Heart of the Nebula (27 page)

“
Problems with the
auxiliary reactors,” her father muttered, to himself as much as to
her. “If we don’t get them online in the next few hours, we’re
going to have to start rationing our energy. That’s not going to go
over well.”

Neither is the unilateral seizure of all the
civilian broadcast channels.

He looked more haggard than she could ever
remember seeing him. The stoically pleasant mask he wore in public
was gone, replaced by weariness and exasperation. His eyes were
bloodshot with bags as large as her thumbnails, his jowled face
frowning as if it were a permanent fixture. It disturbed her on
some primal level to see him this way—it made her feel a little
less safe, a little less secure.

Was it the loss of Sara’s mother that made
him feel this way—the fact that he would never see her again, just
as Sara would never see her? She doubted it. If it had crossed his
mind at all, he’d probably chosen to ignore it.

“
How is the curfew
holding?” she asked.

“
Very well, surprisingly
enough. There have been a few isolated incidents, but overall
things have been quite peaceful.”

“
Considering how you
mobilized every soldier in the Corps and all but imposed martial
law, I’d hardly call that ‘surprising.’”

He chuckled, probably because arguing with
her would have taken too much effort.

“
In any case,” she
continued, “what are we going to do now? You’ve all but ensured
that the public is going to turn against us, and we haven’t even
presented our plans for the exodus yet.”

“
That’s right,” he agreed.
“When the people discover all the secrets I’ve been holding from
them, they’ll turn all their rage and anger on me.”

“
So where do we go from
here? What’s our game plan? You’re committing political
suicide!”

He rose to his feet and put a hand on her
shoulder. “Sara, my dear, there comes a time when we all must make
sacrifices for the greater good. I have spent my life in public
service, but the people need more than that now.”

“
Like what?” she asked.
“What else do they need?”

“
A villain.”

His answer took her aback. She stared at him
in shocked silence.

“
When the people realize
that there’s no going back,” her father continued, “they will
immediately look for a scapegoat: someone on whom they can lay the
blame for all that they’ve lost. Only then will they be able to
pick up the pieces and move on.”

“
But—but what about the
exodus?” she asked, her voice shaking. “What about all that we’ve
worked for?”

“
It will go forward, just
as we have planned. We have no other choice now. It may take the
people some time to realize that, but we have several months still
before we arrive at Zeta Nabat. There will be time for them to come
together.”

“
What if they
don’t?”

He grinned at her, the way he always did
when he had an ace up his sleeve. Reflexively, Sara tensed.

“
Oh, they will, Sara. One
way or another, a leader will rise up to galvanize them. And I
think we both know who that leader will be.”

James,
she thought, startling herself. She looked at her father and
frowned.

“
What makes you think that
James will be the one to lead them?”

“
Because when the immediate
crisis is over, they will remember him as the one who saved them.
After all, he was the one who activated the jump drive just before
the Hameji destroyed us—a brilliant move on your part, I must
say.”

How did you know about that?

“
Was that your plan from
the beginning?” she asked instead.

Her father sighed. “It wasn’t my primary
plan, but it was one of the secondaries. If the Hameji had given us
more time, perhaps we could have launched the exodus in an orderly
democratic fashion. But now that’s no longer possible, it’s time to
pass the torch.”

Sara frowned. James hadn’t even been
presented to the people yet, and already her father was talking
about cultivating him as a figurehead to rally the people. Was
there nothing her father didn’t have a finger in? Was there no one
he wouldn’t manipulate?

“
Let me guess,” she said,
folding her arms. “If James is the one to lead us through the
exodus, then I’m supposed to be his handler.”

“
But of course, my dear.
Have you seen the way he looks at you? With your feminine wiles,
I’m sure you’ll be able to handle him.”

Blood rushed to Sara’s cheeks. She masked it
by sighing and rolling her eyes.

“
So much for political
suicide.”

“
It’s only my legacy that
I’m sacrificing. My work will not be finished until the last
citizen safely boards the last colony ship to Chira. Only then will
I step aside.”

And until then, you’ll
stop at nothing,
Sara thought
bitterly.
Is there any line you won’t
cross to get there?

“
I suppose you want me to
go see James at my earliest convenience.”

Her father chuckled, his weariness lifting
ever so slightly. “You always were a perceptive child,” he said,
patting her on the back. “You’re like your mother in that
respect.”

And I’ll never see her again, thanks to
you.

He glanced at her and frowned. “Is something
the matter, dear? You look upset.”

“
I’m fine,” she said,
shrugging him off. “If I’m going to see James, I’d better get
going.”

“
We’ve all had a very hard
day, dear. If you need some time to—”

“
I told you, I’m
fine.”

She left before her father could stop her,
and before she accidentally said something that she’d later regret.
Exodus or not, she would show her father that she wasn’t like
him.

* * * * *

“
That sure is convenient,”
Adam muttered. “Switching off the power and cutting us off from the
localnet just when we all need it the most. If I were the patrician
and I wanted to set myself up as a dictator, that’s exactly what
I’d do.”

James groaned. “Dad, will you give it a
rest? I told you everything I know already, and I know more than
just about anyone else.”

“
The patrician is using
you, son. Can’t you see that? You’re being played for a
pawn.”

That’s not true,
James thought. Still, he wasn’t entirely sure. He
had to admit, what the patrician was doing looked pretty bad. The
Colony was supposed to be a perfect techno-democracy, where every
civic decision was made by the voice of the General Assembly. To
keep the station jump drive a secret was bad enough, but to seize
control of the civilian broadcast channels, impose a station-wide
curfew, and enforce it by martial law—that was grounds for
impeachment. And if the patrician went down, James would almost
certainly be implicated. After all, he was the one who had pulled
the switch.

“
I did what I had to do,”
he tried to argue. “The Hameji had just come down with a battle
fleet, and were about to destroy us. Jumping out was the only
defense we had.”

“
And that’s exactly what
the patrician wanted.”

“
The patrician isn’t out to
become a dictator, Dad. He’s trying to save us.”

“
And robbing us of our
freedoms in the process.”

“
Dear, please,” said
Jessica. “Fighting about this isn’t going to do good to
anyone.”

“
Thank you,” said James,
nodded at her.

On the seat cushion beside her, Kyla hugged
her knees and stared at the opposite wall. In the dim light of the
emergency auxiliaries, she looked almost catatonic.

What if Dad’s
right?
James thought doubtfully.
What if the patrician is just as much of a wolf
as the Hameji?
Worse things had certainly
been done in the name of protection. When it came down to it, there
wasn’t much of a difference between the wolves and the
sheepdogs—James of all people knew that.

“
I never thought I’d see
the day when my own son closed ranks with the centralists,” said
Adam, shaking his head. “I knew there was a risk when we let you
join the Defense Corps, but—”

“
Dear!”

At that moment, someone pounded on the door.
James leaped to his feet and raised his pistol, while the others
instantly went still.

“
James?” a muffled voice
came from the other side. “Can you hear me? It’s Sara.”

Sara?
James wondered.
What’s she doing
here?

He palmed open the door and ushered her
quickly inside. The corridor outside was empty, but he still kept
his pistol drawn until the door was shut and locked. Only then did
he return it to its holster.

“
Good evening, James. Are
you doing well?”

“
How did you know I was
here?” he asked.

She pointed at his wrist console, which was
still on. “I traced your signal through the public channels. But
even without that, I figured you’d head back to your parents as
soon as things got bad.”

James’s cheeks reddened, and he hastily shut
the wrist console off.

“
Who is this?” his father
asked, frowning. “James?”

“
Dad, this is Sara
Galbraith-Dickson, the patrician’s daughter. Sara, this is my
father, Adam.”

“
Pleased to meet you,” said
Sara, nodding politely. His father’s reaction was noticeably
cold.

“
Is this one of your
co-conspirators?”

“
Adam!” his mother
cried.

“
James, I need to speak
with you,” Sara said under her breath. If she was insulted by his
father’s rudeness, she had chosen to ignore it.

“
Right,” said James. He
turned to his parents. “Sara and I need to talk privately for a
moment.”

“
I’m sure you do,” said
Adam, folding his arms.

“
I’m terribly sorry about
the mess that we’ve all found ourselves in,” said Sara. “I’m sure
that James has told you everything by now. Please be assured, my
father is doing all he can to restore power and return the network
to operational status.” Her voice was calm and diplomatic, with a
soothing effect that diffused the tension at once.

Adam narrowed his eyes at her. “What have
you people done to my son?”

“
Nothing, Dad,” said James,
stepping between them. “Come on, Sara, let’s get away from here.
We’ll be in the, uh, bedroom at the end of the hall. Let us know if
anyone else tries to come in.”

Before his father could protest, he took
Sara by the arm and led her into the master bedroom—the only other
room in the small apartment where they could be alone behind closed
doors. It wasn’t until they were inside that James realized how it
might be awkward. Still, he was too exhausted to care.

“
What’s going on?” he
asked, sitting on the edge of the bed.

Sara took a deep breath and pulled a strand
of hair behind her ear. Was she nervous? James couldn’t remember
seeing her like this before—something was definitely bothering
her.

“
There’s something I should
tell you,” she said, not meeting his eyes.

Is it something I did? Am I in trouble?

“
Uh, yeah?” he asked. Words
failed him, like they so often did in her presence.

“
There’s no easy way to put
it, so I might as well come out and tell you everything,” she said,
the words pouring out of her in a torrent. “My father knows that
the people aren’t going to follow him after what he’s done today.
Imposing a curfew, sending out the troops—”

“
He only did what had to be
done.”

“
I know that, and you know
that, but the people aren’t going to see it that way. He expects
them to blame him for everything, which means that he can no longer
lead. That’s where you come in, James. We need to you to
lead.”

James frowned. “Why would the people follow
me?”

“
Because you’re the one who
saved us. When the Hameji attacked, you were the one who pulled the
switch. You’re also the one who saved the delegation at the
conference. The people need someone they can look to as a
protector, and for better or worse, that’s you. If you play things
right, you might even rise to be the next patrician.”

She was looking straight at him now, in a
way that made him feel rather uncomfortable. He shifted uneasily on
the bedspread, his legs suddenly feeling weak.

“
Why are you telling me
this?”

“
To warn you,” she said,
sitting down next to him. “Do you know what my father wanted me to
do?” Her eyes were so intense that they practically captivated
him.

“
Uh,” he said, not sure how
to respond. It had been a while since she’d been this close to him.
Her smell was pleasant and familiar, and her blouse was partially
open, so that he could just barely—

“
Are you even
listening?”

“
Of course,” he said
quickly—too quickly. “You said, uh, your father thinks the people
will, ah, look up to me, and…”

She shook her head. “My father had it all
planned out so perfectly. I could have done it, too.”