The Dark Imbalance Read Online Free PDF Page B

what exactly the council is.”
    “It might be easier to demonstrate,” she returned. “Turn your instruments to the following coordinates...”
    Kajic swung the view on the main screen accordingly, but only starlight dusted the empty space.
    “There’s nothing there,” said Roche irritably.
    “Give the light a chance to reach you,” said the woman.
    Even as she spoke, something appeared on the screen. It looked like a ship, but the perspective was all wrong. Where a dot might represent other craft, there glowed a tiny arrowhead.
    “Whatever it is,” said Kajic, magnifying the view, “it’s millions of kilometers away.”
    The display was suddenly taken up with a huge vessel, and Roche found herself gasping at its immensity. It was shaped like a long cone flattened on one side, hollow at tip and base and bristling with instruments and weapons emplacements—some as large as the Ana Vereine itself. It had to be at least a thousand kilometers long and as much as one hundred and fifty wide; it made COE Intelligence HQ look like a drone.
    “You’re seeing the Phlegethon ,” said the woman. “It’s a consistory vessel of the Skehan Heterodox. You have been invited to approach.”
    Roche stared at the screen a moment longer. The name meant nothing to her. “Why?” she said eventually.
    “To discuss the situation,” the woman replied. “For the duration of those discussions, at least, we can offer you our protection.”
    “Again: why?”
    The woman hesitated slightly, as though Roche’s suspicion annoyed her. “The IEPC exists to assess the threat presented by the clone warriors you seek. To do that, we must gather as much information as possible. Contacting you is an important part of that process. Understand, Roche, we are not asking you to join forces; we are not asking you to surrender control to us. We ask merely to exchange information, in return for which we will get your pursuers off your back.”
    Roche hesitated, thinking of the Surin backup Jancin Xumai had threatened her with, and the Kesh, and the Commerce Artel, and Jelena Heidik
     said the Box, <1 urge you to comply.>
    <1 thought you might>
    
    
    
    The AI was making sense. Any group with a ship that big would be a fair contender for the role of central authority in the system—and she had to take on allies sooner or later. She couldn’t do it on her own.
    “Roche? Are you still there?” The woman’s voice sounded more amused than concerned.
    “I was just considering your offer.” Roche glanced at Haid, who shrugged: Your decision ... “Very well. We agree to talk, at least.”
    “Good. I will instruct the Heresiarch to give you an approach vector to match orbits. We will contact you again when everything is in order.”
    Before Roche could reply, the woman had cut the line. A moment later, the drone accelerated impossibly fast, outward, away from the sun and away from them. Within seconds, it was gone.

2

    AVS-44
    955.1.30
    0640

    Something stirred inside Roche as they approached the Phlegethon.
    For the most part, the uneven surface of the giant ship’s hull was bleak and lifeless, with only the occasional beacon sporadically flaring in the darkness. But as they moved along the length of the Phlegethon ’s vast exterior, a patch of quivering energy some fifty kilometers wide followed, lighting up the ship’s black, moist-looking skin. There were no windows of any description to be seen, yet Roche couldn’t help but feel she was being watched. Not by the ship’s