“They slaughtered ninety-five million of us, Ikela, they wrecked our planet, they made us breathe radioactive soot until our lungs bled. Genocide doesn’t even begin to describe what was done to us. You and I and the other survivors were a mistake, an oversight. There’s no life left for us in this universe. We have only one purpose, one duty. Revenge, vengeance, and justice, our three guiding stars. Mother Mary has given us this one blessing, providing us with a second chance. We’re not even attempting to kill the Omutans. I would never use the Alchemist to do that; I’m not going to become as they are, that would be their ultimate victory. All we’re going to do is make them suffer, to give them a glimpse, a pitiful glimmer of the agony they’ve forced us to endure every waking day for thirty years.”
“Stop it,” he shouted. “I’ve made a life for myself here, we all have. This mission, this vendetta, what would it achieve after so much time? Nothing! We would be the tainted ones then. Let the Omutans carry the guilt they deserve. Every person they talk to, every planet they visit, they’ll be cursed to carry the weight of their name with them.”
“As we suffer pity wherever we go.”
“Oh, Mother Mary! Don’t do this.”
“You will help me, Ikela. I am not giving you a choice in this. Right now you’ve allowed yourself to forget. That will end. I will make you remember. You’ve grown old and fat and comfy. I never did, I never allowed myself that luxury. They didn’t allow me. Ironic that, I always felt. They kept my angry spirit alive with their eternal reminder, their agents and their discreet observation. In doing so, they also kept their own nemesis alive.”
His face lifted in bewilderment. “What are you talking about? Have the Omutans been watching you?”
“No, they’re all locked up where they belong. It’s the other intelligence agencies who have discovered who I am and what I built. Don’t ask me how. Somebody must have leaked the information. Somebody weak, Ikela.”
“You mean, they know you’re here?”
“They don’t know exactly where I am. All they know is I escaped from Tranquillity. But now they’ll be looking for me. And don’t try fooling yourself, they’ll track me down eventually. It’s what they’re good at, very good. The only question now is which one will find me first.”
“Mother Mary!”
“Exactly. Of course, if you had prepared the starship for me as you were supposed to, this wouldn’t even be a problem. You stupid, selfish, petty-minded bastard. Do you realize what you’ve done? You have jeopardized everything we ever stood for.”
“You don’t understand.”
“No, I don’t; and I won’t dignify you by trying to. I’m not even going to listen to any more of your pitiful whining. Now tell me, where are the others? Do we even have a partizan group anymore?”
“Yes. Yes, we’re still together. We still help the cause whenever we can.”
“Are all the originals here?”
“Yes, we’re all still alive. But the other four aren’t in Ayacucho.”
“What about other partizans, do you have a local leadership council?”
“Yes.”
“Then call them to a meeting. Today. They will have to be told what’s happening. We need nationalist recruits for a crew.”
“Yes,” he stammered. “Yes, all right.”
“And in the meantime, start looking for a suitable starship. There ought to be one in dock. It’s a shame I let the Samaku go. It would have suited us.”
“But there’s a Confederation-wide quarantine . . .”
“Not where we’re going there isn’t. And you’re a member of the Dorados council, you can arrange for the government to authorize our departure.”
“I can’t do that!”
“Ikela, look at me very closely. I am not playing games with you. You have endangered both my life and the mission you swore to undertake when you took the oath to serve your naval commission. As far as I am concerned, that amounts to treason. Now if an agency grabs me before I can retrieve the Alchemist, I am going to make damn sure they know where the money came from to help you start up T’Opingtu all those years ago. I’m sure you remember exactly what the Confederation law has to say about antimatter, don’t you?”
He bowed his head. “Yes.”
“Good. Now start datavising the partizans.”
“All right.”
Alkad regarded him with a mixture of contempt and worry. That the others would falter had never occurred to her. They were all Garissan navy. Thirty years ago she had secretly suspected that if anyone was destined to be the weak link it would be her.
“I’ve been moving around a lot since I docked,” she said. “But I’ll spend the rest of the afternoon in your apartment. I need to clean up, and that’s the one place I can be sure you won’t tip anyone off about. There’d be too many questions.”
Ikela recouped some of his old forcefulness. “I don’t want you there. My daughter’s living with me.”
“So?”
“I don’t want her involved.”
“The sooner you get my starship prepared, the sooner I’ll be gone.” She hoisted the backpack’s strap over her shoulder and went out into the anteroom.
Lomie glanced up from behind her desk, curiosity haunting her narrow features. Alkad ignored her, and datavised the lift processor for a ride to the lobby. The doors opened, revealing a girl inside. She was in her early twenties, a lot taller than Mzu, with a crown of short dreadlocks at the top of a shaven skull. First impression was that someone had attempted to geneer an elf into existence her torso was so slim, her limbs were disproportionately long. Her face could have been pretty if her personality wasn’t so stern.
“I’m Voi,” she said after the doors shut.
Alkad nodded in acknowledgement, facing the doors and wishing the lift could go faster.
All movement stopped, the floor indicator frozen between four and three.
“And you’re Dr Alkad Mzu.”
“There’s a nervejam projector in this bag, and its control processor is activated.”
“Good. I’m glad you’re not walking around unprotected.”
“Who are you?”
“I’m Ikela’s daughter. Check my public record file, if you like.”
Alkad did, datavising the lift’s net processor for a link to Ayacucho’s civil administration computer. If Voi was some kind of agency plant, they’d made a very good job of ghosting details. Besides, if she was from an agency, the last thing they’d be doing was talking. “Restart the lift, please.”
“Will you talk to me?”
“Restart the lift.”
Voi datavised the lift’s control processor, and they started to descend. “We want to help you.”
“Who’s we?” Alkad asked.
“My friends; there are quite a few of us now. The partizans you belong to have done nothing for years. They are soft and old and afraid of making waves.”