‘So?’ I asked. ‘They could’ve taken him out by submarine, slow but stealthy.’
‘Or used the Mag Levs,’ Mudge suggested.
‘And there were people there waiting for us,’ Buck added.
‘That doesn’t mean anything either,’ Mudge said.
‘Maybe so, but I overheard one of them mention the facility. Way he said it made me think that it was in the Spoke,’ Buck said.
‘That’s pretty thin,’ Mudge said. Buck shrugged.
‘I’ll see if we can corroborate any of this,’ Pagan said.
‘It is pretty thin. Thing is. Bran overheard this guy. I saw her look between him and me,’ Buck said. Silence followed.
‘So?’ Morag said finally.
‘She was going to kill him,’ I said. Buck nodded.
‘That’s when we decided to haul ass,’ Gibby said.
‘That was when you deserted?’ I asked. The pair nodded. We all lapsed into silence for a bit, just thinking, or at least I assumed everyone else was. Gibby went to the cool box in the boot of his car and got everyone another beer.
‘So what do we do with this?’ Mudge asked finally. The sky was beginning to darken and we were being treated to an incredible light show of purples and reds in the pollution. Some of the cyberbillys were heading back to Crawling Town. The rest seemed to be intent on partying in the ruins of Trenton. Campfires started to appear as the vehicles were parked so they could be better watched. I looked over at where I’d seen the tribeswoman, but of course she’d gone and my tolerance for cyberbilly music had been reached and breached some time ago. Didn’t these people have any pre-FHC jazz?
‘If I were you, I’d mourn your friend and let it go,’ Buck said. ‘There’s no good result I can think of for what happened to him.’
I was beginning to think he was right.
‘Maybe not,’ Morag said. I looked up at her. She had a thoughtful expression on her face but I found myself wishing that her hair would grow back faster. That said, even with her hair that short she was very attractive. And very young, the muted voice of my conscience managed to remind me.
‘Morag, I don’t mean to be rude but what could you possibly know about this?’ I asked.
‘Intuition?’ she suggested hopefully. There was a snort of derision from Mudge.
‘You’ve been talking to it again?’ Pagan asked disapprovingly.
‘Talking to what?’ Gibby asked suspiciously.
‘Maybe we should discuss this later,’ I suggested.
Mudge pointed at Morag. ‘She’s got an alien in a box, and he,’ Mudge pointed at Pagan, ‘wants to use it to make God.’ Pagan came off the ground, his face livid with anger.
‘What the fuck are you trying to do?’ he demanded. I felt pretty pissed off myself.
‘It’s a fucking stupid idea, a fantasy. Who gives a fuck? Nobody’s going to believe us, and even if they do they’re just going to assume that we’re mad.’
‘Mudge, you’ve made your point. Just keep your mouth shut, okay?’ I told him.
‘Yes, sir,’ he snapped.
‘We should listen to the girl,’ Rannu said.
‘Are you boys like a cult or something?’ Gibby asked, he was sounding even more confused.
‘You’re only a couple of consonants out there, as in shower of,’ Mudge said.
‘Are you finished?’ Morag asked. Mudge nodded. ‘Look, I don’t know anything for sure. When we try to communicate it doesn’t always make sense,’ she said.
‘What doesn’t?’ Gibby asked, completely bewildered.
‘Assuming it’s not trying to influence you,’ Pagan said.
‘What do you mean you’re all trying to make God?’ Buck asked.
‘You must try to seek understanding from what it says. It chose you for a reason,’ Rannu said.
‘It got delivered to the same whorehouse – whoreboat!’ I shouted as I found myself unable to put up with this pseudo-mystical bullshit.
‘The girl’s a whore?’ Buck asked, his face lighting up as he finally found something he could understand. Both Morag and I glared at Buck.
‘Shut up,’ I told Buck.
‘I think it was trying to communicate,’ Morag said.
‘Are you boys a cult that worships a whore?’ Buck asked with a look of dawning enlightenment on his face.
‘What?’ I asked him, unable to follow his reasoning. No, we’re not a fucking cult.’
‘And stop calling me a whore,’ Morag added. ‘Or, or, or I’ll do something violent.’
‘Well now I’m scared,’ Buck said, grinning. ‘How much, darlin’?’
‘I’ll do something violent,’ I said. Rannu also sat forward, ready to move.
Morag turned on me. I can look after myself!’ I was somewhat taken aback by this; I was after all just trying to help.
‘What makes you think it was trying to communicate?’ Pagan asked, ming to steer the conversation back to something productive.
‘Ambassador said that what we call the Ninjas were an earlier form of what he was. They were designed to try and communicate with us.’
‘Who’s the Ambassador?’ Gibby asked.
‘The alien,’ Mudge answered.
‘Then why kill Ash and Shaz and have a good try at taking Mudge and me out?’ I asked. I remembered it holding Shaz’s head in its hand, studying it.
Morag shrugged. ‘I don’t know.’
‘You all got an alien?’ Gibby asked. I nodded, not even thinking about it.
‘An alien whore?’ Buck asked. Mudge started laughing.
‘What?’ I turned to the redneck. He looked confused.
Buck pointed at Morag. ‘Did she fuck the alien?’
Mudge grinned and turned around to look at Morag. ‘What an interesting question,’ he said, ignoring my glare.
‘No!’ Morag shouted. ‘I didn’t fuck the alien, okay!’ Some of the cyberbillys at a nearby campfire looked in our direction.
‘All right, keep it down,’ I hissed, and then pointed at Buck and Gibby. ‘You two shut up and Mudge, stop winding Morag up.’
‘It makes sense,’ Pagan said.
‘What does?’ I asked incredulously.
‘If all you know is violence how would you try and communicate?’ he asked. My mind reached for this concept. It was a bit more complex than my usual relationship with Them. Fortunately it seemed to catch Mudge’s attention.
‘But why kill everyone else?’ he asked.
‘To find someone worthy,’ Pagan said. I could see Rannu nodding.
‘Why try and communicate?’ I asked.
‘Because they want peace,’ Morag said.
‘The alien whores want peace?’ Buck asked.
‘You high?’ I asked.
‘Normally.’ Gibby answered for him.
‘So are you. Give him a break,’ Mudge said. He’d wanted to kill them a couple of hours ago.
‘Or they’ve gotten smart,’ I said to Morag, trying to ignore Mudge again.
‘It would be a strange attack. With what I saw Ambassador do in the net it could’ve made a real mess if it chose to,’ Pagan said, and I had to agree with him.
‘Only if it properly understood the concept. They’re alien; maybe they just don’t understand the net and its importance,’ Mudge pointed out.
‘Assuming you’re right,’ I said to Pagan and Morag, ‘what does that make Gregor?’
Pagan shrugged. ‘At a guess, a hybrid trying to find a way to facilitate communication.’
‘Hands across the stars, beautiful really,’ Mudge said.
‘That’s some guess,’ I said.
I received an encrypted comms burst from Pagan; ‘It is and isn’t. I believe that MacDonald was a physical version of what is happening to Morag. In effect Morag is a beta and cerebral version of MacDonald.’ I stared at him.
Morag saw me staring and turned on Pagan. ‘You think I’m a hybrid?’ she demanded. Pagan looked shocked and then appalled.