Broken World: Liars (Chapter 8)

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Joan

"Matthew!"

Major Darling, promoted to counter Daniel's new rank, turned around.He had two soldiers with him, one on each side, and all three of themcarried guns. On a human shuttle, projectile weapons would have beenfar too dangerous, as even the tiniest breach of the hull couldpotentially doom the entire vessel, but the Confederacy built itsships far stronger than what Earth and its nations were capable of.Here, it was the weapons that humans could barely even dream of thatwould be far too dangerous to use. Darling had been talking to anItem'qar Warrior. He seemed vaguely familiar to Joan, but shecouldn't quite remember when she had met him, or what his name was,and frankly, she didn't really care, either.

"Joan. What can I do for you?", he asked, making an apologeticgesture to the alien, who seemed a bit irritated at the interruption.

She hesitated. "I'm not sure", she said.

The man frowned. "Okay? So do you actually have a good reason tointerrupt my conversation with Problem Solver Ilfeq, or not?"

"Of course I do!" she snapped at him, but remembered that he washer superior and continued in a much calmer voice: "I just don'tknow what exactly we can do."

He sighed. "This is about Daniel, isn't it?"

"I just got a message from Captain Graupe saying that the Allianceis giving up on him."

"Give us a few minutes, please, Ilfeq", said Darling. TheItem'qar nodded and walked out of the corridor. "Yes, I heard aboutthat. I don't like it any more than you do, honestly, but what howthe WEA deals with their citizens is none of our business."

"He is going to be sent to a labour camp, Matthew!"

"It's very unfortunate, I agree."

"Unfortunate doesn't even begin to-"

"He shouldn't have disobeyed, then!" Joan flinched under theunusually harsh tone. "He shouldn't have applied his owninterpretation of the rules, shouldn't have killed that damn bear,and should have let Zacharias die! For Christ's sake, Joan, you thinkI like this? He's under my command, he's my responsibility, just likethat man was his, but this isn't war, this isn't a battle, this isn'teven a drill. This is politics, and that means that I can't doanything. I'm under orders to let him be taken, and tried, and foundguilty if the Item'qar so choose, and that's what I'll do, because ifI don't, it's anarchy!"

He took a deep breath and slowly exhaled, the tension disappearingfrom his face and postures as he did. "The same goes for you, Joan.You work for the military, you follow your orders same as everyoneelse."

Joan fell silent. Gritting her teeth, she turned around and leftDarling and the alien to whatever they were talking about. She was anadult. She was several years older than Darling, older than Daniel,than Graupe, Grenouille, all of them. She was probably the oldesthuman on board, and she was growing very tired of being treated likea child.

"Follow my orders", she hissed under her breath. "Goscrew yourself, Matthew!"

She wouldn't have dared saying that to his face. She knew it, and itonly made her more angry. She'd been calm the entire time. She hadendured Chx' initial xenophobia, had tolerated Daniel's antiques, andhad done her best to be polite and helpful to everyone, and she wasgetting so incredibly sick of it all. She was overworked,having to deal with both the German and the American soldiers, and byGod, she deserved more respect than this.

Yet she would comply. Of course she would. Whenever those angrythoughts arose, her professional mind stepped in, letting her knowthat of course the commanding officer outranked her, ofcourse Chx respected her now, of course Daniel just wantedto make her happy, like a friend should.

"Doctor Blackwater."

The voice was calm, polite, and familiar. Joan turned around andunclenched her jaw as she saw the man who'd spoken to her.

"Good morning, Lieutenant Fluss."


Daniel

Daniel pressed the button that called the lift and began to wait. Itwas unfortunate that he had been unable to kill the two Warriors thathad guarded his cell in a different fashion – the blood soaking histrousers would make it fairly obvious to even the most casualobserver that something was up – but it was not going to be much ofan issue, he was sure. Johann would have done his best to ensure hisescape was not disturbed, and if any soldiers or bugs might still getinto his way, well, he was quite confident in his abilities as afighter. He had killed dozens upon dozens of people in his life, afew more would make no difference.

The lift arrived. Daniel raised the gun he'd taken from the Item'qar,but when the doors opened, there was no one in there. He entered andpressed the button that would get him to the Thinkers' area. As themachine carried him towards his destination, he focused on his ownbody. There was a light, dull pain in his foot, but nothing seemedbroken or fissured: The boot had done its job and absorbed most ofthe impact. The insides of his hands were slightly bruised from thecontact with the second Warrior's exoskeleton, he noticed. He didn'tmind. They were still functional, barely hurt, and would heal soonerrather than later.

The lift came to a halt, and its doors opened. Daniel looked into acorridor so similar to all the others that he wouldn't have been ableto tell where he was if it weren't for the screen inside the cabin.He stepped through the lift's exit.

He was alone. Even the voices had shut up. They always did when hekilled someone, at least for a few minutes. Enough time to find thenext one, and the next, and the next, if he needed them to stayquiet. The man began to walk through the corridor, careful not tomake too much noise in case someone in one of thelaboratory-apartment-hybrids would hear him. The row of doorlessentrances seemed to go on and on forever in front of him, frame afterframe after frame, faint blue, electrical light shining out of eachof them. Every now and then, there was actually a door, for thosethat worked with dangerous substances, most likely.

After about two minutes, Daniel grew a little worried. Johann hadsaid that some of their men would be waiting for him here, but therewas no sign of them. He slowed his step, unsure what to do for amoment. Then he heard it, ever so faintly:

Plip.

Plip.

Plip.

Water. Drops of water dripping in two second intervals, in thelaboratory to his left. The only sound on the entire deck, it seemed,aside from his careful steps and almost inaudible breath. Hetightened the grip on his gun and slowly walked into the smallentrance room. There was almost nothing in there, at first glance. Nobooks, no trinkets, no décor at all, it seemed. He went around acorner, into the living area of whichever Thinker inhabited the lab.Or used to inhabit, rather.

The almost neon green body of a Thinker lay on his back across ametal table. His chest had been torn open by a knife, which stillstuck in his flesh, perhaps somehow interlocked with the chitin. Outof the wound, down the alien's side, and then a good bit across thetable ran a stream of blood, most of it already dry, with only asmall line slowly flowing towards the table's edge, barely fed by thedwindling resources of the corpse's veins. This, not water, was whatcaused the dripping sound: Bit by bit, the red fell from the table,adding itself to a puddle of the metallic smelling liquid. Danielwondered why he hadn't been able to smell it before, now that it wasright in front of him. His people, apparently, had not cleared outthe Thinkers' area under some false pretence, but had instead optedfor a more direct approach.

Well, he thought, Isuppose that's just what happens when you give a man like Johanncontrol of a job like this.


Joan

"What are you doing up, Doc?", Fluss asked gently. "Don't tellme they gave you another double shift?"

"No. No, thank God. I just couldn't sleep." She gave him a tiredsmile. She was too fed up with the whole situation to want to benice, but Fluss was probably the only man currently on the ship whowanted Daniel to be safe as much as she did, so she forced herself todo it anyway.

His mouth twitched in response, the edges barely moving up, formingthe faintest of smiles. "Don't you, of all people, have somethingyou could take against that?"

Joan shook her head. "No. Well, yes, actually, but I don't like totake drugs like that just because I'm having a bad couple of days."She raised her left hand to her face, using thumb and index finger torub her eyes first and then the bridge of her nose.

"You're the expert. I'm sure you know what's best in thissituation."

A short, bitter laugh escaped her throat at that. "Mr Fluss, Idon't have the slightest idea what to do in this situation."

"Major Sylber?"

She nodded. "He's an idiot, Lieutenant. This is all his fault,apparently, at least according to pretty much every last person Italk to." Stifling a yawn, she continued: "He was so sure thatAnnika would get him out, too."

"She tried, as far as I know. But in the end, all she has areconnections. She's not a member of the allied cabinet, she can'texert any legally backed influence. The German government, on theother hand, can."

"Honestly, I never understood the WEA's political structure."

Now it was Fluss' turn to nod. "It's a very complicated system.Most of us have to trust that the legal experts know what they'redoing. Doesn't help that the constitution is unreadable." He pausedbriefly before speaking again: "Anyway, Doctor, I really think youshould get some sleep. Would you like me to escort you to yourcabin?"

Joan frowned at that. "I am thirty-one years old, Lieutenant. Thankyou, but I think I'll be fine."

"No disrespect, Doc, but that's more risky than you make it sound.The men are on edge, especially the Germans, but the others as well.Some of them seem to be actively looking for a reason to beat someoneup. So please, let me make sure that you are alright."

She turned around, making her way to the lifts, which were still agood walk away, around several corners. "I can take care of myself,Mr Fluss."

"Doctor!" Captain Graupe came around a corner. Fluss raised hishand for a salute, and received a nod in return.

"What are you doing here, Olivia?", Joan asked, surprised at thesudden appearance of the other woman.

"Grenouille and his adjutant are taking care of things on Huxley. Igot sent back here to have an eye on the situation, since it's mostlyGermans stepping out of line right now." She looked at Fluss: "Nodisrespect, Lieutenant, but it seems one of us isn't enough rightnow."

"None taken at all, Ma'am." They spoke English with one another,as was considered polite in the presence of someone who wasn't fluentin German. "I am quite sorely aware of the current situation. Infact, I was just trying to convince Doctor Blackwater to allow me toescort her to her cabin."

The Captain looked back at Joan. "Yes, that seems like a good idea.Post some guards there, too. American ones, not Allied. They have theleast loyalty to Daniel."

"Guards? You want to give me guards now?", askedBlackwater, her voice not so much betraying as openly presenting howridiculous she found the idea.

Graupe didn't seem to think it was funny at all. Her eyes narrowed,and the scars on her face were joined by small wrinkles above hernose as she gave a barely noticeable frown. "You're friendly withThinker Chx, Doctor. Everyone knows he was the one who reported theMajor and got him into this situation. If they can't get him, well,you might make a suitable substitute for some drunkards anger. Themen and women loyal to Daniel know you're his friend, of course, butthere's some who just don't like that an officer is to be tried forprotecting a subordinate."

"Well, then don't let them get drunk!", snapped Joan, but shecould feel her resistance growing weaker: She was just too tired tohave this fight.

"Soldiers off-duty always find a way to get drunk."

She gave up. "Fine", she said. "But if nothing happens, I getto tell you that I told you so."


Daniel

Now that he had seen the dead Thinker, he was relieved: This meantthat his people were here somewhere. He stepped out of thelaboratory, into the corridor, and loudly clapped his hands togethertwice.

One and a half seconds later, two men stormed out of a door a fewdozen meters further down the way from one side of the Thinker'sarea. They saw him, drew their knives, and started to run towardshim, only to immediately slow down when they recognized him. Thesewere Jackson and Harnisch. He knew them, of course, as he knew everylast one of the people he had recruited over the years.

"Major", Jackson said, his massive, dark figure rather imposingnext to Harnisch's more stunted frame, and with a deep voice mostsuited to underline the sheer power in his every movement. Then, hecorrected himself: "Boss."

"I thought you were supposed to be waiting for me, Jackson. I wasgetting worried that Johann had abandoned me." He walked towardsthe pair, closing the distance quickly, yet not hastily. "I foundone of the Thinkers. Am I correct to assume that they're all dead?"

"All on this floor, Boss, except one of them. Lukas got wounded,and we promised him we'd let him live if he patched him up with oneof their machines."

"Was he the only casualty?"

"No. In all, we lost four men and two women."

Six. Six people who had died for him. People who had sworn himloyalty beyond even that they owed their countries. People to whom hehad, in turn, given his word that he would not throw their lives awayas easily and carelessly as politicians did. Six more people for whomhe had to survive until he was strong enough to kill the gods.

He reached the two men, and greeted them with the handshake that, forsome unfathomable reason, was called urban. "Who did welose?"

It was Harnisch who answered: "Hermann, Eiffel, Müller, Backmann,Jenkins, and Rue."

Weak. Too weak. You couldn't protect them.

They were coming back already. That wasn't going to be helpful.

You can't protect anyone.

"We'll have to honour the fallen later. For now, we have to getgoing. How much longer until Lukas can come with us?"

"Probably about ten minutes, maybe fifteen" said Jackson.

"The Thinker will be a problem afterwards. Do you have something totie him up? Rope, cuffs, anything?"

"We were just looking for something when you made all that noise,boss."

"Perhaps we could drug him. If we can't find anything else, hemight have to come with us."

"A bug?", Jackson asked with visible disgust.

"You were the ones who told him he wouldn't be killed if he fixedup Lukas. A man's word is his bond, Jackson."

The man had a whole foot on Daniel, but seemed to shrink a little."Yes, Boss. Of course."

"I don't like them either, my friend. But the bugs are just as muchslaves of their rulers as we are. If I can make him see that, hemight make a valuable asset."

They entered the room that Jackson and Harnisch had stormed out of aminute ago. Another one of his lot, Bemoller, stood next to a greenItem'qar who was currently pressing points on the screen of anapparatus that reminded Daniel of a solar bank. He'd seen thembefore: One of the most remarkable pieces of technology theConfederacy possessed, capable of patching up a bug from even themost horrible injuries in just about a day or two, with a capableoperator, and a human in a few hours.

Bemoller hit his fist against his chest as a salute. "Boss!", hesaid, relief in his voice, "You made it!"

Sylber put a hand on his shoulder as he walked past him. "I did.Thank you, Bemoller, for doing this for me." The man nodded, andDaniel moved on to address the Thinker.

"I am Major Daniel Sylber, German Federal Defence Forces, probablyabout to be dishonourably discharged. Thank you for helping Lukas."

The Thinker didn't look up as he answered: "I was promised I wouldnot he harmed in exchange. Tell me, Daniel Sylber, how much trust canI put in the promises of men who broke their oaths of loyalty totheir tribes?"

Sylber couldn't help but grin a little at that. This bug was bolderthan most Thinkers. Chx had the courage he did because he was alwaysprotected, by law as well as guards, but this one was playing withhis life by risking offending the humans.

"What's your name, Thinker?", he asked in Qar.

"Rayil."

"You are wise to be suspicious, Rayil, although it is unnecessary.Our tribes have abandoned us long before we turned our back on them.They left me to die in Cardiff to protect some billionaires factory.They sent Jackson's brother to his death in a minefield created byterrorists who were, just two years before, funded by his leaders.They wouldn't think twice about letting ten of us die if it meanttheir dinner plate had an extra sausage on them. What I'm getting atis that our leaders broke their vows to us, and we owe them noloyalty. My word is my bond, Rayil, and I won't allow my men to breaktheirs, either."

The alien looked up shortly, just long enough to point a chitin-cladfinger at Daniel. "The only reason I'm trusting you is because it'sthe only hope I have to get out of this alive. Be aware of that."

"Suit yourself." He lightly tapped against the machine. "Lukasis in here, I assume? How much longer do you need?"

"About three Terran hours until he's fully healed."

"Do we have three hours?" Daniel asked in English. "What'sJohann's schedule?"

"We don't have that long.", answered Jackson.

"Damn." He turned back to the Thinker: "How long until he canwalk, or is at least stable?"

"Less. About forty Terran minutes. One of you will have to carryhim."

"Jackson?"

"I can do it, Boss."

"Alright then. In the meantime, find something to tie the Thinkerup, or put him to sleep. Perhaps they have anaesthetics here."

"No.", said Rayil.

Daniel raised an eyebrow. "You don't have anaesthetics? This is amedical lab."

"You can't leave me here. These tanks have a log where they recordwho uses them when, and on what patient."

"So?"

The Thinker cooed. Daniel hadn't heard much of the Item'qar's versionof laughter, so he couldn't tell from just the sound, but theantennae were curled, which meant that he was bitter, not amused."The Inquisition will put me on trial for treason when they,inevitably, find out that I helped you."

Daniel sighed. "I was afraid it would come to this."

"Take me with you. If you want to keep your word, take me with you,or else there's a good chance that I'll die anyway."


Olivia Graupe

Once Doctor Blackwater, now accompanied by two armed Americans, hadleft, Fluss turned to Graupe. "When I met the Doctor I was on myway to the cargo hold. Private Kugel has been seen around thereagain, I was gonna make sure that everything was in order."

"Wolfgang A. Kugel, was it? Captain Grenouille expressed hisconcern about him to Major Darling a while back. Go, Lieutenant.Report back to me once you're done."

"Yes, Ma'am." Fluss walked away, hurrying, but not running, andthe captain continued to make her way through the human's areas,always looking for signs of trouble brewing under the surface so thatshe could act before it became a problem. The soldiers from Europewere, to put it mildly, not satisfied with the situation.

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