‘All of this is irrelevant,’ protested Jack, his voice full of frustration. ‘None of you are thinking about what’s important, about why you’re going to war in the first place. It’s nothing to do with the Totality; it’s because of Kingdom. War is in his interest. Breaking the Totality is in his interest. And so he’s making it happen. He’s fooled you all, and he’s done it before. These documents prove it.’
Kingdom laughed. ‘Absurdities. I wish I had that much power.’
‘Kingdom both started and prolonged the last war,’ replied Jack, ‘and his actions are going to set this one off too.’
‘I move we vote on a response to the Totality’s obscene provocation,’ pronounced Kingdom, speaking over him. ‘And that this intruder is silenced.’
‘No!’ shouted Jack.
‘Mr Chairman?’ asked Kingdom, a soft undertone of menace in his voice.
‘We will proceed with the vote,’ Sandal decided, shimmering nervously.
‘Wait.’ East stepped forward. ‘I’ve got something to show you.’
‘Really, East,’ scolded Kingdom. ‘This isn’t the time—’
‘Breaking news. Look.’
She waved a hand and screens sprung into being around the circle. Some showed wide shots of Station; some were closeups of individual streets; some showed one man, talking. Jack recognised this latter immediately. It was Bjorn Penderville.
His voice echoed out, caught in mid-sentence.
‘—responsible for the destruction on the moon. I confess to masking the meteor myself, ensuring that it could strike the moon without being detected. I used software adapted from sweathead blanking protocols. I did so at the instigation of Aud Yamata, leader of a criminal gang controlled by Kingdom. InSec operative Harry Devlin later joined the Yamata gang.’
[Oo, I bet Harry’s ears are burning! Though he’s probably concentrating too hard to notice. Little fly.]
[ He’s still out there?]
[ He thinks he’s almost hacked into me. Into my web! My lovely little web! Ah, the ninja code’s reporting back.]
[ What are you up to?]
[All my plans are paying off. You’ll see.]
[ Fuck’s sake, Fist.]
On the screens, Penderville continued his confession. ‘I understand that, after my death, Devlin helped the Yamata gang create a series of false flag attacks that were blamed on terrorists and used to justify the execution and fetch-caging of a number of key anti-war activist groups. These activists were for the most part allied with or supported by Grey, hence the attacks on him.’
Shouting broke out across the room. Penderville’s words were lost in the melee. Kingdom’s voice became a high-pitched scream, the sound of metal grinding on metal. ‘Can you not see that this ridiculous conspiracy theory is a lie?’ he was yelling. Other Pantheon members were shouting, too, some in support of him, some against him.
Despite the ferocity of the onslaught, East was unruffled. ‘Now let’s hear from the dead,’ she said, speaking with a news anchor’s dispassion.
The screens showing Station increased in size. The images each held shifted, zooming in on individual streets. Jack realised that they were closing in on void sites. Crowds had gathered round each one. Images of children hung over each void site. They were still broadcasting their messages of grief but beneath them, the dead had returned. They stood in shimmering rings, fetches who had climbed out of the Coffin Drives and, through the omnipresence of the weave, found themselves able to manifest in the streets of Station. It was an apocalypse, of sorts.
‘Bringing in audio,’ said East calmly, and each screen was suddenly roaring out the voices of the dead. They were speaking as one. ‘ … working for peace, and we found ourselves under attack. Every single one of us was killed by one of Kingdom’s operatives. Every single one of us was caged in the Coffin Drives, unable to speak of this. They told you we were terrorists, but none of us were; they told you that we were threats, but none of us were; they told you that we hated humanity, but really we love life. Kingdom made you afraid so that you would agree to war with the Totality, but he has always been the real enemy. Reject him!’
The last two words of the speech were a great, triumphant roar.
‘Now they’re starting the speech again,’ explained East. ‘Others have risen, too.’
The screens shimmered, becoming a kaleidoscope of many different views. They danced through streets and houses, parks and shops. Some even showed the darkness of space or the cramped confines of chainships. Fetches were everywhere, drifting like angelic ghosts, tightly embracing the living or just standing, looking round in wonder and disbelief, at last free from the Coffin Drives.
None of them had skulls for heads.
‘They’re free,’ said East. ‘Nobody controls them any more.’
‘But – this is a disaster!’ shouted Kingdom. ‘If nobody controls them – that means artificial intelligences are loose, everywhere! It’s a direct threat to us! Remember how we lost our homeworld!’
East just smiled. ‘I think your terrorists have something more to say.’
The screens flicked back to show a single void site. The fetches ringed round it were chanting. Jack saw that they’d been joined by a number of scrappily dressed, happy looking children. Their words were clear.
‘Shut down Kingdom! Shut down Kingdom!’
‘No!’ howled Kingdom.
The chanting became louder and louder. The camera pulled back. The chant had been taken up by the crowd that had formed round the void site. The camera pulled back still further. There were crowds across the whole of Homeland, shouting against Kingdom. The view flicked to Docklands. There too, the streets echoed with voices.
‘Shut down Kingdom! Shut down Kingdom!’
‘These terrorists will break Station. We need to shut down East’s media networks. If their message is heard, they’ll destroy everything we fought for,’ gasped Kingdom, his rich voice shattered by panic.
‘Good,’ said Grey. The blindfolded raven was gone; now the man stood there, smartly dressed and looking very relaxed.
‘You!’ gasped Kingdom. ‘You dare to come here!’ He turned away from Grey to address the group. ‘This criminal is manipulating you all,’ he snarled. ‘We must freeze Grey and close down East. It’s the only way to protect us from their lies. There is no alternative.’
‘The evidence against you is strong, Kingdom,’ said East implacably. ‘And we can’t stand in the way of the people. As you’ve said yourself, many times.’
Sandal’s highly stressed voice rang out like a power drill. ‘We need to debate this properly. It’s not what we’re here for now.’
A snowflake weighed in. ‘The Totality has always claimed that we were not responsible for the lunar atrocity. We have already been able to confirm some aspects of this interpretation of the facts. We believe that Penderville and these other freed minds are telling the truth.’
‘Perhaps Sandal has a point,’ said Grey smoothly. ‘We should be fair to Kingdom. Should we take steps to protect him? If we isolate his board from his key subsidiaries then the shock of this sudden crash will be lessened. We can then call this meeting to a halt, and investigate in more depth, at our leisure.’
[ Fucking gods,] said Fist. [Protecting their own.]
[ What?] replied Jack.
‘No! No!’ said Sandal, his voice almost a scream. ‘As chair I insist we complete voting on our original motion. We must decide whether or not to attack the Totality.’
‘I think a little patience might be in order,’ soothed Grey.
[ Right, fuck this,] snapped Fist. [ Where’s Harry? Aha!] He shook, and then staggered a couple of paces forward. He looked suddenly drunk.
[ Fist!] shouted Jack. [Come back here! What are you doing?]
‘Oh no!’ Fist shouted, theatrically. ‘Oh no!’ He took another uncertain step, then swayed round till he was facing Jack. He raised his hands to his head, so nobody else could see his face. He gave Jack a slow, confident wink. And then, he arched his back and threw himself down, hitting the ground with a clatter. Patches of overlay disappeared around him, revealing a white-painted concrete floor. ‘He’s possessing me!’ he yelled. ‘I can’t stop him!’