Against Gravity

The car looked shiny and new, incongruous amid so much devastation. Beside it stood Smeby.

Kendrick glanced over his shoulder and caught a strange movement, as if a distorting lens had passed in front of some scrubby bushes growing out of the cracked pavement. He realized with a start that it was someone wearing camouflage like that built into the skin of Buddy's helicopter. The hazy motion halted, resolving itself into a figure holding a rifle pointed at Kendrick's head.

Kendrick glanced towards Smeby again, catching a glint of light on a lens from a glassless window in the building looming up behind the car. Another soldier was undoubtedly positioned there, his gun trained on Kendrick.

The compound was surrounded – and only three of them were left to defend it.

Perhaps they'd traced him by some arcane means that didn't require tracking his wand; perhaps they could still trace him through the lingering Trojan nanites that Hardenbrooke had inserted in his augmentations. In which case, it was conceivable that they knew nothing about Buddy, Audrey, or any of the recently departed Labrats.

Somehow, though, Kendrick suspected otherwise. As he turned to retreat towards the gate, a bullet slammed into the ground and noiselessly kicked up a puff of dust in front of him.

Realizing that he was cornered, he stepped back onto the road and moved slowly towards the vehicle.

When he reached it, Smeby was leaning against the hood with his arms folded. "I don't know what you want," Kendrick snarled, "but I'm not interested."

"I haven't even said anything yet." Smeby smiled. "But Mr Draeger has a fresh proposition for you."-

"I already told you-"

"Just hear me out, okay?" Smeby snapped. "We've decided to forget about what happened last time – Mr Draeger feels there's too much at stake."

Kendrick sensed a movement around the corner of the nearby building. He stepped away from the car, Smeby's gaze following him. At least a dozen more men were standing in a loose group beside a truck parked in the adjacent street. Although dressed in civilian clothes, they certainly looked like soldiers.

A cigarette butt glowed in the dim dawn light like a firefly as one of them drew smoke into his lungs. Their keen eyes studied Kendrick emotionlessly.

"Doesn't look like much of a welcoming committee to me," muttered Kendrick, returning his gaze to Smeby. "Who are those guys, anyway? Los Muertos?"

"Of course not," Smeby said impatiently. "If we wanted to cause you that much trouble, you'd have known about it long before now. Don't you even want to know what we want – or would you rather go through all this blind?"

Kendrick glanced back towards the fenced-off compound. Then he spat on the ground in front of Smeby's feet.

"Fine," he said. "Tell me what you want."

Smeby swung the car door open and gestured for Kendrick to get in. Kendrick stared back at him, his expression wary.

"Mr Draeger is in the fucking car, Gallmon. I'm not trying anything."

Kendrick bent down and looked inside. Draeger was indeed in the car, sitting back on a long couch that took up a large amount of space within the vehicle. With considerable misgivings, Kendrick climbed in.

Smeby slid in after Kendrick and took a seat beside him, both of them facing towards Draeger. The car had no manual control and therefore lacked a driver's seat, which allowed them extra room.

Draeger leaned forward. "Mr Gallmon, I'm a fair-minded man. I'm as fascinated as you are by what's happening far above our heads."

"You should have become a Labrat yourself, then," said Kendrick. "But maybe you wouldn't have liked it so much."

"Oh no, I would have," Draeger replied. "I have a disease of the nervous system. Neurological damage in the womb that affected millions of unborn children, a by-product of the environmental excesses of previous generations. The nanotechnology that created your augmentations would kill me within hours. It's an irony that I therefore can't get to see the Promised Land that it seems so many of you have already glimpsed."

"The experiment that Sieracki carried out on me and three others," Kendrick replied. "That's why you're so interested in me, isn't it?"

"I already warned you that the Archimedes is a privately owned vessel," Draeger continued, ignoring him. "Any attempt to land there constitutes trespassing. The offshore launch facility you're using is extremely vulnerable to attack. You should remember that?

"Fuck you. Just don't you threaten me-"

"The danger isn't from me, Mr Gallmon. It's from Los Muertos. They are as aware of your plans as I am. I'm offering your friends my protection."

"Your protection?" Kendrick laughed. "They need someone to protect them from you."

"It's a sincere offer. It would be very stupid of you not to take it seriously."

Kendrick gazed soberly at Draeger. He didn't doubt his sincerity at all. Rather, it was what the man didn't say that worried him.

"Taking an offer like that seriously is one thing. It's not the same as agreeing to it."

"I can help Caroline Vincenzo."

Kendrick was thunderstruck. "She doesn't need your help," he said numbly. How did Draeger know?

"You might be interested to learn that she visited a Labrat-friendly clinic in Glasgow. Friendly enough not to contact the police and inform them of her visit. Nonetheless, we managed to obtain certain records, which show that the rogue growths in her body are accelerating rapidly. She may not live long enough to survive the trip to the Archimedes. But I can help her."

"In return for my cooperation?"

Draeger smiled gently. It wasn't the smile of a wi

"Is that why all those men are out there? In case I don't agree to cooperate?"

"I don't need to coerce you, Mr Gallmon. Once you reach the launch facility you'll have no choice but to cooperate. Without my help, you won't get even a hundred feet into the air."

"That's a threat?"

"It's an observation."

"Why me, Draeger? Why not try and persuade Buddy or any of the others?"

"None of them are as important as you. Surely you understand that now? The growths within your body have the greatest affinity with the nanite intelligences on board the Archimedes. And now you have been blessed with gifts from the intelligences still residing within the Maze, which will grant you access to the space habitat concerned."

Remember he's crazy. Kendrick didn't want to disabuse Draeger of his delusions, not while there might just be some chance of turning this to his advantage.

He glanced at Smeby, who sat with one leg crossed over the other, his expression as non-committal as if they were sitting in a restaurant discussing the relative merits of the wine list.

Kendrick sat back. "All right, what now?"

"You can tell me now if you accept, on behalf of your friends, my offer of safe escort to the Archimedes.'"

"In return for which, they and I allow you to retrieve any scientific data you like from the Archimedes, along with whatever records still exist up there, without our interference." Kendrick was careful to emphasize whatever records. He wanted Draeger to understand that he knew there were incriminating documents on board the space station.

Draeger nodded carefully. "That would be correct."

Kendrick smiled back, reached over and clicked the car door open. "No."

"You're making a mistake," Smeby said, a clear warning in his voice.

"Am I?" Kendrick couldn't keep the anger out of his voice. "The way I see it, you need us a hell of a lot more than we need you. You want something that's on board the Archimedes, but you can't get it without us. You should know by now that the others would never agree to anything if they knew it was coming from you."