Empire of Light by Gary Gibson Read Free Book Online

dispatch ships, as far away as we can, and found new colonies in some other part of the galaxy where the war can’t reach them. At least that way we might save some.’
    He stood and moved towards the door. ‘Arrange for a priority message back to Dakota. Let Ted know about it, too. Tell her what we’ve found out and make sure she’s kept up to date whenever something new comes up.’
    Lamoureaux hesitated. ‘What about Whitecloud? Do we mention him?’
    ‘Dakota was at Port Gabriel during the massacres. I think we’d better not mention him at all, don’t you?’

Chapter Four
    Next time, the interrogators were different.
    The first one to enter Ty’s cell was balding and middle-aged, with loose wisps of hair curling around his ears. A younger man closed the door behind him, his own head carefully shaved. The older one had the look of a civil servant, and wore a sombre-looking suit with a high collar. His younger companion was dressed more casually.
    ‘My name is Rex Kosac,’ the older man explained, as Ty lifted himself up from the narrow plastic shelf that served as his bed, ‘and my colleague here is Horace Bleys.’
    Ty gazed at them warily, trying to adjust the thin paper uniform he’d been given to wear. ‘You’re not part of the staff here, are you?’
    Bleys glanced around the tiny cell and wrinkled his nose, perhaps becoming aware of the perpetual scent of detergent and urine that clung to every surface. His flattened nose, thick, muscled hands and general air of barely suppressed violence suggested he was Kosac’s bodyguard.
    ‘On the contrary, Mr Whitecloud, I administrate this facility,’ Kosac replied.
    Ty sat up straighter. ‘When they brought me here, they said I would be formally arraigned within a couple of days.’
    Kosac shook his head sadly. ‘That’s not why I’m here, Mr White-cloud. I just wanted the chance to meet you before . . .’ he glanced at Bleys with a smile, as if he’d caught himself on the verge of saying something he shouldn’t. ‘Well, you’re our most famous resident, as a matter of fact.’
    A helicopter passed over the prison, the sound of its blades dopplering as it descended towards a nearby landing pad. The muffled sounds of men shouting and trucks pulling up outside continued unabated day and night.
    ‘Would you like to know how we found you so quickly?’ asked Kosac, his grin increasingly feral.
    Ty cleared his throat, his mouth suddenly dry and his tongue feeling heavy. ‘I assumed it was the blood sample.’
    Kosac frowned. ‘Blood sample?’
    ‘A doctor took it from me at a clinic. I assumed you were running automatic gene-profiling and matched it to a sample that was taken from me before I was due to be handed over by the Uchidans.’
    Enlightenment crossed Kosac’s face. ‘Ah! I see. No, on the contrary, we picked up a friend of yours a couple of months back. Ilsa Padel – you know her?’
    Ty nodded, a terrible feeling of inevitability beginning to overcome him.
    ‘She tried to exit the coreship along with a group of refugees. She almost got past us before we figured out who she was. She was extremely helpful when it came to identifying key members of General Peralta’s senior staff in return for certain concessions. Even if we didn’t have the blood sample, Mr Whitecloud, it was still only a matter of time. And hiding right there in the clinic! Well,’ – Kosac shook his head as if sorrowful, ‘that was always going to make it easy for us, wasn’t it?’
    Ty slumped back against the wall. ‘I see.’
    Ilsa. Few others could have had the opportunity to betray him so thoroughly. Apart from her, only Peralta had been aware of his true identity. Ty felt a tide of bitter melancholy well up as he remembered all the times he had searched for her, unaware she had already bartered him for a more comfortable cell or a shorter sentence.
    His first sight of the barracks had been at dawn. The block-shaped prison building was tucked into one corner