The Forever Ship. Francesca Haig

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СКАЧАТЬ was wrong,’ I said.

      ‘And what if I think what you want to do, with Elsewhere’s medicine, is wrong?’ he said.

      I did my best to keep my breath steady. ‘Then you must make your choice,’ I said. ‘Just as I have.’

      *

      When one of The Ringmaster’s soldiers brought a tray of food to the table, Piper glanced towards the room where Zach was locked up. ‘We should take him some food,’ he said.

      ‘Why?’ snapped Zoe. ‘Let him go hungry. It’s the least he deserves.’

      ‘We need him healthy,’ Piper said. ‘If he weakens, or sickens, it puts Cass at risk.’

      ‘I’m not suggesting we starve him to death,’ Zoe said. ‘But it won’t kill him to miss a few meals. I’m not going to be waiting on him hand and foot, that’s for sure.’

      ‘I’ll go,’ I said, standing. I bent to spoon more stew into my bowl, and grabbed the last hunk of flatbread.

      The Ringmaster and Piper were both watching me as I straightened.

      ‘See what you can get out of him,’ The Ringmaster said.

      ‘You don’t need to tell me what to do,’ I said. ‘I’m not going to see him for fun.’

      Even as I walked down the corridor towards where Zach was kept, I felt the sweat sting my underarms, and my heart pummel my ribs; I walked faster, to make my footsteps match its pace.

      During the years that he’d kept me imprisoned in the Keeping Rooms, I used to wait for his visits. I’d counted the days, the meal trays, the steps outside my cell. Even though I’d hated him, he’d been the only person who ever came, except for The Confessor. My hatred for him, and my longing to see him, had curdled in me.

      Now it was my turn, taking those steps down the corridor to the room where Zach waited.

      Simon had been given a break, but there were still four guards outside the room, stepping aside and unbolting the door for me as I approached.

      It was barely a room, really – more like a cupboard, though a narrow window up high let in some light. Dust mounted in the corners, where empty crates were stacked.

      When I stepped inside, ducking under the low lintel, Zach raised his hands to show me how his shackles had been passed through a metal ring screwed to the wall. I put the bowl on the floor and slid it towards him, but he ignored it.

      ‘This is how you choose to treat me?’ he said.

      The door closed behind me. ‘You came to us,’ I said. ‘You knew what to expect.’

      ‘I didn’t expect this,’ he said, shaking his hands so that the chain rattled.

      ‘You did worse to me,’ I said. ‘Four years in the Keeping Rooms. Be grateful that you’ve got fresh air, and sunlight. It’s more than you gave me.’

      ‘Four years?’ he said. ‘Try thirteen.’

      ‘What are you talking about?’

      He cocked his head to the side. ‘You think this is the first time I’ve been your prisoner?’ he said. ‘What about the first thirteen years of our lives? You kept me trapped. You made my own parents wary of me. I couldn’t start school; couldn’t make friends; couldn’t do anything, fit in anywhere, until I was free of you.’ He stared at me unflinchingly. ‘Thirteen years,’ he said again, dragging the words out, making each syllable last. ‘My life couldn’t start until I’d got rid of you. I’ve had to make up for lost time ever since.’

      ‘Don’t blame me for what you’ve done,’ I said. ‘It was your choice – all of it.’ I looked at his hands, and thought of the things they had done. Looked at his mouth, and thought of the orders he had given. ‘You’ve done unspeakable things.’

      ‘What alternative was there?’ he shouted. ‘Let things continue as they were? Everyone subject to the whims of Omega bodies, that could sicken at any moment?’

      I ignored him. ‘Tell me what you know,’ I said. ‘Where did you move the blast machine? What’s The General planning?’

      He went rigid. ‘I’ve told you. The General’s been freezing me out, ever since you destroyed the database and retook this town.’

      How quickly we were back to his old refrain: everything was my fault. Mine.

      ‘But you still must know,’ I said. ‘You were in the Ark, when they were moving the blast machine out.’

      Night after night, I had groped after that blast machine. I’d forced myself to reach for it, against every instinct that recoiled at the thought of such a weapon. I’d reached for it, clenching my eyes so tightly that I saw white shapes moving in front of the blackness. It made no difference – however hard I strained to see the place, I felt nothing, or worse, a wavering impression: north one day, and two days later gone altogether, or to the west. My seer’s knack for finding things was failing me. Or the blast machine had broken it, as it would break everything in the end.

      ‘I’ve got nothing to tell you,’ Zach said. ‘The General ordered the relocation. I never saw the new site. I already told that to your friend Piper, when he came to badger me.’ Zach’s lips tightened at the memory. ‘Him and The Ringmaster together, asking me the same questions, for hours. Trying to scare me, intimidate me. I told them what I’ve told you: I never went there. I don’t know.’

      ‘You’re lying to me,’ I said.

      ‘What are you going to do about it?’ he said. ‘Torture me?’ There was a smirk at the edges of his lips.

      I banged on the door. While the guards were unbolting it, I kept my hand to the door, pressing my palm hard against the rough wood and trying to stay calm. Zach eyed me appraisingly. He knew that I would share any pain inflicted on him. Last night, when I’d guessed that Piper and The Ringmaster were in here with him, I’d slept with my body half-braced, awaiting the pain. It hadn’t come – but I didn’t know how long I could expect Piper and The Ringmaster to spare me. It didn’t matter that Zach and not I was responsible for his crimes. It made no difference: my body had become an obstacle between the resistance and what we needed to know.

      Before I rejoined the others in the main hall, I stood for a moment with my back against the wall of the corridor. The guards were locking the door of Zach’s room again, and I felt my breath slowing with the scrape of each bolt sliding home, but flames still hissed at the edge of my vision. The blast was stalking me. How much longer, I wondered, before I joined Xander in the Kissing Tree, and in his silence? How much longer before I surrendered to the blast?

      Piper watched me carefully as I entered the main hall; conversation stopped when I entered.

      ‘Did you get anything out of him?’ The Ringmaster said.

      I shook my head. ‘He says he doesn’t know anything.’

      ‘Do you believe him?’ asked Zoe.

      ‘I don’t know,’ I snapped. ‘I can’t read his mind.’

      Zoe СКАЧАТЬ