Chương 90: 2.31 A New Perspective

Hector motioned for Freddy to keep walking. After a few steps, he said, "There's always been corruption at the top—nothing new."

"This is different, though," the kid said, turning to stare at him again.

"Have you ever seen one of the Lautrec emperors in person? Supposedly, we're being ruled by Damian the Sixth, but my uncle—who's been around a long time, mind you—says Damian the Sixth is the same as the Fifth who was the same as the Fourth—all the way down the line." Hector shrugged. He'd heard rumors about that even back in his old life—Damian the Fourth had been Emperor then.

He'd seen him from a distance a few times but could hardly picture the man—just vague memories of pale flesh surrounded by gold-threaded finery and rift-tech armor that allowed him to float above the rest of his procession.

"Old rumors, and even if they're true, who cares? Yeah, it would make him one of the oldest people in the system, but there are others who claim to have been around in those days. Rejuvenation, clones, neurodecks —plenty of ways to cheat death."

"Don't you see, though? The Lautrecs have been on the Imperial throne since the Fracture! When the Great Houses came together and built the modern Empire, Damian the First was elected. When was the last time the Great Houses held an election?" Hector had never heard of one, but he doubted that was the sort of thing that was advertised.

"Doesn't the Senate Conclave handle that?" Freddy snorted, shaking his head.

"They would, if they weren't, each and every one, owned by the Lautrecs. They have their votes, but it's always the same: Lautrecs maintain the throne." Something Freddy said triggered dusty memories in Hector's mind—Drake Conti railing about the "feckless" senators in the Conclave. No, it was more than that. The Conti representative had voted against something… The memory was too vague, and Evie wasn't helping, which meant she didn't have a more concrete record.

Still, it was enough to make Hector ask, "The Conclave is large, though. What about the senators from the Great Houses?"

"They're a minority. What's strange is that even the most fractious, the most House-loyal among them, tend to become sycophantic once they take up residence on Luna. My uncle thinks it's blackmail, though others think it's something far worse—clones or simulacra." Hector's eyes narrowed.

"Synths?" Freddy nodded.

"Of a sort. Anyway, you raise an intriguing point. Why has the Conclave grown so large? Our family histories indicate that at the end of the Fracture, when the Empire was formed, the Conclave consisted solely of representatives from the seven founding Houses. Now there are five hundred senators, and only a tenth represent the original Royals." It was Hector's turn to snort.

"I'm sure you see that as a problem, but the rest of the people in the system might disagree."

"Well, regardless of how you see the Great Houses, you can't deny that a toothless Conclave and an Emperor who's elevated himself to immortal—no, deific— status portends trouble for everyone." Hector's sympathy for the Great Houses could be measured in microns, but he couldn't help thinking that Freddy sounded a hell of a lot like Drake Conti when he was in his drinks, railing to one brother or cousin or another. It poked a hole in his certainty that the Ventress family had been involved in the Conti massacre.

Then again, someone's trying to kill the kid, and he thinks it's his own family.

"Factions," he muttered.

"Exactly!" Freddy replied, putting a hand on Hector's shoulder.

"My uncle is working with others to change things, and, well—" He gestured toward the cave where Kristy and Paige were cleaning up the bodies.

"—the rest is self-explanatory. People in my family know I stand with him. They know he intends for me to inherit a significant portion of the consortium. So long as his ambitions remain contained, they can ignore him. But should he gather meaningful support? Should reform start looking achievable?" Freddy's expression darkened.

"Those invested in the status quo would rather prevent that outcome before it begins."

"So," Hector said, steering the kid toward the tunnel opening again, "how far has it gone? Are we talking rebellion? Is your uncle building a fleet? Armies?" Despite himself, some excitement tinted his tone. He'd been looking for a target for his vengeance. Why not the whole damn Empire? Maybe House Ventress had been involved in the massacre, but maybe it wasn't all of them. Maybe Freddy's uncle, Loyal, was clean. If not, Freddy certainly was; the kid wasn't a killer, and besides, he hadn't even been born.

Freddy chuckled, glancing at Hector with an almost nervous expression." Sisters, no! That's not how things start, Hector—with fleets and armies. If we're lucky, it'll never come to that. My uncle says revolution comes from here"—he thumped his fist on his chest plate—"with people. He's building alliances, trade agreements. He's trying to get senators into the Conclave who will vote his way. Right now, they're lying low, not ruffling feathers, so to speak.

When enough of them are there, though, when the moment's right…"

"Sounds pie in the sky." Hector sighed.

"As long as the corrupt have power, they won't let it go. Your senators are going to lose their heads." Freddy frowned, shaking his head.

"Maybe, but if we can get enough House scions to join our cause…"

"You'll need them—for their ships." Hector shrugged, gesturing to the tunnel mouth and the turrets.

"Keep an eye on things, will you? My system's about to hit me with an update." Freddy nodded, his face a mask of introspection as he reached up to pull his visor down. Before Hector left, though, he grabbed his shoulder again and asked, "Hector…you'll help me, won't you?" Hector tilted his head to the side, then nodded.

"Yeah, Freddy, I will—for a couple of reasons." He pointed deeper into the cave.

"One, the assholes who sent that guy tried to kill us all, not just you. Two, I've got reason to believe we already share some enemies." As Freddy slowly nodded, Hector chuckled and clapped him on the shoulder.

"Actually, there's a third reason: I kind of like you, kid." On his way back through the tunnel, Evie finally spoke up: //Your tone—your mood—seems strangely upbeat. // Hector slowed when he realized she had a point. He'd been about to object, but the words weren't there. Instead, he agreed, giving voice to something he'd been holding in a dark corner of his mind for weeks—ever since he'd first gotten to know Freddy after their "team-building" exercises.

You know, Evie, I think I just decided I won't have to kill that kid. //I think it's more than that. You've been operating from the standpoint that you're in this whole revenge business alone. You've been wondering how you'd reconcile your self-destructive path with the friendships you're developing, and now you're beginning to believe that maybe there's a chance for more than just vengeance. // Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

Hector shook his head, sighing as he pulled the polymer curtain aside and walked through. Don't get all dramatic on me. There's a reason people don't start rebellions against the Empire—we're all probably going to wind up dead, anyway.

"Hector," Mathews called, saving him from further introspective chats with his AI. She was sitting up, leaning against the damp stone wall on her bedroll. She still looked like hell, but it seemed to Hector that the conflict had done her some good—brought some color and life into her expression. Her twin-irised eyes were sharply focused on him as she waved him over.

"Yeah?" he asked, breaking the seal on his helmet and tugging it off his head as he glanced at Paige and Kristy; they were scooping the foam-covered organic waste into the crevice Bobby had been digging. Paige was dragging Simo's body while Kristy scraped with a shovel—the only one that hadn't been lost with the harvesting team.

"Come here," Mathews said, gesturing again. He walked over and looked down at her.

"You're looking better."

"Yeah. Slowly but surely. I'll take a shift on guard duty."

"Good, because my system might knock me out soon."

"A level?" He nodded.

"What's your archetype, anyway?" Hector squatted down, looking into her strange eyes. Is that really you in there, Commander? If it wasn't, she'd surely done a hell of a job acting earlier. It didn't seem to him that an aura fiend would be so convincing, but then, he'd never spent much time with one. The experience he'd had in Redwick, fighting the one that emerged from Tacitianus's merc, was the closest he'd ever come to one.

"Hector?" He blinked, chuckling, and lied: "My system's making me spacey. Uh, doubt you've heard of my archetype—Reaver."

"Reaver, huh? Sounds violent."

"Yeah. What's yours?"

"Aegis. If I were as fast as you, I could have stopped that drone before it blew over us."" Fast?"

"The way you summon that Aura Blade—never seen anyone do it that fast. Takes me a full five seconds to get any sort of construct formed. Even my beam attack—I've gotten it down to three seconds and change, but it wasn't enough. Hell, if I'm distracted…" She squeezed her eyes shut briefly, shaking her head.

"If I'm in the heat of things, I take longer, and that's with years of drilling. Anyway, if Bobby hadn't popped me, I would've had that drone." She glanced toward the crevice where Paige and Kristy were stuffing the bodies and pieces.

"Still hate to see him buried here with that son of a bitch, Simo," Hector said, guessing that was what she was thinking. Mathews shrugged.

"Not like he's still in there—not like Perry is. That's just dead meat."

"Yeah, I guess it is. Shame neither of them had a neurodeck. Would've liked to buy Perry a drink. I don't know if he knew he was sacrificing himself, but it was a damn gutsy move, anyway."

"You're all right, you know that, Hector? I thought you were a real hard case when we first met, but I kinda like that in my team members, so I didn't mind. Perry was a loudmouth, but he was a damn good soldier. We'll make sure we pour some drinks out for him if we get through this, yeah?"

"Yeah." He grinned crookedly and added, "Speak for yourself; I'm definitely getting out of here." Hector felt a wave of nausea and swayed a little on the balls of his feet, to the point where he put a hand down to steady himself as he squatted there.

"I guess I ought to go sit down. I might black out soon."

"Those early levels can be rough." She narrowed her eyes.

"Still don't understand how you're not even level ten and can fight the way you do—manipulate aura the way you do."

"It's a long story, Commander. Tell you what, you live through this shit, and I'll let you in on some of my secrets." He held out his knuckles, and she bumped them with her almost-healed hand.

"That's a deal, asshole." She grinned, exposing her chrome canines in a show of ferocity Hector hadn't seen from her in a while. He stood and started to walk over to his bedroll, but then he noticed Paige and Kristy standing together beside the crevice. They both looked utterly defeated, and maybe his talk with Freddy really had changed something in him, or at least his outlook, because he suddenly felt an overwhelming desire to have them not hate him.

He walked over, skirting the streak of bubbling foam that smelled distinctly of antiseptic now that he'd removed his helmet. As he approached, Kristy glanced at him and said, "A little late to the party. We're done." Hector shook his head.

"We ought to put some rocks over them. I'll do it." There were plenty of loose rocks around the perimeter of the cave, some of which Bobby had dug up in his efforts to chase elusive rift-world minerals. He stooped to grab one, hoping his system wouldn't blindside him like it had during his latest few updates. //You should have some time. // Thanks, Evie. He grunted, lifting a flat, ten-kilogram stone and sliding it onto the mass of foam-drenched body parts.

The crevice was only a meter or so deep, but Bobby had expanded it a good meter past the cave wall, and there was plenty of space atop the bodies to pile stones. As he went to retrieve another large one a short distance away, he heard Paige and Kristy join in, pitching smaller rocks into the crack. As he deposited the stone, he said, "It's a lousy burial for people who were friends, I know." Paige looked up at him, her cheeks moist with tears.

"They weren't your friends, though, were they?" Hector ignored the jab and went back to work, gathering one rock after another from around the cave and piling them onto the others. After the fifth or sixth large rock, and many other smaller ones from the ladies, he said, "I always feel some relief when I just hear stones hitting stones."

"Buried a lot of people under piles of rocks, have you?" Kristy asked. Hector looked at her and nodded.

"Yeah, too many." When they were done, and they all stood around the rough grave, Paige said, "I'm sorry, Hector." He brushed his gloved hands together, wiping away the stone dust.

"Why?"

"Because I don't think you meant for anyone to die. You couldn't have known Simo—""Forget it. Like you said, I didn't know Perry and Bobby the way you two did. I've lost my cool when friends died. Hell, I've done a lot worse. Let's focus on not wasting what Perry gave us, though—another chance to get out of here alive." Paige sniffed, nodding, and Kristy put her arm over her shoulders, pulling her close.

Both women had long-since removed their helmets; the air processor had been humming away, hard at work filtering out the worst of the smells. One of Kristy's fox-shaped ears was notched—her only wound from Simo's explosive aura attack—and she reached up to probe it gingerly with her free hand. Paige noticed, and her brows creased with concern.

"You should let me look at that."

"I'm fine." Kristy turned her attention to Hector.

"What did the kid have to say?" Hector glanced at the polymer sheet, picturing Freddy standing out there watching the nightmare landscape.

"Just what we all knew already; there are people back on Mars who want him dead."

"We're going to find out who, right?" Kristy asked. Her ears twitched as something hard came into her eyes. Hector nodded.

"Damn right we are."

"And if he's right? I heard him talking to you and those techs." She nodded toward Ling and Willa.

"If whoever did this killed his mother? If they're waiting for us when we come out?" Hector tilted his head as he stared down at the stone-covered grave.

"Then I guess I won't have to go looking for them." His vision was getting dim around the edges, and he pointed to his bedroll.

"I gotta lie down—system update. Anyway, let's focus on things one step at a time. We've got to survive a few more days in here, and I intend to use as much potentia in the meantime as possible. I recommend you do the same." Kristy nodded.

"Right. I've got a level processing right now."

"Um, I do too, but I don't see how I'll be much—""You leave the killing to us," Kristy said, squeezing Paige against her.

"Come on. Let's go sit down and eat something. You can put a bandaid on my ear." As she led Paige over toward Mathews, Hector went to his bedroll, and it was all he could do to keep from collapsing onto it. As he stretched out onto his back, he tried to tell himself it wasn't just bravado—that he and the others could not only survive almost another week on the rift world, but that they could also get to the rift, exit, and handle any further treachery. If he were his old self, he wouldn't be worried.

But I'm not, am I? I don't have a single defensive ability, and— //Don't despair, Hector. My intuition says you're close to something big—those Phase Pathways weren't for nothing. I can already see the shape of the connections being made, and I think you'll be pleased. // Hector wasn't sure what she meant by "the shape of the connections," but he was too exhausted to try to make sense of the AI's sometimes cryptic jargon when it came to the aura system. Okay, Evie, wake me up when it's over.

With that, he closed his eyes and let the exhaustion he'd been battling drag him into the blackness of oblivion.