'I'm disappointed, Mr Whitecloud.' Ty looked up at Kosac. 'I don't know much about Uchidanism, but I know something about personal faith. I believe we pay for what happens in this world in the next.'
Bleys had turned away slightly, reaching up to touch the side of his head. Ty noticed for the first time the man wore a comms bead in one earlobe.
Ty looked back at Kosac. 'Why are you asking me these questions?'
'Because I'm probably the last person you'll ever speak to, and I wanted to know what kind of man does the things you've done.'
Ice gripped Ty's heart. 'I'm to be arraigned. Taken off the coreship to be tried.'
Kosac smiled sadly. 'In a less imperfect world, perhaps.'
'Sir?' said Bleys, and Kosac turned to him. 'We got a report that the Authority's people are on their way here. I think we should hurry.'
The ice spread long frozen fingers deep into Ty's bowels. 'I'm too valuable for you to just shoot,' he croaked.
'No, Mr Whitecloud, you're not going to have a chance to escape a second time.'
Ty stared backwards and forwards between the two men. 'Escape?'
A moment later two armed and visored guards appeared at the cell door, and Ty knew the worst was yet to come. The two guards entered the cell and dragged Ty out into the corridor, where one slammed a shock-stick into the back of one knee. He collapsed on to all fours. A second blow sent him sprawling on his belly.
A moment later his arms were twisted painfully behind his back, and he felt the plastic ties being clipped into place around his wrists. He was pulled upright a moment later and pushed towards a service elevator at the far end of the corridor. His legs gave way under him, but the guards dragged him along between them, regardless.
They pushed him inside the elevator and forced him to his knees, then hauled him back out, once they had arrived at the ground floor. Ty managed to find his feet, and was shoved towards a steel door at the far end of the corridor, a thin but freezing trickle of cold air seeping past its frame and carrying with it the scent of oiled metal and decay. One of the guards stepped forward and unlocked the door, revealing stacked pallets as it swung open.
Ty clenched his teeth at the blast of frozen air and tried to hunch up, his paper uniform providing him with so little protection that he might as well have been naked.
He realized he was weeping as they dragged and shoved him out into the courtyard. Everything seemed to get a little farther away, as if he were experiencing the world at one remove, reduced to being a passenger within his own skull.
They pulled him towards the wall at the rear of the courtyard. He was close enough now that he could make out the dark stains where the wall met the ground. For the first time, he saw a door set into the wall over to his right, where it had been hidden from his view in the cell by a pile of crates. It stood open, a military transport parked on the street outside. A guard stood by the door, his visor pushed up, arguing with two men who looked too healthy and well fed to come from Ascension.
One had a thick woollen hat pulled down over his stubbled skull, but Ty still saw the irregular grooves and bumps disfiguring his cranium, which marked him out as a machine-head. He was tall and gangly, with a worried expression, whereas his companion was small but wiry and muscular-looking. The second one's gaze locked on to Ty the instant he came into view.
'That's him,' Ty heard him say, over the unending hubbub of activity. The machine-head glanced first at his companion, then at Ty. Then they both pushed past the guard they'd been talking to and headed straight for him.
'Hey!' the guard shouted, dropping his rifle from his shoulder and following them. 'You can't-'
'The fuck?' said the machine-head's companion, stopping for a moment to glare back at the guard. 'What was it about our authorization you didn't understand?'
Ty's own guards had halted at the commotion, but then they seemed to come to some mutual, unspoken decision and resumed pushing him towards the wall.
'Hey, stop right there!' shouted the small, muscled man. 'Don't take another single fucking step. Do you understand?'
'We have orders,' one of Ty's guards grated. 'If you've got a problem with it, take it up with Director Kosac'
'Oh, we will,' said the other man, coming closer. 'You,' he said, turning back to the guard who'd tried to stop them. 'Tell them who I am.'
'Commander Willis, sir,' the guard replied with clear reluctance. 'Head of Ocean's Deep security.'
'That makes me one of the people responsible for the entire relief operation out here. And that,' he continued, coming up closer to one of Ty's would-be executioners, 'means you do exactly what I say. So here's the deal,' he continued, his voice softening now into an agreeable we're-all-friends-here tone of conciliation. 'We want this man for questioning.' He glanced briefly at Ty. 'Your name is Ty Whitecloud, isn't it?'
Ty managed to nod.
'Those aren't our orders, sir,' one of Ty's guards said. 'Our instruction is immediate execution.'
'Who told you that? Director Kosac?'
Ty glanced to one side, just in time to see the guard nod.
'Well, Director Kosac is about to get a spiked boot up his ass that's going to bounce him all the way out of Ascension and into a job someplace that's going to make his time here look like a fucking holiday.' Willis smiled broadly. 'And if you don't do exactly what I tell you, and I mean to the fucking letter, I'll make sure you're there to keep him company. Now,' he added, gesturing to Ty, 'since you've already seen our credentials, how about you do precisely what we tell you to, before you make things worse than they already are?'
Ty felt the grip on his shoulders tighten for a few seconds, then relax.
'Sir,' said one of his guards, before letting go of him altogether.
'This way,' said Willis, taking Ty's elbow and leading him towards the waiting vehicle.
Ty followed in a daze, as the machine-head moved up on his other side.
'Mr Whitecloud,' said the machine-head, leaning down a little to speak to him, 'My name is Ted Lamoureaux and you are a very, very lucky man. I hope you'll be grateful enough to be as cooperative as we're going to need you to be.'
Lamoureaux touched a panel on the side of the transport and a door slid open, warm air wafting out from within. Ty drew in the smell of oiled leather and cheap plastic, and felt tears prickling the corners of his eyes.
Lamoureaux gestured inside.
'My hands,' said Ty. 'Please.'
'Shit,' he heard Willis mutter behind him, and a moment later he felt the plastic ties fall away from his wrists. He brought his arms back around, wincing at the pain in his shoulders, and climbed inside the vehicle.
The interior was cramped, and the air felt hot and close to him, after being out in the freezing cold. There were two rows of seats facing each other, and Lamoureaux and Willis sat down opposite Ty. The transport started to move a moment later.
'Where are you taking me?' Ty asked.
'Well, that depends on exactly how cooperative you're feeling,' Lamoureaux replied.
'Kosac told me someone was coming for me, but he wasn't going to let me escape.'
He watched the two men exchange glances.
'Well, that's it,' Willis muttered. 'I'm going to get a kick out of burying that little shit up to his neck in trouble.'
'Mr Whitecloud,' said Lamoureaux, his tone dry, 'can you tell me if the term "Mos Hadroch" means anything to you?'