‘I see now,’ Clavain said, ‘why the hell-class weapons couldn’t be made again. Once Galiana had been shown how to make them, she destroyed the knowledge.’
‘They were a gift from the future,’ she said pridefully. ‘A gift from our future selves.’
‘And now?’
‘Even in this timeline decimation happened. Again the wolves were alerted to our emergence. And it turned out that the drives were easy for them to track, across light-years of space.’
‘So our future selves tried another tweak.’
‘Yes. This time they reached back only into the recent past, intervening much later in Conjoiner history. The first message was an edict warning us to stop using Conjoiner drives. That was why we stopped shipbuilding a century ago. Later, we were given clues that enabled us to build stealthed drives of the kind Nightshade carries. The Demarchists thought we had built her to gain a tactical advantage over them in the war. In fact, she was designed to be our first weapon against the wolves. Later, we were given information regarding the construction of inertia-suppressing machinery. Although I didn’t know it at the time, I was sent to the Chateau to obtain the fragments of alien technology which would enable us to assemble the prototype inertia-suppressing machine.’
‘And now?’
She answered him with a smile. ‘We’ve been given another chance. This time, flight is the only viable solution. The Conjoiners must leave this volume of space before the wolves arrive en masse.’
‘Run away, you mean?’
‘Not really your style, is it, Clavain? But sometimes it’s the only response that makes any sense. Later, we can consider a return — even a confrontation with the wolves. Other species have failed, but we are different, I think. We have already had the nerve to alter our past.’
‘What makes you think the other poor suckers didn’t try it as well?’
‘Clavain…’ It was Scorpio. ‘We really need to be out of here, now.’
‘Skade… you’ve shown me enough,’ Clavain said. ‘I accept that you believe you are acting justly.’
‘And yet you still think I am the puppet of some mysterious agency?’
‘I don’t know, Skade. I certainly haven’t ruled it out.’
I serve only the Mother Nest.‘
‘Fine.’ He nodded, sensing that no matter what the truth was Skade believed that she was acting correctly. ‘Now give me Felka and I’ll leave.’
‘Will you destroy me once you have left?’
He doubted that she knew of the pinhead charges he and Scorpio had deployed. He said, ‘What will happen to you, Skade, if I leave you here, drifting? Can you repair your ship?’
‘I don’t need to. The other craft are not far behind me. They are your real enemy, Clavain. Vastly better armed than Nightshade, and yet just as nimble and difficult to detect.’
‘That still doesn’t mean I’d be better off not killing you.’
Skade turned around and raised her voice. ‘Bring Felka here.’
Half a minute later, two other Conjoiners appeared behind Skade, burdened with a spacesuited figure. Skade allowed them to pass it forwards. The visor was open so that Clavain could tell that the figure was Felka. She appeared unconscious, but he was certain that she was still alive.
‘Here. Take her.’
‘What’s wrong with her?’
‘Nothing fundamental,’ Skade said. ‘I told you she was becoming withdrawn, didn’t I? She misses her Wall very much. Perhaps she will improve in your care. But there is something you need to know, Clavain.’
He looked at her. ‘What?’
‘She isn’t your daughter. She never was. Everything she told you was a lie, to make you more likely to return. A plausible lie, and perhaps one she almost wanted to believe was true, but a lie nonetheless. Do you still want her now?’
He knew she was telling the truth. Skade would lie to hurt him, but only if it served her wider ambitions. She was not doing that now, although he dearly wished that she were.
His voice caught in his throat. ‘Why should I want her less?’
‘Be honest, Clavain. It might have made a difference.’
‘I came here to save someone I care for, that’s all.’ He fought to keep his voice from breaking. ‘Whether she’s my blood or not… it doesn’t matter.’
‘No?’
‘Not at all.’
‘Good. Then I believe our business here is done. Felka has served us both well, Clavain. She protected me from you, and she was able to bring out the co-operative side of the Wolf, something I could never have done on my own.’
‘The Wolf?’
‘Oh, sorry, didn’t I mention the Wolf?’
‘Let’s leave,’ Scorpio said.
‘No. Not just yet. I want to know what she meant.’
‘I meant exactly what I said, Clavain.’ With loving care, Skade replaced her own head, blinking at the moment when it clicked home. ‘I brought the Wolf with me because I imagined it might prove valuable. Well, I was right,’
‘You mean you brought Galiana’s body?’
‘I brought Galiana,’ Skade corrected. ‘She isn’t dead, Clavain. Not in the way you always thought she was. I reached her shortly after she returned from deep space. Her personality and memories were still there, perfectly intact. We had conversations, she and I. She asked about you — and of Felka — and I told her a small white lie; it was better for all of us that she think you dead. She was already losing the battle, you see. The Wolf was trying to take her over, and in the end she wasn’t strong enough to fight it. But it didn’t kill her, even then. It kept her mind intact because it found her memories useful. It also knew that Galiana was precious to us, and so we would do nothing against it that would harm her.’
Clavain looked at her, hoping against hope that she was lying to him as she had lied before, but knowing that this was now the truth. And although he knew the answer she would give, he had to ask the question all the same.
‘Will you give her to me?’
‘No.’ Skade raised a black metal finger. ‘You leave with Felka only, or you leave with nothing. It’s your choice. But Galiana stays here.’ Almost as an afterthought she added, ‘Oh, and in case you were wondering, I do know about the pinhead munitions you and the pig left behind you.’
‘You won’t find them all in time,’ Scorpio said.
I won’t have to find them,‘ Skade said. ’Will I, Clavain? Because having Galiana protects me as fully as when I had Felka. No. I won’t show her to you. It isn’t necessary. Felka will tell you that she is here. She met the Wolf, too — didn’t you?‘
But Felka did not stir.
‘C’mon,’ Scorpio said. ‘Let’s leave before she changes her mind.’
Clavain was with Felka when she came around. He was sitting in a seat next to her bed, scratching at his beard, a grasshopperlike scritch, scritch, scritch that burrowed remorselessly into her subconscious and tugged her towards wakefulness. She had been dreaming of Mars, dreaming of her Wall, dreaming of being lost in the endless, consuming task of maintaining the Wall’s inviolability.
‘Felka.’ His voice was sharp, almost stern. ‘Felka. Wake up. This is Clavain. You’re amongst friends now.’
‘Where is Skade?’ she asked.
‘I left Skade behind. She isn’t your concern now.’ Clavain’s hand rested on hers. ‘I’m just relieved that you’re all right. It’s good to see you again, Felka. There were times when I never thought this would happen.’