‘I’ll just have to do my best.’ Clavain closed the door behind them and turned to Vasko. ‘How much do you know about Skade and Remontoire?’
‘I don’t think I’ve heard either name before.’
Clavain eased himself into the collapsible chair, leaving the other two to stand. ‘Remontoire was — is — one of my oldest allies. Another Conjoiner. I’ve known him since we fought against each other on Mars.’
‘And Skade, sir?’
Clavain picked up one of the conch pieces and began examining it absent-mindedly. ‘Skade’s a different kettle of fish. She’s also a Conjoiner, but from a later generation than either of us. She’s cleverer and faster, and she has no emotional ties to old-line humanity whatsoever. When the Inhibitor threat became clearer, Skade made plans to save the Mother Nest by running away from this sector of space. I didn’t like that — it meant leaving the rest of humanity to fend for itself when we should have been helping each other — and so I defected. Remontoire, after some misgivings, threw his lot in with me as well.’
‘Then Skade hates both of you?’ Vasko asked.
‘I think she might still be prepared to give Remontoire the benefit of the doubt,’ Clavain said. ‘But me? No, I more or less burnt my bridges with Skade. The last straw as far as she was concerned was the time when I cut her in half with a mooring line.’
Scorpio shrugged. ‘These things happen.’
‘Remontoire saved her,’ Clavain said. ‘That probably counts for something, even though he betrayed her later. But with Skade, it’s probably best not to assume anything. I think I killed her later, but I can’t exclude the possibility that she escaped. That’s what her last transmission claimed, at any rate.’
Vasko asked, ‘So why exactly are we waiting for Remontoire and the others, sir?’
Clavain narrowed an eye in Scorpio’s direction. ‘He really doesn’t know a lot, does he?’
‘It’s not his fault,’ Scorpio said. ‘You have to remember that he was born here. What happened before we came here is ancient history as far as he’s concerned. You’ll get the same reaction from most of the youngsters, human or pig.’
‘Still doesn’t make it excusable,’ Clavain said. ‘In my day we were more inquisitive.’
‘In your day you were slacking if you didn’t get in a couple of genocides before breakfast.’
Clavain said nothing. He put down the conch piece and picked up another, testing its sharp edge against the fine hairs on the back of his hand.
‘I do know a bit, sir,’ Vasko said hastily. ‘I know that you came to Resurgam from Yellowstone, just when the machines began to destroy our solar system. You helped evacuate the entire colony aboard the Nostalgia for Infinity — nearly two hundred thousand of us.’
‘More like a hundred and seventy thousand,’ Clavain said. ‘And there isn’t a day when I don’t grieve for those we didn’t manage to save.’
‘No one’s likely to blame you, considering how many of them you did save,’ Scorpio said.
‘History will have to be the judge of that.’
Scorpio sighed. ‘If you want to wallow in self-recrimination, Nevil, be my guest. Personally I have a mystery capsule to attend to and a colony that would very much like its leader back. Preferably washed and tidied and not smelling quite so much of seaweed and old bedclothes. Isn’t that right, Vasko?’
Clavain looked at Vasko, a scrutiny that lasted several moments. The fine pale hairs on the back of Scorpio’s neck prickled. He had the sense that Clavain was taking the measure of the young man, correlating him against some strict internal ideal, one that had been assembled and refined across centuries. In those moments, Scorpio suspected, Vasko’s entire destiny was being decided for him. If Clavain decided that Vasko was not worthy of his trust, then there would be no more indiscretions, no further mention of individuals not known to the colony as a whole. His involvement with Clavain would remain a peripheral matter, and even Vasko himself would soon learn not to think too much about what had happened today.
‘It might help things,’ Vasko said, hesitantly, glancing back towards Scorpio as he spoke. ‘We need you, sir. Especially now, if things are going to change.’
‘I think we can safely assume they are,’ Clavain said, pouring himself a glass of water.
‘Then come back with us, sir. If the person in the capsule turns out to be your friend Remontoire, won’t he expect you to be there when we bring him out?’
‘He’s right,’ Scorpio said. ‘We need you there, Nevil. I want your agreement that we should open it, and not just bury it at sea.’
Clavain was silent. The wind snapped the stays again. The quality of light in the tent had turned milky in the last hour, as Bright Sun settled down below the horizon. Scorpio felt drained of energy, as he so often did at sundown these days. He was not looking forward to the return trip at all, fully expecting that the sea would be rougher than on the outward leg.
‘If I come back…’ Clavain said. He halted, paused and took another sip of his drink. He licked his lips before continuing. ‘If I come back, it changes nothing. I came here for a reason and that reason remains as valid as ever. I intend to return here when this affair is settled.’
‘I understand,’ Scorpio said, though it was not what he had hoped to hear.
‘Good, because I’m serious about it.’
‘But you’ll accompany us back, and supervise the opening of the capsule?’
‘That, and that only.’
‘They still need you, Clavain. No matter how difficult this will be. Don’t abrogate responsibility now, after all you’ve done for us.’
Clavain threw aside his glass of water. ‘After all I’ve done for you? After I embroiled all of you in a war, ripped up your lives and dragged you across space to a miserable hell-hole of a place like this? I don’t think I need anyone’s thanks for that, Scorpio. I think I need mercy and forgiveness.’
‘They still feel they owe you. We all do.’
‘He’s right,’ Vasko said.
Clavain opened a drawer in the collapsible desk and pulled out a mirror. The surface was crazed and frosted. It must have been very old.
‘You’ll come with us, then?’ Scorpio persisted.
‘I may be old and weary, Scorpio, but now and then something can still surprise me. My long-term plans haven’t changed, but I admit I’d very much like to know who’s in that capsule.’
‘Good. We can sail as soon as you pack what you need.’
Clavain grunted something by way of reply and then looked at himself in the mirror, before averting his gaze with a suddenness that surprised Scorpio. It was the eyes, the pig thought. Clavain had seen his eyes for the first time in months, and he did not like what he saw in them.
‘I’ll scare the living daylights out of them,’ Clavain said.
Quaiche positioned himself alongside the scrimshaw suit. As usual, he ached after another stint in the slowdown casket, every muscle in his body whispering a dull litany of complaint into his brain. This time, however, the discomfort barely registered. He had something else to occupy his mind.
‘Morwenna,’ he said, ‘listen to me. Are you awake?’
‘I’m here, Horris.’ She sounded groggy but essentially alert. ‘What happened?’
‘We’ve arrived. Ship’s brought us in to seven AU, very close to the major gas giant. I went up front to check things out. The view from the cockpit is really something. I wish you were up there with me.’
‘So do I.’
‘You can see the storm patterns in the atmosphere, lightning… the moons… everything. It’s fucking glorious.’
‘You sound excited about something, Horris.’