‘I would be well advised to kill you now, in that case.’
‘That wouldn’t work. Do you think Martinez kept your coordinates to himself? He always knew this was a risky extraction. He’d have made damn sure another party knew of your whereabouts, and who you were likely to be sheltering. If we don’t make it back, someone will come in our place. And you can bet they’ll bring their own limpet mines as well.’
‘In which case I would gain nothing by letting you go, either.’
‘No, you’ll get to stay alive. Just give us Jax, and we’ll leave you alone. I don’t know what you’re doing out here, what keeps you sane, but really, it’s your business, not ours. We just want the colonel.’
The ship’s persona regarded me with narrowed, playful eyes. I had the impression she was thinking things through very carefully indeed, examining my proposition from every conceivable angle.
‘It would be that simple?’
‘Absolutely. We take the man, we say goodbye and you never hear from us again.’
‘I’ve invested a lot of time and energy in the colonel. I would find it difficult to part company with him.’
‘You’re a resourceful persona. I’m sure you’d find other ways to occupy your time.’
‘It isn’t about occupying my time, Dexia.’ She’d spoken my name for the first time. Of course she knew who I was: it would only have taken a blood or tissue sample to establish that I’d already been aboard the ship. ‘It’s about making my feelings felt,’ she continued. ‘Something happened to me around Sky’s Edge. Call it a moment of clarity. I saw the horrors of war for what they were. I also saw my part in the self-perpetuation of those horrors. I had to do something about that. Removing myself from the sphere of operation was one thing, but I knew there was more that I could do. Thankfully, the colonel gave me the key. Through him, I saw a path to redemption.’
‘You didn’t have to redeem yourself,’ I said. ‘You were a force for good, Nightingale. You healed people.’
‘Only so they could go back to war. Only so they could be blown apart and returned to me for more healing.’
‘You had no choice. It was what you were made to do.’
‘Precisely.’
‘The war’s over. It’s time to forget about what happened. That’s why it’s so important to bring Jax back home, so that we can start burying the past.’
The Voice studied me with a level, clinical eye. It was as if she knew something unspeakable about my condition, some truth I was as yet too weak to bear.
‘What would be the likely sentence, were Jax to be tried?’
‘He’d get the death penalty, no question about it. Crucifixion at the Bridgetop, like Sky Haussmann.’
‘Would you mourn him?’
‘Hell, no. I’d be cheering with the rest of them.’
‘Then you would agree that his death is inevitable, one way or another.’
‘I guess so.’
‘Then I will make a counter-proposition. I will not permit you to take Jax alive. But I will allow you an audience with him. You shall meet and speak with the colonel.’
Wary of a trap, I asked, ‘Then what happens?’
‘Once the audience is complete, I will remove the colonel from life support. He will die shortly afterwards.’
‘If you’re willing to let him die… why not just hand him over?’
‘He can’t be handed over. Not any more. He would die.’
‘Why?’
‘Because of what I have done to him.’
Fatigue tugged at me, fogging my earlier clarity of thought. On one level I just wanted to get out of the ship, with no additional complications. I’d expected to die when the hospital sent its machines against us. Yet as glad as I was to find myself alive, as tempted as I was to take the easier option and just leave, I couldn’t ignore the prize that was now so close at hand.
‘I need to talk to the others.’
‘No, Dexia. This must be your decision, and yours alone.’
‘Have you put the same proposition to them?’
‘Yes. I told them they could leave now, or they could meet the colonel.’
‘What did they say?’
‘I’d rather hear what you have to say first.’
‘I’m guessing they had the same reaction I did. There’s got to be a catch somewhere.’
‘There is no catch. If you leave now, you will have the personal satisfaction of knowing that you have at least located the colonel, and that he remains alive. Of course, that information may not be worth very much to you, but you would always have the option of returning, should you still wish to bring him to justice. Alternatively, you can see the colonel now — see him and speak with him — and leave knowing he is dead. I will allow you to witness the withdrawal of his life support, and I will even let you take his head with you. That should be worth more than the mere knowledge of his existence.’
‘There’s a catch. I know there’s a catch.’
‘I assure you there isn’t.’
‘We all get to leave? You’re not going to turn around and demand that one of us takes the colonel’s place?’
‘No. You will all be allowed to leave.’
‘In one piece?’
‘In one piece.’
‘All right,’ I said, knowing the choice wasn’t going to get any easier no matter how many times I reconsidered it. ‘I can’t speak for the others… and I guess this has to be a majority decision… but I’m ready to see the son of a bitch.’
I was allowed to leave the room, but not the bed. The sheet tightened against me again, pressing me flat to the mattress as the bed tilted to the vertical. Two squid robots entered the room and detached the bed from its mountings, and then carried it between them. I was glued to it like a figure on a playing card. The robots propelled me forward in an effortless glide, silent save for the soft metallic scratch of their tentacles where they touched the wall or the floor.
The Voice of Nightingale addressed me from the bedside panel, a small image of her face appearing above the touchpads.
‘It’s not far now, Dexia. I hope you won’t regret your decision.’
‘What about the others?’
‘You’ll be joining them. Then you can all go home.’
‘Are you saying we all made the same decision, to see the colonel?’
‘Yes,’ the Voice said.
The robots carried me out of the centrifuge section, into what I judged to be the forward part of the ship. The sheet relinquished its hold on me slightly, just enough so that I was able to move under it. Presently, after passing through a series of airlocks, I was brought to a very dark room. Without being able to see anything, I sensed that this was as large as any pressurised space we’d yet entered, save for the skin-cultivation chamber. The air was as moist and blood-warm as the inside of a tropical greenhouse.
‘I thought you said the others would be here.’
‘They’ll arrive shortly,’ the Voice said. ‘They’ve already met the colonel.’
‘There hasn’t been time.’
‘They met the colonel while you were still asleep, Dexia. You were the last to be revived. Now, would you like to speak to the man himself?’
I steeled myself. ‘Yes.’
‘Here he is.’
A beam of light stabbed across the room, illuminating a face that I recognised instantly. Surrounded by blackness, Jax’s face appeared to hover as if detached from his body. Time had done nothing to soften those pugnacious features; the cruel set of that heavy jaw. Yet his eyes were closed, and his face lolled at a slight angle, as if he remained unaware of the beam.
‘Wake up,’ the Voice of Nightingale said, louder than I’d heard her speak so far. ‘Wake up, Colonel Jax!’