HAWK

CHAPTER FOURTEEN: BIRDCAGE (2/6)

'Stand up,' said a metallic voice. Kas tried to see through her fingers but her eyes were sensitive and unwilling. She squeezed them shut and scrambled slowly to her feet.

'Turn around and face the corner,' the voice instructed. Kas did as she was told. A few seconds later, the door closed and plunged her into an ominous silence.

'Hello, Miss Balera,' a familiar voice said. 'You may turn around.'

Kas turned slowly and encouraged a little of the suffocating light into her eyes, sipping at it through narrow slits. The blurry red shape of Governor Swanne slowly came into focus, as did the hulking silver mass that was Kymeira by her feet.

'Sorry to have kept you waiting for so long,' Swanne continued, 'but I've had a busy few hours.'

'Don't worry about it,' Kas replied, finding her throat painfully dry.

'How are you feeling?'

'I could use a drink.'

'Of course. I shall arrange for some food and water to be brought to you shortly. First, however, I wanted to give you a chance to talk. It seems you and flight lieutenant Astell are already acquainted with one another. What are the chances?'

Kas didn't respond. She'd been expecting something like this, but it was still a blow she could have done without.

'He says that you came here searching for a signal. Apparently, you believe Eidol is in some way responsible for what happened to Selva. Is that true?'

'Yes.' Kas saw no point in denying it; her situation couldn't get much worse. She figured a little honesty might even reward her with some answers. She felt something brush past her left leg and made the mistake of looking down. Kymeira was circling her feet, her metal body flirting with the fabric of her jumpsuit while her throat emitted a low rumbling purr that had a strange mechanical distortion to it.

'Tell me what you think you know,' Swanne said.

'All I know is I found a signal and followed it here. I had no idea Eidol even existed until I was escorted here by your own men.'

'I'm curious to know how you followed any signal here at all.'

'My ship intercepted it in deep space and a computer analysis of it pointed me in this direction. Can I be honest with you, Governor?'

'I had assumed you already were.'

'I think you know more about the signal than I do. I think you know what happened to Selva.'

Swanne chuckled. 'Who else knows about the signal?'

'Why did you destroy Selva?'

'Don't test me, Miss Balera. I don't have a lot of patience.'

'I do.'

'You really are a belligerent little girl, aren't you? It won't do you any good. My people are busy working on your ship's C-Ram as we speak. I'm betting we crack that before we crack you.'

'That's illegal.' Her own words sounded stupid to Kas even as she said them. Hacking a C-Ram was nothing next to illegal imprisonment and interrogation. If Swanne could do this to her, she dreaded to think what was happening to the Calista.

Swanne grinned and strolled across the bare cell as though it were a garden. She leaned into Kas's ear and lowered her voice to a gentle murmur.

'I'm going to tell you a secret, Miss Balera. I am not a law-abiding citizen. I have lived through enough conflict to know that law and war are not allies, and we are on the brink of one right now. If you think you're safe because I am an operative of the Federation, you should know that whatever love I may have had for the UGF died a long time ago. Eidol may be a Federal facility, but it is my domain, and you are a long, long way from help. So if I were you, I'd begin thinking very carefully about how you continue to cooperate with me from this moment onwards. Your situation can still get much, much worse.'

Swanne pivoted and walked back towards the exit. The door swung open to reveal a WASP soldier standing just outside. Kymeira, meanwhile, looked up at Kas through its mechanically enhanced eyes and seemed to scan her very soul, then turned and followed its master through the open doorway. The exit sealed shut behind them and left Kas alone in perfect silence. It only took three seconds for the lambentile panels to dim to nothingness.

The darkness swallowed Kas whole.