The greater enigma, the cyborg said, grimly, is how someone contrived to take us prisoner. Taking control of Child of Fortune s AIs should have been impossible.
Impossible for outside agencies, maybe, another voice put in I guessed that it was Lowenthals, although it sounded far less smooth than it had before but if it were an inside job
If it had been me, the Titanian snapped back, I wouldnt have brought your pet gladiator and Id have kept a couple of my own people. I cant believe that it was anyone on my crewand even if I could believe it, I cant believe that theyd bring us to Earth. Only your people would do that. I didnt think the Cabal had the intelligence, let alone the technics, but I guess you might have sharpened up your act since you accidentally blew North America away and shriveled Garden Earth to mulch. On the other hand, I cant see how you had the opportunity. There was a pause while she redirected her attention. Only you had that, she added. I knew that she had to be staring at Davida.
I was beginning to feel left out again, so I decided to sit up. It wasnt easy, but I managed it. I had to remind myself that I was supposed to be a hard man, a real fighter. I had to tell myself, very sternly, that if we were all equal now, in terms of our clothing and internal resources, then I ought to be vying for leadership of the pack instead of lying flat out and feeling exceedingly sorry for myself.
You ought to lie down, Niamh Horne told me. Youve lost a lot of blood, and we no longer seem to have the kind of help that we normally rely on to make such losses good.
Im okay, I lied, fighting the dizziness. I could see how much blood there was on the gray floor now, and how much there was on the pale blue sleeves of my dead shirt. My trousers were pale blue too, except where theyd picked up bloodstains from the floor. Everybodys clothes were pale blue. They had to be uniforms of some kind, although they seemed ridiculously casual as well as inert.
Better do as she says, Mr. Tamlin, Solantha Handsel put in, flatly. I hit you hard. Im sorry. I didnt know who it was. It could have been a hostile.
If I wasnt a hostile before, I managed to mutter, darkly, I am now. She didnt seem impressed.
Come on, Mr. Tamlin, said Mortimer Gray. Ill help you. He lent me an arm so that I could raise myself from a sitting position to a standing one. I felt faint, and I had to fight hard against the impulse to lie back down again. Id sat up because I wanted to keep better track of the argument, but the argument had been suspended now while everyone put on a collaborative show of sympathy. Michael Lowenthal seemed very anxious indeed, although he might have been overacting or he might, of course, have been projecting an anxiety he really felt
for himself. Emortal or not, he knew how vulnerable he was without IT assistance.
Mortimer Gray continued to hang on to my arm, to make sure that I didnt keel over again. When he was sure that I wouldnt he steered me back toward the door from which Id unwisely emerged on my exploratory mission, obviously intent on seeing me safety back to my bed. I resisted, but I didnt have the strength to make the resistance stick. In the end, I decided that I could only benefit from a brief interval of rest, and allowed myself to be guided.
Christine Caine followed us into the cell, with the air of one who thought she had a legitimate claim to the territory. I took that to mean that she had been the person in the upper bunk. I wondered briefly whether I ought to put in for a transfer, but it seemed unlikely that anyone was going to volunteer to trade not only because no one else would want to share with Christine but also because no one else would want to share with me.
I figured that I had the rough end of the deal. If I had been deprived of my IT, I reasoned, so had Christine. Whatever internal censors the sisterhood had put in place to ensure that she didnt revert to type were presumably gone. She didnt look dangerous at the moment, but I had seen Bad Karma .
I lay down in the bottom bunk. Mercifully, the dizziness relinquished its hold on my head almost immediately.
Im sorry, Madoc, Mortimer Gray said, moving toward the door, but we have to get this sorted out, if we can.
I was tempted to tell him that he shouldnt leave me out of the discussion, and certainly shouldnt leave me alone with a crazy mass murderer, but I didnt have the energy. I needed time to recover my wits.
Are you okay? the crazy mass murderer said, looking down at me. Do you want me to stay?
I resisted the temptation to laugh. I tried to shake my head, but it wasnt the ideal gesture to attempt in my condition.
She stayed anyway. Do you have any idea whats going on? she asked, paying me a compliment of sorts.
It looks as if weve been kidnapped by space pirates, I said, weakly. In fact, one way or another, thats what it amounts to. Whether the pirates are from Earth, or Titan, or Excelsior, or somewhere else entirely, were still kidnapped. I expect well find out soon enough what happens next. Maybe we get held for ransom, auctioned to the highest bidder. Theres only one thing Im sure of.