“They won’t say no. And the reason they won’t is because you’ll tell Mister Josephs that you have information that is crucial to him. Information about myself.”
“And why should that interest him?”
“Because, Mister Li, I’m behind all of this. I sent the market into free fall. I had President Newell assassinated. I pushed the world to the very brink of war.” Yes, Li Yuan thought, staring back at him and knowing in that instant that the man, though psychotic, was telling the truth; you may have done all that, but if I’m right, our friend Josephs stopped you somehow. And now you want to get to him.
And he could prevent that But could he just sit by and watch the bastard cut her throat?
Li Yuan looked down. “Okay,” he said. “Just tell me what I have to say.”
The wheel of fire burned in the air above Kalevala; a massive, turning hoop that lit the cratered surface of the ancient moon. Close by the two craft squatted like strange insects as the six besuited figures approached them. Watching from the window of his father’s study, Sampsa shivered, wondering if he would ever see those six again.
They’ll be okay, Tom said inside his head; but Sampsa could sense Tom’s own uncertainty behind the words.
It seems harder to stand and watch than go oneself, he answered silently, speaking to Tom across the distance between Kalevala and their rooms in Fermi. You think we should have gone, then?
Sampsa nodded. He turned briefly, staring across at the two figures in the room behind him, stretched out in their coffins. He had always thought his fattier would outlive him. Why? Because Kim had seemed so invulnerable But time and circumstance had caught him like the rest of them, and now he lay there, those distinctive atoms that had made him what he was, slowly returning to the universal mix.
He felt Tom’s unworded sympathy and smiled.
Turning back, he saw that they had arrived beside the craft and were climbing into the seats. The two machines had the look of fairground rides that have been dismantled and abandoned. They looked quite incapable of the task they would be asked to accomplish. But if his father had designed them, then they would work.
That’s what I’ll miss the most, he said to Tom; the magic of it.
Kim would have frowned to hear you call it that.
Yes, but what else was it?It dtdn ‘t ever seem like normal science.
And yet it worked.
Yes, Sampsa said, and sighed aloud. Out on the surface, the six were now strapped in. There was a moment’s inactivity, and then the generators at the centre of each craft began to glow, as if a luminous electric snake was endlessly climbing a pulsing silver pole.
Slowly the two craft lifted, then turned towards the massive, burning wheel. “Good luck!” he called quietly, hearing the echo of the words inside his head as Tom, too, said them.
Good luck ...
The explosion lit the late evening sky over Beijing. Flying back in from Tientsin, DeVore looked up, then shielded his eyes. “Howard! Get up here quickly!”
As the light faded, DeVore stepped into the cabin. “What is it?”
‘The starship. If s blown up!”
Taking a seat beside his twin, he started to tap out the code that would connect them to the starship’s bridge. There was a green glow on the panel.
“No, look ... if s still there”
“Then what?”
A face appeared on the screen above them. “Howard... oh, and Howard, too. How good to see you both!”
“Ascher!” DeVore said, snarling.
“Who?” his twin asked, glancing at him.
But DeVore’s attention was fixed on the screen. Emily smiled. “You let me go once before, Howard. I thought you would have learned from that mistake. Never take prisoners, you told me once. Never. Well, you should have killed me while you could.”
“I’ll kill you yet.”
“You can try, arsehole.”
‘Til...”
The screen went dead.
DeVore sat back, then slammed his fists down on the console. “Shit! Fucking shit!”
“Problems?” his twin asked, a faint amusement on his lips.
“No,” DeVore said distractedly. “No ...”
“No? Then what was that explosion?”
DeVore blinked. “The no-space ship ...”
“So there’s no way back now, eh?”
DeVore slowly shook his head.
“Ah well...” the other said, reaching out to pat his arm. “We’ll just have to make do with fucking things up here!”
Emily sat back, chuckling to herself. “Did you see his face? Did you see it!”
Han Ch’in was grinning. “Looked like he’d eaten a whole orchard full of lemons!” “Maybe,” Kuei Jen said, sounding a cautionary note, “but we’re still limited as to our options. And if he gets hold of a ground-to-air missile, we’re done for.” “Then maybe we ought to move out of range,” Emily said, sobered by that thought “Can we manoeuvre this thing?”
“Absolutely. Only how far away is safe? And if we do get back out of range, how is that going to help whaf s going on down there? No, Emily, we need to get back into the game somehow. We need some way of getting down there” “Could we land this thing?”
Kuei Jen shook her head. “Not a chance. It isn’t designed for it By destroying all but one of the shuttles, DeVore made sure only he could come and go.” “So we sit here?” Han Ch’in asked, disgruntled.
“Looks like it” his half-brother answered.
“Hmmm.”
“What are you thinking?” Emily asked, seeing the frown of concentration on his face.
“Just that there have to be other craft that we could use as a shuttle.”
“Maybe. But they’re all earthside.”
“Then maybe we could coax one of them up here. To help us out.”
“How? We don’t know anyone down there.”
“Don’t we? I thought Emily said just then that there are other versions of us down there.”
“I said there might be.”
“Well... why don’t we appeal to some of them? Tap in to their media channels and see what happens. They certainly seemed interested enough in our appearance.” Emily looked to Kuei Jen, who shrugged.
“If s worth a try.”
“Then lefs do it,” Emily said. “Anything’s better than sitting on our hands up here!”
Kuei Jen grinned, then sat forward, meaning to make the connections, when the whole of the sky in front of the craft seemed to light up. A great hoop of burning light was rotating in the darkness between them and the planet below.
“Kuan Ym\’
At the centre of that fiery circle was a darkness that blotted out that part of the planet that was directly behind it. A darkness filled with stars. For a brief moment that was all, and then, with a swiftness that made them gasp, two craft came through, looking all the world like massive flying thrones. “What in the gods names are those?” Han Ch’in asked. But Kuei Jen simply laughed.
“If s the bloody US cavalry, thaf s what it is!”
DeVore stopped before the glass doors that marked the division between the company’s outer offices and the inner sanctum and raised his gun, pointing it at the woman who stood behind them. “Emily?... I thought it was you.”
THE MARRIAGE OF THE LIVING DARK
Emily Ascher narrowed her eyes, staring at the man who was holding the gun on her and gave the barest shake of her head.
“Who are you?”
DeVore grinned. “Me? I’m your worst nightmare. That is, if you don’t open those fucking doors right now.”
“And if I do?”
“Then you get to live.”
Her smile had steel in it. “Why don’t you just shoot your way through?” “And have the police crawling all over the place? No. Besides, if s not you I want, if s your boss.”
“Mister Josephs?”
DeVore gave a nod of acknowledgment. “He of the many-coloured coats.” He raised his chin a little. “Why does he do that?”