I turned to Carpel. 'Now, high custodian, can we talk? In private, as I think I requested/
We followed Carpel's floating throne into a side annexe leaving a hall full of murmuring shocked voices behind us. Only one of his men accompanied us, a tall, blond fellow in a dark brown uniform I didn't recognise. A bodyguard, I presumed. Carpel set his throne down on the carpet and raised a remote wand that tinted the glass plates of the room at a touch.
Reasonable light levels at last. From that alone, I knew Carpel was taking me seriously.
He waved me to a seat opposite. Aemos lurked in the shadows behind me. The man in brown stood by the windows, watching.
What happens now?' Carpel asked.
'I expect your full co-operation as I extend my investigation/
'But the matter is over/ said the man in brown.
I kept my gaze on Carpel. 'I want your consent for me to continue as well as your full co-operation. Eyclone may be dead, but he was just the blade-point of a long and still dangerous weapon/
'What are you talking about?' the man in brown snapped.
Still I did not look at him. Staring at Carpel, I said, 'If he speaks again without me knowing who he is, I will throw him out of the window. And I won't open it first/
This is Chastener Fischig, of the Adeptus Arbites. I wanted him present/
Now I looked at the man in brown. He was a heavy-set brute with a loop of shiny pink scar tissue under one milky eye. I'd taken him to be a young man with his clean skin and blond hair, but now I studied him, I saw he was at least my age.
'Chastener/1 nodded.
'Inquisitor/ he returned. 'My question stands/
I sat back in my chair. 'Murdin Eyclone was a facilitator. A brilliant, devious man, one of the most dangerous I have ever hunted. Sometimes to hunt down your prey is to finish his evil. I'm sure you have experience of that/
'You called him a "facilitator"/
'That was where his danger lay. He believed he could serve his obscene masters best by offering his considerable skills to cults and sects that needed them. He had no true allegiances. He worked to facilitate the grand schemes of others. What he was doing here on Hubris was to advance and develop someone else's plans. Now he is dead, and his scheme thwarted. We may be thankful. But my task is not done. I must work back from Eyclone, his men, from any clue he left and dig my way into whatever greater, secret darkness was employing him.'
'And for this you want the co-operation of the people of Hubris?' asked Carpel.
The people, the authorities, you… everyone. This is the Emperor's work. Will you shrink from it?'