Poseidon's Wake

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While the console chimed, a blue symbol flashed on and off. Kanu stared at it, mesmerised. Breaking the trance, he made to answer the incoming transmission. But he stopped and first took the precaution of locking Dakota out of his communications, at least for the time being.

Then he took the call.

A man’s face appeared on the main display. He was fine-boned, with a greying beard and a scalp covered with tight grey curls. ‘My name is Nasim Caspari,’ he said, speaking Swahili with a delicate inflection. ‘I trust you can understand me. I am sending this transmission from the expeditionary vessel Travertine — we are presently in orbit around Orison. We came to this system from Crucible, on a mission to gather information for our government. Our intentions are peaceful and we are ready to offer assistance should it be required. We believe you may have been damaged and forced to seek shelter aboard Zanzibar. Your origin is unknown to us, but if there is scope for cooperation we would be glad to discuss the possibilities. Please respond when you are in receipt of this transmission, which will repeat until we hear a response.’

That part at least was true, for the ship confirmed that the signal was streaming in on a repeating cycle across a variety of frequencies and transmission protocols.

Whoever had sent it — whoever this Nasim Caspari was — they were anxious to be heard.

Kanu deliberated, wondering if he dared risk a reciprocal transmission. Was Dakota even aware of this attempt at contact? he wondered. She had never mentioned it, and Icebreaker had not begun to intercept the signal until it was safely beyond the screening influence of Zanzibar.

It was possible she did not know about it.

‘Help me, Swift. Give me a way of responding that she can’t possibly detect.’

‘Are you quite sure of the wisdom of taking such a risk?’

‘Yes. Quite sure. Why wouldn’t I be?’

‘Our predicament is complicated enough as it is without inviting outside interference.’

‘I want to talk to him. If I don’t, he may decide to interfere anyway.’

‘I still think it is unwise.’

‘I’m pleased you have an opinion. Do it anyway.’

‘A moment, in that case.’ Kanu’s hands moved under Swift’s control, executing a short sequence of commands. ‘There. The transmitters are aligned on Orison and the beam should not be within Dakota’s capabilities to detect. You may speak at your leisure.’

‘Thank you, Swift. And if you’d do me the courtesy of only allowing my words to come out of my mouth, that would be even more appreciated.’

‘You’re the diplomat. I wouldn’t dream of encroaching on your sphere of expertise.’

Kanu cleared his throat, tapping a knuckle against his windpipe, and straightened himself in his seat. ‘My name is Kanu,’ he began, seeing no need to add any more than that. ‘To the crew of the Travertine — may I congratulate you on a safe crossing. It’s true that we suffered some damage close to Poseidon, but all is now in hand and — despite your extremely kind offer — we have no need of outside assistance. Might I suggest, nonetheless, that you proceed with great caution? We were fortunate not to be more seriously damaged — very fortunate indeed. I wish you the best of luck with your endeavours.’

He closed the transmission and instructed the ship to send it onwards in a single burst.

This was a highly compact solar system, with Paladin, Orison and Poseidon all lying within half an AU of their star. Given the current alignment of the planets, Kanu knew he could expect an answer inside five minutes if the newcomers were quick in their response.

‘Kanu?’ Dakota asked, when at last he reopened the channel to Zanzibar. ‘Was there a difficulty?’

‘None, Dakota, but these diagnostic tests place a high workload on the ship. It’s better if we keep communications to an absolute minimum unless there’s something to report.’

‘And what is the prognosis? Nissa and I are both eager to see the evidence of your hard work.’

In truth, there was no reason for the ship not to work. The loom of monitors continued to report nothing anomalous, nothing that merited further attention. Trace gases pumped through the various combustion pathways had found no leaks or imperfections. The magnetic containment chambers responded well to surges of test power. Thin plasmas injected for test purposes were corralled, pinched and excited in the expected fashion. The system did its best to simulate instabilities and show that the dampening mechanisms were capable of doing their work.

Each of these conditions was only a step on the way to a true post-Chibesa reaction, but Kanu saw nothing to give him pause.

‘The prognosis is excellent, but I still need to allow more tests to complete.’

‘And how long would that be, precisely?’

‘A few minutes.’

‘You demand great patience of me, Kanu. But after two centuries, I suppose a few minutes more won’t hurt.’

‘I hope not. In the meantime, I’m going silent again. I’ll be back in touch when we’re ready to proceed with the full test.’

He shut her off and leaned back in his seat, sweat pooling between his shoulder blades. The diagnostic tests could run for as long as he let them, but the fact was the ship already knew as much about itself as it ever would.

‘Swift?’

‘Yes, Kanu?’

‘They could answer in five minutes or five hours — or not at all. If I’m left alone in my skull, I may go mad. Would you care for a game of chess while we’re waiting?’

‘If you think it would help.’

‘It probably won’t. But for old times’ sake, if nothing else.’

‘Then I shall be glad to oblige. You are dwelling on the possibility of a reply, aren’t you?’

‘I want to know what they know.’

‘It will not change our standing with Dakota. The essential facts of our arrangement are not subject to outside influence.’

‘Then there’s no harm in hearing what they have to say, is there?’

Swift conjured a chess table. They played a quick, careless game which Kanu won by narrow odds — it was possible, probable even, that Swift had contrived his own defeat — and were in the opening moves of a second when the console gave another chime.

‘Dakota?’ Swift asked.

‘No,’ Kanu answered. ‘Our new friends.’

It was a woman this time. She was an odd mixture of casual and formal, dressed in colourful clothes and a vibrantly patterned silk scarf, plus a great assortment of jangling, rattling jewellery. Her face struck him as open and friendly — there was something in it that reminded him of Garudi Dalal’s mother, from that day in Madras. But she addressed him from behind a desk, her hands clasped solemnly together, a grey wall behind her. And when she spoke, while there was no intimidation or posturing in her voice, she nonetheless conveyed a tremendous impression of authority.

A woman to be reckoned with, he thought.

‘Thank you for your response, Kanu. I am Gandhari Vasin, captain of the Travertine. Nasim was acting as my second-in-command while I was on Orison. We were alerted to your possible presence around Zanzibar and began beaming a message to you in the hope of making contact, but I confess our expectations were not great. Permit me to speak plainly. There are many things about this system we don’t yet know, and I am willing to assume the same is true for you. But we do know about Dakota, and we think you do, too. You may even have made direct contact with the Tantors. So have we — but with a different faction from Dakota’s. We have also made contact with Eunice Akinya. Eunice had a lot to tell us, and I think her account of events is likely to be different from Dakota’s. You may have been told that Eunice is dead, and if so, I would like you to consider a few other things that may not have been true.’

Kanu smiled at this. If only she knew. He had been doing little else but consider the degrees of truthfulness of things. She might as well have advised him there were benefits to breathing.

But for the time being, he was content to hear her out.

‘We have no reason to presume that your objectives conflict with ours, Kanu, but you may have been misled — gravely misled. There are dangers on Poseidon greater than anything you have already encountered. We are not speaking simply of the risk to your own life, although that would be considerable, but of wider implications — for all of us. You appeared free to answer Nasim’s transmission. Might I suggest that you do nothing, that you take no further action, until we are close enough for proper dialogue? There is one among us whom I think Dakota may wish to speak to. If you have the capability to pass on a message, please inform Dakota that we have an Akinya with us. Her name is Goma, and she is the daughter of Ndege.’

Now it was all he could do not to laugh. An Akinya! How impressed she must think he would be. The movers and shakers of history — the lineage that had dragged people to the stars.

How could an Akinya possibly fail to sort things out?

Shaking his head ruefully, he composed a response.

‘I will offer you the courtesy of a reply, Gandhari, but it may not be quite what you are hoping for. Firstly, I have no choice but to comply with Dakota’s wishes. I am fully aware of the risks posed by Poseidon, and also of the potential consequences of approaching that planet. I also know that many thousands of lives depend on my not failing Dakota, so your attempt at persuasion is wasted, I am afraid. Secondly, you speak of someone called Goma Akinya as if that name might carry weight. I am sorry to inform you — and indeed Goma — that you should be under no such illusions. I am also an Akinya, you see. My full name is Kanu Akinya, and my mother was Chiku Yellow. And my family name has not made the slightest difference to Dakota.’