Captain
Kingsley Pryor
Capone’s agent
MINDORI
Rocio Condra
Hellhawk possessor
Jed Hinton
Deadnight disciple
Beth
Deadnight disciple
Gerald Skibbow
Refugee
Gari Hinton
Jed’s sister
Navar
Jed’s half sister
ARIKARA
Meredith Saldana
Rear Admiral, squadron commander
Grese
Lieutenant, squadron intelligence officer
Rhoecus
Lieutenant, voidhawk liaison
Kroeber
Commander
HABITATS
TRANQUILLITY
Ione Saldana
Lord of Ruin
Dominique Vasilkovsky
Socialite
Father Horst Elwes
Priest, refugee
VALISK
Dariat
Ghost
Tolton
Street poet
Erentz
Rubra’s descendant
Dr Patan
Physicist
ASTEROIDS
TRAFALGAR
Samual Aleksandrovich
First Admiral Confederation Navy
Lalwani
Admiral, CNIS chief
Motela Kolhammer
Admiral, 1st fleet commander
Dr Pierce Gilmore
CNIS research division director
Jacqueline Couteur
Possessor
Murphy Hewlett
Confederation marine lieutenant
Amr al-Sahhaf
Captain, staff officer
MONTEREY
Jezzibella
Mood Fantasy artist
Al Capone
Possessor
Kiera Salter
Possessor of Marie Skibbow
Leroy Octavius
Jezzibella’s manager
Libby
Jezzibella’s dermal technologist
Mayor of San Angeles
Emmet Mordden
Organization lieutenant
Silvano Richmann
Organization lieutenant
Mickey Pileggi
Organization lieutenant
Patricia Mangano
Organization lieutenant
Webster Pryor
Hostage
Luigi Balsamo
ex-Commander, Organization fleet
Cameron Leung
Hellhawk Zahan
Bernhard Allsop
Possessor
Hudson Proctor
Possessor, Kiera’s deputy
Soi Yin
Hellhawk
Etchells
Hellhawk Stryla
PLANETS
NORFOLK
Luca Comar
Grant Kavanagh’s possessor
Susannah
Marjorie Kavanagh’s possessor
Carmitha
Romany
Bruce Spanton
Marauder
Johan
Mr Butterworth’s possessor
Marcella Rye
Colsterworth council officer
Véronique
Olive Fenchurch’s possessor
OMBEY
Ralph Hiltch
General, Liberation army
Cathal Fitzgerald
Ralph’s deputy
Dean Foal
ESA G66 division
Will Danza
ESA G66 division
Kirsten Saldana
Princess of Ombey
Diana Tiernan
Police technology division chief
Admiral Farquar
Royal Navy, Ombey Commander
Hugh Rosler
DataAxis reporter
Tim Beard
Rover reporter
Sinon
Liberation army serjeant
Choma
Liberation army serjeant
Elana Duncan
Liberation army mercenary
Janne Palmer
Royal Marine
Annette Ekelund
Possessor
Possessor, ex-guerrilla
Delvan
Possessor
Milne
Possessor
Moyo
Possessor
Stephanie Ash
Possessor
Cochrane
Possessor
Rana
Possessor
Tina Sudol
Possessor
McPhee
Possessor
Franklin
Possessor
KULU
Alastair II
The King
Simon, Duke of Salion
Chairman security commission
Lord Kelman Mountjoy
Foreign office minister
Lady Phillipa Oshin
Prime minister
KIINT HOMEWORLD
Richard Keaton
Observer
Tracy Dean
Observer
Jay Hilton
Refugee, Haile’s friend
Haile
Juvenile Kiint
Nang
Haile’s parent
Lieria
Haile’s parent
EARTH
Louise Kavanagh
Refugee
Genevieve Kavanagh
Refugee
Fletcher Christian
Possessor
Quinn Dexter
Messiah of the Light Bringer
Banneth
High Magus, Edmonton sect
Andy Behoo
Sellrat
Ivanov Robson
Private detective
Brent Roi
Detective, Halo Police
Courtney
Edmonton sect acolyte
Billy-Joe
Edmonton sect acolyte
OTHERS
CONFEDERATION
Olton Haaker
Assembly President
Jeeta Anwar
Chief presidential aide
Presidential science aide
Cayeaux
Edenist ambassador
Sir Maurice Hall
Kulu Kingdom ambassador
EDENISTS
Wing-Tsit Chong
Edenism’s Founder
Athene
Syrinx’s mother
MOSDVA
Quantook-LOU
Distributor of resources
TYRATHCA
Baulona-PWM
Breeder, electronics regulator
1
Jay Hilton was sound asleep when every electrophorescent strip in the paediatric ward sprang up to full intensity. The simple dream of her mother broke apart like a stained-glass statue shattered by a powerful gust of sharp white light; colourful splinters tumbling off into the glare.
Jay blinked heavily against the rush of light, raising her head in confusion. The familiar scenery of the ward hardened around her. She felt so tired. It certainly wasn’t morning yet. A huge yawn forced her mouth open. All around her the other children were waking up in bleary-eyed mystification. Holomorph stickers began reacting to the light, translucent cartoon images rising up to perform their mischievous antics. Animatic dolls cooed sympathetically as children clutched at them for reassurance. Then the doors at the far end of the ward slid open, and the nurses came hurrying in.
One look at the brittle smiles on their faces was all Jay needed. Something was badly wrong. Her heart shivered. Surely not the possessed? Not here?
The nurses began ushering children out of their beds, and along the central aisle towards the doors. Complaints and questions were firmly ignored.
“It’s a fire drill,” the senior staff nurse called out. “Come along,
quickly, now. I want you out of here and into the lifts. Pronto. Pronto.” He clapped his hands loudly.
Jay shoved the thin duvet back, and scuttled down off the bed. Her long cotton nightie was tangled round her knees, which took a moment to straighten. She was about to join the others charging along the aisle when she caught the flickers of motion and light outside the window. Every morning since she’d arrived, Jay had sat in front of that window, gazing solemnly out at Mirchusko and its giddy green cloudscape. She’d never seen speckles of light swarming out there before.
Danger.
The silent mental word was spoken so quickly Jay almost didn’t catch it. Though the feel of Haile was unmistakable. She looked round, expecting to see the Kiint ambling down the aisle towards her. But there was only the rank of flustered nurses propelling children along.
Knowing full well she wasn’t doing what she was supposed to, Jay padded over to the big window, and pressed her nose against it. A slim band of tiny blue-white stars had looped itself round Tranquillity. They were all moving, contracting around the habitat. She could see now that they weren’t really stars, they were lengthening. Flames. Brilliant, tiny flames. Hundreds of them.
My friend. My friend. Lifeloss anguish.
Now that was definitely Haile, and intimating plenty of distress. Jay took a step back from the window, seeing misty grey swirls where her face and hands had pressed against it. “What’s the matter?” she asked the empty air.
A cascade of new flames burst into existence outside the habitat. Expanding knots blossoming seemingly at random across space. Jay gasped at the sight. There were thousands of them, interlacing and expanding. It was so pretty.
Friend. Friend.
Evacuation procedure initiated.
Jay frowned. The second mental voice came as a faint echo. She thought it was one of the adult Kiint, possibly Lieria. Jay had only encountered Haile’s parents a few times. They were awfully intimidating, though they’d been nice enough to her.
Designation. Two.
No. The adult responded forcefully. Forbidden.
Designation.
You may not, child. Sorrow felt for all human suffering. But obedience required.
No. Friend. My friend. Designation. Two. Confirmed.
Jay had never felt Haile so determined before. It was kind of scary. “Please?” she asked nervously. “What’s happening?”
A torrent of light burst through the window. It was as if a sun had risen over Mirchusko’s horizon. All of space was alive with brilliant efflorescences.
The adult Kiint said: Evacuation enacted.
Designated.
Jay felt a wash of guilty triumph rushing out from her friend. She wanted to reach out and comfort Haile, who she knew from the adult’s reaction was in Big Trouble over something. Instead, she concentrated on forming a beaming smile at the heart of her own mind, hoping Haile would pick it up. Then the air around her was crawling as if she was caught in a breeze.
“Jay!” one of the nurses called. “Come along sweetie, you . . .”
The light around Jay was fading fast, along with the sounds of the ward. She could just hear the nurse’s gasp of astonishment. The breeze abruptly turned into a small gale, whipping her nightie around and making her bristly hair stand on end. Some kind of grey fog was forming around her, a perfectly spherical bubble of the stuff, with her at the centre. Except she couldn’t feel any dampness in the air. It darkened rapidly, reducing the ward to weak spectral outlines. Then the boundary expanded at a speed so frightening that Jay screamed. The boundary vanished, and with it any sign of the ward. She was alone in space devoid of stars. And falling.
Jay put her hands to her head and screamed again, as hard as she possibly could. It didn’t put a stop to any of the horror. She paused to suck down a huge breath. That was when the boundary reappeared out on the edge of nowhere. Hurtling towards her so fast from every direction that she knew the impact would squash her flat. She jammed her eyes shut. “MUMMY!”
Something like a stiff feather tickled the soles of her feet, and she was abruptly standing on solid ground. Jay windmilled her arms for balance, pitching forward. She landed hard on some kind of cool floor, her eyes still tight shut. The air she gulped down was warmer than it had been in the ward, and a lot more humid. Funny smell. Rosy light was playing over her eyelids.
Still crouched on all fours, Jay risked a quick peep as she gathered herself to scream again. The sight which greeted her was so incredible that the breath stalled in her throat. “Oh gosh,” was all she eventually managed to squeak.
* * *
Joshua initiated the ZTT jump with little enthusiasm. His downcast mood was one which he shared with all the Lady Mac’s crew and passengers—at least, those who weren’t in zero-tau. To have achieved so much, only to have their final triumph snatched away.
Except . . . Once the initial shock of discovering that Tranquillity had vanished from its orbit had subsided, he wasn’t frightened. Not for Ione, or his child. Tranquillity hadn’t been destroyed, there was at least that comfort. Which logically meant the habitat had been possessed and snatched out of the universe.
He didn’t believe it.
But his intuition was hardly infallible. Perhaps he simply didn’t want to believe it. Tranquillity was home. The emotional investment he had in the habitat and its precious contents was enormous. Tell anyone that everything they ever treasured has been erased, and the reaction is always the same. Whatever. His vacillation made him as miserable as the rest of the ship, just for a different reason.
“Jump confirmed,” he said. “Samuel, you’re on.”
Lady Mac had jumped into one of Trafalgar’s designated emergence zones, a hundred thousand kilometres above Avon. Her transponder was already blaring out her flight authority codes. Somehow Joshua didn’t think that would quite be enough. Not when you barged in unexpected on the Confederation’s primary military base in the middle of a crisis like this one.
“I’ve got distortion fields focusing on us,” Dahybi said drolly. “Five of them, I think.”
The flight computer alerted Joshua that targeting radars were locking on to the hull. When he accessed the sensors rising out of their recesses, he found three voidhawks and two frigates on interception courses. Trafalgar’s strategic defence command was directing a barrage of questions at him. He glanced over at the Edenist as he started to datavise a response. Samuel was lying prone on his acceleration couch, eyes closed as he conversed with other Edenists in the asteroid.
Sarha grinned round phlegmatically. “How many medals do you think they’ll give us apiece?”
“Uh oh,” Liol grunted. “However many it is, we might be getting them posthumously. I think one of the frigates has just realised our antimatter drive is ever so slightly highly radioactive.”
“Great,” she grumbled.
Monica Foulkes didn’t like the sound of that; as far as the Confederation Navy was aware, it was only Organization ships who were using antimatter. She hadn’t wanted to take Mzu back to Tranquillity, and she certainly hadn’t wanted to wind up at Trafalgar. But in the discussion which followed their discovery of Tranquillity’s disappearance, she didn’t exactly have the casting vote. The original agreement between herself and Samuel had just about disintegrated when they rendezvoused with the Beezling.
Then Calvert had insisted on the First Admiral being the final arbitrator of what was to be done with Mzu, Adul, and himself. Samuel had agreed. And she couldn’t produce any rational argument against it. Silently, she acknowledged that maybe the only true defence against more Alchemists being built was a unified embargo covenant between the major powers. After all, such an agreement almost worked for antimatter.
Not that such angst counted for much right now. Like ninety per cent of her mission to date, the critical deciding factor was outside her control. All she could do was stick close to Mzu, and make sure the prime requirement of technology transfer wasn’t violated. Though by allowing it to
be deployed against the Organization, she’d probably screwed that up too. Her debrief was shaping up to be a bitch.
Monica frowned over at Samuel, who was still silent, his brow creased up in concentration. She added a little prayer of her own to all the unheard babble of communication whirling around Lady Mac for the Navy to exercise some enlightenment and tolerance.
Trafalgar’s strategic defence command told Joshua to hold his altitude, but refused to grant any approach vector until his status was established. The Navy’s emergence zone patrol ships approached to within a cautious hundred kilometres, and took up a three-dimensional diamond observation formation. Targeting radars remained locked on.
Admiral Lalwani herself talked to Samuel, unable to restrain her incredulity as he explained what had happened. Given that the Lady Macbeth contained not only Mzu and others who understood the Alchemist’s principals, but a quantity of antimatter as well, the final decision on allowing the ship to dock belonged to the First Admiral himself. It took twenty minutes to arrive, but Joshua eventually received a flight vector from strategic defence command. They were allocated a docking bay in the asteroid’s northern spaceport.