‘Cohran, sir,’ said Yerolemew.
‘I will issue a citation,’ said Edur. ‘It will be for both the trooper and–’
‘Cohran is shift-sick,’ said Blenner. He’d walked into the hall behind the inspection party.
‘It’s a bad case,’ he added. ‘Afflicted a lot of personnel this time out. You had a touch yourself, didn’t you, captain?’
‘Yes,’ said Wilder.
‘I signed a chit and sent Cohran along to the infirmary,’ said Blenner.
‘The sergeant major was unaware,’ said Edur.
‘Because I’ve only just done it, and I was coming to tell the sergeant major about it,’ said Blenner.
Edur stared at him for a second.
‘That’s the thing about surprise inspections,’ said Blenner pleasantly. ‘They don’t fall at neatly punctuated moments.’
‘Very well,’ said Edur. ‘Let’s carry on.’
The inspection continued for another forty minutes. When Edur and Baskevyl were gone, Blenner took Wilder to one side.
‘Find two or three troopers you can trust. That girl, for example. Get them to find Cohran.’
Wilder nodded.
‘You didn’t send him to the medicae, did you?’
‘No,’ said Blenner. He wrote out a permission slip, tore it off his workbook, and folded it. ‘Get this to him, and tell him where he was supposed to be. Fast. Then tell him to come and find me and we’ll make sure this never happens again.’
‘Thank you,’ said Wilder.
‘Don’t thank me. My neck’s on the line too.’
Wilder thought for a moment, and then took something out of his pocket.
‘I wondered if you could do anything with these,’ he said.
Blenner took the small bag of pills.
‘What’s this?’ he asked.
‘I found them,’ said Wilder.
‘Where?’
Wilder shrugged.
‘Could there be… more of them?’ asked Blenner.
‘Probably,’ said Wilder. ‘Troopers are always finding a way of getting their hands on stuff. I’m sure some might turn up again.’
‘I see,’ said Blenner. He looked at the little bag and put it in his coat pocket. ‘I’ll take care of it, captain.’
‘Good,’ said Wilder. ‘I thought that would be for the best. Just thought we should keep it quiet.’
They looked around as Sergeant Major Yerolemew approached them.
‘Begging your pardon, sirs,’ he said. ‘Message just received. ‘The full regiment’s to assemble on the main excursion deck in an hour. The commander’s going to address us.’
‘I suppose now we’re underway,’ said Wilder, ‘we get to find out where we’re going.’
‘I suppose we do,’ said Blenner.
There was great activity through the mid-decks of the ship as the regiment assembled for the address. At his bridge position, Shipmaster Spika watched his passengers bustling like hive insects through the oily tunnels and dank companionways. He adjusted settings and switched the pict view of several screens.
People intrigued him. People who didn’t live in the void, like he did, seemed so contained by the fabric of the ship, so penned in. They were cattle, being transported to market. They did not inhabit the vessel the way he and his crew did.
His seat was a worn leather throne mounted in a gilded carriage. There were two big banks of control levers at the end of each armrest. The mechanisms were so old that many of the levers had been replaced: new metal bars and handle-tops seam-welded onto the eroded or broken spurs of the originals. Even some of the replacements had begun to wear. Spika adjusted the levers and his chair, mounted on a long, gimbal-jointed lifting arm, rose up out of the upper deck platform and extended out over the vast bridge. From there, he could sweep down and observe main console functions over the shoulders of key officers, or loft himself up into the domed roof to study the hololithic star-map projection or converse with the twitching, harnessed navigator.
He’d been invited to attend the address. A note had been delivered from the colonel-commissar fellow. He wouldn’t attend. He knew where they were going.
Besides, the warp was rough and troubled. There was a lively tide and unusual levels of dispersion and turbulence.
He needed to be on the bridge, at his station, in case things got rough.
‘What’s going on?’ Elodie asked Daur, passing him in the bustling central line hall.
‘Review,’ he replied. ‘Address. We get told our destination.’
‘Really?’ asked Elodie.
‘This is the point of it all,’ said Daur. ‘The point where we commit. The real start of the mission. Look, I’ve got to get on and get G Company assembled. I’ll come and tell you everything later.’
‘Everything?’ she asked.
‘I promise.’
They moved off in opposite directions. Pol Cohran stepped out of the shadows of a colonnade arch and merged with the flow of hurrying figures, just another hustling trooper.
He’d heard what the captain had said.
We get told our destination.
Priorities had just changed again.
‘You. You there!’
Cohran stopped, and turned slowly. Some of the personnel passing him bumped against him. Twenty paces behind him, Commissar Edur was glaring at him.
‘Cohran? Trooper Cohran?’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Come here, damn it!’ Edur snapped, indicating a spot on the deck directly in front of him. The river of people around them parted and found other routes to take. No one wanted to get in the way of an Imperial commissar, especially not one who was clearly aggravated. Furthermore, no one had seen the newcomer Edur raise his voice yet.
‘Right here, trooper!’ Edur ordered.
Cohran hesitated a moment longer. He weighed his options, and realised they all depended on him maintaining his deception. In full view like this, in front of dozens of regimental personnel, his options were drastically limited.
He walked back to Edur, and stood in front of him, hands behind his back.
Edur wrinkled a lip.
‘Under the circumstances,’ said Edur quietly, ‘I think an attitude of attention shows more respect.’
Cohran snapped to attention.
‘This isn’t the infirmary,’ said Edur.
‘Sir?’
‘I said this is a long way from the infirmary, trooper.’
‘Yes, sir.’
‘Your acceleration sickness got better then, did it?’ asked Edur. ‘You don’t look sick to me. Or did the grace of the beati and the God-Emperor shine forth upon you and heal you?’
‘May they live forever in our hearts and our minds, sir,’ said Cohran.
‘Watch your tone.’
‘Sir.’
‘Let’s see this slip, trooper,’ said Edur.
‘Slip, sir?’
‘Your chit, trooper. The permission slip Commissar Blenner gave you.’
‘I…’ Cohran began. He paused. ‘I believe I must have lost it, sir.’
‘Let’s go, trooper,’ said Edur. ‘This way.’
‘I’ve got to report for the review and address, sir,’ Cohran said.
‘Move,’ said Edur.
Edur pointed and walked Cohran off the central line hall into one of the transverse access corridors. Edur stayed close behind Cohran, a menacing escort. Two men ran past the other way, carrying a cargo crate between them.
‘I should go to the address, sir,’ said Cohran.
‘Enough, trooper.’ said Edur.
‘It’s mandatory. If I miss it, the captain will–’
‘I said enough. You’re already in trouble for not being where you were supposed to be.’
‘But, I–’
‘Seriously, how deep do you intend to dig your way into this, Cohran? Punishment squad deep? Flogging deep?’