Free Cowl by Neal Asher Page A

displacement generator, using an offshoot of Cowl’s research. The Engineer must think Cowl has passed on schematics to the Umbrathane and is therefore a traitor. Moreover, how did they know enough about the dangers represented by his research to risk such a suicidal attack? Of course doubt remains because, had their attack succeeded, Cowl himself might have been killed. Unless the attack was actually a rescue attempt …
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    T HE GUNFIRE HAD CEASED by the time Polly returned to the deck and the moon was up with its horns sinister. She made out structures like a squad of Martian war machines frozen mid-stride in the sea, and from one of these a searchlight speared down, as the boat decelerated and turned.
    â€˜Red Sands army fort,’ said Dave. ‘Did a run out there a couple of weeks
back, so it’s not the usual supplies we’ll be taking in. They’re stocked up until the next changeover.’
    They moved back along the deck to the wheelhouse, where Frank stood by the helm, gently guiding it with one hand while puffing on a pipe. Polly stared at the thing in his mouth and remembered that the last time she had seen someone smoking a pipe, it had contained a cocktail of crack and an LSD derivative. She suspected, from the strata of strong tobacco smoke in the boat’s interior, that these drugs were not Frank’s particular penchant.
    â€˜So, who are you then?’ he asked.
    â€˜Seems she went to take a swim without any intention of coming back,’ said Dave, leaning back against the wall of the cabin. Outside, a metal chimney was belching steam as Toby put out the fire in the stove, as per Frank’s recent instructions.
    Frank eyed her for a moment then said, ‘Now why would you want to do that?’
    â€˜Because my husband died at El Alamein,’ Polly replied.
    â€˜I thought you said boyfriend,’ interjected Dave, lighting up his nth cigarette.
    Oops, now they’ll start getting suspicious. Tell them you called me husband out of habit, as extramarital sex is somewhat frowned on in this particular time .
    Smoothly Polly explained, ‘Habit. Where we lived it was best for people to think we were married.’
    You’re rather good at this. Had I known, I might have made different use of you.
    Polly would have liked to explain to Nandru that, prior to putting the object on her arm, she would have had difficulty finding her backside with both hands. She was thinking an order of magnitude more clearly than heretofore and, as every moment passed, she could feel the crap being further cleared from her system. What worried her now was what would happen when withdrawal hit. It hadn’t yet, but she felt sure it must.
    â€˜Do you still intend to take that swim?’ Frank eventually asked.
    â€˜No … it would be a betrayal of his memory. He was a good man.’
    Ha-de-fucking-ha. Because of Marjae I wanted you creamed. I can’t feel it now, but back then, when I was alive, I thought you a noxious insect that should be stepped on.
    â€˜We loved each other,’ Polly added, and heard hollow laughter in her head.
    Frank and Dave both looked embarrassed at this.
    Frank said, ‘This will all have to be confirmed, you know. They don’t like
any unexpected visitors on these forts, even if you hadn’t any intention of coming out here.’
    â€˜I’ve no problem with that,’ said Polly, glancing out at Toby, who was now manipulating a hoist to raise a crate from the hold.
    Frank brought the boat to a near halt below one of the constructs, his hands delicate on the controls to keep the vessel in position. Polly saw a net, attached to a line, thump down on the deck and watched as Dave went out to retrieve a small pack taped to the line, and then help Toby heave the crate into the net. A torch flashed from above and Dave returned the signal with his own torch. Polly did not need the clearness of thought she now possessed to figure