‘Yeah, I have to agree with you there,’ said Ella, nodding her head grimly. ‘But in one respect, it makes a kind of sense. Nik certainly had the expertise to destroy the relay, sabotage Sal’s Kay, burn out the scrubbers, making it seem like regular wear-and-tear. . . and he knew how to fly a Kay.’ She sat back in her seat as if that explained everything.
Halman let this wash over him, trying to make sense of it. Inconceivable. That certainly did seem like the right term for it. ‘Shit, Ella, you really think he did all those things?’
‘I’m starting to. A lot of people have said he didn’t seem himself of late. They were saying that even before. You must have noticed.’
‘I thought he was just stressed. You know his head used to hurt him sometimes. Those Farsight shit-bags filled his skull with DNI rubbish at Platini. And remember, Nik fixed the scrubbers. Why would he do that if he broke them? And what do you mean, fly a Kay? What the hell has that got to do with it?’
‘Well, if we’ve had a saboteur on board, then I’m inclined to suspect foul play in the failure of our prodigal shuttle to show up.’
Halman started, sitting up straighter. ‘If somebody from here had intercepted it, then it’d be nearby somewhere, right? In the belt.’
‘Right. Somewhere on the flightpath from Platini to here, within range of our ships.’
‘I wish we could launch the damn Kays now, then we could look for it. That might just solve a lot of our problems in one stroke. I want to talk to the tech guys about diverting battery power to the hangar.’
‘Bit of a gamble, isn’t it, when we’ll have to choose between launching Kays and breathing air?’
Halman suddenly slammed one huge fist onto his desk, making Ella jump in her seat. ‘Shit!’ he cried — a word which seemed to fit the situation well.
‘One other thing. . .’ Ella said reluctantly.
Halman glowered at her. ‘What?’ he asked through clenched teeth.
‘Lina thought she saw somebody flying a ship into the belt, just after the clean-up of Sal’s. . . well, you know. . .’
‘And do you think she was right?’
Ella shrugged. ‘I asked the ground crew to check it out, but all the Kays were cool by then, and they said that honestly there’s no way they could be sure. It’s not hard to fake the launch logs if you know what you’re doing. The system was never designed to be secure, because nobody ever thought it necessary, I guess.’
‘Nik would have known how to do it,’ said Halman quietly. He felt about seventy-seven, rather than fifty-seven, all of a sudden. He passed a hand across his face, feeling the stubble where he hadn’t shaved, alarmed at how sunken and hollow his cheeks felt.
‘Yeah,’ agreed Ella.
‘For what it’s worth, Ella, I’m inclined to agree with you. I can’t imagine Eli being involved in all this. However, I still want him to remain in medical. And I want him properly tested under lie-detector, when you think he’s up to it. Just for the records, if nothing else. And keep him secure, of course.’
‘I think we need to be careful how we deal with Eli. He’s a much-loved figure here, especially with the mining staff. They’re already protesting his detainment, even in medical. People are pretty frightened, Dan. We’re sitting on a powder keg, essentially.’
‘Hmmm. . .’ said Halman, lost in his own thoughts again. ‘Anyway, we’ve bigger problems right now, haven’t we? Like how to eat, breathe and stay warm. Not to mention keeping the kinetic defence system going.’
Ella laughed, startling Halman, who gave her a confused look. ‘Sorry,’ she said, sobering. ‘It’s just all so unreal.’
‘Yeah, well it is bloody real, I’m afraid.’
‘Is there any way I or my team can help?’
‘You can try to prevent an outright mutiny, Officer — how about that?’
‘We’ll try, but no promises.’
‘How’re things in the prison?’
Ella shrugged again, as if this was the most minor of concerns. Halman supposed that, at the moment, it almost was. ‘Secure. But they’re pissed, of course. And frightened, like everyone else. This was never supposed to be a death sentence for any of them. But they’re locked down tight, and we intend to keep it that way.’
‘Good. Has the mess been cleared up properly? Nik, I mean.’
‘Yeah, medical dealt with it, under my direct supervision. The body’s on ice, but of course the freezer is now unpowered, so Hobbes’s team will have to examine it pretty quickly. I’d imagine he intends to do just that, but don’t hold out hopes of learning too much from it.’
‘No,’ agreed Halman darkly.
‘Anything else?’
‘Apart from keeping the drones away from the gennie rooms, I don’t think we can do anything else. Now, we wait and hope that maintenance can fix the power. Then we get out there and see if we can find that damn shuttle. And maybe, just maybe, we’ll live long enough for us both to take a day off, sometime in the distant future.’
Ella took a deep breath, sweeping a hand through her crew-cut hair. ‘Sounds like a plan,’ she said, rising from her seat.
‘Take care, Ella,’ he said as she turned to go.
She smiled. ‘You, too, Dan,’ she replied, and then she strode out through the still-open door and away into the crimson-hued twilight of the corridor outside.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
‘Be quiet!’ called Welby into the wall that divided his cell from Prisoner Fuller’s. He didn’t have to shout for his words to take effect — the banging stopped immediately. ‘Do you really think that’s going to make any difference?’
It was almost pitch-dark in the prison, now, the scattered emergency lights casting an even dimmer glow here than elsewhere in the station. They were ranged along the roof of the corridor that ran past the cells, spaced every fifteen metres or so, glowing faintly like dying coals. Little was visible besides the lights themselves, so weak was the illumination they offered. Welby thought they looked like eyes in the darkness.
He relaxed against the wall once more, trying to make himself comfortable on the prison mattress, which was little thicker or more luxurious than a sheet. He didn’t mind his new regime of hardship, really — he had earned it, he knew, by his actions. Neither did he regret those actions. Circumstance had chosen him as a weapon of vengeance. So be it.
Fuller’s voice came wheedling through the wall, much smaller and weaker than the sound of his banging had been: ‘We’re gonna die in here, Welby. I know it.’
Welby inhaled deeply, filling his small chest with the tainted air, letting it go in a contented sigh. ‘Then we die here, in the cradle of the Old Ones. Perhaps by our proximity to one of their worlds, our spirits shall know salvation in the next life. What better place than here, in one of their systems. We all have to die, my friend.’ Attentive silence from next door. ‘Many of us have even served as tools of death ourselves, in our lives before. Death: ha! Easy come, easy go, I say.’ He laced his hands behind his head, and shut his eyes. He felt like a nap. Nearby in the station, somebody was screaming what sounded like frightened orders. The tipping point was close at hand, he knew. He felt it, even from his cell — felt it in the vibrations of the air, in his bones and in his heart. Well, whatever. Let them panic, let them die — him included, if need be. Easy come, easy go.
‘I suppose so. . .’ said Fuller’s voice faintly. There was a pause, during which Welby heard someone crying further up the corridor. ‘I’m just scared, I guess.’