Pierre was nodding and sending a thumbs-up. Kieran responded in kind, his hand below the viewing angle from the screen’s pickup. “Whether you believe or not at the present time is immaterial. You will.” He pointed a quavering finger, at the same time fixating with a mystical stare. “To give proof, I have selected you, Justin Banks, to be the sole receiver, for now, of relief from the curse that is known as the Plague of Akhnaton. Thy skin shall henceforth be restored and its blemishes vanish. The sickness shall be gone from thy stomach and thy bowels. The aches that have blighted thee shall ease and fade. Thy—”
“Bullshit,” Banks snarled, and cut the connection.
“It seemed to go through okay,” Pierre told Kieran.
“We’ll soon see,” Kieran said.
Minutes later, Trevany called from the Juggernaut out at Tharsis. “Bravo,” he complimented when Kieran answered.
“What do you mean?”
“We just watched your performance with Banks.” Kieran had talked to Trevany from his hotel room after becoming the Khal that morning, so Trevany was familiar with his new appearance.
“Like it?” Kieran said. “It looked as if they’re just leaving for Lowell.”
“That’s right,” Trevany confirmed. “Lowell sent an airbus to collect them. Their own vehicles are staying there for the time being, until they’ve been checked over. Now would you mind filling us in on the rest of it?”
“As I just told Pierre, who’s here with me, we’re going into the mystical healing business.”
“You’re going to make them better?”
“Just Banks.”
“How can it be that selective?”
“Pierre and I think we’ve figured out a way. So this is a test before trying it with Asgard—but think of the impact it could have on Hamilton if it works. Also, it might have the very real effect of changing Banks into a convert—or at least, give him a lot to think about.” Just then, a call came in on Kieran’s comset. He flipped the unit out and accepted to find that the caller was Mahom. “Look, Walter, I’ve just got another call that might be something I’ve been waiting for. Can I get back to you on this?”
“Sure.” Trevany disappeared. Kieran redirected Mahom to the room’s larger screen.
“Mahom. What news?”
“I think we’ve got it. It’s owned by a city hire franchise, on lease to a guy called Lee Mullen, who organizes local muscle and does caretaking.”
Kieran nodded. It sounded like the kind of person he’d expect the syndicate to mobilize until their own people arrived to take over. “Where is it?” he asked.
“At an address in Embarcadero. The people I’ve put there have counted seven bodies coming and going who aren’t Sol or Casey.”
“You haven’t positively identified Sol and Casey there?” Kieran checked.
“Not as yet. But they have to be there. It’s going to be a tough one to crack, though. No clear plan of action right now. The troops are checking it out and going through the options. The best thing for now is just to keep watching the place for a while longer to see what comes up.”
Kieran nodded reluctantly. “Do we know where Sol and Casey’s flymo is?” he asked.
“The skylock at Cherbourg.” Mahom meant the upper-level flyer parking area with locks out to the atmosphere. Flyers weren’t used within the covered-over confines of Lowell itself. When Leppo and Casey wanted to work on it in their shop, they moved it there by road.
“Okay, well I guess I’ll have to leave it with you,” Kieran conceded. “It’s been a rough day here, too. We’ll be wanting to turn in after we’ve eaten something. Let me know if anything new develops, okay?”
“You’ve got it, Knight,” Mahom promised.
21
Asgard was an inside-out planet a little under a mile in diameter. An artificial sun keeping a regular day-night cycle hung in the center; the surface where everything happened—apart from arriving and departing spacecraft—was on the inside. The enclosed space and the force induced by slowly spinning the structure thus took the place of mass and gravity in retaining an atmosphere and keeping people and everything else on the ground. The regularly inhabited part, consisting of residential and commercial areas, and the corporation’s business and technical facilities, extended around the equatorial belt; heavy installations, industrial plant, and docking areas were located around the poles. The space between was largely devoted to test sites for new engineering methods and construction techniques, with several open landscaped areas for recreation.