‘I heard it,’ she said. ‘Maybe you can ask another question, too. If it can put me to sleep when it needs to, can it put me under for the whole journey?’
‘You heard what she asked, ship. Can you do it?’
‘If required, it can be arranged.’
Stupidly, it had never occurred to Quaiche to ask the same question. He felt ashamed not to have thought of it first. He had, he realised, still not adequately grasped what it must be like for her in that thing.
‘Well, Mor, do you want it now? I can have you put asleep immediately. When you wake up we’ll be back aboard the Ascension.’
‘And if you fail? Do you think I’ll ever be allowed to wake up?’
‘I don’t know,’ he said. ‘I wish I did. But I’m not planning to fail.’
‘You always sound so sure of yourself,’ she said. ‘You always sound as if everything’s about to go right.’
‘Sometimes I even believe it as well.’
‘And now?’
‘I told Jasmina that I thought I could feel my luck changing. I wasn’t lying.’
‘I hope you’re right,’ she said.
‘So are you going to sleep?’
‘No,’ she said. ‘I’ll stay awake with you. When you sleep, I’ll sleep. For now. I don’t rule out changing my mind.’
‘I understand.’
‘Find something out there, Horris. Please. For both of us.’
‘I will,’ he said. And in his gut he felt something like certainty. It made no sense, but there it was: hard and sharp as a gallstone.
‘Ship,’ he said, ‘take us in.’
FIVE
Clavain and Scorpio had nearly reached the tent when Vasko appeared, moving around from the back until he stood at the entrance. A sudden gust of wind rattled the tent’s stays, lashing them against the green-stained fabric. The wind sounded impatient, chivvying them on. The young man waited nervously, unsure what to do with his hands.
Clavain eyed him warily. ‘I assumed that you’d come alone,’ he said quietly.
‘You needn’t worry about him,’ Scorpio replied. ‘He was a bit surprised to find out where you’d been all this time, but I think he’s over that now.’
‘He’d better be.’
‘Nevil, go easy on him, will you? There’ll be plenty of time to play the tyrannical ogre later.’
When the young man was in earshot Clavain raised his voice and cried hoarsely, ‘Who are you, son?’
‘Vasko, sir,’ he said. ‘Vasko Malinin.’
‘That’s a Resurgam name, isn’t it? Is that where you’re from?’
‘I was born here, sir. My parents were from Resurgam. They lived in Cuvier before the evacuation.’
‘You don’t look old enough.’
‘I’m twenty, sir.’
‘He was born a year or two after the colony was established,’ Scorpio said in something close to a whisper. ‘That makes him one of the oldest people born on Ararat. But he’s not alone. We’ve had second-generation natives born while you were away, children whose parents don’t remember Resurgam, or even the trip here.’
Clavain shivered, as if the thought of this was easily the most frightful thing he had ever imagined. ‘We weren’t supposed to put down roots, Scorpio. Ararat was intended to be a temporary stopover. Even the name is a bad joke. You don’t settle a planet with a bad joke for a name.’
Scorpio decided that now was not the ideal time to remind him that it had always been the plan to leave some people behind on Ararat, even if the majority of them departed.
‘You’re dealing with humans,’ he said. ‘And pigs. Trying to stop us breeding is like trying to herd cats.’
Clavain turned his attention back to Vasko. ‘And what do you do?’
‘I work in the food factory, sir, in the sedimentation beds mostly, cleaning sludge out of the scrapers or changing the blades on the surface skimmers.’
‘It sounds like very interesting work.’
‘In all honesty, sir, if it were interesting work, I wouldn’t be here today.’
‘Vasko also serves in the local league of the Security Arm,’ Scorpio said. ‘He’s had the usual training: firearms, urban pacification, and so on. Most of the time, of course, he’s putting out fires or helping with the distribution of rations or medical supplies from Central Amenities.’
‘Essential work,’ Clavain said.
‘No one, least of all Vasko, would argue with that,’ Scorpio said. ‘But all the same, he put the word around that he was interested in something a little more adventurous. He’s been pestering Arm administration for promotion to a full-time position. His scores are very good and he fancies trying his hand at something a tiny bit more challenging than shovelling shit.’
Clavain regarded the young man with narrowed eyes. ‘What exactly has Scorp told you about the capsule?’
Vasko looked at the pig, then back to Clavain. ‘Nothing, sir.’
‘I told him what he needed to know, which wasn’t much.’
‘I think you’d better tell him the rest,’ Clavain said.
Scorpio repeated the story he had already told to Clavain. He watched, fascinated, as the impact of the news became apparent in Vasko’s expression.
He didn’t blame him for that: for twenty years the absolute isolation of Ararat must have been as deeply woven into the fabric of his life as the endless roar of the sea and the constant warm stench of ozone and rotting vegetation. It was so absolute, so ever-present, that it vanished beneath conscious notice. But now something had punctured that isolation: a reminder that this ocean world had only ever been a fragile and temporary place of sanctuary amid an arena of wider conflict.
‘As you can see,’ Scorpio said, ‘it isn’t something we want everyone to find out about before we know exactly what’s going on, and who’s in the thing.’
‘I’m assuming you have your suspicions,’ Clavain said.
Scorpio nodded. ‘It could be Remontoire. We were always expecting the Zodiacal Light to show up one of these days. Sooner than this, admittedly, but there’s no telling what happened to them after we left, or how long it took the ship to repair itself. Maybe when we crack open the capsule we’ll find my second-favourite Conjoiner sitting inside it.’
‘You don’t sound convinced.’
‘Explain this to me, Clavain,’ Scorpio said. ‘If it’s Remontoire and the rest, why the secrecy? Why don’t they just move into orbit and announce they’ve arrived? At the very least they could have dropped the capsule a bit closer to land, so that it wouldn’t have cost us so much time recovering it.’
‘So consider the alternative,’ Clavain said. ‘It might be your least favourite Conjoiner instead.’
‘I’ve considered that, of course. If Skade had arrived in our system, I’d expect her to maintain a maximum-stealth profile the whole way in. But we should still have seen something. By the same token, I don’t think she’d be very likely to start her invasion with a single capsule — unless there’s something extremely nasty in it.’
‘Skade can be nasty enough on her own,’ Clavain said. ‘But I agree: I don’t think it’s her. Landing on her own would be a suicidal and pointless gesture; not her style at all.’
They had arrived at the tent. Clavain opened the door and led the way in. He paused at the threshold and examined the interior with a vague sense of recrimination, as if someone else entirely lived there.
‘I’ve become very used to this place,’ he said, almost apologetically.
‘Meaning you don’t think you can stand to go back?’ Scorpio asked. He could still smell the lingering scent of Clavain’s earlier presence.