Dyson's Drop Part 25

*... declare talima,' the voice was saying. *Citizens of Kanto Kantoris, be informed that your planet is under the interdiction of the Majoris Corporata for crimes against humanity. Be warned, fusion devices will be used on cities that do not comply with these directives. Furthermore, all Kantorian citizens must remain surface-based. No one will be allowed to leave until notified ...'

The camera tilted further up, zooming into s.p.a.ce as it focussed on the glittering objects floating there. Soon Hod could see, clear as day, a vast array of ships in low orbit.

He started sweating.

The great voice boomed again: *All citizens of the Majoris Corporata in captivity must be brought to the Qule s.p.a.ceport for repatriation. Failure to comply with this order will result in execution of guilty parties and their extended families.'

Hod, pale and struggling to breathe, staggered back to his chair and sat down.

Black held out his handcuffed wrists. *Now would be a good time.'

ANNEKE kept her head down with her face grimly set, like everyone else's. Calling attention to herself right now was the last thing she needed, es pecially since Brown had issued a planet-wide arrest warrant for her, complete with holopic, biometrics and her unique biosign.

So Anneke shuffled along with the morning work crowd, Pagin on one side and Hugar on the other, doing her best to blend in, to not be noticed. Getting noticed in Qule was usually bad for one's health.

Forging ahead, Anneke felt a surrept.i.tious tug on her tunic. Without looking to see who it was, she changed direction, and found herself following Pagin into a narrow street between tall buildings and two ominous-looking guard towers. Her pulse picked up as she noticed a checkpoint down the end of the road. Hugar suddenly took her arm and strolled with her, as if they were lovers, then abruptly steered her through an arched doorway to her left.

There they found an automatic scanning device. She produced her RIM credentials, displaying them to the scanner. A moment later the heavily reinforced door opened and the field that p.r.i.c.kled her skin dropped.

They entered the Sentinel Consulate.

Once within the old stone building, a holopic appeared in the air before them, guiding them to a room divided in two by a thick wall of gla.s.s, as used in pressure tanks.

They took seats and waited. Pagin was visibly nervous and excited. The Sentinels were mythical icons of the galaxy. The thought of seeing one up close was almost more than the boy could bear. Anneke hid her smile, as did Hugar, though he kept licking his dry lips and shifting restlessly in his chair.

The lights on the other side of the gla.s.s dimmed and a huge hooded figure appeared from the gloom. An edifice like a piece of modernistic sculpture rose out of the floor. A Sentinel seated upon it like a king on his throne.

*Is it real?' asked Pagin in a loud whisper. Hugar shushed him.

Anneke Longshadow,' came a voice like grating granite. *You are far from home.' s are you,' said Anneke.

*I am Ekizer. Why are you here?'

*I have come to ask for your help.'

*We do not help individuals. That IS not our purpose.'

*I do not ask help for myself, but for this world.

Nathaniel Brown, through the auspices of Majoris Corporata, has interdicted Kanto, as you must know. I believe he means to wage war on this world.'

*What evidence do you have?'

*None,' said Anneke, slumping slightly. *Save that I know Brown well. He plays a dangerous game and is utterly ruthless. He wishes to punish Kanto for the wrongs of many and establish the Corporata as the only viable political body in the galaxy.'

*You believe he seeks Empire?'

Anneke was startled by Ekizer's perceptiveness. But then again, the Sentinels had been observing and policing the galaxy for over a thousand years. Just because they did not interfere in human affairs didn't mean they did not understand them.

*I do. And I beseech you to come to Kanto's aid.'

*You think Kanto deserves aid?'

*Perhaps. Perhaps not. That isn't for us to decide.'

*No. It is not.' There was a pause as if the Sentinel were considering her request, communicating with others of its kind. Finally, Ekizer said, *My people are on their way, Anneke Longshadow. Their journey began more than two weeks ago.'

Anneke stared. *How is that possible? Brown wasn't here two weeks ago.'

*The facts are as I state them. Fare thee well, Anneke Longshadow.'

The light behind the gla.s.s blinked out, plunging that half of the room into a perfect darkness. As Anneke and her companions rose to their feet, bewildered, Pagin pressed his face against the gla.s.s and peered into the dark half of the room, seeing nothing but shadows within shadows.

Avoiding detection, they trudged back through the city towards Hugar's house, where Anneke was staying. She wondered at the words of Ekizer.

The Sentinels had already begun their journey. How could they have known? Were they seers?

Could they view the future? This added a new dimension to her understanding of the Sentinels, an understanding that had recently been deepened by her sighting of the tapestry in the Trade Commission and her a.n.a.lysis of the blood samples.

She now knew what the Sentinels were.

Their return journey was not without incident. They travelled via a different route, but as they entered a back street, a squad of Kantorian guards appeared at the far end, setting up a checkpoint. Anneke and Hugar changed direction, only to discover another squad doing the same behind them.

A loudspeaker crackled in the air: *Citizens, you are to form a line at each checkpoint. Prepare to show ID.'

While this was happening, soldiers sprinted along the street ordering shopkeepers to shut and bolt their doors.

They were boxed in.

*Spiffie,' said Anneke.

*My thoughts exactly,' said Hugar. To Pagin he said, *Boy, get out of here. I know you can make yourself disappear. Tell the others. Then get back here to see where they take us, if we are arrested.'

Pagin glared back at him for a moment, a stubborn look on his face.

Anneke lowered her voice. *Please, Pagin. If you can go, go. We will need your help later.'

The sulky look faded. Pagin nodded once and disappeared into the crowd. She did not see where he went.

He'd make a great RIM agent, thought Anneke. Then she turned business-like. *What will they do first?' she asked Hugar.

*Each Kantorian must carry the triplex - three forms of identification. It is a crime not to have your triplex on your person at all times, and just for this you may be arrested. However, in your case, with the warrant out ...'

He did not need to finish the sentence. She'd be lucky if she wasn't shot on the spot. *What about you?' she asked. *Is there a warrant out for you?'

*No. As far as I know, I am in the clear.'

*Then we must part company. Being near me would be hazardous to your health.'

*I am a hazard myself,' Hugar said with a smile.

While they had been talking they had moved towards one of the lines. There were so many people corralled into the narrow street it would take an hour for the Kantorian guards to process everyone. A lot can happen in an hour, Anneke kept reminding herself Hugar added, *Can you escape from here?'

*I'm not sure. I'm not fully equipped. I figured carrying a shield generator around might attract attention. Bad call, I guess.' She looked up and down the street. *I do have a few tricks up my sleeve. Unfortunately, there are too many innocent bystanders here.'

*I could create a diversion.'

*No. The movement needs you. Leave this to me. I'm going to join that line over there. See you later.' With that she hurried across to the other line. For the next forty-five minutes she inched forward towards the checkpoint like everybody else.

When she reached the hastily set-up bench the young Kantorian officer seated on the other side did not bother to look up.

*Your name?'

*Anneke Longshadow.'

*What is your occupation?'

*Intergalactic spy.'

The young officer sighed. *Very interesting. And I'm the king of Sargonia. Papers please.'

She placed her RIM credentials on the bench. The officer looked at them and frowned. *What is this?'

*My intergalactic spy ID.'

Now he was getting angry. *I am not to be trifled with, citizen. Please give me your triplex at -' He stared at Anneke's picture in the RIM datapa.s.s. Suddenly, his jaw dropped. He leapt up, knocking his chair over.

At the same time, he fumbled with his sidearm, which was strapped to his waist, so he couldn't draw it. Sn.i.g.g.e.rs came from the crowd.

Finally, he ripped the sidearm from its holster, snapping the strap holding it in place, and shakily pointed the weapon at Anneke. She moved forward and pointed out in a loud whisper that he should take the safety catch off when apprehending the galaxy's most dangerous fugitive.

More sn.i.g.g.e.rs from the crowd.

The young officer flushed, but never took his eyes off Anneke, almost as if he expected her to explode before his very eyes.

*D-don't m-m-move!'

*I w-w-won't.'

The crowd roared.

The officer called for backup. Guards rushed in, bristling guns, all pointed at Anneke.

They then cuffed her hands behind her back and marched her to the nearest guard station, where they called in their coup.

A second squad arrived, bundled her into the back of an air car, and then drove off at terrifying speed. Jammed between two hefty guards with another in the front seat next to the driver, Anneke figured she had five minutes to extricate herself.

She waited until the air car took a corner at high speed. She pretended to sway with the guards, but as they swayed back she leant forward, whipping her head back into the face of the guard on her right, crushing his nose and knocking him out. She then twisted sideways, snapping forward, head-b.u.t.ting the other guard. His head bounced back, slamming off the window. The blow didn't knock him out, but stunned him long enough for Anneke to roll backwards again, raise her legs, and piston them forward into the back of the driver's head.

These were not ordinary legs, but legs that had grown under the gravity of Normansk.

The driver never had a chance.

His upper body smashed through the windscreen. The car swerved dangerously. The guard next to the driver, who had started to respond to the mayhem in the back seat, turned his attention to steering the car.

Anneke slid her cuffed hands down the length of her legs and then pulled them down and forward, regaining their use.

She then leant over the front seat, looped her energised cuffs over the soldier's neck, and yanked hard. Within moments, his throat shut down and he lost consciousness. Anneke grabbed the wheel and wrenched it as a side street came up.

She couldn't reach the retro-brakes, which was a pity, as the street ended in a T-junction.

As the car bore down on a row of shops, Anneke found the thruster ignition and switched off the propulsion drive. The car decelerated. She beeped the hazard horn frantically. Pedestrians leapt for their lives and a brick shop fayade loomed large. She pressed herself down behind the front seat.

BAM!.

The car crunched, gla.s.s splintered, then there was silence.

Groggy but unhurt, Anneke pressed the driver's shackle unit and neutralised her handcuffs. Sliding over the unconscious occupants she left via the pa.s.senger window. She landed, rolled to her feet, and ran into the shop, rather than back out through the gaping hole she had created in its ornate edifice.

The shop workers were too startled to stop her. One man gave her a covert thumbs up.

She dashed through a door marked *Staff Only', found a corridor that led to the back, and moments later was in an alleyway. She turned north. When she'd put several blocks between herself and the crash site, she slowed to a walk.

Twenty minutes later, Pagin found her.

For the next two days, as the MaJoris Corporata fleet hung in orbit and parleyed with the Kantorian gov ernment, Anneke hunted for the second set of lost coordinates.

She knew where they were and what they were.Yet she still had not managed to locate them. She was filled with admiration for those long-dead minds that had devised the hiding place.

It was simple and brilliant.

The coordinates had been inscribed into a junk DNA sequence in the airborne plankton that swarmed the skies of Kanto Kantoris and nowhere else in the galaxy.

Because the plankton was so vulnerable ton-s.p.a.ce radiation, it could never be taken offworld. Whether in a test tube in colloidal suspension, or attached to someone's clothing, lungs or hair, it could never survive the transition through a jump-gate or travel on board a starship. Both these technologies produced strong n-s.p.a.ce fields and there was no known shielding for this radiation, though it harmed few biological organisms.

The plankton could never be taken to another world. It was here and here to stay. And the same for the code buried in its base pairs.

All Anneke had to do was find it.

No doubt the masterminds behind the riddle were tickled at the reference to needles, since this was indeed the hunt for the needle in the haystack.

*Not going well?' asked Hugar, who had come in behind her as she studied a sequencer readout.

Anneke slumped in her chair, rubbing her eyes.

*Not going at all. You know how much useless DNA there is in a tiny plankton?'

*A lot?'