Nancy Kress - Crossfire 02 (20 page)

T
he Fur ship—if it was a Fur ship—upstairs continued to do nothing. Alex comlinked with Julian and told him what Jake had said about the glittering “spore” weapon possibly being able to destroy metal. Then she climbed back into the rover. Her Terran bodyguard asked no questions. She had the vague impression that this was part of Julian’s training. The soldier did not even offer his name.

“We’re going on to Bunker Three,” she told the man. That was her designated end point for as long as the Fur ship—if it
was
a Fur ship—stayed in orbit. She’d have complete displays there and, thank heavens, a Threadmore. The skimpy wrap annoyed her more and more. Duncan’s
Macbeth
seemed to have been played in a distant past.

Two young soldiers dead on the ground, with bow-driven lances In their hearts. Mary Pesci’s sister sobbing, weapon in hand.

She had almost reached the bunker when Ashraf comlinked.

“Alex. Hope of Heaven is burning.”

“Hope of Heaven?”
But it was Mira that had been fired, by dissidents. “What do you mean?”

“A … a mob came to Hope of Heaven. I believe they’re led by relatives of those two dead kids. The Pescis and Shanabs are both large and successful families, you know. The mob is burning buildings and some of the wilder and angrier young men are beating people up.”

Alex said sharply, “How do you know this? I have my MiraNet programming set to automatically flag and comlink me with any postings of violence on Greentrees!”

“MiraNet is down. I only know what’s happening because one of my nephews is a soldier with Julian. He comlinked me.”

“Why didn’t Julian—”

“He’s busy putting the mob down, ending the violence with his own soldiers. My nephew got wounded and so he could coomlink me direct. He says Julian is— ” Alex heard Ashraf reach for careful repetition “—’directing a successful operation, with a minimum force and a maximum of persuasive strategies.’ Nobody’s be killed that my nephew knew about.”

Alex said, “What did you mean ’MiraNet is down’?” The computer system is still working, I just got a report from Savannah at the solar array.”

“I mean Julian took down the news part of the system. He says it was spreading untrue and inflammatory rumors. So his tech blocked it temporarily.”

“Did you authorize that?”

“I didn’t have to. Julian’s using his military-law powers.” Ashraf, Alex thought, didn’t sound at all dismayed by this. In fact, she detected a small note of relief.

“Alex, do you think I should go to Hope of Heaven? I am mayor.”

“No. I think you should stay where you are and let Julian handle it. He knows how.”

“All right.” Now the relief was more than a trace. “Good-bye.”

Everything major at Bunker Three was calm, proceeding as planned. Natalie Bernstein, backed by Ben Stoller, worked efficiently at the display console. Natalie had already set up a duty rotation and Ben had replenished the water supply and checked the external sensors. Alex’s Terran bodyguard, saying only, “I stay outside,” vanished into the forest.

Now all anybody on Greentrees had to do was wait.

Three days passed. Mira City remained empty except for Guy’s security force and that segment of humanity that insisted on ignoring reality. These holdouts went quietly about the abandoned city, causing minimal problems. Security stopped two instances of petty looting. Someone forced the door on a grocery, took several items, and left money along with a list of his purchases. Someone was arrested for kindling a bonfire in the park. Someone with a retina authorization, who nonetheless was not supposed to be in the city, fed the animals at the genetic labs.

At the end points, too, only expected difficulties occurred. A pregnant Arab women gave birth, her doctor in attendance. A very old woman in Jake’s cave finally died. Two teenage boys got into a fight and one’s arm was broken. Someone broke into the food supply at End Point Thirty-two and ate more than his share of rations.

The groups that had elected to travel moved steadily away from Mira City, losing themselves in the wilderness but staying in comlink touch. Young and fit, these groups were moving faster than expected, living partly off the rich land. Mostly they moved north, into the mountains and away from the subcontinent legally belonging to the Cheyenne. Their reports sounded almost exhilarated.

Julian had managed to put down the mob at Hope of Heaven with, astonishingly, no loss of life. The rest of the dissidents in the settlement, however, were bitter about the attack. Most of them packed up and they, too, took off into the wilderness. Julian made no effort to stop them. They were for the most part young, strong, and since Wong Yat-Shing’s escape with Nan Frayne’s wild Furs, leaderless. Julian tracked them from orbit and told Alex and Ashraf that he didn’t believe they represented any further threat to Mira.

In short, Alex thought wryly, humanity was carrying on in all its varied angers, loves, temperaments, and contradictions. The only difference was that 99 percent of Greenies were now doing these things outside of Mira, while an alien ship orbited silently overhead. A ship that might be Fur or might be Vine, and that seemed to have no interest in communicating with the planet it had presumably traveled many light-years to reach.

Two more days passed. Still nothing happened. Natalie organized threehanded card games. Alex played a few hands and then excused herself. Cards couldn’t soothe her anxious restlessness. The Terran bodyguard—who, she finally learned, was named Captain Lewis—checked in at the bunker twice a day, impassive as rock.

People began to drift back into Mira, despite Julian’s directives to stay out. They were tired of camping out, tired of washing in streams or not at all, and no war had materialized after all.

“It’s a good Fur tactic,” he told Alex grimly on comlink. “Lull us into a belief there’s no real danger. People can’t stay hyperalert forever.”

“Maybe there is no danger,” Alex said. “Those could be Vines up there, not Furs. Jake said—”

“I know what Jake said. But he also warned that Furs could have captured Vine weapons, or that glitter beam might not have even been a weapon, or Dr. Fox’s theory could have been completely wrong.”

“Yes,” Alex admitted. “Julian—”

“What?”

“Nothing.”

“You miss me,” he said, his tone softening, “and I miss you. Very much, Alex.”

It wasn’t like him to be so open. A glow of pleasure warmed her. He didn’t say anything more—she hadn’t expected him to—but the glow lingered a long time afterward, and that night on her bunker pallet she dreamed of his hard, beautiful body on top of hers. The dream was so vivid that, to her embarrassment, she woke with her hand between her legs. Her orgasm was so powerful her entire body bucked. Ben, at the monotonous displays, either didn’t notice or pretended not to. Natalie snored softly.

War, Julian had told her once, sharpened the appetites. Apparently it was true even when the only fighting was intrahuman, not with the enemy. The thought disquieted her, and she slept no more that night.

The next day, Julian comlinked her and Ashraf on their secure channel. “They’ve launched a shuttle.”

Alex had been outside her bunker, clearing rocks to stave off boredom. “When?”

“Ninety seconds ago. Present trajectory indicates possible landing site fifty miles southeast of Mira, in the Avery Mountains. Alex, alert Guy to clear Mira of as many returnees as he can, and get any dropped shields back up on infrastructure facilities. Ashraf, I’m giving you an open channel to all sector captains to explain the situaition. Emphasize that this is not a drill.” He clicked off.

Alex raced back inside, barking information at her techs. For the next half hour she worked frantically. Her displays, enslaved to Julian’s, let her follow the shuttle’s progress. A small black dot on the graphics, it moved steadily toward Greentrees.

Who was in it? Why was it landing there? The Avery Mountains held nothing except research stations.

Something teased her mind. Oh, yes, Jon McBain and his buried anaerobic microbes. She had heard nothing from McBain in months, not since Julian had replaced him, to his obvious relief, as defense minister. Either McBain’s research on both anaerobes and the microbiotic battery had fizzled, or Alex’s cold reception of the former had discouraged Jon from copying her in on his reports. He had never requested further resource allocation.

Why land there?

Why not? This group of aliens, Fur or Vine, would be new to Greentrees. They might want to confront a small group of humans before facing the planet’s largest aggregation of them.

Alex’s silent Terran bodyguard had slipped back into the bunker. Julian’s tech was giving oral readings every thirty seconds. They were on audio in the bunker as a whole, while the secure channel remained in Alex’s ear. “Trajectory unchanged, shuttle at X minus thirty.”

“Continue monitoring,” Julian said.

“Trajectory unchanged, shuttle at X minus thirty.”

In her ear Ashraf said, “Alex, who do you think they are?”

“I don’t know.” Even she knew this was no time for speculation.

“Trajectory unchanged, shuttle at X minus twenty.”

The small black dot had moved well into the atmosphere.

And then Julian’s calm voice, “Germanicus One, positions. Quintus One, begin run.”

Positions? Run what?

And who were Germanicus and Quintus? Nothing else appeared on her graphic display.

“Julian, what’s happening? Julian?”

He didn’t answer.

Natalie suddenly swore, an unexpected burst of Terran profanity. “There’s a block program in effect… wait, I just learned abou this, my old teacher showed me how to … what the … there!”

Ben gasped.

Another graphic appeared on the display from behind Greentrees, moving with incredible speed toward the shuttle. The dot was a purple smear: a McAndrew Drive at full acceleration.

The Beta Vine.

Julian’s voice, still completely calm, “Germanicus One, fire EMP.”

Alex watched the shuttle dot shudder and suddenly plummet toward Greentrees.

The smeary dot moved faster and faster, the alien ship in orbit began to accelerate, and then—how fast!—the
Beta Vine
slammed into the orbiting ship.

Both dots disappeared from the screen.

The shuttle dot hit the ground.

“Enemy shuttle crashed at fourteen six by a hundred eight three, sir,” said Julian’s tech. “Enemy vessel destroyed by a direct hit.
Beta Vine
destroyed on suicide mission.”

“Continue monitoring,” Julian’s voice said.

Alex stared in disbelief.

Ben said, “He… he… Julian… sacrificed the
Beta Vine!
And we don’t even know who was on it or the shuttle! The bastard killed them all!”

Suddenly Ben stood up so fast that his chair toppled over. He swung around, fury on his face, and Alex turned with him. Captain Lewis stood with his feet braced slightiy apart, a gun leveled at the tech’s chest.

“Corporal Stoller,” the bodyguard said, “you will refer to the commander of this army in respectful terms. And you will calm down.”

The two men stared at each other. Alex stepped forward. “Stop it, both of you. Now.”

Ben looked at her; the Terran did not. After a moment the young tech walked past them both, toward the door.

“Remain inside, Corporal. That’s an order. Commander Martin will decide who to comlink about his military decisions, and when to take that action. You, too, ma’am.”

Alex demanded, “Am I a prisoner?”

“No, ma’am. But you will remain inside until further word from the commander Martin.”

Alex turned away and spoke on the secure channel. The soldier made no effort to stop her. Ben, after a moment of clench-fisted indecision, picked up his chair and resumed his place at his console.

“Julian,” Alex said, “you just blew up the
Beta Vine,
the alien ship, and the shuttle. Why?”

“What happened?” came Ashraf’s voice.

“Why?” Alex yelled.

Julian’s voice was quieter than ever. “Alex is correct, Ashraf. I put out an EMP on the shuttle while it was still in range of the Mira equipment. And I sent the
Beta Vine
on a suicide mission into the enemy ship. At full acceleration, it outran the so-called ’glitter beam’ as well as the more conventional weapons. I did it to keep Greentrees safe.”