Dark Matters - Michelle Diener Page 0,76

second shelf. “Try this one.”

It was one of the smaller boxes, and she lifted it out and set it down on the floor and crouched beside it. She lifted the lid to find a slim black pen. “The pen is mightier than the sword?” she asked, with a grin.

The cylinder tilted, making her one hundred percent sure now that Bane was in there, because the reaction reminded her of herself, and she'd been noting him mimicking her speech for a while now. Why not her physical tics, as well?

“What does that mean?”

“It's a saying from Earth. That writing down ideas for others to read and think about is more dangerous than fighting wars to force others to bow down to you.”

“That is . . . interesting. I'll have to think about it. In some ways, it's why I'm here. Rose McKenzie stopped me using the . . . sword . . . when I was first freed, and now I'm in a position to . . .” He trailed off.

“You were lying before, weren't you? You never intended to leave the Tecran and the UC to fight it out among themselves.”

There was silence, and she knew the lens was focused on her face.

“Yes.”

“You want to destroy them completely.”

“I do.” The cylinder moved a little, as if unable to keep still. “Everything that's happened since I arrived here, from the games they've played with Commander Helvan to that soldier about to shoot you in cold blood, brought it all back to me, how they are.”

“They were cruel to you.” It was a statement.

“They stunted me, lied to me, manipulated me and they did it deliberately. All for their own power and control. They forced Paxe to destroy himself so he wouldn't be chained again and used against us. I can't forgive them for that even more than what they did to me.”

She reached out and patted the side of the cylinder awkwardly. “I'm sorry, Bane. It isn't an easy situation. What do you think you'll do about it?”

He was silent for a moment. “I want to destroy them, but I've slowly worked out what Rose was telling me from the beginning, what you've just said about the pen. I can destroy their reputation, and have them suffer for a lot longer. Destroying them physically is too quick. Even the trial in the United Council headquarters wasn't satisfying enough for me. Because the people representing the Tecran in that forum were the politicians, and I knew most of them didn't know the truth about what was going on with the Class 5s. Some did, but even those who suspected something illegal was going on didn't actually know the truth. They weren't trusted enough. They were told the Class 5 project was too sensitive to give details on, and had no idea they were run by thinking systems. I have to admit most of the Class 5 crew didn't know, either.”

“Why didn't the UC bring the generals to the trial?” She lifted the pen out to have a look at it.

“The captains of the Class 5s were all either killed as a result of our taking control back, or mysteriously died en route to Tecra after being rescued by other Tecran ships, so they had no one to point the finger of blame at. And every general claimed they had no idea what was really going on. They claimed the vice-admiral told them it was classified. Everyone was an innocent dupe.” There was disgust dripping from his voice.

“What happened to the vice-admiral?”

Bane gave a snort. “What do you think?”

“Died mysteriously?”

“Suicide.” If Bane had fingers, he would have made air quotes.

“You don't think those responsible will ever admit their culpability?”

“I know a few of them by name. I was the one arranging comms between my captain and Tecran HQ, after all. But the captain destroyed each conversation after it happened as a matter of protocol, and until Rose saved me, I couldn't do anything about it.”

“So you know, but you don't have proof.” That was tough. She turned the pen over in her hand, realizing pretty quickly it wasn't a pen. Or not one she'd seen before. She slid a finger down one side, then the other, looking for a button or slide, and it suddenly jumped in her hand, so she instinctively closed her fist around it. The top seemed to twirl in a cone shape and then she felt the faint jerk as something exploded from the tip.

She blinked, trying to work