‘But you told me that the Totality were a contagion, that their power had to be limited.’
‘I was lying to you, Jack,’ sighed Grey. ‘Doing what I do. Managing the situation.’
‘Manipulating the situation. Manipulating me.’
‘You can call it that, if you want to.’
‘Like when you reprogrammed me,’ said Fist.
‘Reprogrammed?’ said Grey, suddenly thoughtful. ‘That’s a good word. Maybe that is what I was doing. If you control the information that someone gets, you control them. Sharing the right data in the right way – I suppose it is a way of reprogramming people. I am sorry.’
‘What’s your game, Grey? What’s in it for you?’
Grey smiled sadly. ‘Nothing. What I am now comes from these few children. And they’re not old enough to have become effective dissemblers. You’ll find that I’m in a more evasive mood when I am out of this small room; when I can draw on my deeper resources.’
‘But for now?’ said Jack.
‘But for now, I am as simple and open as they are.’
[ Fist?]
[ He’s telling the truth,] answered Fist. [ He’s just coming from them. There’s nothing else there. His signal’s much less complex than usual.]
[ I can trust him?]
[ Broadly, yes, Jackie boy. Take advantage! Squeeze him for all he’s got!]
‘You’ve been working with East,’ said Jack. ‘What brought you together?’
‘I had such ambitions. I thought that if I worked with her, I’d be able to influence Station away from the war and bring us closer to the Totality. The Pantheon are too controlling, Jack, I’d begun to see that. We need to be more open – like the Totality are. Of course, that conflicted with Kingdom’s interests. He had a lot to lose. And he’s lost almost all of it.’
‘What did you tell me that wasn’t a lie?’ said Jack.
‘Lie? That’s a terrible word. I told you what you needed to know to ensure that you took the path that would be best for you.’
‘Not for me, for you.’
‘And I’ve done so well out of it.’ Grey waved his hand round the cramped little room.
‘You’ve been keeping yourself safe,’ said Jack. ‘At the cost of all of these children. Of their parents.’
‘I didn’t realise how ruthless Kingdom would be. We struggled for years. At last he found a weakness and used it. Made everyone believe that my activist groups were fronts for terrorists; killed them, blocked their fetches, shut me down, froze my board. It was a shocking experience. So fast. I barely had enough time to get the Greyware running in the kids, hide them in safe rooms. When my board was shut down I shifted over into them. I’ve been running in them ever since.’
‘So who were the real terrorists?’
‘I could never find any traces of them. All the bombs, the attacks on Station; they just happened. They mystified me as much as anyone. I had so many people out there, trying to understand what was going on. Nothing. The children think of themselves as ghosts, but the people who bombed Station were the real phantoms.’
‘They helped Kingdom, though, didn’t they?’
‘Oh yes. They justified the war, kept people from thinking too much about why we might really be fighting. All those empty shrines they created. Every day, people look at pictures of dead children and remember why the Totality has to be destroyed. Making peace with it? It means forgetting the dead. And, as a culture, we’re very bad at that.’
‘People walk with them every day.’
‘They’re part of our lives. We – they – live in a space station, orbiting a dead planet they can’t bring themselves to leave, living in ways they can’t bring yourselves to change, talking to corpses they can’t bring themselves to bury. Maintaining stasis takes a lot of effort. It’s the opposite of the Totality. And it gives Kingdom and his allies an awful lot of power, even now.’
‘Yamata was working for him.’
‘I always wondered about that. You have proof ?’
‘She told me. Could she have been behind the terrorist attacks?’
‘It wouldn’t surprise me. She had the right skillset. The reskinning that poor Corazon found out about. She started as a sweat smuggler, too. She could easily have brought weapons in, explosives. Akhmatov’s distribution and enforcement networks would have been very helpful to her. Perhaps Penderville was working with them, perhaps you were about to expose them, perhaps that’s why Kingdom wanted you out of the picture.’
‘And what about Harry?’
‘I’ve never understood him.’ Grey frowned. ‘He was always so supportive of you when he was alive. His reports on you helped me convince Kingdom that you’d be a useful part of the war effort. I don’t know what’s happened to him. Maybe he did find out about you and Andrea.’
‘You knew?’ said Jack.
‘I was with you everywhere, Jack. It’s what gods do; always present where intention meets action, understanding both, influencing where we can. She felt very strongly for you, you know, but she’s a very loyal person. I nudged her to stay with you after the rock fell, but her will was stronger.’
‘Always manipulating. You disgust me, Grey.’
‘My influence was always constructive.’
‘Constructive? You sent me away to kill. And you never just influenced. That implies choice, and you never gave me that.’
‘All of you always have a choice, Jack. I thought you realised that when you walked away from the war. I wanted you to do that, I wanted you to leave the Pantheon behind. I thought I saw that knowledge in you when you refused to help me in the garden.’
Jack laughed bitterly. ‘One last question. I don’t know what Harry is any more. Do you? And is Andrea safe?’
‘I stopped watching Harry closely when you stopped working for him. He was still human then. And I don’t think you need worry about Andrea. Beyond rolling her back, there’s very little he can do to hurt her.’
That was when Fist cut in, his patience exhausted. ‘Enough with the encounter group. Jack’ll talk about Andrea all night if you let him, but we’ve got some practical challenges to deal with.’ He switched to talk silently to Jack. [Can I tell him I can kill Kingdom?]
[ No,] replied Jack. [ It’s too dangerous. We don’t want any of the Pantheon to know you’re a direct threat to them. Just give him the basics. No boasting.]
[ Fucking consequences,] said Fist grumpily before continuing out loud: ‘Here’s the deal. We’ve tracked Yamata’s signal back to Heaven, and we know she’s working for Kingdom. I think her core servers are somewhere in Kingdom’s corporate headquarters. So, it’s simple.’
‘Really?’ said Grey. ‘I’m impressed by your confidence.’
‘We break into Heaven, and then into Kingdom’s HQ. Once we’re in, we find Yamata. We know what we’re up against, so we won’t be taken by surprise. We crack her, take her memories, find out exactly what crimes she’s committed, and use them to prove Kingdom’s guilt.’
‘I can speak for East,’ Grey responded. ‘She’ll broadcast whatever you find. Everyone on Station will see it. It’ll be impossible to cover up.’
‘You’re running ahead,’ Jack told him. ‘We need to work out how we’re going to break into Heaven first, then a core Pantheon facility. One of those on their own would be difficult. Both together …’
‘I can get you into Heaven’ said Grey.
‘How? I mean – they’ve shut you down.’
‘You can walk the vacuum paths.’
‘What?’
‘This room is buried in Station’s skin. That’s why the children hide here. Only engineers ever come down this far. One of their duties is inspecting Station’s exterior. To do that, they need a door out to Station’s outer skin. Half a day’s walk, and there’s one you can get to. From there, you can go straight to Heaven.’
Fist thought for a moment. ‘We don’t have spacesuits. I don’t need to breathe, but it’s a bit of a problem for Jackie boy here!’