“Here’s the numbers, Master Warden,” she said, and leant out with a sheaf of paper. “I haven’t been able to double-check them—I did an initial calculation, but of course, the basic mathematics can’t be relied upon. I will say that my computation has come along wonderfully in the past couple of months. We were having quite a fun time in my corner doing quadratics out loud until the Chair threatened to toss us out of the truck. How are they?”
Palamedes squatted down to check the papers with Camilla. Cam said, “If we could get inside the dome, this wouldn’t matter.”
“I can’t navigate like that, Cam. I’m not sure anyone can. I never knew where I was, spatially, and exiting and entering must be hell—we’re going to have to do this on the fly. Gideon’s ponied up some of the inside layout. Our best bet sounds like their landing platform—if we get anywhere even slightly near it…”
Pyrrha cleared her throat. “Commander, casualties?”
We Suffer sighed. “Out of the frying pan,” she said, “into another frying pan—falling out of that frying pan—into the underworld, where there is a huge frying pan where the devils dance, and say, ‘Fuck to you.’”
“You always had a way with words,” said Pyrrha. “Are they everywhere, or localised?”
“Ctesiphon is at the mouth of the tunnel and further inside. I cannot get good reports. We are doing fine—but we will run out of bullets in a few hours. They are having a veritable orgy out there, and we cannot use explosives unless we want to collapse the tunnel. And I do not want to collapse the tunnel, because there is no getting out.”
“Roger that,” said Pyrrha.
The archivist said, “That’s a new voice,” and Palamedes said cheerfully, “Archivist, this is Pyrrha Dve, whom Cam and I credit with keeping us alive … please be very nice to her. The Sixth House owes Pyrrha Dve everything barring tenure. All right,” he said, and tapped a knuckle on the sheaf of papers. “That’s all we’re going to get. Commander, I’m about to ask that we put the Sixth House back on this truck—we don’t need to be too worried about living space, this is temporary. If you want to pack anything on here yourself, tell me now.”
The commander stepped forward into the light. The archivist, plait twitching, stepped with her.
“Palamedes Sextus,” she said, “how do you hope to get out of here?”
“We’re heading through the River,” said Palamedes. “I plan on getting everyone to the Nine Houses, and—once we complete the mission—heading back to the Sixth House. Which, so you know, is parked on an exoplanet just outside the star system.”
Pyrrha demanded—
“Are you a fantasist, boy, or only out of your mind? Your cav’s the one with no blood left, so there’s no excuse for you.”
“I believe it will work,” said Palamedes.
“I know it won’t. You can’t travel the River. You’ve never been trained, for one thing.”
“That is the tricky part,” admitted Palamedes. “But Pyrrha, I’ve spent time in the River … I’ve studied it, albeit in a strange and partial way. I think I can accurately navigate.”
“I don’t care how much you learnt in that bubble. You’re not a Lyctor,” said Pyrrha. “You can’t keep the ghosts off. They’ll strip you to the bone.”
“Not this time,” said Palamedes—very lightly.
Nona felt Pyrrha’s arms suddenly lose their normal untrembling strength and let her slip down a couple of centimetres until she said urgently, “Pyrrha, you’re dropping me,” and Pyrrha gathered her back up.
We Suffer said, “I need you to tell me you can do this with a certainty.”
“I can give you ninety percent,” said Palamedes.
“Prove it.”
Palamedes passed the sheaf of papers back to We Suffer. He said, “Mum, can you get Kiana? She should be here … and Cam’s dads—”
“No. Just Kiki,” said Camilla. “Just my sister. They won’t … They might not understand, Warden.”
The archivist was saying, in quite a jaunty and familiar way, “Ah, family matters—would you give me your arm, Commander?—Are you a family woman yourself?—Oh, and when was the divorce…”
Palamedes wheeled Camilla into the dark, back toward the truck that Nona had woken up inside. Pyrrha looked after them, her face and eyes wild; she followed without being asked to, and Nona clasped her arms around Pyrrha’s shoulders. She did not understand.