HAWK

CHAPTER THIRTEEN: NEST (7/7)

'What are you doing?' Kas whispered. Every hair on the back of her neck was suddenly standing to attention.

'It's a shame you don't like bio-mechs,' Swanne answered. 'They're really rather extraordinary.' Kas backed herself up against the desk as the panther began to stalk towards her, its large head hunched low below its shoulders. Kas tried to control her breathing but her heart was hammering away inside her chest fast enough to fuse hydrogen atoms together. The beast came to a stop at Kas's feet, the green apertures of its eyes staring up unblinkingly into her own. They were the exact same green as Swanne's.

'Bio-mechs don't require food or water,' Swanne continued. 'They don't feel pain, nor experience fear. They are stronger, faster and more intelligent than their purely biological counterparts.'

A low purr filled the room and resonated loudly in Kas's ears. The panther's hot oily breath wafted up and filled her nostrils making it hard for her to breathe.

'But it can't think for itself,' Kas exhaled.

'Actually, as far as the animal is aware, it is still in complete control. I am simply whispering in its mind - a bit like its conscience. And I can whisper all sorts of things.'

The panther's jaw cracked open and showed rows of gleaming silver teeth encaging a fleshy pink tongue. The four long fangs at the front looked sharp enough to pierce carbachrome.

'I must've stumbled across something pretty big if you're willing to kill me over it,' Kas said.

Swanne laughed her first genuine laugh of the day. 'Kill you? I'm not going to kill you, Miss Balera. I'm going to--'

'An unidentified ship has arrived outside Eidol.'

Astrid's voice may as well have been that of an angel. The panther's mouth snapped shut as it turned to look back at its master. Kas didn't dare take her eyes away from it, but she could still hear the anger and confusion in Swanne's voice.

'What are you talking about? We have already apprehended the ship.'

'This is a different ship.'

Kas couldn't help but turn her head enough to look at Swanne. The governor's left eye was twitching as though a bug had just flown into it while a thin blue vein had found purchase in one of her temples and was pulsating angrily.

'Open comms,' Swanne said.

'Communication is currently unviable.'

'Then deploy the Wraiths.'

'Wraiths deployed.'

The governor locked her eyes back on Kas and sneered.

'Who followed you?'

'Nobody,' Kas replied.

'Don't lie! Nobody arrives at Eidol uninvited, and this is the second ship today. So again, who is it?'

Kas shook her head, but she was already thinking of the spiders and the mayhem she'd left behind somewhere deep in the Black. Could something have followed her to Eidol? It seemed the only likely answer.

'I told you, I don't know,' she said.

The panther turned back to Kas to bare its silver teeth once more.

'Tell me who it is, or I swear, I will--'

'Communication with the ship is now viable,' Astrid announced.

Swanne paused briefly to shut down her anger. 'Open comms.' A soft crackle filled the air like a distant thunderstorm. Swanne held Kas's gaze as she spoke. 'Unidentified ship - you have entered a highly restricted orbit and are in severe breach of federal regulation. You will identify yourself immediately.'

The crackle lasted for several seconds. When the response came, it wasn't the one Kas had expected.

'Uh... hi. This is flight lieutenant Astell of the C.A.P. Who am I speaking with?'

Kas closed her eyes.

Astell, you moron...