D - Magbull Ride

Gripping her shoulder, Agent Mears led Soradina along a series of
narrow, grey corridors. Gradually, the efficient murmur ebbed away. The
walls swallowed sound, the gloss surface of the floor refusing to
acknowledge all but the heaviest of footfalls. She followed him down a
flight of steps to a door. Agent Mears waved a gloved hand across a
recessed panel in the wall. Nothing happened. He did it again, adding a
curt snort of vexation, and that seemed to do the trick.

The chamber beyond was dark, save for a small semicircle of light,
cleaved in two by their shadows. They stepped in, the door slid closed,
and the room lit up. The light was phosphorescent, with a slight green
tint. Rather than emanating from a single source, it came from the
rectangular tiles that mapped the floor, walls and low roof.

They were standing in front of a black, four-person Magbull, a
cylindrical tunnel stretching off to the left. The interior resembled
an old-fashioned cable car, the four seats arranged in two rows of two,
facing one another.

"Come on," said Agent Mears, speaking for the first time since they had
left the Interview Room. "Get in." Letting go of her arm, he gestured
towards the open door of the Magbull. Mindful of his instruction not to
speak, Soradina's only protest was a hesitant frown before she stepped
into the cab. She sat down in one of the ochre bucket seats, the tunnel
behind her. It was unexpectedly deep, hiking her legs up, and she felt
vaguely engulfed.

Agent Mears looked around then ducked inside, and sat down facing her.
The door clicked shut and a vidpanel above it, by means of an arrowed
diagram, warned that their journey was about to commence. When it did,
Soradina only realised it had because she could no longer make out the
room outside the cabin. The landscape was a porridgy grey blur, but she
had no sense of motion at all. She lurched forward as something in her
gut or inner ear decided she must be moving and attempted to
compensate.

Agent Mears watched, expressionless, a finger resting against his
jawbone.

"We're moving," he said, "but you won't feel it." His voice had a
faintly archaic aspect to it, something of the old Britain perhaps. "We
have buffers to compensate for the G-force." Soradina tried to sit back
in her chair, but her muscles remained taut, poised for jolt or
collision. "If we didn't, you would have been thrown out of your
seat&;#8230;" The intimation of a smile tugged at the corner of his
mouth. "&;#8230; and through me. Even if we were both strapped in,
we'd both pass out&;#8230; and still probably die." Soradina stared
dumbly. Had she been allowed to speak, she wouldn't have had a lot to
say, but knowing it was forbidden, knowing she had been threatened with
'physical reinforcement' should she talk, made her feel as if her lips
had been sewn together. They twitched and shivered. Agent Mears seemed
to notice.

"You can talk now," he said. "I had to be heavy-handed with you while
we were still in the Interview Room. Everything that gets said in there
is recorded and auto-transcribed. Your words and mine will already have
been read by five different people." Soradina made herself look away
from the window. It was making her feel nauseous.

"What's going on?" she asked, not entirely hopeful of an answer. Agent
Mears leant forward. He was tall, well-built - quite handsome, in fact.
He fixed her with a pair of asphalt-grey eyes.

"Anything I tell you from here on in," he explained gravely, "is being
disclosed in the strictest confidence. If you break my trust, it'll be
denied and you'll be punished as far as the law allows." The timbre of
his voice was twisting Soradina's stomach into an accomplished
knot.

Soradina had never been in a Magbull before. Magbull was short for
Magnetic Bullet. A massive electromagnetic charge shot the carriage
down frictionless tubes, then another, contrary charge, slowed it down
when it reached its destination. There had been talk of setting a
network up in New Zealand, but DeJongh owned all the technology, and
would only lease out the patents (or workers with the requisite
construction expertise) in return for exorbitant fees and a large
percentage of any resultant profits. The project fell through amongst a
welter of recriminations and counter-recriminations, ending several
promising political careers in a matter of weeks.

"Do you understand?" Mears asked.

"Yes, I do," she told him, deciding that hedging at this stage was not
really an option. Agent Mears leant back a little, creating some space
between them.

"You must feel very disoriented," he said. "I'm sorry about that. I
realise that circumstances have, unfortunately, conspired against you.
During your conversation with Agent Constantinos, we cross-checked the
details you gave us against your Genprint profile. As a result we were
able to get a trace on your missing Travel Guide. It's&;#8230;" He
stopped, coughed into his cupped palm. "It's some distance from where
you lost it. Are you familiar with the southern fringes of the
city?"

"No, I'm not."

"It's where the majority of our problems stem from." He looked down at
the cabin floor. "They're a bad lot down there, a bad lot. It's a
shame, really. You realise we're all for rehabilitation over
punishment. I don't have a vengeful bone in my body, I just want to
help everybody live side by side, safely." He blinked, shook his head.
"In any case, that's beside the point&;#8230; You stumbled into the
Synod, didn't you?"

"Yes."

"So you're aware that the Empire isn't quite as invincible as our
National Anthem suggests?"

"I don't know." Soradina wasn't sure what speed they were going, but
she knew it was fast. They must have travelled many kilometres
already.

"Well, I'm telling you," Agent Mears said, "we're not. There's a whole
gaggle of resistance movements fighting for this or against that. It's
endemic to any strong, successful system. None of the groups have got
much in common, besides a desire to blame their own misfortunes to a
greater social malaise rather than accepting personal responsibility.
They see others getting on, living happy, rewarding lives, and they
blame the system instead of themselves. Many of them champion causes
that I expect you'd feel sympathetic towards." Soradina stiffened.
"You, and a large proportion of the outside world. Don't panic, I've
not brought you here to chastise you. Magbulls simply offer an
environment in which we can't be overheard." He patted the wall. "The
G-force buffers, you see. Keep out any Nosy Parkers." Soradina had
never heard the expression 'Nosy Parkers' before, and had to suppress a
smirk.

"You shouldn't have been able to get into the Synod," he continued.
"It's not the sort of thing laity ought to be able to just stumble
into. There'd been a minor disturbance on the second floor - well, they
assumed it was minor, but I suspect it was intended as a distraction.
Someone besides yourself sneaked in to eavesdrop on a confidential
discussion - or tried to, at least." Soradina scratched her head. It
was stuffy inside the Magbull, and her skin was coated in a thin film
of perspiration. Her glasses were slipping down her nose. She regretted
bringing them at all; they were just a silly affectation.

"So&;#8230;" she offered, pursing her lips. Agent Mears took a deep
breath.

"This is extremely classified information&;#8230; most of our Agents
are unaware of it. There's a group, within the Empire&;#8230;" He
hesitated. "&;#8230; who believe that we haven't gone far enough to
protect ourselves. For them, the world outside our borders is full of
enemies ready to overthrow us. They think that the dissemination of our
faith and ethical international investment aren't enough; they're
paranoiacs, sick people. They believe the world will only be safe when
everyone who isn't under the stewardship of the Ecclesiarchy is dead."
Soradina tried not to look shocked. "Most factions are easily dealt
with. They're sporadically funded, fragmented, and they have
substantially inferior resources. Our difficulty here is&;#8230;
well, I'm sure you can appreciate our difficulty here." Soradina raised
her eyebrows, indicating that she couldn't. "Our international
reputation is&;#8230; well, it's mixed. In some circles we're well
received, in others there's a lot of dissent. If word of this got out,
it'd give the anti-Empire lobby even more ammunition. It'd be a
disaster."

"What has this got to do with me?" said Soradina. The Ecclesiarchy
seemed to be a maze of socio-political intrigue. Her brain craved
middlebrow media slush and a warm bed.

"It's complicated," said Agent Mears, "and there isn't much time left
for me to explain. I'm only making you privy to all of this because we
need your help." She felt giddy, and swayed, despite the fact that the
cabin felt as static as ever. "It's important you understand the
gravity of the situation. You went through a series of tests before you
entered the City Guard compound."

"I know."

"You're carrying a virus." Soradina opened her mouth, tried to
formulate a question, but each time she was about to speak another,
more pressing query pushed forward. She just squinted and looked
stunned. "There's intelligence that suggests a security breach in one
of the Schumann Research Centres. They've been working on methods to
eliminate the vermin problem in the southern slums. Up until now, we've
had to resort to rather crude methods&;#8230; caustic jets, burning
- very temporary, localised measures. One plan being pursued was to
fight fire with fire. Our scientists would develop a Super-Rat, a
stronger, fiercer, more powerful rodent, that could be sent in to breed
with the current rats. Being genetically superior, it would rapidly
take over as the dominant strain."

"The key part of the plan was that this new breed would have been
developed with a dormant genetic flaw - a virus, essentially. The
current vermin are resistant to just about every type of poison or
disease we can muster&;#8230; they've learned to avoid baited traps,
too. This new strain of Super-Rat would be produced, carrying this
hidden genetic weakness, which, once they had eradicated the previous
rats, could be triggered. We could release a simple chemical into the
food chain that would destroy the enzymes they need for breaking down
food. The Super-Rats would starve within a generation. Theoretically,
the problem would be solved. Unfortunately, it seems that data
generated by this research has&;#8230; gone astray." Agent Mears
shifted in his seat, the first indication of disquiet he had given.
"You've been infected with a dormant virus. It's related to the one the
laboratories were developing, but&;#8230; It's more virulent. I'm
not sure how it might be triggered." He gritted his teeth. "It would
have similar effects. Humans have longer life spans than rats, so it
wouldn't spread through generations quite so rapidly, but it would kill
a lot of people. Presumably, they have infected you with the intention
of activating the virus once you return home."

"What's going to happen, then?"

"I told Agent Constantinos we had suspicions regarding your story so he
would detain you while I double-checked the test results. As far as he
is concerned you have been removed for further, more intense
questioning. The virus is not contagious at this stage."

"How did I get it?"

"I don't know," said Agent Mears. "I can only speculate. Nano-hypos can
be concealed in a closed fist. Someone could have brushed past you in a
crowd, you wouldn't have felt a thing. They wouldn't have even needed a
bare patch of skin - they'll penetrate thin clothing."

"How did they know I was foreign?" The question she really wanted to
ask, to scream, was 'why me?'.

"Again, I can only speculate," he replied soberly. "It seems likely
they have sympathisers with access to sensitive information&;#8230;
although it would only take a few seconds to call up your file on the
Metanet." He glanced up at the vidpanel. It was counting down from
thirty. Clearly their arrival at somewhere was imminent. "The bottom
line is for the sake of the Empire, and your life, we need to purge
your body of the virus quickly and discreetly. We are about to arrive
at a secure medical facility. Once there, our conversation will be
being monitored again. I will speak to you as if you were an insurgent;
officially, I will report you are carrying a virus which you intended
to unleash upon the city, particularly on the Synod, thus killing our
beloved Archbishop H?ek. I will instruct them to remove the virus from
your body so it can be isolated and a vaccine developed; I will tell
them to leave you alive and unharmed, as it is essential that I am able
to further interrogate you."

"Why can't you just-"

"Haven't you been listening to me?" Agent Mears became suddenly fierce.
"We have a serious breach of security! If my knowledge of the plot were
leaked, the perpetrators would, in all likelihood, active the virus
there and then! They're fanatics - they make no distinction between
foreigners and those who protect them! It's essential that we say
nothing." He laid his palms down on top of his knees in a gesture of
finality. He appeared to calm himself down. "Once the virus has been
removed, I'll take you back, you'll be released, you'll be free to
go&;#8230; on the condition of absolute silence, of course." He
pointed a finger at her. "You'll be watched."

"Of course," said Soradina. Outside, the tunnel walls were becoming
discernible as the Magbull slowed down.

"Right," said Agent Mears, straightening his collar. He stroked the
embroidered City Guard insignia with the tip of his index finger.
"Let's go."