‘Perhaps she was able to influence them, to erase her own image from the recordings.’
‘She’d still have needed somewhere to hide. Sooner or later she’d have run into people, otherwise.’
‘Gaffney speculates that you provided her with sanctuary. That you may still be providing her with sanctuary.’
‘You know, I’m hearing the name “Gaffney” a lot here. Don’t you think there might be something in that?’
Baudry set her mouth disapprovingly. ‘Gaffney’s position naturally brings him to the fore in any matter of internal security. And you have no evidence that he has committed any wrongdoing.’
‘Would you give a damn if I did?’
‘I know we’ve had our differences, Tom, and I know you didn’t like what we had to do to Jane. I respect that, truly I do. But I assure you that our actions were taken in the best interests of Panoply. And I’ll be the first in line to swear allegiance to Jane when she’s reinstated to full operational authority, as I believe she will be.’ She studied him with quizzical eyes. ‘You don’t believe me. You believe Jane’s removal was motivated by self-interest. Or something else.’
‘I think Crissel was just too cowardly to stand up to the two of you.’
‘And me?’
‘You can’t tell me self-interest didn’t come into it.’
For the first time he saw the hard gold glint of real anger flash in her eyes. ‘See it from my position, Tom. I respect Jane. Always have. I was behind her every inch of the way when the Clockmaker made life difficult for us. But she should never have been allowed to stay in power all this time. There’s no way that thing hasn’t damaged her, mentally or physically.’
‘Some might say it’s made her the best supreme prefect we could ever have asked for.’
‘But the point is, Tom, we’ve never had any way of knowing for sure. Crissel and I… and Gaffney, yes, I’ll admit it — we’ve given this organisation our best years, and all we’ve got to show for it is white hairs and wrinkles, while we wait in Jane’s shadow. None of us is going to live for ever!’
‘Nor will Jane. You could always wait your damned turn.’
Baudry exhaled. Something in her had relented. ‘So I wanted her out of the way. But that doesn’t mean it was right for her to stay in command. It doesn’t mean we still didn’t do the right thing by Panoply.’
‘Do you believe that, in your heart of hearts? Look at me when you answer.’
‘Yes,’ she said, looking him straight in the eye after a long moment.
He nodded, giving nothing away. Let her stew, let her wonder whether he believed her or not. ‘You still have to stop Gaffney. He’s out of control.’
‘Do you want to tell me about the name you mentioned earlier? Aurora, wasn’t it?’
‘I think we’re dealing with Aurora Nerval-Lermontov, who was one of the Eighty.’
‘She died, Tom. They all died.’
‘I don’t think she did. She’s out there somewhere, and she’s been biding her time for fifty-five years.’
‘Just hiding?’
‘Until something forced her hand. She learned something from Clepsydra, something that scared her badly. Everything that’s happened is Aurora’s response to a perceived threat. I think she’s taking control because she doesn’t trust us to do the job.’
‘Clepsydra was her accomplice?’
‘Not exactly. Aurora was using the Conjoiners, squeezing them for intelligence.’
‘And now the only one of them left’s gone missing.’
‘I didn’t let her out of that room,’ Dreyfus said. ‘I’ve made some questionable decisions in my career, but that wasn’t one of them.’
‘Then who did?’
‘You know who.’
‘He wouldn’t betray us, Tom. He’s a good man, Panoply to the core. He’s given his soul to this organisation. There’s nothing he cares about more than the security of the Glitter Band.’
‘Maybe he believes that. But whatever he thinks, he’s working for Aurora. Trajanova knew that whoever sabotaged the Turbines and corrupted my beta-level had to have high-level security access. She was only one step away from fingering Gaffney herself. That’s why she had to go.’
Baudry shook her head once, as if she was trying to clear out a bad thought buzzing around between her ears. ‘I don’t believe Gaffney would act against us. More pertinently, why would he ever want Clepsydra outside of that room?’
‘Because she knows things he doesn’t want us to find out.’ Dreyfus craned forward on the bunk. ‘Baudry, listen to me. I think Gaffney wants her dead. I think he’s going to find her and kill her, if he hasn’t done so already. You have to get to her first.’
‘We don’t know where she is.’
‘So start looking. Gaffney controls internal security, but you control Panoply. There are still hundreds of prefects he doesn’t have an armlock on.’
‘Sandra Voi, Tom. Are you seriously proposing all-out war inside Panoply?’
‘It doesn’t have to be war. Move now and you can stamp down on Gaffney, erase his authority. Security owe him loyalty, but they’re loyal to you as well.’
For a moment he had the impression that she was at least considering the idea, giving it house room. Then her face froze, and she offered him only blank denial.
‘I can’t do that.’
‘At the very least, get to Clepsydra before he does.’
‘That may not be easy, especially if she doesn’t want to be found.’ Baudry’s bracelet chose that moment to chime, emitting a shrill tone that had no place in the cloistered greyness of the cell. She glanced down, irritated, then lifted the display closer to her face. Dreyfus saw her eyelids grow heavy.
‘What is it?’
‘The Universal Suffrage.’ Her voice sounded ghostly, distant. ‘We’ve lost contact with them, during their final approach phase to House Aubusson. Just when the habitat’s defences would have fallen within range of their own weapons.’
Dreyfus nodded. He knew that the plan had been to pick off the anti-collision systems with the cruiser’s long-range ordnance. ‘All comms, or just tactical telemetry?’
‘Everything. There’s no signal.’ She paused, as if she dared not state what was so obviously the case. ‘I think we’ve lost them. I think they’re all dead. Crissel, all those young prefects.’ Then she looked at Dreyfus with a kind of slow-burning dread. ‘What should we do next?’
‘Confirm that the ship’s really lost,’ Dreyfus said. ‘Then start pulling in every asset we have elsewhere in the system, no matter what duty it’s on. Every cutter, every corvette, every deep-system cruiser.’
‘We can’t ignore the state of crisis between the Ultras and the Glitter Band.’
‘You can,’ Dreyfus said, ‘because it doesn’t matter any more. That wasn’t ever a crisis. A distraction, maybe, to take our eyes off the real business. Worked, too, didn’t it? What fools we were.’
‘We were only ever doing our best,’ Baudry said sadly.
‘It wasn’t good enough. Now we have to up our game. The real crisis starts here.’
‘I’m frightened, Tom. They took out a fully armed deep-system cruiser. That isn’t supposed to happen.’
‘I’m frightened, too,’ Dreyfus said, ‘but we’re not finished yet. Find Clepsydra. And make sure you go back to the polls. You can lay it on the line this time. We need those guns. And right now I don’t care who gets upset about it.’
Gaffney stared at the surreal spectacle with what he trusted was the appropriate combination of shock and disgust. He stood with his booted feet slightly apart, his back straight, his hands behind his back. His own reaction might be synthetic, but there was no doubting the authenticity of the expressions on the faces of the other internal prefects assembled in Dreyfus’s private quarters. Nor was there any doubt concerning the feelings of Senior Prefect Lillian Baudry.