The Machinery Of Light Part 27

They look all too familiar. L2's the closest thing to home he's ever known. That's why he's always wanted to see it burn. He's glad he came back here to see it happen. Now he can barely wait.

"What's up, boss?" he says.

"You've been talking with Maschler and Riley?" Carson asks.

"Sure," says Linehan.

"What'd they say?"

"You don't know?"

"Pretend I don't."

"Just low-grade b.i.t.c.hing, boss."

"Define 'low-grade.'"

"The kind that's only a problem when it stops."

"Has Lynx talked to you?"

Linehan says nothing.

"Well?" demands Carson.

"No."

"Why do I not quite believe that?"

"What do you want me to do if he does?"

"Hear him out. Laugh at his r.e.t.a.r.ded jokes."

"That might be tough."

"What'll be tough is if you cross me."

"What's in it for me?"

"Other than the fact that otherwise you're dead?"

"I understand sticks just fine," says Linehan. "But I like carrot too. What are you and Lynx looking for anyway?"

"Who says we're looking for something?"

"I'm not stupid, Carson."

"Then you'll appreciate the importance of finding a way off this G.o.dd.a.m.n fleet."

"Sure, but you guys are running some other agenda. All this beetling back and forth to different parts of the fleet-you're searching for something."

"An interesting theory. What do you think we're after?"

"Beats me."

"Good," says Carson. "Look, being kept in the dark is frustrating. But trust me, you don't want to know know the big picture." the big picture."

"How about letting me be the judge of that?"

"How about letting me worry about the s.h.i.+t that's above your pay grade? Point is that when the moment comes, you're going to have to make a choice."

"Between you and Lynx."

"Maschler and Riley are only along for the ride because we're going to need all the muscle we can get for the stunts we're about to pull. I know you won't give anything they say a second thought. But Lynx is nothing if not persuasive. He's got a way of getting inside one's head with his twists of what he'll try to convince you pa.s.ses for logic. But he won't forget the fact that you already f.u.c.ked him over."

"Szilard f.u.c.ked him over. Using me." f.u.c.ked him over. Using me."

"You think that matters to him?"

"Probably not."

"What matters is that you never crossed me me. And you saved us all at the Europa Platform. Stay on my side, and you'll have anything you want, Linehan. Anything. Freedom from all this bulls.h.i.+t, no bosses, dominion over whatever-doesn't matter. f.u.c.k, you can have Mars Mars if you want it." if you want it."

"That's what Harrison offered me. A place up there-"

"I'm offering you the whole planet."

Pause. "You're not serious."

"Why not?" says the Operative. "Not like I want the dump. Look man, the one thing I'm loyal to is loyalty. And I'm going to need it when the s.h.i.+t hits the mother of all fans."

"And that'd be when?"

"Hate to say it, but probably before we're ready."

"You're running behind schedule?"

"Now we'll see if you can keep a secret."

The shuttle initiates docking sequence.

They head from the maintenance shafts to auxiliary shafts to elevator shafts. They reach the spine of the s.h.i.+p in short order and start making haste along it. There's a clanking noise below them. Cable starts to reel past them.

"Grab it," says Sarmax.

They do-it starts to haul them out of the forward levels of the s.h.i.+p. The elevator car whips past them, heading in the direction they've come from as they drop into the middle layers.

"Let's change it up," says Spencer.

"Agreed," says Jarvin.

Spencer finds that annoying. It doesn't matter what Jarvin thinks or says, now that Spencer has the data in his head-the vantage point on Eastern zone he's been seeking, which in turn provides perspective on so much else. He steps from the cable onto the wall of the shaft, his magnetic grips clinging while his camo cranks away. The others follow him through a crawls.p.a.ce that leads into one of the parallel shafts. This one's much narrower. The elevators that run through it are intended purely for personnel. They grab another cable, alight on an elevator car that's moving fast toward the rear of the s.h.i.+p-they enter via the ceiling into the empty car.

"Let's hope your confidence is justified," says Jarvin.

"Not my fault you couldn't translate what you stole," says Spencer.

"You really broke through on everything?" everything?"

"Not all of it, no."

"But enough of it to-"

"It's their zone tactics," says Spencer. "Their strategy."

"Autumn Rain's."

"Like nothing I've ever seen. Precise guidelines-a f.u.c.king manual manual-for how to use the legacy zones to creep up and around the current ones."

"Like they did in South America."

"And at the Europa Platform. And everywhere else. And And how to remain undetected while they were doing it. I took a tour through yesterday's Russia, climbed out into today's Moscow, and got in behind the Praesidium's firewall." how to remain undetected while they were doing it. I took a tour through yesterday's Russia, climbed out into today's Moscow, and got in behind the Praesidium's firewall."

"Penetrated it altogether?" Jarvin sounds skeptical.

"The next best thing. Managed to move a few files outside of it. Got the blueprints for what we're heading toward-not to mention the real lowdown on the fleet logistics."

"Which are?"

"They're about to green-light the final a.s.sault," says Spencer. He works a sequence on the zone; the elevator slows, slides to a halt.

"What the h.e.l.l's going on?" says Sarmax.

"We're between floors," says Jarvin.

The doors are opening anyway- Haskell walks up to the president. He looks down at her, floodlights reflected in his visor. The blighted garden stretches all around them. Szilard's bodyguards stand close at hand.

"Quite a place," she says.

"It used to look a little more impressive."

"I'll bet."

"What happened here?" he asks.

She shrugs. "Some Rain operatives had a dustup."

"Fighting among themselves?"

"A habit of theirs."

"Sarmax and Carson, right?"

She nods.

"Who won?"

"Does it look like anyone won?"

"And you know all this because-?"

"Carson told me."

"He told you? Or can you sense sense it?" it?"

"I'm not that good."

"Not yet," he says.

There's a pause. "So how much do do you know?" she asks. you know?" she asks.

"A lot more than I did."

"These last forty-eight hours-where have we been?"

"All over," Szilard replies. "Some backup mainframes beneath Agrippa. Some bombed-out tunnels beneath what used to be Eurasian territory. A storage locker in Congreve. Not to mention-"

"Nansen Station?"

Szilard shakes his head. "I delegated that one. Didn't think it would be prudent to go there myself."

"Too predictable?"

"'Predictable' is a word I rarely use," he says. "If something's predictable enough, then only a fool would do it, meaning no one expects you to do it, meaning more often than not you can pull it off. The possibility for double- and triple-fakes is endless, especially if you're dealing with Rain. And G.o.d only knows how many would-be pretenders are trying to do to me what I did to Montrose. I've stranded most of the problem cases up at the L2 fleet, but the Moon's crawling with collateral fallout from the last few days: surviving Praetorians, rogue InfoCom agents, everyone who's been dispossessed by the constant regime changes-"

"But this isn't just about your staying out of the crosshairs of those who would take your place."

Szilard says nothing.

"It's also about getting ready for the next phase," adds Haskell. "And thus your scavenger hunt."

Szilard nods.

"Found much?" she asks.

He shrugs. "I've found enough. Old files of Harrison's, captured Eurasian intel briefings, interrogation transcripts-it's strange how much got scattered across more than twenty years. You've got something you want hidden, you put it out of reach, and yet that doesn't mean it gets pa.s.sed over forever. These days your data often has a longer lifespan than you do."

"Sarmax's hasn't outlived him yet."