Free Into Everywhere by Paul McAuley

ending.’
    He took his seat, facing the others across the table, and explained what the wizards had found on the slime planet, described his escape from the claim jumpers, and restated his belief that the G-class frigate had been owned by the Red Brigade. Felicia and Socrates kept interrupting him for clarification of some point or fact in the fussy way they had, but otherwise he thought that he carried it off pretty well. But as soon as he’d finished, Avon Abbas Acholonu started in, telling him that he had no evidence that the frigate was one of the Red Brigade’s ships.
    ‘Ordinary claim jumpers do not run to frigates,’ Tony said. ‘It was flying a false police flag—’
    ‘It could belong to one of the other honourable families,’ Avon said. ‘On a clandestine mission like yours, searching for the same fool’s gold.’
    ‘No honourable family or corporation would pretend to be the police.’
    Tony was smiling, still keeping his tone light, but he was somewhat unnerved. Avon was Ayo’s man; he was the only commoner on the council, and she had promoted him after his meteoric rise through the ranks of the civil service. His direct challenge suggested that Tony couldn’t count on his sister’s support, let alone anyone else’s. The council chamber, with battle flags hung from the ceiling and cases of heirlooms and battle trophies along the walls, an antique gold-visored spacesuit standing beside the double door, all the weight of the family’s storied history, suddenly seemed like a trap.
    Avon said, ‘Someone who wanted us to believe they were Red Brigade might fly under a false flag. And the police’s black-ops crews have been known to emulate the pirates they are trying to catch. Lacking any hard evidence as to the claim jumpers’ actual identity and intentions, any story we tell is as valid as any other.’
    ‘Surely the simplest explanation is the best,’ Tony said. ‘Which is that the claim jumpers had been sent by the Red Brigade to steal the ancient knowledge we had uncovered. I know that Opeyemi agrees with me. It’s why he told me that it was too dangerous to return to Dry Salvages and confront the broker.’
    ‘Not exactly,’ Opeyemi said. ‘I told you that
if
Raqle Thornhilde had a connection with the claim jumpers, you should do nothing to endanger yourself. But it is now obvious that she was not to blame. It was the leader of that crew of wizards, Fred Firat.’
    Socrates said, ‘It doesn’t really matter who the claim jumpers were, nephew. The point is that this sorry incident underscores the unnecessary risks you have been taking.’
    ‘There’s a feeling,’ Ayo said quietly, ‘that your ship and your talents might be better used elsewhere.’
    Tony appealed to her directly. ‘We agreed that there was no better mission than finding a cure for sleepy sickness. That’s why you gave your assent to the deal.’
    ‘It was not properly scrutinised by the council,’ Felicia said.
    ‘And it was hardly a commercial venture,’ Socrates said. ‘More of a reckless adventure that nearly ended in disaster.’
    They were twins, Felicia and Socrates, seventy years old, with the same round face and broad nose, the same brown eyes. Socrates wore his grey hair in beaded braids; Felicia’s was piled high and wrapped in a brightly patterned scarf.
    ‘And you don’t have a cure,’ Avon said. ‘You were pursuing what might at best be described as a wild hypothesis.’
    ‘I have brought back ancient code stored in living libraries,’ Tony said, ‘and a crew of wizards who even as we speak are preparing to unravel its secrets. And I saved those secrets from capture by people who clearly believe they are important. The mission has been a howling success, yet I’ve been forced to account for myself before this so-called emergency meeting. What is it that I’m missing? What do you think I’ve done wrong?’
    He had been speaking to Ayo, but it was Opeyemi who answered. As always, his