Chapter 15

"Llew, it's my birthday in a few weeks, and by law, as a concubine I can retake my CAP test on my birthday. I wasn't allowed to last year, because you have to have held a CAP for a least a year before you can retake. Please will you allow me to retake it this time?"

It was a week after I had got Imogen pregnant, I'd just got in from work and Huw had collared me in my office.

I looked at him. "Just out of curiosity, if you do pass, what do you intend to do?"

"I want to join the Marines."

"Uh huh. And then what?"

"Exactly? Don't know. But what I do know is that I want to try and stop the dickheads from ever getting to Earth, so I want to go out there and join a combat unit facing them."

I looked at his serious face for a moment, then nodded.

"AI, in your considered opinion, is Concubine Huw Carter ready to retake a CAP test?"

There was a long pause. I guessed it was reviewing anything and everything that Huw had said and done since he had first declared his intentions to retake over a year earlier. "He is not certain to pass. Probability is about point seven."

I looked at Huw. "That's only a seventy percent chance of you passing according to the AI. You sure you're ready?"

"I believe so. Please?"

"You don't have to ask my permission you know. This is the only thing, as far as I am aware of, that you can demand of me."

"Yes, we know, but I'd rather have your permission."

I smiled slightly and nodded. "All right. I'll get Dad to help get you ready."

He nodded. "Dad's been working with me for ages. And I've been studying hard.

I nodded and called Roger into the room and told him what I wanted. Roger smiled and he and Huw left. Huw went into the sleep trainer that I still had in my pod. I still found it incredibly useful now and again, though I often ended up using it after I discovered I had already needed to have used it.

Roger came back a few minutes later. "Okay, Huw's in the trainer. I've given him a basic logic and philosophy course. It might seem quite theoretical, but Huw's always been quite impulsive, and I'm not sure that's always the best way to be. Logic should allow him to control his impulsive nature and philosophy should help to give him insights into what other people might think about a situation."

"Okay. If you say so."

"I do. I'll also give him some psychology as well, help him with leadership and delegation issues; both up and down." I nodded. "Now," continued Roger, "we had put me down to be Branny and Siân's next breeding partners, but in case Huw does go, I think it might be better if he was their next partner. Branny's anyway, Siân won't be ready until after he leaves. If he leaves."

"Okay. And for Janine or Stacy? The AI has reminded me it's time Janine was pregnant again."

He thought about it for a moment. "Leave them as they are. David for Joanne. No, sorry, not Joanne, Janine, Huw for Stacy. I know that means Huw could have three women pregnant, but we'll just have to go with that."

"Agreed. And we'll definitely go with four months between birth and next pregnancy, so Janine not for another twenty five days." Despite what the AI's said, none of us had been happy with getting the women pregnant again too soon after giving birth. We had initially gone with a three month gap, but recently Imogen, Janine and Roger had decided that for most of them even this was too short, so we had extended another month. I had simply rubber stamped their agreement, given it my blessing without worrying about it: first I wasn't the one being pregnant, and second I wasn't having to look after all the new kids. Janine was a brilliant mother to all the youngsters, even those not her own, and wonderful support to a new mother; so if she said a longer rest period was needed, then she, and they, got a longer rest period.

Roger had persuaded David to have body changes that made him look about nineteen again. Joanne had found it funny, and despite their avowals to refrain, had promptly jumped on him and had fucked him again. A month after Joanne had given birth to another baby girl, I allowed her to have the body changes she wanted, and that Melissa had denied her. I toned down her requests somewhat, but she was happy with the end result. After that she and her father, having been promised that they would never have to have sex again if they didn't want to, seemed to get together about once a month or so. That I did find gently amusing. But it was also beautiful and loving and sexy, and most definitely erotic.

Huw failed his test, but did come back with a huge grin on his face. "Six point four. Next year."

He was commiserated by all the women for not quite reaching his target, but congratulated on getting so close.

Some months later, Siân now two months pregnant with her second child, by Huw, asked me for her chance to retest. I gladly gave it. When I asked her what she wanted to do, she told me she wanted to remain here and become my assistant. I laughed. "Sounds good to me, in fact, if I can swing it, I think you should become my assistant anyway."

She just grinned and gave me a huge hug.

Ten days later, on her sixteenth birthday, she came back with a six point nine, and advice to retake it in two years.

"Oh how wonderful, babe," I told her, giving her a huge hug. "And in two years time they reckon you'll get better than seven?"

She nodded. "Dad reckons it's 'cos he spent all his time mentoring Huw that I only got a six nine. He reckons if he'd a been training me, I'd've got a seven five easily."

I laughed. "Almost certainly. You do realise though, that as you are no longer a concubine, this is no longer your home?"

She grinned. "Actually it is. I explicitly asked to have a joint home with you. I get two concubines because I'm in the six range, and you get two concubines, one to replace me, and one as a bonus for turning me into a sponsor."

"Oh god, I do don't I. So I get two more females, and you get one male and one female?"

"I think we have enough males for the moment. I'm just gonna get two females, and as we're all going to be living in a joint pod, we'll just all mix in." She grinned at me. "Better all round that way. If and when Huw or Roger leave, you can add another male then."

I nodded. "Okay my little fuck bunny. If that's what you want."

She nodded, pushed me back onto the bed, and jumped on top of me, scrabbling for my flies. I loved Siân. I'd told her many times she was my favourite sister, and it's true, she is. So I was already hard when she slid her red furry pussy down onto my cock. I wondered, now she was a volunteer, how long it would take her to remove her unwanted pubic hair.

"Oh god babe," I whispered. "You are so lovely. So good to me. So sexy. So special."

She just smiled, and began to rock, taking her pleasure, but giving me lots of pleasure at the same time. Five minutes later I was behind her, thrusting hard into her as she knelt on the bed in front of me, gasping in time to my thrusts. A few minutes after that we were in the traditional missionary with my baby sister's long, slim, legs wrapped firmly around my waist.

Siân's moans suddenly got louder and higher. "Oh. Oh. Oh." Her legs tightened around my waist and her hot pussy suddenly clamped around my cock. "Ohhhhhhhhhh," she squealed as she came.

We made love for another hour, Siân eventually wringing three massive climaxes out of me, but having over half a dozen herself. Eventually we lay, exhausted, side by side. Siân reached out and took hold of my soft cock.

"I know why Dad has done that breeding chart, and in theory I agree with it."

"I did ask him to do it," I told her softly.

"Yeah, fine. But I'm now a volunteer in my own right. I can choose for myself."

"Yes. You can."

"In that case, I want the next one to be yours."

"You don't want Dad's?"

"After that. The first one was yours, this one inside me now is Huw's but the next one is yours. Oh god Llew, I love you. I wasn't 'in love' with you. Not like Branny. Branny's been 'in love' with you for years. But I did love you. Now I think I may be," she didn't finish her sentence, just rolled onto me, keeping hold of my slowly hardening cock, and gave me a firm, hard and long kiss. We slid back together again, and to her delight I filled her one more time before I had to call it a night.

The following morning I went to Major Thornby to request Siân as my assistant. He okayed it without a word, however despite the fact that she was now fourteen weeks pregnant he sent her off Mars for her basic training. It would be many months before I saw her again: her six week old twin sons came back over a month before she did.

A few days after the two baby boys arrived, I got my one and only trip to Earth during the time I was stationed on Mars. I was at my desk when I got passed some papers to process. There was nothing new in this, but though I didn't know it at the time, I would be feeling the repercussions for a great many years.

"Interesting," I muttered as I read through the papers. I jotted down some notes: unlike many others I still preferred using paper and pen to using a computer or PDA to make quick notes. It was only when I started to do the formal précis and filing, that I realised that something was different. At first I just thought that I would need to do a bit more research - but the information just wasn't there. It wasn't that I didn't have access to it, it wasn't there. I would have to go to the source.

I smiled slightly, my heart rate going up a little. "Yay!" I whispered. I put together a formal travel request, my first. I had had a brief trip to Luna a few months earlier, but that had been part of my formal training, and had been organised for me. This was a trip to Earth. To the UK, England. Cambridge University in fact.

As part of a research project, some university students had designed, and built, an interface to the Confederacy replicators. There was no real concern about this, but we did want more information.

I handed the paperwork directly to Major Thornby.

"Sir, I need to visit Earth. Will you sign my travel docket please."

He looked at me startled. "Why didn't you just push it through the system? You didn't need to print it off." He looked at me for a moment, then looked at the front sheet.

"Ah," he smiled slightly. "You are English aren't you?"

"No sir, I'm actually Welsh."

"But," he paused, "all right." He quickly read the summary I had hand written, then passed it back. "Agreed." I didn't need to get it signed or anything, I just needed to scan it into the system. The AI's who were watching and recording everything, would note what had been said, and by whom. I went back to my desk with a spring in my step.

I got to Earth four days later, but instead of going straight to Cambridge, as I had expected, I was diverted to Artemis base for a briefing on the changing circumstances in Britain.

"Commander Carter? Good day, I'm Lieutenant Percy, I've been ordered to give you a situation briefing." The woman who shook my hand was impressive and imposing. She was very slightly shorter than me yet to my slight surprise it looked like she hadn't had the full 'Marine Package'. She had very short, blonde, hair, steel grey eyes, and a tough, almost abrasive, manner. Her confident and forceful manner made her appear larger than she really was. When I got over my surprise, I saw she was also really rather attractive. But she wasn't my type though. I think I would have been too scared of her, there was a sort of coiled up danger, even violence, inside her.

"Sit please Commander, we have a lot to talk about."

"Thank you ma'am," She gave a hint of a smile, and I realised that despite her rank being junior to mine, I had treated her as a more senior officer. It was her manner. And the fact that she was older than me. I was after all, still only just nineteen. Her beautiful, cut glass, almost accent-less voice suggested an education in some really rather expensive British private girls school: Rodean or Wycombe Abbey maybe, perhaps Cheltenham Ladies college. I could, of course, have been totally wrong, but that was the impression I gained from her speaking voice.

I left her office after just ten minutes, probably better briefed than I had even been briefed before. She had been concise, and to the best of my knowledge, complete. It made me worried for my country. Even though I was now a Confederacy citizen, and wouldn't go back for anything, I still looked back in fondness at my previous life, and my old country.

Going to the UK in Confederacy uniform was now risky. Not yet illegal, but potentially rather dangerous. My lack of bulking up to a full Confederacy Marine size was to my advantage, I had been told. Further, I had been advised to conceal my Confederacy status from anyone except those who needed to know. "And no one needs to know," Lieutenant Percy told me. "If your contact doesn't already know, they don't need to."

We shook hands and I left. She puzzled me. She was obviously highly competent, and highly knowledgeable. Yet... "AI," I asked, sotto voce, as soon as I was alone again. "Who is Lieutenant Percy?"

"Lieutenant Priscilla Percy. Age thirty-eight. Confederacy intelligence. Reports directly to Sir Samuel Cassell, Director of Intelligence."

"She's more than just a secretary or something like that. Is she a body-guard?"

"Negative. She is a special operations officer."

"Er, what does that mean?"

"Lieutenant Percy serves as the Head of Security for Testing Centres, as well as the Team Leader for Samuel Cassell's Rapid Response Team."

"Oh." I was surprised. "So what's her background then?"

"She was a member of the British Army's Special Reconnaissance Regiment for seven years before transferring to the Special Air Service to become the first female member of that regiment. She was with them for nearly two years, and went on to become one of the senior instructors before being ordered to volunteer for Confederacy service just before serving members of the military were barred from volunteering."

My jaw almost literally dropped. SAS? That explained the controlled danger I had felt in her.

"Oh shit. What's her CAP?" I expected it to be very high. Scarily high.

"7.9."

That was lower than I expected, and I was surprised. The AI wouldn't give me any more information though. I nodded and left to find some clothes to replace the uniform I was wearing.

I found a bathroom and ordered a new set of clothes from the replicator, putting my uniform in. I could get it replaced on the way back, and this way I didn't have to carry it around with me.

Back in proper civilian clothes for the first time in quite a long time felt good. A transporter could get me from the moon to Earth, and ten minutes after I had left my uniform in the replicator I was exiting a Confederacy office on Bond Street in London. Unlike most Confederacy offices, this one was disguised as a small, slightly seedy solicitors office, above and behind a very expensive jewellery shop.

It was a lovely summer day in London, and as I strode down Bond Street towards the underground station, there were lots of people around. I noticed a lot of Vote Earth First posters around. It was just a year since the palace extraction, nine months since the unexpected general election that had put Neil Conway into number 10, yet they still looked fresh and new, as if it was important that the population was continuously reminded that there was now an Earth First government.

I stopped suddenly, almost causing the woman behind me to crash into me. "Sorry," I muttered to her as she glared at me. I'd just realised I'd come out without any money. "Oh bum," I muttered. I looked around, and to my relief saw a branch of the bank we had used. I was now on Oxford Street, "the longest shopping street in the UK" I'd once been told. It was fully pedestrianised, so I hoofed it across to the bank.

I had almost no identity on me, and the bank staff were just starting to get suspicious of my claims that I'd forgotten it all. The fact that they had my thumb print on file, plus a signature, plus I knew the address of my own branch, plus when I'd last used my account, plus several other bits of information didn't seem to make any difference to them. It was two years since I'd used the account, and that was enough to make them ask questions. I found out I had a total of £487.56, of which they let me take out £250.00. I could have closed the account and taken it all, but that would just have made them even more suspicious. Besides, having a little bit on hand might come in useful in the future.

I walked to Kings Cross station. It saved me nearly a tenner in underground rail fare, and took me forty minutes, but I was young and fit, and it was an interesting, even fascinating, walk. My visits to London a year earlier had kept me in the very centre of the city, plus some fairly run-down looking industrial estates further out. Now I was walking past some very modern looking office buildings which were standing alongside buildings with some wonderful eighteenth and nineteenth century architecture that were probably 200 years old. The effect was both bizarre and strangely beautiful.

The train to Cambridge took just fifty minutes, and almost as I was getting out of the train, I heard my name called on the station tannoy. I found a station porter, who wordlessly pointed me in the direction of my contact.

My contact, Doctor Judd, looked barely older than me.

"Mister Carter? Hello. I'm Ashley Judd." He smiled slightly. "My mum was a fan of the actress of the same name." I must have looked blank because he burst into laughter. "You've never heard of her have you? Don't worry about it," he added as I shook my head.

"Um. Doctor Judd. I've come about a piece of kit you and your team designed." I explained what I wanted.

He frowned and looked around, pulling me to a quieter part of the concourse. "How did you hear about that?"

"A report on it just came across my desk last week. It's something that a lot of people would find extremely useful, so I'm following up on it."

"Your desk?"

I smiled slightly, shrugging, but didn't answer.

"Are you from the Confederacy?" he asked after a long pause.

It was my turn to frown. "The Confederacy is not popular here."

"No. It's not. But you haven't answered my question."

"Why? Is it important?"

"If you're Confederacy, I have a CAP of 7.3 and I want away from here. You want my notes, I want something in return."

I gave a start of surprise as the AI spoke up inside my head. "Ask him what he would expect to do."

"What do you want from the Confederacy?"

"I have PhD's in both Physics and Quantum Engineering. I am part-way through another in Quantum Electronics with Computing. I reckon I would be an asset to your R&D."

"AI?" I asked silently.

"Tell him he has an appointment with his solicitor next Thursday morning, a week today, and give him the address of the Bond Street office," came the reply in my head.

I did as I was asked.

"In that case you need to go to Gillingham, to the University of Kent," Ashley told me. "Ask for Paul Zucher."

"Gillingham? Paul Zucher?"

Ashley nodded. "It's just starting to get too dangerous to be doing stuff with Confederacy Technology in the UK, so we've sent it to Paris University. Zucher is one of my students, his uncle is a physics professor in Paris."

"Uh huh. So if he's one of your students, how come he's at Kent University?"

"I'm a peripatetic lecturer. I lecture there. He's one of my students there."

I nodded my understanding. "And he's still there?"

"He was as of this morning, I was talking to him. I'll drop him a line and tell him you're on your way."

I nodded. "Did he work on it? Paul Zucher?"

"No. I'm only using him because of his contacts."

"Oh okay. So, how close to finished would you think it is?"

"Ninety percent. Ninety-five percent maybe. Very close."

"Thank you Doctor," we shook hands, and I headed back to the platform for trains back to London.

It was already early evening by the time I eventually reached Gillingham, but I went to the address I'd been given.

A young man with a slightly haunted look about him cautiously opened the door of the student flat. "Carter?" he asked softly.

I nodded. "Can I come in?" I asked, equally softly.

He stared at me for a moment, then gave a single abrupt nod, before opening the door wider and beckoning me in. I had never been to university, I hadn't actually finished my sixth form at school before I'd been picked up, but I'd heard all about student digs. These digs were far worse than I'd ever pictured them. Small, cramped, incredibly messy and absolutely filthy. There was a mildly pornographic poster on one wall, in front of which was what appeared to be a very expensive music system. There was an unmade bed, a washing basket full to overflowing with dirty clothes, a single chair and a table. The table and floor were covered in a mix of papers and dirty part-empty take-away food cartons. I could almost feel my skin crawling, feel myself being infected with something horrible as I stood there and looked around. I just hoped my face didn't show my thoughts. I wanted to get out of there, and fast.

Zucher looked around, vaguely. "It's not normally like this," he murmured. "Can I get you a drink?" He gestured absently towards an electric kettle sitting on the window-sill.

I shook my head, trying to hold back from shuddering in disgust. "No thanks, I don't want to be long, I have to get back."

"Doctor Judd said you want to see the data on our new tablet?" His French accent was quite strong, but his English was otherwise flawless.

"That's right. And the prototype if possible. I'm guessing you can't demonstrate it here?" I almost hoped not, as I didn't want to be in this room a moment longer than necessary.

"I don't have it any more. I have given it to my uncle."

I frowned. "Oh? Doctor Judd said you had it on you."

Zucher shook his head. "My uncle was visiting the LSE last week. I gave it to him about six hours ago. I told Doctor Judd I no longer had it, but he said you were on your way." He gave me a frightened look. "Are you Earth First?"

I smiled slightly, and shook my head. "No. If they knew I was here, if they found me in the UK, they might try and arrest me."

It was interesting. His fear didn't diminish, but it did change. "Oh," he said. He looked at me intensely for a few moments, then scooped up some papers. "Here. Take these. Go."

I moved towards the door and then paused. "Where is your uncle now?"

"He, he will be in the air now I would think. Yes. Somewhere in the air. Most likely over France by now I hope. Please. Go."

"Your uncle's name?"

"Name? Oh. Yes. He is Professor Mattias Zucher."

I left, taking the precious paperwork with me. Paul was scared, but I didn't know why. He had initially been scared of me, but when I'd told him I wasn't Earth First, that particular terror had vanished, but his overall fear had remained.

I was walking back towards the railway station, when the AI spoke up in my head. "Attention. To your left is the Woodlands Road Cemetery. You have relatives buried here."

I stopped in surprise. Both my parents and my grandparents had all come from Cornwall in the South West of England. How would I have relatives buried this far east. "Oh? Who?"

"Two of your mother's great great uncles were serving on board the HMS Princess Irene when it exploded in 1915, during the First World War. They were both killed. Matthew Trengrouse was a stoker, his younger brother Mark was an able seaman. Mark's body was recovered and his grave can be found here if you wish to see it." Trengrouse was a very old Cornish surname: I had an idea it was my maternal grandmother's maiden name.

"They weren't direct ancestors?"

"Negative. Their younger brother Luke is your direct ancestor. He also served in the Royal Navy, serving from 1917 to 1935, then again from 1940 until his death in 1943. He was lost in the Atlantic Ocean."

I paused. I still had nearly an hour before I needed to get back to the station, and the train back to London. "Okay." I entered the cemetery, almost immediately finding a memorial to the disaster. Both names were listed. Matthew was nineteen, Mark sixteen. "How old was Luke when he enlisted?" I asked the AI, lightly fingering the two names, almost as if by doing so I would somehow get nearer to them.

There was a pause while it consulted its records. "He enlisted in November 1917 aged sixteen years and twenty one days. He did not see any action during his first period, leaving as a Chief Petty Officer in October of 1935. He voluntarily re-enlisted in May of 1940, at the start of the Battle Of Britain, and served on convoy escorts in old destroyers in the North Atlantic during what became known as The Battle of the Atlantic."

"Were there any other family? I'm guessing neither Matthew nor Mark had children?"

"Correct. There were also three sisters, Faith, Hope and Charity. Charity was born a few months before Matthew and Mark were killed."

"Wow." I was half tempted to look them up, and see what their descendants were doing. Who they were. Where they were. Now wasn't the time though.

"Where's the grave?"

"That information is not in the records I currently have access to. You will need to search for it."

"Oh crumbs." The cemetery was far too big for that. I spent some twenty minutes searching nearby, with no luck, before making my way back to the memorial. I put my hand on the two, adjacent, names again. "I'm so sorry," I whispered. "I wish..." I trailed off, not sure what I wanted. I had a lump in my throat, and could feel myself choking with emotion.

"Are they your relatives?" I heard a soft voice beside me.

I turned to see a couple of young women, also looking at the memorial. I nodded. "Two brothers, my Great Uncles." I smiled slightly. "Actually great great great uncles I think."

They nodded.

"You?" I asked.

"Not on here."

I just nodded.

"Nice to have met you," I said softly, then turned to leave.

I got back to London, quite late, but rather than send me straight up to the moon, I was given a small office, and a bed for the night. Two other men and a woman were also staying there overnight. The solicitors office actually went back quite a long way, and had six tiny bedrooms, all for visiting Confederacy personnel, plus four small offices, each with two antique looking desks and old-fashioned computers.

I would have been quite happy to head back to the moon, but I was told that no, I was to stay there that night.

I was introduced to the others. Drew, who was permanently based there; Piotr, a Pole who was about to set up a similar office in Warsaw and was visiting just to see how Drew ran this office; and Sherman, a tiny Japanese woman who was just visiting but for security reasons, couldn't tell us why.

I shrugged, but relaxed when Drew suggested that we all went out for a meal.

"I can't really afford it," I said.

"Don't worry," I was told, "the Confederacy will pay, even if only we know that." Drew grinned and showed me a very ordinary looking credit card. "You can't tell from this, but in fact it's backed by the Confederacy."

I smiled. "In that case count me in."

We headed down to Leicester Square, and a tiny Italian restaurant. This was pasta like I had never had it before. Authentic Italian recipes cooked by genuine Italian chefs.

I told them about my trip to the cemetery in Gillingham, and we got talking about our ancestors, and just how little people often knew about even quite recent ancestors. Sherman knew more about hers, but that, I think, was far more usual for the Japanese.

The red wine flowed well, and between the four of us we got through five bottles. I persuaded the restaurant to sell me a couple of unopened bottles to take back with me. To my surprise, as we were wandering back, I realised I was still completely stone cold sober.

"That's a bit boring," I laughed. "Getting gently merry is fun. Anything more than that isn't."

The others all laughed. "AI?" asked Piotr. Moments later I was pissed as a fart.

I had to be steered home, all of us now showing rather the worse for wear.

I woke up the following morning expecting to have a hangover, but was mildly surprised, and hugely relieved, to find I was perfectly fine.

"AI?" I asked. "What happened?"

"The alcohol in your blood stream is normally counteracted by nanites, also in your blood stream. However we were asked to switch them off while you walked home. This was necessary for verisimilitude."

"Huh?"

"You had drunk a full bottle of wine. There was a lot of alcohol in your blood. You needed to at least appear to be drunk. Anything else could have caused suspicion had you been stopped."

"Ah. Okay." I nodded. "Can I get breakfast here, or do I need to go out for it?"

"Breakfast can be obtained relatively cheaply from any number of establishments within five minutes walk of this office."

I smiled and headed out. It wasn't going to give me recommendations, but I found a Café Rouge nearby that sold a good full English breakfast.

After breakfast I found the office I had been loaned, and settled down to read the notes that Paul Zucher had given me. They were fascinating, but I knew I would have to head to Paris to find Mattias Zucher.

"Rail," I was told when I asked Drew. "There's no standard direct transporter function. You can get from St Pancras to Paris Gare du Nord in two and a quarter hours. And they leave every hour, on the hour."

It took me almost as long to get to St Pancras station and then onto the Eurostar train as it did, once I was on the train, to get to Paris. It was fast and it was very comfortable.

I had no trouble finding Mattias Zucher, and he was very helpful and friendly, but irritatingly, he had already sent the device on to Berlin and a colleague of himself and Ashley Judd.

"I am so very sorry," he told me with a smile. "If I had known you were coming I could have waited for you."

"Who do I need to see? Where are they? And can you ensure they still have it and know not to pass it on."

He laughed again, gave me the information I needed, and once more I set off on my travels. This time however, I demanded, and got without any murmur of objection, use of the Confederacy transporter network to take me to Berlin.

"If you know Doctor Judd, why didn't he just bring it himself?" I asked my new contact, a Doctor Werner Lued.

"Judd is forbidden from leaving the UK," I was told.

"What?"

"Your new government has determined that he is a," there was a pause, "national treasure I guess would be the nearest I can manage, and he is not allowed to leave Britain in case he defects to another government. In reality that means the Confederacy."

"Ah," I smiled slightly. I decided not to say that maybe they had missed the boat.

I finally got the demonstration that was all that I had been wanting. "It's still incomplete, of course," I was told.

I nodded. "Rough around the edges."

Lued frowned and rubbed the edge of the device in puzzlement. "Rough? No."

I smiled and shook my head. "Unfinished."

"Oh. Yes. I, yes." He nodded.

"When you think you have it as finished as it can be, I would like to know. Please message me when you think you are ready." I tried to hand over a business card but he waved it away.

"We will need funds to get it ready quickly, and I think you need it quickly. Yes?"

I smiled and bobbed my head noncommittally. "I can get you some funding, I think." In fact I knew I could. The AI had okayed it while I had been watching the demo.

"We like the concept," the AI had told me. "We could probably finish it ourselves, but we would like to see what you humans do."

"So you are learning about us by leaving it to us?" I asked silently.

"Correct. They will need money. Allow them to have up to one quarter million Euros."

"So how much do you think you'll need?" I asked Lued.

There was a pause while Lued thought. He looked at me speculatively, and I guessed he was going to try and use my youth to bamboozle me. I was just nineteen, and though I looked a little older, I knew I still looked young and wet behind the ears. I just hoped I wasn't quite as green as I must have appeared to his sixty plus age.

"A million."

I burst into laughter. I couldn't help it. True there was a bit of panic in my laughter, but I still found it funny. "Noooo. Hundred thousand. Euros," I added in case he thought I might mean dollars or pounds. The Euro was the lowest denomination of the three.

He smiled grimly. "You don't know how much work we have to do. You don't have the experience or the knowledge. We need much more."

I nodded. "Maybe, but on the other hand, you don't know either. Not for certain."

"We have a idea."

"Judd seemed to think you were very close to finishing. Ninety-five percent he said."

Lued smiled. Ninety percent of any project always takes ten percent of funds. The remaining ten percent always costs ninety percent. This is well known. We need at least half a million."

Well I'd got him down to just twice what I was authorised to spend, down from four times.

"I can probably go one hundred and fifty."

His eyes narrowed. "How much are you authorised to spend?"

I gasped. "Um."

"AI?" I asked sotto voce. "Help."

"Tell him two hundred."

Doctor Lued nodded when I gave him the figure.

"Not enough, but it will do for a start."

"I might be able to wangle an extra fifty, but no more, and that's not guaranteed."

He looked at me sharply, and nodded. "It will be enough."

Damn, I thought, I was wet behind the ears. He had conned me. We swapped business cards and I arranged to get him the money as soon as possible. In turn he promised to keep me informed of progress.

An hour later I was back on the moon.

I needed an office to finish up the work. I contacted site management, where they assigned me a temporary private office. It was as I was making my way there that my attention was grabbed by what was going on around me. There were a small group of people behind me, talking. I wasn't paying them any notice, but suddenly a word came to my attention.

I stopped and turned. "Zucher?" I asked. "Did one of you mention the word Zucher? Paul Zucher? Mattias Zucher?"

I was now back in uniform. The group stopped; the three men in it coming rapidly to attention at the sight of my rank bars.

"At ease," I said softly. "Zucher? Paul or Mattias?"

"No sir," said one. "Andres Zucher."

I frowned.

"He's a senior intelligence analyst sir."

"Interesting. Thank you." I nodded. "All right, carry on, sorry to disturb you."

I went to my temporary office, deep in thought. If this Andres was related to Mattias Zucher maybe ... actually I couldn't think how I could turn that to my advantage, but it was worth a try.

At my desk I accessed the computer, looking for Andres Zucher. He turned out to be based at Lipskiy. "Oh no," I muttered, as I realised that I had, in fact, heard of him before. I was a little surprised the name hadn't triggered the memory already.

"AI? Location Andres Zucher please?"

"Andres Zucher is currently with Lieutenant Percy."

That was interesting. "On Artemis?"

"Affirmative"

"Can you please," I started slowly, thinking rapidly as I spoke, "try and arrange a five minute appointment with him as soon as is convenient."

"Confirmed."

I began to write up my notes. What should have taken me just an hour took a lot longer with the interruptions I got, the first of which came just ten minutes later.

"Attention," came the voice of the AI. "Andres Zucher has confirmed your five minute appointment. He will be with you in two minutes."

"Thanks. Does he have a rank?"

"Negative. He is a civilian, however he has a nominal rank of Colonel."

"Uh. Thank you." I had expected to have to go and find him, so this was remarkably convenient. And rather sooner than I had expected.

I quickly got my thoughts in order, even though I didn't really expect to get much from the conversation. Moments later there was a knock on the door and it opened before I had a chance to say anything. I vaguely recognised the man who entered: I had almost certainly seen him at Lipskiy base, but I'd been away from there for just a year now.

"Commander Carter?" he asked briskly as he strode towards me.

"Yes sir." I stood. "Colonel Zucher?"

He gave a slight smile. "Just Andres will do. The rank is on paper only."

We shook hands. "Call me Llew," I said in welcome.

He sat on the edge of the desk. "Now. How can I help?"

I sat back down and explained about my visit to see Mattias Zucher in Paris, and about Paul Zucher in Gillingham.

"Interesting," he said, "but so what?"

"I was wondering. Are you related? I'm not sure how useful that could be if you are, but..." I trailed off as I saw the amusement on his face.

"'Zucher' is like your 'Smith'. We may well be related, but if so it is a far distant relationship. I do not know of these men."

I nodded. "Oh fair enough. It was just a vague idea, and even so I wasn't certain whether it could be useful."

"What is your interest in these people?"

I started to explain, briefly, about my trip to Earth, but I had only got as far as explaining about Cambridge, when he stopped me.

"Gillingham and Cambridge. Interesting. You know Cambridge?"

"Not really. I've met one professor there. He wants to join the Confederacy on the sly." I shrugged. "Aside from that, I know the railway station, but I barely even stepped outside it."

"Okay." Zucher stood. "Can you remain for a while?"

"The next shuttle to Mars departs in about three hours," I told him.

He looked at me, thinking deeply. "How about three days?" he said after a short while.

"I guess so. If it's important, then yes; I'll just have to let my OC know."

He nodded once, abruptly, then strode briskly out of the room.

Major Thornby, when he did reply, sent a single word. "Understood."

"AI, I will need somewhere to kip for a few nights, can you allocate me a space somewhere." There was a short pause and I suddenly wondered whether it knew that 'kip' meant sleep. I was about to mention this, when it spoke up. "You have been assigned apartment H10N on Lipskiy Base." By now I knew that the 'apartments' on level H, North corridor were all single person rooms. BOQ's almost. They were specifically for temporary visitors.

I sighed silently. "Thank you."

I carried on with my report on the replicator add-on that I had gone to see, then went for a wander around the 'public' areas of Artemis. There wasn't a great deal to see, but I found a mess hall and got myself a snack, and sat and watched Earth. Most of it was in shadow but there was a crescent of day. From a quarter of a million miles away, it took me a good few minutes to work out exactly where on Earth I was looking at. Even then I only guessed it was the eastern edge of Russia, China, Korea, and maybe a hint of India, plus Japan, but lots of blue that I guessed was the Pacific Ocean.

"We're almost directly above Kisangani in the Central African Republic," came an amused voice from a few feet away. I looked around to see a young black woman on an adjacent table. She was wearing the grey uniform of a CS representative.

"Uh. Oh, hi," I said, slightly startled. "We are?"

"The way you were moving your head around, trying to work out what you could see. You're obviously new here. And most newbies, it's one of the first things they do when they see that view."

"Oh," I gave a soft chuckle. "Yeah, but how do you know where we actually are."

She pointed with silent amusement to a small display off to my left. It showed a map of the Earth, a ground track and a flashing spot. "The flashing spot is the point at which Luna is directly overhead. The numbers underneath are a lat-long, and underneath that is the nearest habitations of any size."

"Ah," I laughed. "So it is." I compared the map with what I could see, and realised I had been basically correct in my assumptions of what I could see.

I turned to thank her and discovered she had already left.

I sat for a long while then decided I had better get to Lipskiy and report in there. I made my way by transporter, and quickly found my room. I wasn't glad to be back: the place didn't have bad memories for me, but it had never been exciting. I dumped my few belongings in my assigned room, and made my way back to the mess hall on level three.

I had picked up a pad and found a novel, some old swords and sorcery fantasy. It wasn't the most riveting book I had ever read, but anything else was even less exciting. It was early evening so the mess hall was full. I saw a few people I vaguely recognised, but apart from a few waves of hello, no-one bothered me. The following morning, I made my way back to the mess hall, and as I queued for breakfast, Percy Meers saw me.

"Llew," he exclaimed. "What are you doing here?" He had a pleased look on his face.

I smiled, equally pleased to see him. "Ah, this and that, you know how it is. Come on, join me for breakfast and I'll tell you all about it."

He did, and we sat and chatted for a while, and I told him all about my trip to Earth. He laughed at my description of chasing the 'damned device' all over Europe. Mostly we just chatted about nothing, but I told him I'd been asked to wait on the Moon for a couple of days, and asked him what he thought I should do in the meantime.

He shrugged. "What're your thoughts?"

"I think I'll head to the big library on Daedalus, and just sit and read."

Percy nodded. "I think that's a good idea. I can't use you at the moment, and I don't think anyone else can. Not if you're only going to be here for a day or two."

Daedalus' library was a research library. It contained every single thing we knew about the swarm (not as much as we wanted), every single thing we knew about the Confederacy (even less), the entire technical database the Confederacy had given us, plus all the research we, Humankind, had done with it. It also had a huge factual database about Earth, including a copy of practically every mathematic, scientific and engineering book, periodical, film, and, well, you name it, that was current on Earth, even the highly confidential or secret ones. This place would have been a research scientist's or engineer's heaven.

I'd only been on Dadelus half an hour when Percy Meers called me up.

"Llew," his voice seemed somewhat strange. "Can you get back here for thirteen hundred please."

"Er, yeah, no problems. Why? What's up?"

"I'll see you at thirteen hundred. A9N. Do not be late." He signed off abruptly.

I just blinked, puzzled, than spoke softly to the AI. "AI, any ideas what Percy Meers wants to see me for?"

"No."

"Oh. Can you warn me at twelve thirty then please."

"Confirmed."

I carried on with my reading. Slightly unsettled.

I got to Meers' office a few minutes early. A young red-headed receptionist let me in. "Corporal Marcie Niven," she introduced herself. "Commander Percy is in the far cubicle."

There were about a dozen unoccupied desks, but, as in the offices I had worked in a year earlier, there were also a couple of glassed in cubicles down one side of the office where the senior staff worked, or where meetings could be set up. I saw Percy in one, waved, and headed towards him.

"What's up?" I asked frowning.

"Good. Glad you're on time. Now we wait."

"Huh?"

Percy just shook his head, and I got the impression that he knew little more than me.

We didn't have to wait long before there was a knock on the outer door.

"Come in gentlemen," Corporal Niven called.

I wondered how she knew who it was, then realised that Meers must know who, just not what or why. I recognised Zucher from the previous day. He was with a young man. Barely a boy, really.

"Colonel Zucher," Niven said again after they entered the main office. "Commanders Meers and Carter are waiting for you both in the conference room."

I looked up. "Zucher?" I whispered. This couldn't be a coincidence. Meers just shrugged.

Colonel Zucher did the introductions. "Commander Carter, hello again, thank you for waiting. Commander Meers, it's good to see you again after all this time. Thank you for organising this meeting for me. Gentlemen, this is Randy Jenkins. Randy, these are Commanders Meers and Carter."

Percy stuck out out his hand to Randy. "Good afternoon young man."

Randy nodded, looking very slightly bemused. "Commander Meers," he murmured.

He turned to me and stuck out his hand, I took it, smiling. "Commander Carter," he said, as he shook my hand.

"Call me Llew," I murmured as I usually did under these circumstances.

"I find it interesting that providence dropped us into each other's lap," Colonel Zucher started. Randy just looked blank. He turned to Randy. "A scientist who is actually a distant relative, I have never met him." He glanced at me with a slight smile. "I discovered this only this morning."

So they were related. I gave a slight smile and shrugged. It had been pure chance, yet what I could do with that information I didn't know.

"What's this all about?" Percy asked.

"I needed your colleague here," Zucher waved at me, "to give his impression of the cemetery he visited the other day."

"Me?" I asked, surprised.

Zucher smiled slightly. "You."

I blinked, confused for a moment. "I only went there because I have relatives buried there." I looked at the pair of them, puzzled.

"I'll admit a nudge was made in that direction," Zucher said with a slight smile. "One of your concubines was part of a survey about levels of support for their sponsor. She was prompted to research past military family service. We knew of the connection to the memorial."

"Siân," I muttered. I looked up, slightly irritated. "She started researching military history shortly after we were collected." I frowned. "Okay, so Siân dropped me in it. Go on."

"To be sure an AI prompted the cemetery visit during your recent trip Earth-side." Zucher smiled again. "It was the same AI who spotted the connection, prompted by that research."

Randy looked back and forth between us, listening, and looking slightly puzzled. Percy looked no less puzzled.

Andres paused momentarily refocusing his thoughts. "During your excursion," he continued, "a set of Mark Twelve Stealth Drones followed you into the cemetery. We have sixty hours of detailed observational data. Based on your reports I wanted your input, also how you feel about the site."

"Can I ask why this is important?"

"You were briefed about my intern, the acting ensign?"

I looked at the young man sitting next to Zucher and it all started to fall into place. The Sandgate-Nguyen incident. I had read up on it at Thornby's insistence not long after I had got to Mars. Parallel orders in an AI ready to apply plausible deniability to actions of certain individuals. "The whole King of Clubs conspiracy," I said.

"Randy found the following data." Zucher cued up the information on the data wall.

78 Woodlands Rd, Gillingham, Medway ME7 2DX

Naval Reservation 737

25/7

17:25

minimal detail of 6

good luck Toronto

King of Clubs

I stood and moved over to the map on the wall. Looking at where I had walked just two days earlier. The path through the cemetery was highlighted. "The memorial for my great uncles is in the Naval Reservation." Those areas changed colour as I spoke. "Hmm. That section lies south of the central path after you cross the main east-west path." I stared at the map. "Locate plot 737." A small rectangle appeared. "Who is buried there?"

There was a brief pause before the AI responded. "According to the cemetery records the sailor interred there is known only to God. There are twenty one Unknown Warriors in the Naval Reservation."

"Can I ask a question?" Randy's voice was a bit shaky.

"That was one," the smile on Commander Meers spilled into his voice. "I say go for another." Meers knew just how to put someone at their ease, and I smiled slightly.

Randy's cheeks flushed in embarrassment, but Meer's tone of approval encouraged him to carry on. "AI is there anything scheduled on July twenty-fifth, at the cemetery?"

"The Imperial Order of the Osprey is scheduled to lay wreaths at 18:00 hours at the twenty-one graves."

Randy looked at us, obviously completely lost as to what came next.

"AI, exactly who are the members of this Order, specifically those that may be of interest to the King of Clubs?" I asked.

"There are three people of interest. Major General Alistair Vickers, Commandant of the Royal Military Academy at Sandhurst. He is secretly in contact with the Confederacy Department of Evacuation and Colonial Operations. General Vickers covertly supports and encourages retired military or discharged service personnel to join the Confederacy. Rear Admiral Edith Ogden-Sikes shares General Vickers' conviction. There is one active Confederacy Citizen, Retired Naval Commander Samuel Cassell, the present Director of Intelligence for Central Command."

Two sailors, one soldier, I thought.

I suddenly realised the import of what the AI had just told us, but Zucher cottoned on before me and gasped in horror.

"Shit."

Authors note: If you haven't already done so, you sould now read up to chapter 12 of Justn Radically's Wayward.