Havaer could see that the Vulture God’s crew had also been caught on the hop. They were goggling at their navigator, and the lawyer, Almier, was whispering something. Surely something like, No, seriously, what?
‘Menheer Telemmier.’ Monitor Superior Tact recovered first. ‘Perhaps you would like to elaborate?’
‘They’re back. They were there, in unspace.’ Idris waved his hands, clutching at something that Colvul had no good words for. ‘I felt them.’
‘It’s understandable that Architects were on your mind, given what you found,’ said Borodin sympathetically. ‘You survived the war, we understand that. But we have Delegate Trine’s report on the Oumaru, and our own technicians concur with their interpretation of the data. It was a deftly managed hoax.’
‘It’s true, Idris,’ Olian Timo added. She looked disgruntled about having to agree with Borodin, or perhaps with anyone. ‘That son of a bitch said he’d done it. All for the greater good or some bollocks, you know how they talk.’
Idris was holding hard to the arms of his chair, shaking. That’s some powerful PTSD, Mundy thought. God, someone should just get him out of here.
‘You. Don’t. Understand,’ he said. Each word forced out between clenched teeth. ‘In unspace, when I was dodging the Broken Harvest, I had to go so deep, to escape. I could feel their pilot’s mind hunting me. Like a beast.’ He shuddered. ‘And . . . I’d gone so far to get away, cut off from every Throughway.’ He swallowed, hard. ‘And they were there, moving in the deep, coming back. Like a wave across the universe.’
‘Menheer Telemmier, perhaps you should collect your thoughts in . . . appropriate quarters,’ Tact said. Not ‘in the infirmary’， which Mundy reckoned was what got cut off. Why make the poor bastard sound any more mad than he already is?
‘Our requirements regarding our citizens have not changed,’ Borodin said flatly. ‘Monitor, we know how convenient it would be, if some fiction of the Architects’ return spread across the Colonies. Convenient for the Hegemonic cult, yes, but also for the Parthenon.’
‘Are you accusing us of having any hand in this hoax?’
‘No, emphatically no,’ Borodin said, dismissing her suggestion. ‘However, I know full well that I’d be making what hay I could out of it, if it helped me. A wave of panic about the Architects would give you a great deal of leverage at the table. The warrior angels here to protect us all, isn’t that right? We’ll debrief Telemmier back on Berlenhof and share the results with you.’
‘Appropriately redacted, of course,’ Tact noted.
‘Of course.’
Havaer watched the Vulture God crew arguing inaudibly, because they’d turned their mic off again. Seeing the utter certainty on the Int’s face, he felt a worm of worry inside him. Obviously Lucef Borodin was walking the appropriate party line, but . . .
Tact had leant back to listen to the officer behind her and now she nodded sharply. ‘Your solution is unacceptable,’ she told Borodin. ‘The stakes have just become too high to simply let this crew vanish into Hugh custody.’
‘With all respect to Menheer Telemmier,’ Borodin said patiently, ‘The stakes have not changed at all—’
‘Listen to me,’ the Intermediary burst in again, now twice as loud because their tech was having fun with the sound system. ‘Both of you . . . Why are you still having this conversation?’
‘Menheer Telemmier, please,’ Borodin said, exasperated. ‘I am a representative of your government attempting to free you from the hands of a hos– of a foreign power. Will you just—’
‘What if we don’t want to go?’ Almier put in.
Havaer Mundy was close enough to see Borodin tense in anger, and marvelled at how little of it made its way into his voice. ‘Mesdam Almier, the legal implications of such a . . . defection are rather complex. You and your fellows were involved in a series of criminal actions aboard Lung-Crow station, followed by an act of piracy over Tarekuma. You are now in possession of sensitive information and resources at a time of diplomatic crisis. And you are suggesting you might join a military rival—’
‘Lung-Crow was under Hegemonic jurisdiction at all relevant times,’ Almier continued. ‘Good luck bringing the Broken Harvest to the dock to give evidence on how we got our ship back from them. And I will fight you in any court you care to name about our right to freedom of association and movement, Menheer Borodin. But we are not defecting to the Parthenon. Nor are we meekly going to accompany you, either. Mostly because Idris thinks you’ll give him to the Liaison Board and he really doesn’t want to have anything to do with “those butchers”。’