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.'Seventy-two reasons to forget our noble victory in the Gylatus World Flock,' he said mockingly.'And the ring?' Milo asked.Gaunt put the cards aside.He turned the milling on the signet mount and a short beam of light stabbed out of the ring.'Feth! Still power in the cell, after all this time!'Milo smiled, uncertain.usa decryption ring.Officer level.A key to let senior staff access private or veiled data.A general's plaything.They used to be quite popular.This was issued to the commander-in-chief of the noble Jantine regiments, a lord of the very highest standing.And that old bastard gave it to a little boy on Manzipor.'Gaunt dug the crystal out of his tunic pocket and held it over the ring's beam.He glanced at Milo for a second.There was a surprisingly impish, youthful glee in Gaunt's eyes that made Milo snort with laughter.'Here goes,' Gaunt said.He slipped the base of the crystal onto the ring mount.It fitted perfectly and engaged with a tinywhirr.Locked in place, as if the stone was now set on the ring band like an outrageously showy gem, it was illuminated by the beam of light.The crystal glowed.'Come on, come on…' Gaunt said.Something started to form in the air a few centimetres above the ring, a pict-form, neon bright and lambent in the dimness of the cabin.The tight, small holographic runes hanging in the air read: 'Authority denied.This document may only be opened by Vermilion level decryption as set by order of Senthis, Administratum Elector, Pacificus calendar 403457.M41.Any attempts to tamper with this data-receptade will result in memory wipe.'Gaunt cursed and slipped the crystal off the mount, can­celling the ring's beam.Too old, too damn old! Feth, I thought I had it!''I don't understand, sir.'The clearance levels remain the same, but they revise the codes required to read them at regular intervals.Dercius's ring would certainly have opened a Vermilion text thirty years ago, but the sequences have been overwritten since then.I should have expected Dravere to have set his own confidence codes.Damn!'Gaunt looked like he was going to continue cursing, but there was a sharp knock at the door of his quarters.Gaunt pocketed the crystal smartly and opened the door.Trooper Uan, one of the corridor sentries, looked in at him.'Sergeant Blane has brought visitors to you, sir.We've checked them for weapons, and they're clean.Will you see them?'Gaunt nodded, pulling on his cap and longcoat.He stepped out into the corridor.When he saw the identity of the visitors, Gaunt waved his men back and walked down to greet them.It was Colonel Zoren, the Vitrian commander, and three of his officers.'Well met, commissar,' Zoren said curtly.He and his men were dressed in ochre fatigues and soft caps.'I didn't realise you Vitrians were aboard,' Gaunt said.'Last minute change.We were bound for the Japhet but there was a problem with the boarding tubes.They re-routed us here.The regiments scheduled for the Absalom took our places onthe Japhet once the technical problems were solved.My platoons have been given the barrack decks aft of here.''It's good to see you, colonel.'Zoren nodded, but there was something he was holding back, Gaunt sensed.'When I learned we were sharing the same transport as the Tanith, I thought perhaps an interaction would be appropriate.We have a mutual victory to celebrate.But-''But?'Zoren dropped his voice.'I was attacked in my quarters this morning.A man dressed in unmarked navy overalls was searching my belongings.He rounded on me when I came in.There was a struggle.He escaped.'Gaunt felt his anger return.'Go on.''He was looking for something.Something he thought I might have, something he had failed to find elsewhere.I thought I should tell you directly.'Milo, Uan and everyone in the corridor, including Zoren himself, was surprised when Gaunt grabbed the Vitrian colonel by the front of his tunic and dragged him into his quarters.Gaunt slammed the door shut after them.Alone in the room, Gaunt turned on Zoren, who looked hurt but somehow not surprised.That was a terribly well-informed statement, colonel.''Naturally''Start making sense, Zoren, or I'll forget our friendship.''No need for unpleasantness, Gaunt.I know more than you imagine and, I assure you, I am a friend.''Of whom?''Of you, of the Throne of Terra, and of a mutual acquain­tance I know him as Bel Torthute.You know him as Fereyd.'EightIt's…' Colonel Draker Flense began.'It's a lot to think about.'He was answered by a snigger that did nothing to calm his nerves.The snigger came from a tall, hooded shape at the rear of the room, a figure silhouetted against a window of stained glass imagery which was lit by the flashes and glints of the irnmaterium.You're a soldier, Flense.I don't believe thinking is part of the tob description.'Flense bit back on a sharp answer.He was afraid, terribly afraid of the man in the multi-coloured shadows of the window.He shifted uneasily, dying for a breathe of fresh air, his throat parched.The chamber was thick with the smoke from the obscura water-pipe on its slate plinth by the steps to the window.The nectar-sweet opiate smoke swirled around him and stole all humidity from the air.His mind was slack and torpid from breathing it in.Warrant Officer Lekulanzi, stood by the door and the three shrouded astropaths grouped in a huddle in the shadows to his left didn't seem to mind [ Pobierz caÅ‚ość w formacie PDF ]