Cosmopath by Eric Brown

Author:Eric Brown [Brown, Eric]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Bengal Station
ISBN: 9781844168323
Publisher: Bengal Station
Published: 2010-01-04T05:00:00+00:00

FOURTEEN

SLAUGHTER

He stood at the foot of the Kali’s ramp, hands in the air. Delta Cephei was climbing into the bright blue sky, a fulminating fireball. Sweat trickled from his hairline and dribbled down his neck.

Five minutes had elapsed since the communiqué from the colonists. A stasis had overtaken the scene, with the drilling halted and the scientists and techs standing beside the rig like a redundant Greek chorus. Chandrasakar and McIntosh stood beneath the wide parasol of the mushroom high on the incline. As Vaughan watched, looking for the first sign of the colonists, Chandrasakar moved off down the incline towards the Kali, followed by McIntosh. The former was speaking surreptitiously into his handset.

They came to a halt five metres from Vaughan, and Chandrasakar lowered his handset and stared across the plain towards the Mussoree. From the ship emerged half a dozen drones, mincing on silver scissoring legs across the fungal terrain to take up positions on the perimeter of the cordoned area. Next came a scientist and a technician, who crossed to the Kali and climbed the ramp.

Vaughan looked at Chandrasakar. “You’re not going to give them the ship?” he asked incredulously.

Chandrasakar kept his gaze on the surrounding fungal outgrowths. “What do you think? Of course I’m not.”

McIntosh was watching Chandrasakar, concern etched on his face. “We can’t do anything to endanger Kiki.”

“The welfare of all my staff is a priority,” the tycoon answered shortly.

Vaughan saw movement to his left. He turned his head in time to see a quicksilver glint: a spider drone taking cover behind a stand of fungus. Once he’d seen the first, he quickly saw others, perhaps a dozen taking up positions on the perimeter of the valley where the two ships lay.

Then he saw members of Chandrasakar’s security team; they were moving through the fungal stands like snipers, then settling themselves so that they had the area covered.

He wondered where the colonists might emerge; they had, after all, twenty-five years to familiarise themselves with the nature of the metamorphosing landscape. They had taken Namura and disappeared with stealth and cunning: he wondered if they would be equal to the tactics of Chandrasakar’s security team and drones.

Chandrasakar’s handset chimed. He answered with a barked, “Yes?”

It wasn’t Namura this time, but a man’s voice, high and accentless. “We’re coming out. If any of you make a move - and that includes your drones - the girl is dead, understood?”

“Perfectly.”

“We want free passage to the Mussoree-”

“And then...?” Chandrasakar said.

“We have technical experts, scientists and pilots. We’re taking it back to Earth.”

“Where you’ll sell your secret to the FNSA?”

A hesitation. Then, “We are the FNSA. We’re only doing what anyone else would do in the circumstances - consolidating our power.”

Chandrasakar said, “The Cincinnati, I take it, is no longer spaceworthy?”

The colonist hesitated. “If it were, why the hell do you think we’d want the Mussoree?”

Vaughan thought the tycoon was stringing the colonist along, playing for time. No doubt security, or the drones, were pinpointing the source of the call.

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