A Dark And Hungry God Arises 28 - Sorus

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Cord Hurn
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A Dark And Hungry God Arises 28 - Sorus

Post by Cord Hurn »

When Sorus Chatelaine strides into the strongroom of the Bill, she hears him ask if she's heard "what the bastards did to me" The Bill then tells Sorus that it's her fault, and that she should have been interrogating him. Sorus has no idea what the "it" is that the Bill just mentioned, but it's clear to her that the "him" is Davies. She explains to the Bill why she wasn't with Davies to torture him.
Sorus permitted herself a small sigh. "I needed time to think. I wasn't sure how to tackle him. And"--she skipped a beat or two in order to focus the Bill's attention on her--"I still wasn't sure what Succorso was up to. I've tried to tell you he might be plotting something more complex than we realize. I wanted to learn more about that, if I could. It would be worth knowing in any case--it might be crucial--but it would also help me decide how to approach Davies."

Unnecessarily she concluded, "I wasn't particularly interested in torturing him just for the fun of it."
(Reading this, it occurs to me that the Bill is carelessly putting his alliance with Sorus at risk by accusing her without proof of being at fault for Davies' disappearance. He's upset that Davies is gone, of course--but he's supposed to be a better strategic thinker than this, considering the commercial empire he rules. It never seems to dawn on the Bill that had Sorus been with Davies when his rescuer(s)/abductor(s) appeared, it could mean that Sorus' corpse would have been found along with the dead bodies of the Bill's guards, rather than Sorus being able to stop Davies from leaving his cell.)

The Bill wants to know why Sorus came to the strongroom if she doesn't know what happened to Davies. Sorus informs him two people were overheard by member of her crew stating Sorus had a mutagen immunity drug, and she wants the Bill's help in identifying those two people. The Bill remarks it's an interesting coincidence, following Davies' mention of an immunity drug, and preceding Davies disappearing from his cell.

Sorus protests her disbelief at Davies being able to simply disappear, and the Bill shows her the recorded video of a lift coming down to the hallway outside of the Bill's cells, two laser beams seemingly coming out of nowhere to kill two guards, and Davies reacting to his door being opened by punching forward at the empty air. Sorus then swears that what they have just seen isn't possible. The Bill notes that a refractive jamming field could render an intruder as an unidentifiable smudge to his cameras, but that such equipment required to emit a jamming field would be bulky and difficult to move around. Sorus suggests the Amnion might be capable of a miniaturized version of refractive jamming equipment, but the Bill counters that it would have been less trouble for the Amnion to pay for Davies using money they took from Nick rather than steal Davies, and that the Amnion already had Nick where they wanted him. (Somehow, it never occurs to the Bill or Sorus that if the Amnion could have developed miniaturized refractive jamming equipment, so could the UMCP.)

Then Sorus speculates a mutagen immunity drug may actually exist, and adds they should learn the identity of the people rumormongering that she has such an immunity drug. When she tells the Bill the rumormongers were at the Paunchys bar and guesses at the time they were there, the Bill goes through his recorded video archives, sees a couple sitting at a Paunchys table near where Sorus' crewmembers had been sitting, and calls Operations to demand identification on the couple. Operations quickly returns the information that the couple are Mikka Vasaczk and Sib Mackern, both from the ship Captain's Fancy. Sorus angrily snaps that Nick is up to something very dangerous, but the Bill responds by saying Nick couldn't have abducted Davies, because he was in the Bill's strongroom talking to the Bill when Davies was taken.

[This synopsis will continue in the following posts.]
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Post by Cord Hurn »

Sorus concludes that Angus and Milos must have been the ones to free Davies, and asks where they went after meeting with Nick in the Ease-n-Sleaze bar. The Bill says they went to their rented adjoining rooms, and he then plays back a recording of them from a camera in one of the rooms.
Fighting to shove the confusion out of her head so that she could concentrate, Sorus stared at Angus Thermopyle and Milos Taverner in a hopeless little room which could have been in any bar-and-sleep that fed on the less affluent prey of the cruise.

Angus sat in a chair tilted back so that it leaned against the wall. "Make yourself comfortable, he mumbled like his mouth hurt. "We haven't got all night, but you can probably count on at least an hour. You've got that long."

Smoking furiously, Milos checked the room's data terminal. Then he took the other chair and sat down beside Angus.

"You know something about this, Angus," he said. "Something you haven't told me. Maybe something you heard from Dios."

He didn't appear concerned about being overheard.

"I know a lot of things I haven't told you," Angus retorted. "I wouldn't share them with you if I could."

"Well, let me try to guess," Milos replied. "Saying we're here to destroy the Bill is just a trick." The Bill's hand shook as he pointed an accusing finger at the screen. "The real reason is because of me. And Morn Hyland. That doesn't sound very plausible--until you think about what she and I have in common.

"She's been to Enablement. To the Amnion."

Angus' voice was strangely thick. "Don't guess. It just shows you don't know what you're doing."

"Oh, I know what I'm doing, all right," Milos promised. "Open your mouth."

While Sorus stared, Milos dropped his burning nic into Angus' mouth.

Angus chewed and swallowed it. His face was black with rage and nausea, but he didn't refuse or resist.

"Shit," Sorus breathed involuntarily.

"Listen," the Bill hissed.

"It's my neck in the noose," Milos continued, "and I'm not going to let you or anybody else hang me.

"I suppose you really can't tell me what you know. And what you know probably isn't much anyway. You're just an incidental victim. From that point of view, you're probably worse off than I am.

"We all need somebody who's worse off than we are. Or who can be made worse off."

After that both men fell silent.

Milos went on smoking continuously.

Angus ate each of his nics as he finished it.

Sorus watched him in a state that resembled horror. Dios, she thought numbly. Warden Dios. Saying we're here to destroy the Bill--

Suddenly she believed everything Davies had suggested about Succorso and Morn Hyland.
Sorus is now paranoid enough to believe that the UMCP is targeting her with total ruin. The Bill informs her that Nick gets the information he needs from the woman wearing one of his wires shortly before Milos retrieves the message from Trumpet, sends a coded message to Captain's Fancy, and returns to it. As the Bill informs Sorus of this, he fast-forwards the surveillance recording, until he gets to the moment in time Angus tells Milos to check for a message from Trumpet. When Milos tells Angus a message is there and that he guesses it's time to go, the two of them leave their rented rooms, and the Bill ends the surveillance recording playback.. Sorus wants to know where Angus and Milos go, and the Bill admits he loses track of them.
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ADAHGA 28 - Sorus

Post by Cord Hurn »

Sorus again observes Angus and Milos could have taken Davies, but the Bill counters that they weren't seen going back to Trumpet, with or without Davies. Sorus raises the possibility of a refractive jamming field in use, but the Bill reflexively (and stubbornly?) dismisses the idea because of the traditional bulkiness of such equipment needed to emit such a field (as Warden and Hashi obviously expected he would).

She then suggests that Angus and Milos have found a way to get through Billingate's infrastructure, grab Davies, and take him back to Trumpet via an EVA. The Bill rejects this as unlikely, because Nick and Angus couldn't have had enough time to get help from someone on Billingate, both having just recently arrived to the installation. (The Bill might have mentioned the difficulty of Angus and Milos dragging an extra EVA suit through the infrastructure within the walls of Billingate, but doesn't. Neither does he yet speak the thought that the Amnion are possibly aiding Angus and Milos.)
Grimly she [Sorus] glared at the Bill. "I don't know where the Amnion stand in all this--but I also don't know where else to look for answers."

He blinked back at her. For a moment his long face was stretched with loss.

"In that case," he said softly, "we're all finished."

Not me, she gritted in return. If you think I'm going down with this ship, you're out of your goddamn mind.
Sorus fears the Bill can read her defiant thoughts by the look on her face, so she tries to distract him by asking if he's watching for Milos and Angus. The Bill responds they are being searched out, but his people won't arrest them in case the Amnon are allied with them.

Then Sorus asks where Nick is, and the Bill reports he's on board Trumpet. This puzzling information makes Sorus declare she's leaving dock aboard her ship. The Bill demands she tell him what she's planning, and why, and she says she's putting Soar in firing range of Calm Horizons and is going to make them talk to her. The Bill gives his approval.

Then the Bill hears from Operations that Milos Taverner has been seen going from Trumpet to the Amnion sector. The Bill orders his people to keep watching him, and to grab Milos if he doesn't go straight to the Amnion. The Bill also orders Operations to put together a team to board Trumpet, even if they have to cut their way into that ship. He tells Operations to bring to him everybody he can find on Trumpet except Nick, who he says can go where he likes as long as it's not back to Captain's Fancy. Then when he silences the intercom, he tells Sorus to go out towards Calm Horizons, and promises to back her up if she decides she needs to start shooting (at the Amnion ship, I presume). The Bill is apparently getting suspicious that the Amnion are betraying him.
Sorus Chatelaine nodded sharply. She was finished here anyway: Billingate had become as dangerous as a pit of vipers for her. Once Succorso's rumor had a chance to spread, she wouldn't be able to set a foot on this rock without risking her life. Eventually the Amnion themselves would come after her.

Unless she went to them with the truth first.

Unless she convinced them she hadn't turned against them.

Grimly she left the strongroom to save herself and her ship.
The Bill doesn't seem to realize he's putting Sorus in a position where she can easily abandon him. Perhaps he overestimated her loyalty (likely, and he weakened what loyalty may have existed by accusing her of being at fault for Davies' disappearance), or he is possibly too desperate to be ready for Amnion betrayal to care that he may be giving Sorus a way to abandon him.

Unless she convinced them she hadn't turned against them. I think this line marks the first time in the Gap story that we are told Sorus is working for the Amnion.
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