The Golden Way (The Kestrel Chronicles Book 3) Read online

  The birds tipped back and traced the red stripe all the way up Captain Rayleigh’s trousers with their gaze.

  “Doctor Rayleigh!” they said in unison.

  One of them said, “How wonderful to see you again.”

  “What do you mean ‘again?’” Jaemon said.

  The other bird made a shushing noise.

  The first one said, “Don’t you remember? We talked several times about that lovely artifact while you were en route to Solomon. Doctor Rayleigh helped me go over the scans that you made of the artifact in situ. Meeting him has been an honor and a privilege.”

  Jaemon and the Captain blinked at the Harkens, and then at each other.

  “You told us you didn’t remember any of that,” said Zang.

  “What?” said the bird who had been speaking. The other one looked studiously away. “When?”

  “When we talked to you at the Office of History the other day,” Jaemon said.

  “I—I’m afraid I don’t remember that,” said the bird cautiously.

  “It’s interesting the things you remember and don’t remember,” said Jaemon. “Over at the History Office you told us your archive was a few weeks old. You told us you didn’t remember anything about meeting Esgar or about reviewing Lev’s scans of the artifact.”

  “I did?” said the confused Harken.

  “Uh-oh,” said the other one.

  27.

  “There they are,” said Commander Erdos as she drifted into the Captain’s mess. She was staring at the two Theodora Harkens who floated in the air above the table, feathers fluffed and heads tucked. They were stuck against one another, beaks beneath wings, occasionally opening a beady black eye to scan around the room before winking closed again. The two of them together looked like a single ragged droplet of ink suspended between table and ceiling.

  “We’ve been having the most interesting conversation,” said Jaemon.

  “Well, you can take it easy now,” Erdos said gruffly. “I can take charge of these two.”

  “They’re my guests at the moment,” said the Captain.

  “Really?” said Erdos. She glared at him. “You’re going to pull jurisdiction on me? I could impound your whole ship.”

  “Maybe you could,” said the Captain. “And maybe you couldn’t. You said you wanted them safe. They’re safe. What do you want to do with them? Like Jaemon said, they’ve been telling us some interesting things.”

  Erdos shoved herself into a chair.

  “Like what?”

  “Like Harken exaggerated the age of her archive when we first talked to her,” said Zang.

  “So?”

  “So apparently she knew more about the artifact and our previous discussions than she was letting on. She said she didn’t remember our discussions. She said she wasn’t prepared to estimate the artifact’s value for us. Apparently, that wasn’t so.”

  “That true?” Erdos said. “Harkens, I’m talking to you.”

  Shiny black eyes popped open on two sides of the mass of black feathers. A head emerged from the mass.

  “I don’t know anything about what my late primary may have said to you.”

  “That may be true,” said the Captain, “But you know everything about why she might have said it.”

  “Just what were you into?” said Erdos.

  “Into?” said the bird. The other head popped up and stared at Erdos.

  “What were you and Isaac doing, exactly?” said Erdos.

  “You buy her story now?” said Zang. “That Isaac is behind all this?”

  Erdos sighed.

  “For now,” she said. “I don’t like it a bit, but Isaac is nowhere to be found and Harken never came out of the public creche. It seems somebody with City authority purged her records.”

  “You’ve got to be—”

  “No, Zang,” said Erdos wearily. “I’m not kidding you.”

  She leaned toward the birds. Both feathered heads pulled back and stared at her face, flipping their heads from side to side.

  “I told you,” said one of the birds defensively. “He can wipe archives.”

  “I’m about out of patience,” said Erdos. “I want some straight answers, Harken.”

  “He’ll kill me,” said both birds in chorus.

  They flipped their heads some more, goggling at each other.

  “Us,” said one of them.

  “What a tempting idea,” said Jaemon.

  “What?” squeaked the Harkens. “You wouldn’t. You couldn’t.”

  Jaemon sighed.

  “Nah, probably not,” he said. “Doesn’t mean I can’t dream about it.”

  “What have I done to provoke you?” said one of the birds.

  Zang said, “You mean besides guiding a gang of robbers aboard our ship, getting us all shot to pieces, helping them rob us, trying to persuade them to murder us all permanently, and then lying to us about all of it when we asked for your help?”

  “What were you into with Isaac?” said Erdos.

  “You have to protect me,” said one of the birds.

  “I’m as good as dead if I say anything,” said the other.

  “Or if you don’t,” said Jaemon.

  “What?” the birds squeaked.

  “Look,” Jaemon said. “He’s already killed your primary and wiped your registered archive. How long you reckon it’ll be before he figures out that you two came from a hidden creche and he goes looking for it? You need our help.”

  “That’s right,” said Erdos, nodding at Jaemon. “He’ll find that creche, too. You were smart to stay in a private space where he couldn’t track you, but you’re out in the open now. You’ve been outside where Solomon could see you. Whatever Solomon sees, he sees. He’ll track you backward, from Kestrel to the archives, and from there to—”

  “He’ll purge our creche!” one of the birds said.

  “He’ll kill us!” said the other.

  “So what have you got to lose by talking to us?” said Jaemon.

  “Matter of fact,” said the Captain, “It’s the only chance you’ve got. Help us find him. Tell us everything you can. Maybe we can catch him before he kills you permanently.”

  The two Harkens trembled in place, shaking feathers loose, heads darting here and there, eyes fixing first on one of us and then another.

  Finally they looked at each other, still shivering.

  “Very well,” said one of them.

  28.

  “I don’t know what he’s really doing,” said one of the Harkens.

  “Not exactly,” said the other.

  They were still mashed together in a ball of black feathers that floated over the Captain’s table, but they weren’t shivering so obviously anymore. Talking seemed to calm them a little.

  “Go on,” said Jaemon.

  “He fed me information about incoming cargo and questioned me about it.”

  “Sometimes,” said the first one, “He diverted a shipment so that I could examine it. He used the museum to store some items temporarily.”

  “What for?” said Erdos.

  “I’m not sure,” said a Harken.

  “It was always very old objects, though,” said the other. “Generally objects of some historical significance.”

  “What about our artifact?” said the Captain.

  “Oh, he was much more interested in that,” said a Harken.

  “Oh yes,” said the other one. “It was much the most interest he had shown in any shipment.”

  “He asked us some questions about it,” I said.

  “That’s right, he did,” said Zang. “Do you remember what he asked?”

  I still had my working memory of our first meeting with Commander Erdos and her aides. A quick search found Lieutenant Commander Isaac’s remarks.

  “Actually, both Isaac and Serik asked a few questions about the artifact,” I said. “They wanted to know its age and what was in it.”

  “We told them, right?” said the Captain. “And Isaa
c asked if it was a shipboard knight?”

  “Actually, Serik asked that question,” I said. The others nodded.

  “One moment,” I said. “I’m just looking up ‘shipboard knights.’”

  “They were human-mech hybrids,” said Zang. “Back in the Mech Wars. You’ve heard of Isono, right?”

  “Isaac mentioned him,” I said. “I meant to look him up.”

  “Lev, Seriously?” said Jaemon. “You don’t know Kenjiro Isono? The Golden Way?”

  “I know what the Golden Way is,” I said defensively. “Everyone knows what the Golden Way is.”

  “Everyone knows Kenjiro Isono!” Jaemon said.

  “Not the actual Golden Way,” said Zang. “The story. The romance. It’s about Isono and the Church. About how the Order of Saint George defeated the Abjurers and destroyed the Father of Lies.”

  I fed all the phrases I heard Zang say into my search and the Fabric unfolded the matching memories into me.

  “I have them now,” I said. “It’s very interesting.”

  “Oh, you can’t get The Golden Way from a search,” said Jaemon. “It’s a drama. You have to see it.”

  “I got it already,” I said. “Isono is the most prominent character. It’s the story of his heroic sacrifice, and how it brought about the end of the Father of Lies.”

  “No, listen,” said Jaemon. He sat forward and held his hands in front of him, as if shaping his words.

  “You have to actually watch the romance. I mean you have to let it unfold in front of you in real time, so you can hear the characters say the words and see them react to each other and stuff. You need to see it and feel it, or it’s not the same. A Fabric search doesn’t do it justice.”

  “I have all the details,” I said dubiously.

  “You don’t have all the feelings,” Erdos said. “Mister Rayleigh’s right.”

  “I see,” I said.

  “We’ll watch it together later,” Jaemon said. “It’s better with company.”

  “You said Isaac mentioned Isono?” said the Captain.

  “Yes,” I said. “Let me find it—here.”

  I fed the memory to Kestrel. A holo image of Gebre Isaac flickered to life and said, “It could be Kenjiro Isono, for all you know.”

  “We were talking about what was in the artifact,” I said.

  The Captain shook his head.

  “It’s hard to believe,” he said.

  “What,” said Erdos, “That you found Isono in an ancient archive?”

  “No, well...we don’t know for sure that Isono ever existed,” said the Captain. “I meant it’s hard to believe anyone’s so obsessed with ancient folklore that they’ll kill people over it.”

  “Wait, what?” said Zang and Erdos together.

  “He’s quite right,” said one of the Harkens. “Of course, the Church insists that Isono was a real, historical person, but there is no unambiguous evidence that he actually lived.”

  “I suppose next you’re going to say there was no Father of Lies?” said Erdos.

  “Perhaps not,” said the Captain. “Oh, the Abjurers were real enough. They still are.”

  “Damn right they are,” said Zang. “We met one.”

  “I haven’t forgotten,” said the Captain.

  “You what?” said Erdos.

  “A living Abjurer?” said one of the Harkens.

  “You actually met one?” said the other.

  “Aboard Angel of Cygnus,” said the Captain. “The cause of all the troubles was an old Abjurer. That’s why the Cold Ones encased her in amber and left her to drift.”

  “So, wait,” said Zang. “You’re saying there was never any Isono or Father of Lies?”

  “Maybe there was,” said the Captain. “Maybe there wasn’t.”

  “What about The Golden Way?” said Erdos.

  One of the Harkens said, “Some historians believe it’s a romanticized version of actual events that occurred before and during the Mech Wars. Others that it’s a narrative pieced together from a number of different events that occurred at different times and places.”

  The Captain said, “Some say it’s pure legend. That none of it ever happened.”

  “What do you think?” said Jaemon.

  “You know what I think,” said the Captain.

  “They don’t,” said Jaemon, pointing around the room.

  The Captain followed his gesture with his eyes, then nodded.

  “I tend to agree with the view that it’s bits and pieces of real events strung together into a nice story,” he said. “Some details match certain archaeological evidence pretty well.”

  “So it could all be true,” said Zang.

  “No,” said the Captain. “Not all of it, not just as it is in the romances. For one thing, the details are different in different versions of the story. Did Isono die in the final conflict? Did he die in a raid in the Way? Did he die at all?”

  “Sure, but the main points are the same,” Zang insisted.

  The Captain shrugged.

  “Depends on what you think the main points are.”

  “You know,” I said, “None of this has very much to do with what Gebre Isaac was doing, or what happened to our artifact.”

  “Maybe it does,” said the Captain.

  “How so?” I said.

  “Well,” he said, “Makerists tend to take the story of The Golden Way more literally than most people. I mean, it’s part of their official version of history.”

  “So?” said Zang.

  “So Gebre Isaac is a Makerist Chaplain,” Jaemon said.

  Erdos and Zang scowled at each other.

  “I don’t believe we’re back to this crock of shit,” said Erdos. “The Church stole your artifact because Gebre Isaac thinks Kenjiro Isono is in it?”

  The Harkens stared at each other.

  “Actually,” said one them, “That would explain a lot.”

  29.

  “Seriously?” Erdos said. She was flushed again. “The Church again?”

  “Why are you so convinced the Church can do no wrong?” said Jaemon.

  “Why are you so sure it’s behind everything?” said Erdos.

  Zang made a pained face.

  “What?” Erdos snapped at her.

  “We talked to Rodrigo Schulmann,” Zang said.

  “The PR flack?” said Erdos. “So what?”

  “So he knows something.”

  Erdos stared at Zang. After a moment she sat back in her chair and laid her palms flat on the table.

  “I’m not sure of anything,” said the Captain. “But if the evidence points at the Church, then we should be looking at the Church.”

  Erdos shook her head.

  “Strange as it sounds,” said Zang, pointing at Erdos, “I actually agree with you. Or I did, until we talked to Schulmann.”

  “Why is it so hard to believe that the Church might be up to something?” said Jaemon. The Captain and the Harkens watched with interest.

  Erdos spluttered.

  “The Church saved human civilization!” she said.

  “Pulled it back from extinction,” said Zang, nodding.

  “That was the Angels,” said the Captain.

  “Exactly!” said Erdos triumphantly.

  “The Angels and the Church are not the same thing,” said the Captain.

  “What?” Erdos and Zang said in chorus.

  Erdos said, “The Angels are the messengers of the Makers. Everybody knows that!”

  “And the Church is their mission to civilization,” said Zang.

  “That’s certainly the Church story,” said the Captain. “But there are other stories.”

  “Come on,” said Zang. “Everybody knows the facts of history.”

  “I didn’t realize you were a historian,” said Jaemon.

  Zang opened her mouth angrily, then stopped. She closed it and glared at Jaemon.

  “Fine,” said Erdos. “What do our historians say about it?”

  She po
inted at the two Harkens floating above the table.

  “I defer to Doctor Rayleigh,” said one of the Harkens. “This is his area of expertise.”

  The Captain scratched at the back of his head.

  “It might be more or less the way the Church tells it,” he said.

  “There, you see?” said Zang.

  “Then again, it might not. We’ve inherited a lot of stories from antiquity. They don’t always agree about the details of every important event, and hard evidence is often difficult to come by. No one has ever found Isono’s remains, for example. Many have looked for them, trying to establish one story or another as the true one.”

  “Maybe he never died,” Erdos said.

  “Is that possible?” Jaemon said. “I thought people still died of old age back in the Mech Wars.”

  He made a queasy face.

  “They did,” said the Captain. “But creches existed at that time, and could be used to prolong life indefinitely. They weren’t yet widely available, and they were crude and unreliable by our standards, but they did work. There aren’t many people alive now who lived through the Mech Wars, but there are some.”

  “So why not ask them what happened?” said Zang.

  “What’s going on right now on Eighth Avenue in Bahroz?” said the Captain. He half-smiled at Zang.

  “What?” said Zang. “What’s that got to do with anything?”

  The Captain said, “People don’t generally know everything that’s going on everywhere in the solar system.”

  “So?”

  “So people who lived through important historical events don’t necessarily know anything more about the facts than people who didn’t.”

  “What’s going on in some Martian neighborhood right now isn’t historically important,” said Erdos.

  “How do you know?” said the Captain. “We don’t know which events are important until later. You think when Salima bin Yusuf sat down to rest in Tithon Square she knew she was starting a war that would end an empire?”

  “So you’re saying we don’t know anything about anything?” said Zang.

  “No,” said the Captain. “I’m saying we know what we know, and we don’t know what we don’t know. And the Church claims to know things that historians outside the Church can’t confirm. In a few cases we can establish that the Church’s version of events doesn’t hold water.”