“My name is Setstyin,” the other Dweller said, coming to rest near the centre of the spherical room with the Sage and looking round at the others. “I am a friend of Seer Taak’s here. You are all sufficiently recovered and-or rested, I hope. Because we need to talk.”
They agreed they were capable of talk. Setstyin waved and hammock seats descended from a ring round the ceiling door, which then closed. They settled in.
“Seer Taak,” the ancient Dweller said. “We will need to ensure that all record of the battle just finished is wiped from the memories of that little craft you inhabit.”
“I understand,” Fassin said. He thought about that “(Deniable)’. He called up everything he’d recorded of the battle in the storm’s eye and full-deleted it. He called up a lot of other stored memories and got rid of those too. “It’s done,” he said.
“We will need to check,” Setstyin told him, sounding apologetic.
“Feel free,” Fassin said. “I take it we’re not supposed to say anything about what happened out there. Or about this thing.”
“Say what you like, young sir,” Drunisine told him. “Our concern is with hard evidence.”
“All surviving non-Dweller surveillance systems around Nasqueron have been removed,” Setstyin said, talking to Fassin. “All the transgressing ships which had line-of-sight to the proceedings have already been destroyed. The remains of the Mercatorial fleet are being pursued and dispatched.”
“They are being hunted down like dogs, Seer Taak,” Drunisine said, looking straight at him and using the Anglish word. “Harried, systems jammed, comms disrupted, fates sealed, all so that no direct evidence of this craft or its capabilities, even that garnered second-hand, can escape. I might add that your own summary annihilation was contemplated.”
“I am grateful to have been made an exception,” Fassin said. “Are none of the ships which were above Nasqueron to be allowed to escape?”
“None,” the ancient Dweller said.
“Those who start wars have to accept the consequences,” Y’sul said, rumbling sententiously.
“And after that?” Fassin asked.
“Specify, please.”
“Is this the start of a war with the Mercatoria, at least the part within Ulubis?”
“I don’t imagine so,” Drunisine said, sounding as though this was the first time the thought had occurred. “Not unless they choose to invade us again. Do you think they will, Fassin Taak?”
Fassin had the awful feeling that, given the Dwellers’ irredeemably dismissive approach to intelligence, what he said next might well constitute the single most germane piece of information on the matter that the Dwellers would have to work with and base their decisions on.
“No, I don’t. I think they’ll be sufficiently horrified at the extent of their losses today to think twice about risking any further craft, certainly as long as they have the prospect of invasion to look forward to. If the invasion fails, or the system is finally recaptured, then there might be some attempt to find out what happened and no doubt some people will argue that there should be some form of reprisal. Though, in the shorter term, from what little I’ve heard of the Epiphany 5 Disconnect, there’s a chance they might want to, ah, transgress, too.” He looked at Drunisine and Setstyin, who remained silent. “Though I’m sure you’ll be ready for them.” More silence. “In fact, if the Ulubis Mercatoria work out what’s happened here and realise you don’t regard this as the start of a war, they might even want to suggest that you and they unite to resist the Epiphany 5 Disconnect forces.”
“Why would we wish to do that?” Drunisine asked flatly.
It felt like it had been a long and tiring day. Fassin didn’t really have the energy to start trying to explain. From a creature as old and experienced as Drunisine, the question was probably rhetorical anyway.
“Never mind,” Fassin said. “Act as though nothing’s happened. Signal ’glantine and make some helpful suggestions regarding the re-establishment of a new Seer Shared Facility”
“That’s more or less what we were going to do anyway,” Setstyin said, sounding amused.
Fassin signalled polite mirth in return. He was still struggling to work out what this enormous, fleets-destroyed-in-an-eyeblink craft really meant. Who was responsible for this colossal machine? What sort of previously unknown societal structures and prodigious manufacturing capacity within Dweller civilisation could conjure up something this awesome? Was it a one-off? Was it unique to Nasqueron? Dear grief, was it part of a fleet? Did this mean that all the Dweller claims about secret ships and hyper-weapons were true? Could the Nasqueron Dwellers just swat the E-5 Discon out of the sky if they so desired, saving Ulubis from invasion? Could they feasibly take on the Mercatoria if they could be bothered? Did any of this mean that the Dweller List was now more likely to be genuine rather than some monstrous waste of time or just a joke? How he’d have liked to have had some time alone with Setstyin before this meeting, to find out what had happened since they’d talked last. He’d have to ask some of these questions anyway, given half a chance.
“We come, then,” Drunisine said, “to the question of why the Ulubis Mercatoria Disconnect thought it might be a wise or profitable idea to enter Nasqueron in such a manner and in such numbers in the first place. Any ideas? Anybody?” The ancient Dweller looked round at all of them.
“I think it might have something to do with me,” Fassin admitted.
“You, Seer Taak?” Drunisine asked.
“I’ve been here attempting to track down some information.”
“And you needed the help of a small war fleet to extract it?”
“No. However, they might have thought I was in danger.”
“From whom?”
“I don’t know.”
“So, we are talking about information that the Mercatoria might consider momentous enough to start a war for? When they are already facing an invasion in the next few months or years? This must be information of some importance. Perhaps we can help. What is it?”
“Thank you. However, I think I may finally be close to finding it.”
“Ah,” Valseir said. “About that.”
“What?” Fassin asked him.
“All that stuff about the folder and the safekeep box and taking it personally to Chimilinith of Deilte?”
“Yes?”
“Not entirely true.”
“Not entirely?”
“Not entirely.”
“So how much of it was true?”
Valseir rocked back a fraction, seemingly thinking. Patterns of surprise crossed his signal skin. “Actually, most of it,” he said.
“And the part that wasn’t?” Fassin asked patiently.
“There was no folder in the safekeep box.”
“So Chimilinith hasn’t got the information.”
“Correct.”
“I see.”
“I am still waiting for enlightenment regarding the exact nature of this exemplary, if shy, information,” Drunisine said frostily, looking at Valseir.
Oh shit, Fassin thought, if Valseir tells them what it is, and it really exists, they might just kill us all.
Possibly the same thought had occurred to Valseir. “It allegedly involves a method for travelling faster than light,” he told the ancient commander.
Setstyin’s carapace flashed hilarity, quickly damped. Drunisine looked about as thoroughly unimpressed as it was possible for an elderly Dweller to look. “What?” he said.
“An ancient addition to a still more ancient book — which Seer Taak here traded over two hundred years ago during a ‘delve’, as the Quick call these things — makes mention of a method of achieving FTL travel without recourse to Adjutage and Cannula,” Valseir said, using what Fassin recognised as the Dweller terms for portals and wormholes. Fassin thought — and sincerely hoped — that Valseir had put just the right amount of apology and wry amusement into his voice. “Seer Taak has been sent here to try to find the details of this, ah, unlikely technology.”