Richard K. Morgan - Woken Furies

Woken Furies

Takeshi Kovacs Book 3

Richard Morgan

Fury(n):

1a intense, disordered and often destructive rage

2wild, disordered force or activity

3aany of the three avenging deities who in Greek mythology punished crimes

3ban angry or vengeful woman

TheNew English Penguin Dictionary 2001

The place they wokeme in would have been carefully prepared.

Thesame for the reception chamber where they laid out the deal. The Harlan familydont do anything by halves and, as anyone whos been Received cantell you, they like to make a good impression. Gold-flecked black dcorto match the family crests on the walls, ambient subsonics to engender atear-jerking sense that youre in the presence of nobility. Some Martianartefact in a corner, quietly implying the transition of global custody fromour long-vanished unhuman benefactors to the firmly modern hand of the FirstFamilies oligarchy. The inevitable holosculpture of old Konrad Harlan himselfin triumphal planetary discoverer mode. One hand raised high, the other shadinghis face against the glare of an alien sun. Stuff like that.

Sohere comes Takeshi Kovacs, surfacing from a sunken bath full of tank gel,sleeved into who knows what new flesh, spluttering into the soft pastel lightand helped upright by demure court attendants in cutaway swimming costumes.Towels of immense fluffiness to clean off the worst of the gel and a robe ofsimilar material for the short walk to the next room. A shower, amirrorbetter get used to that face, soldiera new set of clothesto go with the new sleeve, and then on to the audience chamber for an interviewwith a member of the Family. A woman, of course. There was no way theyduse a man, knowing what they did about my background.

Abandonedby an alcoholic father at age ten, raised alongside two younger sisters, alifetime of sporadically psychotic reaction when presented with patriarchalauthority figures. No, it was a woman. Some urbane executive aunt, a secretservice caretaker for the Harlan familys less public affairs. Anunderstated beauty in a custom-grown clone sleeve, probably in its earlyforties, standard reckoning.

Welcomeback to Harlans World, Kovacs-san. Are you comfortable?

Yeah.You?

Smuginsolence. Envoy training conditions you to absorb and process environmentaldetail at speeds normal humans can only dream about. Looking around, the EnvoyTakeshi Kovacs knows in split seconds, has known since the sunken bathawakening, that hes in demand.

I?You may call me Aiura. The language is Amanglic, not Japanese, but thebeautifully constructed misunderstanding of the question, the elegant evasionof offence without resorting to outrage, traces a clean line back to the FirstFamilies cultural roots. The woman gestures, equally elegantly.Though who I am isnt very important in this matter. I thinkits clear to you who I represent.

Yes,its clear. Perhaps its subsonics, perhaps just thewomans sober response to my levity that dampens the arrogance in mytone. Envoys soak up whats around them, and to some extent thatsa contaminative process. You often find yourself taking to observed behaviourinstinctively, especially if your Envoy intuition grasps that behaviour asadvantageous in the current surroundings. So Im onsecondment.

Aiuracoughs, delicately.

Ina manner of speaking, yes.

Solodeployment? Not unusual in itself, but not much fun either. Being partof an Envoy team gives you a sense of confidence you cant get fromworking with ordinary human beings.

Yes.That is to say, you will be the only Envoy involved. More conventionalresources are at your disposal in great number.

Thatsounds good.

Letus hope so.

Sowhat do you want me to do?

Anotherdelicate throat-clearing. In due course. May I ask, once again, if thesleeve is comfortable?

Itseems very. Sudden realisation. Very smooth, response at impressivelevels even for someone used to Corps combat custom. A beautiful body, on theinside at least. Is this something new from Nakamura?

No.Does the womans gaze slant upward and left? Shes a security exec,shes probably wired with retinal datadisplay. HarkanyNeurosystems, grown under offworld licence for KhumaloCape.

Envoysarent supposed to suffer from surprise. Any frowning I did would have tobe on the inside. Khumalo? Never heard of them.

No,you wouldnt have.

Excuseme?

Sufficeit to say we have equipped you with the very best biotech available. I doubt Ineed to enumerate the sleeves capacities to someone of your background.Should you wish detail, there is a basic manual accessible through thedatadisplay in your left field of vision. A faint smile, maybe the hintof weariness. Harkany were not culturing specifically for Envoy use, andthere has not been time to arrange anything customised.

Youvegot a crisis on your hands?

Veryastute, Kovacs-san. Yes, the situation might fairly be described as critical.We would like you to go to work immediately.

Well,thats what they pay me for.

Yes.Would she broach the matter of exactly who was paying at this point?

Probablynot. As youve no doubt already guessed this will be a covert deployment.Very different from Sharya. Though you did have some experience of dealing withterrorists towards the end of that campaign, I believe.

Yeah.After we smashed their IP fleet, jammed their data transmission systems, blewapart their economy and generally killed their capacity for global defiance,there were still a few diehards who didnt get the Protectorate message.So we hunted them down. Infiltrate, befriend, subvert, betray. Murder in backalleys. I did that for a while.

Good.This work is not dissimilar.

Youvegot terrorist problems? Are the Quellists acting up again?

Shemakes a dismissive gesture. No one takes Quellism seriously any more. Not for acouple of centuries now. The few genuine Quellists still around on the Worldhave traded in their revolutionary principles for high-yield crime. Same risks,better paid. Theyre no threat to this woman, or the oligarchy sherepresents. Its the first hint that things are not as they seem.

Thisis more in the nature of a manhunt, Kovacs-san. An individual, not a politicalissue.

Andyoure calling in Envoy support. Even through the mask of control,this has to rate a raised eyebrow. My voice has probably gone up a little aswell. Must be a remarkable individual.

Yes.He is. An ex-Envoy, in fact. Kovacs-san, before we proceed any further, I thinksomething needs to be made clear to you, a matter that

Somethingcertainly needs to be made clear to my commanding officer. Because to me thissounds suspiciously like youre wasting Envoy Corps time. We dontdo this kind of work.

maycome as something of a shock to you. You, ah, no doubt believe that you havebeen re-sleeved shortly after the Sharya campaign. Perhaps even only a few daysafter your needlecast out.

Ashrug. Envoy cool. Days or monthsit doesnt make muchdifference to m

Twocenturies.

What?

AsI said. You have been in storage for a little under two hundred years. In realterms

Envoycool goes out the window, rapidly. What the fuck happenedto

Please,Kovacs-san. Hear me out. A sharp note of command. And then, as theconditioning shuts me down again, pared back to listen and learn, more quietly:Later I will give you as much detail as you like. For now, let itsuffice that you are no longer part of the Envoy Corps as such. You canconsider yourself privately retained by the Harlan family.

Maroonedcenturies from the last moments of living experience you recall. Sleeved out oftime. A lifetime away from everyone and everything you knew. Like some fuckingcriminal. Well, Envoy assimilation technique will by now have some of thislocked down, but still

Howdid you

Yourdigitised personality file was acquired for the family some time ago. As Isaid, I can give you more detail later. You need not concern yourself too muchwith this. The contract I am here to offer you is lucrative and, we feel,ultimately rewarding. Whats important is for you to understand theextent to which your Envoy skills will be put to the test. This is not theHarlans World you know.