A Dark and Hungry God Arises 18 - Davies [2]

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Cord Hurn
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A Dark and Hungry God Arises 18 - Davies [2]

Post by Cord Hurn »

Davies Hyland is pacing in his cell within the Bill's stronghold. He is dealing with his confinement by exercising out his frustration, and is dealing with the contradiction of being in a male body whi8le clearly remembering being a female. He doesn't know what the stakes are in his situation, but comprehends he has the stamina to resist insanity by virtue of inheriting his father's stubbornness and the results of his mother's zone implant experiments. He hopes to postpone rest so he can be awake when next the Bill interrogates him.
Nevertheless he did need rest. Despite his conditioning, he was only human.

No doubt because the Bill wanted it that way and was willing to wait for the opportunity, Davies was asleep when his captor came to talk to him.

Lost in dreams of sweat and Amnion, he heard the Bill's mocking voice. "Ah, the innocent slumber of the young." At first he thought it came from an Amnioni. But it smelled like the souring musk of his own body. "What a joy to be able to sleep and dream so cleanly."

Adrenaline brought him back to consciousness like an electric charge. Nevertheless he was cautious. With deliberate slowness, he opened his eyes.

Tall and incongruously enthusiastic, as thin as a cadaver, the Bill stood by the door. This time his only guard was the woman Davies had seen with him before--the beautiful middle-aged woman with the rich voice and the stiff carriage. She had a stun-prod tucked into the front of her shipsuit as if she felt sure she wouldn't need it.

Davies knew nothing about her, not even her name. But she was the Bill's ally. On Thanatos Minor, in Amnion space, anyone who needed an ally was vulnerable.

Totally alert, and determined to conceal it, Davies fumbled for the edge of the cot to pull himself into a sitting position. Scrubbing at his face as if he were trying to wake up, he muttered, "What do you want?"

Sounding deceptively happy, the Bill said, "I want to ask you some questions. Be a good boy and answer them."

Davies made an effort to look bleary-eyed. "Are you going to let me out if I cooperate?"

The Bill chuckled shortly. "Of course not."

Groaning, Davies stretched back out on the cot. "Then why should I bother?"

"Because it's less painful," the Bill replied with a grin. "If I were feeling charitable--which I'm not--I could give you drugs to make you talk. Or I could install a zone implant in your ugly skull and take the matter out of your hands. Or"--he shrugged--"I could do BR surgery on you until you begged me to let you cooperate."

"Sure, sure." Davies dismissed the threat. "You could do all that. But I'm only merchandise here. You made that clear. If you want to make a profit on me, you won't damage the merchandise."

The Bill studied Davies for a moment. Then he remarked to his companion, "Snotty little bugger, isn't he. Maybe you should tell him why he wants to cooperate."

The woman didn't hesitate. "Davies, you're smart enough to understand the position you're in. Nobody ever accused your father of being stupid, and if your mother were, she wouldn't have made it through the Academy. Sure, you're nothing but merchandise. But you care who you're sold to. Believe me, you care."

"What has that got to do with answering questions?" Davies interrupted. "You're just trying to figure out how much you can get for me. You aren't going to let me choose who buys me."

"It's not that simple," the Bill snapped; but his tone wasn't angry. "Events are moving in too many different directions at once. There's too much at stake. I'm not worried about how much profit I'll make on you. I'm worried about selling you to the wrong party. Until I know what's going on, I can't decide whether to deal with Captain Nick or the Amnion."

"If you're sold to Succorso," the woman put in, "you'll go back to your own people. The cops. That is, if you're telling the truth about Succorso and Morn Hyland working together. But if you go to the Amnion, you'll end up like Marc Vestablule."

Davies remembered Vestabule. Noradrenaline crackled through his synapses like static. The pressure in his veins was too intense to let him remain horizontal. Surging off the cot, he gained his feet and retreated to the wall opposite the door. With his back to the concrete, he faced the Bill.

Succorso intended to give him to the Amnion. Davies had told the Bill the lie that Nick and Morn were working together in a blind effort to weaken Nick's hand, strengthen Morn's. From that point of view, he had no reason to care who got him.

But if events were moving in too many different directions at once, the Bill might soon be forced to a choice, regardless of whether or not Davies cooperated with him. Then Davies' relative safety in his cell would end.

And he did care. The route which led to the Amnion through Succorso was less direct, maybe less inevitable. If he went by that route, he might live a little longer. He might even get the chance to do Succorso some harm along the way.
So Davies asks the Bill what he wants to know. The Bill wants to know why Nick went to Enablement. Davies says he guesses that it was to induce his birth and then force-grow him. The Bill believes Davies is concealing something, but Davies proclaims his force-growing process left holes in his copy of his mother's memory, so that he can't know why the cops would want Nick and Morn to visit Enablement. The Bill speculates Nick offered the Amnion what he was about to offer the Bill, before the Bill's lady ally walked into their meeting.

The Bill informs Davies that his theory that Morn and Nick are working together appears flawed, because Billingate's cameras recorded Nick turning Morn over to the Amnion. As best he can, Davies hides his intense dismay at learning this, and he speculates Morn is working with Nick against the Amnion because she's immune to mutation. This shocks the Bill, but his female ally says Davies' statement makes sense.

She postulates that the UMCP wants Billingate destroyed while the Amnion want the antimutagen. So, she reasons, Nick was going to offer the antimutagen to the Bill to give the Amnion an excuse to destroy Billingate, and Nick would spread the tale about selling the antimutagen to justify the Amnion action to the human pirates so that they'd still have dealings with forbidden space. This complicated theorizing is something I found quite entertaining.
In silence Davies pleaded with the Bill to believe her. He wanted to believe her himself.

"It still doesn't--" the Bill protested.

"Listen!" the woman insisted. "It does make sense. Politicians think the same way you do. The fastest way to get rich is to work the middle between enemies. But that's less effective if the enemies are actually fighting. To really get rich you need the conflict--and you need peace. You need the kind of peace that preserves the conflict. What Succorso and Hyland are doing gives both sides something they want. The cops get rid of us--the Amnion get the antimutagen. Which makes a war less likely in the short term, and makes both sides stronger over the long haul. If you were in Holt Fasner's position, you might do the same thing."
The Bill shouts that her theory is baseless, but she responds by asking what Nick was doing meeting Angus and Milos. The Bill admits his spying equipment didn't pick up their conversation in a public bar, and that Angus ran off his employee wearing one of Billingate's surveillance wires. The Bill's female ally utters her concern that Nick is using Milos and Angus for some plan of revenge against her. The bill asks Davies to account for why Nick met with Angus and "Taverner".

Davies knows his father is dangerous, but knows his father's arrival on Billingate as his mother was delivered to the Amnion can't be a coincidence. Davies admits he didn't know his father was on Thanatos Minor, but adds that maybe Nick needs people to spread the story that the Bill has antimutagens for sale. The Bill explodes in frustration at this, accusing both his ally and Davies of constructing theories on the thinnest of situational hints. In disgust, he tells his ally to get the truth form Davies, then leaves the cell.

The woman stares at Davies and tells him Nick hates her because she gave him the cheek scars. She states she'd have killed Nick if he had looked at her like Davies is presently doing, and then leaves and closes the cell door.

Davies does pretty well for him self in this chapter, it seems to me, considering he doesn't know what is going on. And I find that suspense in the story is increased by the obvious nervousness that is pouring out from both the Bill and his ally.
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Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm
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Post by Lefdmae Deemalr Effaeldm »

Davies Hyland paced his cell as if he were measuring a grave.
No wonder, given his situation, he could easily end up in the grave quite literally, just by saying the wrong thing.
He tries to figure out his position, and how to at least not make it worse.
At the same time he chewed on his memories and his predicament with a doggedness which came from both his parents: trying to force himself to remember; trying to reason his way across the gaps in what he knew and understood.
He'd told the Bill that Morn and Nick Succorso were working together for the UMCP. Now the Bill was holding him here, rather than turning him over to Nick - or to the Amnion. Was there a connection? Did the Bill think the plot was aimed at him? Or was he afraid to take sides in Morn's - and Nick's - presumed connivance against the Amnion? If his only loyalty was to himself, in which direction would he move to protect himself from danger? To profit from the Amnion was one thing: to risk exposure to their mutagens was something else entirely.
Davies assumed that the Bill had no intention of letting himself be made Amnion. He wouldn't hesitate to sell his prisoner, but he would never sell himself. Therefore he had to keep his options open until he knew what was at stake. Other people think you're valuable, and I'm going to know why before I make up my mind about you. That was probably why Davies was still a prisoner - still safe.
The Bill walks in when Davies is finally asleep, together with a woman.
She had a stun-prod tucked into the front of her shipsuit as if she felt sure she wouldn't need it
.
The Bill and the woman tell him that the Bill intends to sell him either to Succorso or to the Amnion.
he did care. The route which led to the Amnion through Succorso was less direct; maybe less inevitable. If he went by that route, he might live a little longer. He might even get the chance to do Succorso some harm along the way.
They continue questioning him,
"What's so special about you?"
"I don't know." Davies didn't have to feign the distress in his eyes. "They didn't tell me. Maybe it didn't have anything to do with me. I mean, anything personal. Maybe she just wanted to keep me, but she couldn't afford what it would cost to have a - a normal son. All that time and care." Maybe she needed an ally so desperately that she wanted her mind imprinted on me rather than letting me learn my own. Maybe she couldn't wait sixteen years for me to be old enough to help her. "Maybe what she and Nick are doing is so important that she couldn't afford to be hampered by a baby."
"You can do better than that."
"No, I can't," Davies protested. He didn't like sounding so frightened. It came to him too easily. "You must know something about how the Amnion force-grow babies. You know I got my mind from her. That's why you think I can answer your questions. But I have some kind of memory block. Maybe it's amnesia. Or maybe those memories were never transferred. I can remember her whole life until Starmaster was destroyed. After that it all stops. I only know what she told me.
"She didn't have time to tell me much. The Amnion came after us - we were running for our lives all the way here."
"So what you're saying" - the Bill ran his tongue around his thin lips - "is that our Captain Nick had the colossal and imponderable gall to cheat the Amnion on one of their own stations. Is that right?"
"It's more than that," the woman interposed. "He's saying Succorso had something so valuable to offer them that they were willing to trade force-growing for it. And then he cheated by not giving it to them."
"Young Davies, the flaw in your theory is this. A few hours after Captain Nick visited me and nearly made his mysterious offer so that he could buy you back, he personally delivered Morn Hyland to the Amnion sector. She hasn't been seen since their airlocks closed behind her.
I'm not sure. I keep telling you she and I didn't have much time to talk. And I can't remember anything that happened to her between when Starmaster went down and I was born.
Yet it was already too late to save her. By now her genetic ruin was certainly begun and probably complete. Even if he threw himself on his knees and begged begged the Bill to trade him for her, even if he told the Bill everything he knew or could guess about her so that the Bill would understand how valuable she was, it was too late. Nothing could reach her now.
Nothing of her remained human except the part Davies himself carried - the part he used for a mind.
So, if he wants at least this part to survive, he needs to maneuver his way out of this situation.
"Did she look like she was trying to resist? Did she fight him?"
His loss seemed to recoil from the concrete and fall to the floor. Abruptly he regained control of himself. Almost quietly, he continued, "Or did they just talk to each other along the way?"
The Bill, too, watched Davies. Shadows muffled the brightness of his eyes. "They talked," he admitted. "I have it recorded. But their voices aren't clear. I don't know what they said."
"In that case" - because he was desperate, Davies let nothing wild or impossible stand in his way - "I think you should consider the possibility that she's protected somehow. Maybe Succorso didn't cheat the Amnion. Maybe he made a deal with them. The pursuit might be a ruse. Maybe the Amnion have already agreed not to touch her - and she has some good reason to trust them.
"Or maybe she's immune."
"Immune?" The Bill kept his tone low, but his voice cracked like a lash.
Inspired by urgency, Davies replied, "The Amnion design mutagens. Why can't" - he searched Morn's memories for names - "Intertech or some other UMC research facility design antimutagens?" Hurrying so that he wouldn't have time to falter, he finished, "Maybe that's what Nick was going to offer you. Before he was distracted."
The Bill is shocked and thinks this is nonsense, but the woman is considering this seriously.
"Suppose it's true," she replied without taking her gaze off Davies. "Suppose Succorso and Hyland are working together. For the UMCP. Against us." Her voice was vibrant with implications. "And they have some type of antimutagen. That's the bait, the trade - that's what they offered the Amnion. They went to Enablement to make a deal. Using her pregnancy as an excuse. Then they came here. With a retinue of defensives.
"The whole point is to destroy us - destroy Billingate. The Amnion want the antimutagen. Succorso and Hyland offered to trade it for our destruction. But the Amnion can't just come here and blast us. That would ruin their credibility with every illegal in human space--it would set them back decades, maybe centuries. They need an excuse."
Davies stared back at her as if he were stunned by what he'd started; but he didn't interrupt.
"So the deal," she went on, "is that Succorso would offer you the antimutagen. Then, after he had time to get away, the Amnion would fry Thanatos Minor. And Succorso would spread the story that you were dealing antimutagens - that the Amnion destroyed Billingate to stifle the secret. A lie like that might pacify the rest of the illegals enough to keep them in business.
"What went wrong is that Succorso changed his mind when he saw me. Suddenly revenge was more important than the cops. So he didn't offer you the antimutagen. He's got other ideas now. But the Amnion aren't going to take that lying down. They sent Marc Vestabule to Captain's Fancy to demand Hyland as a hostage--a way to guarantee Succorso keeps his part of the deal. She's safe as long as he doesn't renege."
In silence Davies pleaded with the Bill to believe her. He wanted to believe her himself.
Turns out the Bill has trouble with all of his eavesdropping tech.
she asked, "What's Succorso doing with Thermopyle and Taverner? Plotting something, obviously - but what? Why? Com-Mine only caught Thermopyle because Succorso set him up. What have they got to talk about?"
"They were in a public bar. Not by coincidence, I'm sure. There was a lot of background noise. And Captain Angus took offense at the nearest wire. He chased her away. Also not by chance, I'm sure--although I have no idea how he identified her - because Captain Nick later singled her out for one of his notorious seductions, and by that time he knew enough about her to disable her transmitter.
"Then the bugeyes in the bar developed a fault. So far that looks like a coincidence."
Davies is shocked by hearing about Angus.
Davies could hardly speak. Nick Succorso had turned his mother over to the Amnion for reasons which had nothing to do with antimutagens. The loss of her made him feel orphaned, maimed. And the reaction to his lie was dramatic - so dramatic that it stunned him. The first couple of times the Bill and his companion mentioned Angus Thermopyle's name, it made no impression on him. As far as he was concerned, his father was unreal: an abstract concept; a man who may never have existed.
But as they repeated Angus' name and turned toward him, he began to hear what they'd said. Captain Angus Thermopyle was here. With a man called Taverner.
Apparently out of nowhere, Davies' father arrived just when his mother was lost.
His heart jumped as if the two events were connected.
Angus was fatal, of course. Morn had implied as much. And Nick had called him a pirate and a butcher and a petty thief. He was the kind of man Morn - and Davies with her - had dedicated her life against.
But he was still Davies' father.
His arrival now meant something.
The Bill, now completely pissed off, tells the woman to get reliable information out of Davies, and leaves.
The woman leaves too.
"I'll be back as soon as I figure out how to get the truth out of you."
Sick at heart, and determined to reveal nothing, he stretched out on the cot, covered his eyes, and pretended to rest.
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Cord Hurn
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Post by Cord Hurn »

Thank you for your post, Lefdmae, and for all the chapter quotes.

It's amazing that Davies can find hope in such situations as Angus coming to Billingate, or in seeing that the Bill must have vulnerabilities if he must have an ally. Davies appears to excel in finding reasons to stay optimistic even when he only has vague clues suggesting hope is even possible for him. I enjoy reading about his quick thinking abilities, as well.
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