Gavin Smith - The Age of Scorpio

‘There’s nothing to discuss, surely?’ Scab said irritably, wishing that he could smoke. ‘We want whatever is in the cocoon because it could break the Church’s monopoly on bridge travel, and they want to stop us from doing that.’

‘Actually, we want to help you steal it,’ the Monk said. She was smiling. The Elder let out a sigh.

‘You’re very pretty,’ Vic said. ‘How do you feel about ’sects?’

‘Sex?’

‘’Sects, insects. Cross-species copulation?’

‘Why?’ Scab asked.

‘Because the Absolute having access to the cocoon is as abhorrent to us as it is to you. So once we’ve stolen it, then we can start screwing each other over to see who ends up with it.’

‘Bit of a risk for you?’ Scab said, but Vic could tell he was warming to the plan. There was even the trace of a smile in the slightly upturned corner of his mouth, though Vic had to magnify his optics to see that.

‘Less of a risk than the Absolute having it. Besides, you’re overconfident to the point of having a god complex; I don’t see any huge problem in screwing you over.’

Now Scab was smiling.

‘Back off, Scab. I saw her first,’ Vic said, much to everyone’s confusion, before turning to the Monk. ‘You’re very pretty. We should totally have sex.’

‘And with reasonable conversation comes romance,’ the Elder said.

‘I’ve never had sex with an insect before. I wouldn’t even know where to begin,’ the Monk said, sounding a little surprised. She turned back to Scab. ‘Unless you want to be reasonable. We’ll pay you twice what your current employer is. You might even end up in credit.’

‘The money’s abstract now.’

‘Let’s not be too hasty,’ Vic said. ‘And it’s okay. I have immersions which would help explain,’ he said to the Monk.

‘Explain what?’ the Monk asked, confused.

‘Sex with insects.’ Vic was a little hurt that she didn’t seem to be paying attention.

‘Well, romance of a sort,’ the Elder observed.

‘Why didn’t you open with that?’ Scab asked.

‘Offers of insect sex?’ the Monk asked, more confused.

‘I would be up for that,’ Vic said. The Monk glanced at him distractedly.

‘The offer to work together and then I kill you and take what I want anyway,’ Scab said, explaining the deal from his perspective.

‘Like she had time!’ Vic cried, trying to appear gallant in front of his new interest. ‘Every time she, or the other guy, the one on Arclight, tried to talk to you, you responded with attempted and actual murder!’

‘So you’re not interested in the money then?’ the Monk asked Scab.

‘You can’t pay me what I’ve been offered,’ Scab said.

The Monk studied him. ‘I believe you. On Arclight we had hoped that familiarity and a biological link would be enough to open negotiations with you.’

‘What are you talking about?’ Vic asked suspiciously. ‘Scab, what’s she talking about?’ But Scab ignored the question and just stared at the Monk. She seemed surprised.

‘Did he not tell you that it was his son he killed in the Polyhedron?’ the Monk asked Vic.

Vic turned to stare at Scab, whose face was impassive underneath the crust of dried blood.

‘Did you not even upload my file?’ Scab asked.

‘We had hoped that murdering your offspring was as much a phase as propagating them had been in the first place.’

‘When did you kill your children?’ Vic asked.

‘Be quiet, Vic.’ Then to the Monk: ‘Stop cloning him, destroy the genetic material and his personality and memory uploads.’

‘Is that a condition of your cooperation?’

‘Was that when you killed me the last time and the ship got damaged?!’ Vic demanded.

‘Shut up, Vic. And yes, it is a condition of my cooperation.’ The Monk gave this some consideration.

‘Agreed,’ she finally said, somewhat reluctantly. Scab studied her for a while.

‘You’re good. The only reason I know you’re lying is because you agreed too quickly to kill a member of the Church. But there were no tells whatsoever.’

The Monk looked less than pleased. She shifted in her seat and leaned towards Scab.

‘I think you underestimate the importance of this.’

‘Your monopoly. I think we understand the motivations of power and greed in the Seeder Church,’ the Elder said. Vic was fascinated by the display of bioelectric energy that played through his internal organs as he said this. The Monk said nothing but Vic noticed that she swallowed.

‘What?’ Scab said suspiciously. Apparently he had noticed it as well. ‘You don’t feel it’s about that?’

The Monk shook her head, a degree of defiance in the set of her mouth.

‘You actually believe the shit you peddle?’ Scab asked.

‘Did you when you were the leader of a heretical street sect on Cyst?’ she asked – somewhat combatively, Vic thought.

‘What are you bringing to the table?’ Scab asked her, changing the subject.

Instead of answering, the Monk turned to the Elder.

‘We have access to the biotechnology and enough intelligence as well as experience from the Art Wars to enable you to infiltrate the Game and hopefully get you close to the cocoon you’re after,’ the Elder told them

‘What’s in this for you?’ Scab asked.

‘The Absolute, despite his power, is a very immature lord. He is playing games of control and empire that many of us have left behind. He has too much influence over what you call the Monarchist systems as it is. With his control of the Elite, access to bridge technology would give him the power to remake the entirety of the Monarchist systems in his image. He wants it all because he will never realise that it won’t make him happy.’

‘The Absolute’s a man then?’ the Monk asked. ‘I find myself unsurprised.’

The Elder actually laughed at this. ‘You’ve no idea how much of a male he is.’

‘Are you sure you don’t just want to fuck him over for your humiliating defeat in the Art Wars?’ Scab asked.

‘Would it make any difference to you if it was?’

‘No, but I respect honesty.’

‘This has considerably more to do with self-preservation.’

Scab nodded and turned back to the Monk.

‘So why do we need to take the risk of working with people who don’t have our best interests at heart?’

‘Because they can get you in –’ the Monk pointed at the Elder ‘– but only I can get you out.’

The plan was suicidal, Vic thought as he inspected a food bladder and watched a bioelectric charge arc from one organ, designed to store harnessed energy, to another. Despite sometimes making him feel like he was being digested, Vic loved the Living City. The Elder, who was basically just an avatar representation of the city, had given him the freedom to roam around and look at the biotechnological wonder. He was standing on an artery that curved underneath the roughly saucer-shaped domed city. Far below he saw the windswept and scarred rock of the planet’s surface, the skirt of tendrils trailing towards it.

Vic reviewed the information he’d bid for from Pythia. He would have to erase it and trust to the remaining meat in his head to remember it. If he didn’t then Scab would find it the next time he neurally audited him. It would be enough for Scab to cause Vic pain but not enough to kill him.

Jide and his crew had been on Pythia to buy information on a completely separate case. To Pythia’s knowledge there was no bounty being offered for Scab and Vic, despite what Scab had done on Arclight. Scab had found who the most dangerous crew in the area were and had picked a fight with them to make an example. He had then paid bribes to manipulate the media so it looked like Jide had come after them.