‘I would not go that far.’
‘You talked to him after the last time you saw us,’ he said. He was smiling unpleasantly and I felt the urge to punch him in his smirking face.
‘I was summoned to his presence,’ I said.
‘What did he want?’
‘He wanted to know who I had been seeing.’
‘You told him, of course.’
‘I told him I had been drinking with Sergei here and he had introduced me to you two, and that you claimed to have information concerning a conspiracy against Macharius.’
‘What did he say to that?’
‘He told me to keep in touch with you and report to him any conversations we might have.’
I saw Sergei and Konstantin exchange glances. ‘Is that all?’
‘Drake is a busy man,’ I said. ‘I am sorry to have to tell you this but I doubt you are all that important to him. I doubt I am either.’
‘Yet he takes enough interest to ask about us.’
‘These are troubled times. Like I said, I don’t think you are that important to him, but if you insist I can bring your names up again.’ I let a little malice show in my voice.
‘That won’t be necessary,’ said Mikhail.
‘So do you have any more information about this supposed conspiracy?’
‘We do, but first we have some questions to put to you.’
‘And what would those be?’
My skin felt tingly now, and his outline swayed a little in my field of vision. ‘This is strong booze,’ I said. Mikhail’s smile became ever more mocking. ‘I can’t say I’ve noticed,’ he said.
‘What questions did you have?’ His face seemed to be growing larger. It became just about the only thing in the room I could focus on.
‘Do you think Macharius really intends to go to Terra?’
‘Not if he can help it,’ I said. The words just seemed to slip out. Mikhail looked very friendly and very trustworthy. Surely it was safe to tell him.
‘And do you think this is wise?’
‘I don’t think it’s wise for anyone to disobey a direct order from the Imperium.’
‘You think Macharius can get away with it.’
‘If anyone can, he can.’
‘And you, a sworn soldier of the Emperor, don’t see anything wrong with that.’
‘It is wrong to disobey the Emperor’s commands,’ I said.
‘And yet you have just said Macharius might.’
‘I did, didn’t I?’
‘Do you think Macharius is right to do so?’
‘No.’
‘What do you think of Macharius?’
‘He is the greatest general alive, a hero of the Imperium, a legend…’
‘But?’
‘But he has made mistakes. He is not the man he once was, not the man I once served.’
I was surprised to hear myself saying the words, even more surprised by the fact that I believed them to be the truth.
‘He has made mistakes, you say?’ Mikhail’s voice was friendly but disbelieving. ‘Where?’
‘On Loki. We died in the hundreds of thousands there and only afterwards did he reveal he has discovered the weaknesses of Richter’s position.’
‘You resent that.’
‘Yes. I saw thousands of good men die. I saw friends of mine die.’ Again I was surprised to find the depths of anger in me.
‘Some would say that what you are saying is traitorous,’ said Mikhail. I stared at them. There was no denying it. My head was swirling. I realised that I was more than drunk – I had been drugged. It seemed that Drake had lied to me about the anti-toxin.
‘You drugged me…’ I said. They looked at me and laughed as I fell face forward onto the table.
They lifted me to my feet. I tried to call for help but the words just came out as drunken, slurred babbling. I saw heads turn to watch me go, but all they saw was a drunk soldier being carried out by his not-quite-so-drunk comrades. There was nothing unusual about it.
I was bundled into the back of a groundcar, large and luxurious, and driven off into the darkness. I was aware of the heavy door thunking shut behind me and large men getting in.
The car drove off into the night, moving through the corpse-black, mirrored starscrapers. I was only partially aware of my surroundings. I could hear voices as if from a great way off. They seemed to be discussing something of no great importance, so I lay there, trying to avoid being sick. It suddenly seemed of great importance that I avoid vomiting over the clean, luxurious interior of this great vehicle.
The car drew up at a run-down building on the edge of the city and slipped through a raised door which slid down behind it. I knew that I had vanished off the face of the planet as far as anyone looking for me was concerned.
I was taken into a huge room, lit by dimly glowing globes that just seemed to hover in the air. A man in white robes stood there. He indicated a surgical table with one long lean hand. The men carrying me put me down on it. I tried to struggle, but my hands just flailed the air uselessly as I was strapped down. The man in white robes produced a long hypodermic. If he started making promises about anti-toxins I was going to hit him, I thought, if I was capable of it. I noticed that he was wearing small pebble glasses that caught the light. At times they were like mirrors full of flame. At times I could see cold grey eyes studying me.
My sleeve was pulled up. The needle went in. This time it burned like fire. My muscles suddenly felt under control again. My mind felt lucid. I tried to rise but I was strapped down.
The medic studied me the way a man might study a new and particularly interesting form of insect. He said, ‘I am going to give you another injection. It will not hurt you as long as you answer me truthfully. If you answer all the questions with the truth no harm will come to you.’
‘For some strange reason, I don’t believe you,’ I said.
‘It matters little whether you believe me or not, you will answer, and you will answer truthfully, your life depends on it.’
I did believe that, so I remained silent. Another injection was given and suddenly things did not seem so bad. I felt relaxed and amiable and I wondered why I had been so bothered just a few minutes ago; after all, these people were friendly.
The questions began, about Macharius, about how I felt about him, about my loyalty. I answered honestly. I spoke of my doubts and resentments and as I did so the questions took on a different tone. I was asked whether I really was prepared to oppose Macharius and what reward I would do it for. I spoke openly and honestly and was surprised to find I had a price, a high one, but it was there. The medic nodded as I talked and I realised what seemed like a high price to me seemed like a small price to him and I told him so. The price went up. He smiled and I could see that he was pleased. He wanted to help me. He wanted me to be happy. He wanted me to have a price and I knew that no matter how high it was he would meet it.
In the end, the questioning stopped and my white-robed interrogator looked over at Konstantin and Mikhail. ‘He is telling the truth,’ he said. ‘He will betray Macharius if his price is met.’
The two men looked at each other and then at me. They were measuring me now, testing me, weighing what I had said against other things that they knew, and I could see that my life hung on their decision. If they decided they did not believe their medical friend they had no reason for letting me live. I looked back at them, numb and a little afraid. I could just move my head. There was no chance of me breaking free from the table. Even if I did I was surrounded by enemies.
Konstantin looked at the medic. ‘You are sure?’
‘Certain. At this dosage, there is no chance he could lie to us. This man is, for our purposes at least, trustworthy.’
Mikhail still looked dubious. I could tell he did not like me, but then again, it looked like I was the sort of man he had been sent to find. He knelt down beside me and spoke very slowly and very carefully. ‘I am going to let you up now. Do nothing sudden and nothing stupid and you will become a very wealthy and powerful man. Do you understand me?’