“I thought they were freaks.” Gestalt shrugged. “After all, like you and the Checquy, I assumed that the death of Eliza meant the end of any new bodies. But then, a few days later, I was suddenly more.” Her eyes glowed. “I was aware of a new body to slide into. I opened my eyes, and I was here, sitting up in a metal box filled with jelly.”
“Just a little child,” said Saskia. “A lovely little boy with white-blond hair. He opened his eyes and immediately started talking terms.”
“The last time I made a deal with the Grafters, I wasn’t asking for much,” said Sophie. “Power, wealth, the opportunity to kick arse. This time, I was much more strategic.”
“The deal was simple,” said Simon. “We would provide Gestalt with more bodies. Bodies outside the prison system. Gestalt would use them to act on our behalf as well as sometimes directing our troops, disposable soldiers who would be equipped with Broederschap weapons.”
“Gestalt has been far better than the British criminals we started out with,” said Saskia. “Much more competent, much more organized, much more disciplined. It was easier to modify the new bodies and put in the enhancements as they grew. Plus, it turns out that common criminals are not the most professional people on earth. You saw them, Gestalt was leading them at the assault near that ostentatious country house.”
“The Sophie-body was stationed in the hotel,” said Claudia, “to both observe the delegation and keep an eye on you.”
“And I provided valuable insights and knowledge about the Checquy,” said Gestalt. “Let’s not forget that.”
“We worked out the details over a few hours,” said Claudia, “and then the body broke down.”
“Well, we had accelerated the growth drastically,” said Saskia.
“This body, the Sophie body, took quite a bit longer to grow,” said Gestalt. “But as a result, it’s going to last longer.”
“Not that much longer,” objected Odette. “It’s inversely proportional. Do you know what that means? The more you accelerate the growth, the less time the body will last.”
“Thank you, yes, I know how math works,” said Sophie. “And you may recall I’ve already been in a couple of bodies that have rotted away abruptly.” She shuddered. “But that’s where we come to the point of payment for my services.”
“We’re realistic about Gestalt’s commitment to the cause,” said Saskia.
“Fucking over the Checquy is a bonus,” said Sophie. “And I still want to kill that bitch Thomas. But it’s not my end goal.”
“So what is your end goal?” asked Odette.
“Being alive,” said Sophie. “Being free. With bodies that won’t just fall apart after a few days or weeks.”
“All of the Gestalt bodies we created were grown at an accelerated rate,” said Saskia. “And we took care to ensure that they could not make any more without our help.” Odette recalled that the Gestalt body that had rotted away in the Rookery prison cell had been given a vasectomy.
“All the males were neutered, and this Sophie body has no viable eggs,” said Gestalt, “thanks to a couple of injections from my friends here.” The woman did not look best pleased at this fact. “But there are two new ones out there in the world,” she said with a look of utter satisfaction. “Pure and clean, without any modifications or accelerated growth.”
“We agreed to create two zygotes that have been implanted in civilian women,” said Saskia. “They will grow at the normal rate and develop into a male and a female. After the normal gestation period, they’ll be born, with a normal life span ahead of them.”
“I can feel them now,” said Gestalt, closing her eyes. “Little lights in the darkness.”
“It is impressive,” said Odette. “Why didn’t you use the Gestalt bodies to do the suicide bombings in the cities? Why did you have to use civilians?”
“We obtained Gestalt’s services relatively late in the piece,” said Simon. “And besides, the systems we implanted required special conditions. They had to be the right blood type and possess specific hormones and antibodies. We could only use people who had successfully undergone organ transplants.”
“And even then it was not easy,” said Saskia. “These were extremely complex designs that Claudia stole from the Broederschap archives, well beyond even our skill levels. Several of the candidates rejected the implants.”
“But how did you find them?” asked Odette, curious despite herself.
“It’s not just people I can hack with these things,” said Claudia, stroking the cables that poured out of her skull. “Hospital records, government databases, it’s all extremely useful. Except for the Checquy, of course, who haven’t even plugged their mainframe computers into the web.”
“That’s really quite sensible of them,” said Simon. “I always roll my eyes whenever I read about government computers getting hacked.”
“I don’t understand how you could do it,” said Odette.
“Well, the delivery system was difficult; there were some missteps,” said Simon. “But the product itself was a rather clever tweaking of the original toxin. ’Dette, I think you’d really appreciate the changes I made.” He sat back and folded his arms, the picture of a white, rubber-skinned person pleased with himself. “And do you know, I believe that rendering it nonfatal actually makes it a more effective weapon. Sometimes we get so caught up in the physical aspects of our technology, in the meat, that we ignore the psychological applications.”
“I’m not talking about the technical expertise, Simon!” shouted Odette, and they all jumped. “I’m talking about maiming people!”
“We tried to keep the civilian carnage to a minimum, really,” said Claudia.
“Are you serious?”
“It could have been worse,” said Simon. “So much worse.”
“This comes back to the choice,” said Saskia. “The choice between us and the Broederschap.” She was calm, her chin resting on her folded hands. “It’s a choice you couldn’t make, and we don’t blame you for that.”
“I made it,” said Odette.
“Not really.”
“I did!” shouted Odette. “I did! It was the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do in my life, and it broke my heart, but I made my choice!”
“Odette, can you honestly say that you gave yourself entirely to Ernst’s cause?” said Saskia. She sounded so reasonable. “That you committed completely to seeking us out and destroying us? Did you do everything in your power to help them catch us? Did we become your enemies?” Odette hung her head.
“No.” It was true. She’d held back. In her heart of hearts, she hadn’t made them her enemies, and she’d secretly hoped that they wouldn’t get caught. I didn’t want the attacks, I didn’t want people dying, she thought. I just wanted my friends to retreat, to live their lives away from this.
“You couldn’t choose against us,” said Saskia. “You couldn’t choose against the rest of the brotherhood. So we’re removing the choice for you.”
“What?”
“You won’t have to choose, Odette. That’s our gift to you.” Odette felt Simon’s hand on her shoulder. “Today, the ridiculous peace between the Checquy and Broederschap will die.”
“What are you going to do?” asked Odette weakly.
“Don’t fool yourself,” said Gestalt. “It won’t be pretty.”
“Actually, it was you who gave us the idea, Odette,” said Simon placidly.
“Me?” said Odette, her mind reeling. “No, I never — what are you talking about?”
“We were floundering about before,” said Claudia. “All that rage, and we had some good concepts, but we didn’t have an end point in mind.”
“Striking at the Broederschap was the easiest thing for us to do,” said Simon. “We thought that if we demonstrated our feelings, showed how appalling this was, our colleagues and our family would reconsider. But that wasn’t realistic. They’re too much under the thumb of Ernst.”
“You kept it up, though,” said Odette softly.