The Beast Arises

The Mechanicus had teleported Phobos. She deduced that the test had moved the moon from one side of Mars to the other. The game with gravitational forces struck her as reckless. The fact that the Fabricator General had ordered such a step taken implied that the risk was less than the alternative.

And the test had been successful, but Phobos was barely more than twenty-two kilometres in diameter. That was a long way from being Mars itself, and the distance it had travelled was slight. If Kubik intended to remove Mars from the orks’ reach, he would have to be planning a jump hundreds of light years long, at the very least. Yendl would have liked to take comfort in that thought. She didn’t dare.

After another six hours, Urquidex disengaged himself from the throne. Yendl, with the others in the retinue, followed him back up the sides of the laboratorium bowl. A few rows from the top, Urquidex turned down a row. Van Auken was waiting for him.

‘Very satisfactory,’ the artisan trajectorae said. ‘Your conclusions?’

‘There was a seventy-eight per cent survival rate for the sensors placed on the surface of Phobos. The same result for those in subterranean locations.’

‘That too is satisfactory.’

‘If these proportions hold for Mars itself, the twenty-two per cent loss will be reflected by over a billion deaths.’

‘A regrettable but sustainable level of attrition. The Fabricator General’s projections allowed for considerably more.’

‘I can only speak for my domain—’ Urquidex began.

Van Auken cut him off. ‘Yet you propose to do otherwise.’ The grating electronic voice had no inflection. There was no flesh visible beneath the tall priest’s robes. His prosthetics long and multi-jointed, there was very little about him that resembled the human. Yet his puzzlement was clear. ‘I hope you are not still intent on questioning the path the Fabricator General has mapped out. You will lead one to conclude you are suffering from apostatical delusions.’

‘Merely a question of means. The arrival of the orks in the Sol System has created a new urgency, is that not so?’

‘That is correct, on a number of fronts. The Imperial Senatorum is demanding the deployment of Titans.’

‘Fabricator General Kubik has refused?’

‘Of course he has. What sense would there be in departing the system while leaving behind major assets? Furthermore, they would be thrown away in the current tactic adopted by Terra.’

‘How has the Fabricator General answered the demands?’

‘By presenting practical obstacles. Explaining that the time and the means to transport the great weapons are lacking.’

Yendl realised that Urquidex was conducting the conversation for her benefit. She was amassing all the evidence Vangorich would need to prove Kubik’s malfeasance. She worried about what courses of action might still be open.

Urquidex said, ‘Is that wise? Moving Phobos to a different position on its orbit is far from what will be required. Will we not need more time than we are likely to have at our disposal?’

‘You are indeed mistaken to speculate outside your realm of expertise, magos biologis, and mistaken again in your assumption. The principles behind the teleportation technology have been confirmed. The Grand Experiment is a success. The work that remains is a matter of adjusting scale. A simple question of brute force.’

‘I see.’ Urquidex said nothing else, but did not take his leave.

Van Auken’s lenses whirred, adjusting focus as he studied Urquidex. ‘Your hesitation implies a lack of purpose or a state of confusion,’ he said. ‘You are creating the necessity of a further incident report.’

‘The completion of this project will be regarded as nothing less than treason by the rest of the Imperium.’

‘We act, as ever, in accordance with fealty to the Machine-God. Or are you saying that the preservation of Mars is unimportant?’

‘Of course not.’

‘The Imperium is more than Terra. We have already learned much from the rapid technological development of the Veridi giganticus. It is a significant probability that the benefits of what may yet be learned will offset losses incurred in the process. Study of the Veridi

is more important than their neutralisation, especially if they are on the point of cladogenesis.’ More adjustment of lenses. Yendl imagined Urquidex seen under extreme magnification. She wondered what psychological cues, imperceptible to the organic eye, Van Auken might be observing on his fellow magos. ‘Or don’t you agree?’ Van Auken asked.

‘I do not.’

‘You are challenging the edicts of the Fabricator General?’

Yendl was sure she heard surprise in Van Auken’s electronic tones.

‘I disagree with their premises and their conclusions. But I will not disobey them.’

‘You are risking much, magos biologis.’

‘So is Fabricator General Kubik,’ Urquidex said. ‘It is the nature of the times.’