‘If you’ve seen the papers you’ve seen how it is,’ Rollo confirmed. ‘We’re good for it.’
Solace looked between them, wondering how many of these deals ended in fraud and acrimony. Rollo and Luciel seemed to be happy with just a word and a handshake.
‘This is delicate and needs swift action. We’re after the Oumaru out of Rrrt’k.’ She attacked the alien name gamely. ‘Mechanical failure, probably. It’s not shipping anything particularly valuable, just Hegemonic set dressing for people keen to show our new chiefs just how on-side we are; tat, basically, not worth stealing.’
‘But worth blowing up for a political point,’ Solace suggested.
Luciel’s faceted gaze shifted to catch a glimpse of Solace, probably wondering if the Vulture really had a Partheni on board and why. ‘I hope not,’ she replied. ‘But if you find anything . . . controversial, come back out-system, I’ll have a Coffin on hand to bring both the Oumaru and your ship in covertly. We don’t want to offend the Hegemony or help the Nativists score points, right?’
‘I see you,’ Rollo confirmed. ‘We’re good for it.’
Luciel Leng seemed as reassured as she was going to be, relaxing back into her seat and nodding at Solace. ‘She real?’
‘So I’m told,’ Rollo told her.
‘I didn’t think they were for hire?’
‘The universe is wonderful and full of never-ending variety.’ The captain nodded to Leng. ‘My factor confirms the money and escrow arrangements. Let’s go get your missing ship.’ He closed the channel and declared, ‘Suspension pods, my childer! And everyone run your own checks too this time. Bad dreams to the minimum, see right?’
‘New girl, you okay? Need help with your pod?’ the engineer, Barnier, grunted at her. She gave his mismatched features a tight smile.
‘I’m good.’ She’d checked it over already and fixed a couple of minor glitches with the help of a built-in troubleshooter the crew hadn’t ever accessed. The suspension pod and the ship were of very different vintages, and the pod was decidedly older.
One by one the crew shuffled off to their pods, leaving Idris at the pilot’s station with Solace behind him.
He half glanced around, then looked back to his controls. ‘Better get yourself under. We’re going into unspace the moment we’re clear of traffic.’
‘Into the deep void.’
‘The abyss that gazes also,’ he agreed. ‘You’ve done that before, have you – stayed awake on a Throughway journey?’
‘Part of the training,’ she agreed. ‘Didn’t like it.’
‘Deep void’s worse,’ he said, with some relish.
‘I’ll bed down when we’re in. I wanted to say . . .’ She saw him tense, and of course she’d wanted to repeat the Parthenon’s offer. But she was a soldier, not a diplomat, and a few months’ teachings didn’t change that. So she said instead, ‘I didn’t forget what happened, after Berlenhof.’
‘Me neither.’ His voice was very small. She wanted to put a hand on his shoulder, but he was slumped in the seat, hunched in on himself. He seemed as though he’d break if she touched him. ‘I guess they train you not to feel things, the scars left behind. In the Parthenon. Rock-hard warrior angels, all that.’ He sounded wistful.
‘They train us to talk about it. They train us to heal, and not to deny we’re in pain. Rock-hard is brittle.’
‘You going to be doing that around here?’
‘Among Colonials? No.’ The thought made her feel ill. ‘You people never admit when you’re hurting. Sign of weakness in your culture. Or that’s what I was taught.’
He made a nondescript noise. ‘It must be nice, to talk.’ Voice no more than a whisper.
And then he was gone, the pilot’s seat apparently empty, the ship resoundingly vacant around her. She knew they’d entered unspace and she was the only person left on board, perhaps in the universe. The only person here, but not the only thing – and that way madness lay. It was the same for everyone on board too. Or would have been, if they’d been foolish enough to stay awake. Hurriedly she skipped over to her pod and climbed in, setting it to put her on ice the moment the clamshell lid closed.
Idris
Then Solace was gone, and Idris felt the familiar infinite echo of unspace. He glanced back, looking for even a fading ghost of her. Already, the control compartment was devoid of all life. Just him and the void now. More than once Idris had wondered if the secret of his own longevity could be found in these shadowy spaces; certainly nobody else had an explanation.