both your installation licence and usage agreements.’
‘They were torturing him. He passed out!’
‘Was there reason to believe that his life was in danger?’
There was a silence. All went dark as the flyer passed into the Wart.
‘I said, did you believe his life was at risk?’
‘No.’
‘You broke into the Panther Czar night club, and entered Akhmatov’s private office space. His security systems contacted us and informed us that a breach was in progress. We had an alert from your cageware, too.’
‘I told him not to break in there!’
‘That doesn’t make any difference.’
‘We were investigating a crime. Akhmatov’s a crook.’
‘He is. But in this case it’s you two that were breaking the law.’
‘Akhmatov’s software nearly killed us.’
‘Knowing what he’s capable of, I think you both got off rather lightly.’
‘What brings you meddling, anyway? I could have got him home.’
There was suddenly a wide grin stretched across Jack’s face. Fist had switched expressions, in the hope of placating Corazon. The insincerity of it shook her.
‘Lestak’s tagged you both. The incident report came in, she was alerted and she asked me to deal with it.’
‘Can’t you just drop us back at the hotel?’
‘We have to be assured that the proper relationship between you and Jack has been restored before we can release you. You’ll be spending the night in the cells, under observation.’
Jack’s smile spread a little wider. ‘So we just sit back and relax? And wait for the doctors to check us out tomorrow?’
‘More or less, yes. And you need to shut down.’
‘Do I? I’m rather enjoying this.’ Fist had Jack stretch his arms out in front of him. He twisted his hands, then curled and uncurled his fingers. It was like watching a machine run through initialisation tests. ‘I love having a body. I like being a real boy.’
‘What you’re doing now is illegal. Shut off, or we’ll be forced to take punitive action against you when we touch down.’
‘You know, I thought you’d be much more fun,’ grumbled Fist in an accusing tone. Then he was gone. It was as if invisible strings had been severed. Jack’s arms fell into his lap. His head slumped back, eyeballs rolling up into their sockets. He slipped sideways and fell against the flyer window. The jolt set the cut on his cheek bleeding again. As Lieutenant Corazon reached over to close his eyes, red smeared itself across her uniform. She shrugged, then nudged her weave settings so that the mark became invisible.
Hours later, when Jack came round, a microdrone was watching him. It was a very basic one, taking the form of a small silver ball with a flashing blue light mounted on top of it. A moustache was painted above a tiny black hole. There were no eyes. ‘Are you awake?’ it asked.
Jack sat up, saying nothing. His stiff muscles creaked and his joints felt wooden. Fist was nowhere to be felt. The microdrone moved in towards him. Its voice became a little louder and a little deeper. ‘I said, are you awake?’ Jack wondered who’d written its respect/intimidation protocols. It emitted a low whine, presumably meant to make him imagine that a tiny taser was powering up. He supposed that he was meant to be scared. He chuckled, remembering battles in deep space, and found himself surprised at the sound of his own laughter. It had been a long time since he’d heard it.
‘Yes, I am,’ he replied.
The whining stopped. A small slot opened in the ceiling and the microdrone shot through it. Jack wondered who it had gone to warn. He stood up and grimaced. It was as if he could feel every single bone grinding against its brothers. The thought reminded him of his last conscious moment. He’d been lying face down. His back had been entirely stripped of flesh. One of the cats was laid out next to him, biting at something soft and wet and red. The second was licking blood from his thigh, every so often nicking his skin with a sharp tooth. He could feel the breath of the third on the back of his neck, the series of soft tugs as it ran an exploratory claw down the white ladder of his vertebrae. Then Hugo had taken charge and the world had vanished.
Jack filled the sink with water and splashed his face. Its cold touch was so honest and kind and real. Fist was still dormant, exhausted by the effort of possessing Jack. It wouldn’t last for much longer, but for the moment the peace was blissful.
The cell door hissed behind him.
‘You know Jack, I was going to call you. And thank you.’ It was Lieutenant Corazon. ‘For rescuing Ifor.’
‘Doing InSec’s job for you.’
‘That’s fair enough. But then you screwed things up.’
‘Doing your job for you, again.’
‘You were breaking and entering. Like a common sweathead.’
‘Investigating. Something you should be doing.’
‘Investigating what, Jack? What are you trying to prove?’
‘Akhmatov confirmed what I told you.’
‘That one of the Pantheon’s smuggling sweat? Oh, Jack. Let it be.’
‘And that I was sent out-system and Harry was moved to another department because we got too close to it. Two years later Harry reopened the case and was killed.’ Jack stopped himself from mentioning Andrea’s murder too. ‘That’s several crimes for the price of one. And now they’re after Fist. They’re going to wait till I’ve gone then seize him and use him.’
‘That’s impossible, Jack. The Pantheon doesn’t work like that.’
‘Check for yourself. Go back to the Bjorn Penderville murder. Read our reports. And if that’s too much work, ask yourself why Aud Yamata wasn’t arrested and the Panther Czar’s never been shut down.’