Nancy Kress - Crossfire 02 (22 page)

“Welcome to Mira City. I am Alex Cutler, Technology Resource Allocation Officer.”

“I know. I am Star Rising. I was here for the fiftieth annivers of the First Landing.”

And she hadn’t recognized him. Alex reddened, even as a rogue part of her mind noted detachedly that this self-willed primitive had the same first name as Star Chu, ambitious young technophile.

“I am here,” Star Rising said, “on behalf of the Cheyenne Council of Tribes. We protest the attacks by what you call ’wild Furs.’

Alex couldn’t remember the Cheyenne political structure—they had so little contact with Mira—but she had a vague idea that the Council of Tribes was some sort of overseer for many individual tribes and thus a very big deal. But Cheyenne and wild Furs had been skirmishing with each other, both sides armed with lances and bows, for decades now. Alex was bewildered. “Mayor Ashraf—”

“Is not in Mira City. So I come to you.”

No putting this off on Ashraf. The chief had dignity, Alex would give him that: in his tone, his carriage. She said as respectfully as she could, “Mira City has no jurisdiction over your subcontinent, as of course you know. And we have no jurisdiction over the wild Furs. They were here on Greentrees before either your people or mine.”

“Yes. But until now, they have not had Mira Corp weapons to use against us.”

Alex stared at him.

“Yes. My people have been killed by Furs carrying these.”

From a fold of his tunic he pulled a gun that Alex recognized at once. It was the sort now carried by Mira City’s much expanded security, and it was not hard to put together from objects also made for other uses: small laser, various metal fittings. Only one place in Mira manufactured them and the numbers were strictly controlled.

She said, stupidly, “How did the Furs get them? Do you know?”

“No. Although of course someone in Mira must have given them. We assume it was Nan Frayne.”

“She doesn’t have access to them.”

“Fifteen Cheyenne have been killed with these guns since the Great Wheel rose in the east. Many Furs have them, which means more Cheyenne will die. Ms. Cutler, my people are not violent. The essence of our lives is contemplative, appreciation of the gifts of the Great Spirit. But I promise you that we will not have on Greentrees repeat of the Sand Creek massacre. No matter what it requires to defend ourselves.”

Alex had never heard of Sand Creek, but she recognized a threat when she heard one. “Chief Star Rising, I promise to investigate this, starting with the manufacturer. Where can I reach you when I know something?”

“I travel back to the Council of Tribes. Find me on the journey.” He left, walking more silently than she would have thought possible.

Alex sat behind her desk and thought. Yat-Shing Wong was still, presumably, alive. He and his dissidents had been spirited away from Julian’s guard by Furs, the Furs who had left spears in two of Julian’s soldiers. So perhaps Wong was supplying the Furs with arms.

The manager of the gun manufactury, which was owned by Mira Corps, was Chinese.

But the man, Michael Lin, had been solidly cooperative with Mira City in arming Julian’s troops, in the evacuation, in everything she could think of. Alex trusted him. Lin had never said so outright—most Chinese did not—but she was sure he’d been opposed to what the dissidents had done.

But he was Chinese.

Why
had the Furs helped Wong escape? What other motive could they have except exchange for arms? But how could that deal ever even have come about, given that when the dissidents had set fire to Mira during the evacuation drill, it had been Nan Frayne and her Furs that had stopped them?

None of it made any sense.

She needed to talk to Nan Frayne, which was probably impossible. Also to Michael Lin and Julian, and not by comlink. Lin first.

But the thought of seeing Julian, even with this to unload on him, made her blood run faster. Shameful, to think of such pleasure in the midst of such trouble. But she couldn’t help it. She didn’t want to help it.

But Michael Lin first.

On his narrow bed in Alex’s apartment, Jake dreamed.

He lay awake in his childhood bedroom, his brother, Donnie snoring softly beside him. The white curtains his mother had hung so carefully over the grimy windows blew in the night breeze, echoing Donnie’s breathing: in, out, in, out. The room, never complet dark even though it faced the brick wall of a halfbombed building, bulged with gray lumps: his clothing thrown on the floor, Donnie’s, a chair with one busted back slat. Nothing in the room shone as white as the curtains, backlit by the violent city. Jake watched them intently: in, out, in, out. It was Donnie’s breathing, it was his own, it was his mother laboring in the next room with the baby that would kill her. In, out, the curtains blew. In, out, in, out.

Someone else moved around the room.

“Cal?” Jake quavered. Cal Johnson was his latest nurse, a hulking, sweet-tempered kid whom, Jake suddenly remembered, he told to go out for the night. Cal had started a romance with a sexy Chinese girl he’d met in the park.

“It’s not Cal,” said a female voice. “But don’t worry, Mr. Holman, you are in no danger. No one will hurt you. However, you are coming quietly with us. Please don’t make this difficult.”

He couldn’t see anything in Greentrees’ damn darkness. This wasn’t a violent, always lighted city, there were no gray lumpy chairs, white curtains backlit and blowing in, out, in …

Careful hands pressed tape over Jake’s mouth and eyes. More movement in the darkness and he felt himself lifted in strong arms. Cal, he thought with a wash of hope, but knew it wasn’t Cal. Jake tried to struggle but his own feeble attempts embarrassed him enough to stop. God, he hated being old!

He was carried outside; he could tell from the sudden scented breeze. Then placed into a rover. But rovers were open vehicles, surely someone would see… Hands gently forced him to lie flat on the floor. He began to count, trying to gauge how long the ride took, how fast the rover was going.

All of which proved unnecessary because when he was again carried inside and the tapes removed, he knew immediately where he was. Jake had been lowered onto an old armchair padded with blankets. Cots stood against narrow stone walls, beside neat supplies of food and medical equipment in plastic crates sealed tight against predators. His end point cave for a Mira City evacuation.

“I’m sorry if that trip was uncomfortable,” the feminine voice said and he focused on her, a slight figure eerily lit by a single powertorch.

“I know you. You’re Star Chu. Zongming Chu’s granddaughter.”

“Yes. I run Chu Corporation.”

One of the few expanding businesses owned by Chinese, Alex had told Jake. All young people, smart and ambitious, making their way by offering third-generation luxuries like alcohol, fireworks, perfume, candles, soaps. Alex had spoken of Star Chu with admiration.

Jake peered at her more closely. In her twenties, slender, very pretty, with short black hair and red mouth. Dressed in a no-nonsense Threadmore, but there was a bracelet of shining green stones on her wrist and a tiny Cheyenne tattoo on her cheek.

“Why am I here, Star Chu?”

She wiped a thread of drool from his mouth.

“Don’t do that.” She wasn’t Alex.

“All right. I’m sorry. You’re here because there are some things you need to know, and Alex Cutler needs to know. We can’t get to her because of her Terran bodyguard. So we’re telling you and you can tell her. Believe me, Mr. Holman, I wouldn’t have brought you here if the situation weren’t so desperate.”

Desperate.
Fear pierced him. “Where’s Cal?”

“We haven’t hurt him. He’s out with Rose Li, just as he told you, having a very good time. She’ll keep him out for the whole night.”

Poor Cal, thinking it was love.

Star continued, “There’s someone here to see you. We’re bringing him in.”

To Jake’s surprise, the young Chinese brought to him was bound hand and foot. Two Anglos walked on either side, one of then carrying a gun. Where had he gotten a gun? They were strictly controlled by Mira Corp.

The bound man had wild black hair and a surly expression. He glared at Jake.
Would kill me if he were loose,
Jake realized. He didn’t recognize the captive.

“This is Yenmo Kang… I mean, Kang Yenmo. He’s one of the three dissidents that Julian Martin abducted from Hope of Heaven.”

That
Julian
abducted? Jake glanced scornfully at Star Chu, but she was staring at Kang. Her small red mouth pursed and her eye sneered. She hated Kang… or else she was a better actor than even Duncan Martin.

Star continued, “The Hope of Heaven dissidents have not gone far away, Mr. Holman. Most are hiding just a few miles from Mira, scattered in small pockets. They contacted me because my cousin is with them. She’s always been … that doesn’t matter. Chu Corporation is not in agreement with violence. But I said I would listen to her, partly because she’s family and partly because the situation in Chinese Mira has gotten so bad. After I listened to her, I listened to Kang, and now you will listen, too.” She looked at Kang with marked dislike.

Kang said, “I talk to you only out of a desire for justice. You are all despicable. You, Star Chu, are a traitor to your people, a tool wielded by the Anglos and Arabs for their own riches. You, Jake Holman, are a worn-out exploiter who can never outlive the destruction you’ve caused. Hope of Heaven is trying to restore dignity and pride to the Chinese on Greentrees, and we will do whatever is necessary!”

Jake said, his voice stronger than he’d dared hope, “Forget the rhetoric, Kang. I heard it a hundred years ago in a hundred different languages. What do you have to say that’s new?”

“This,” Kang said, black eyes blazing. “Wong Yat-Shing, Wu Po, and I did not escape from Hope of Heaven with the help of wild Furs, as all you Anglo-Arabs seem to believe. We were abducted by Julian Martin’s soldiers. And they would have killed us if we hadn’t killed them first.”

Jake said scornfully, “Do you expect me to believe that three Greenie kids killed armed Terran soldiers? You’re not talking to another provincial, son. I’m
from
Terra.”

Some of Kang’s disdain fell away. Abruptly he sat on a bare cot, facing Jake at eye level. His face glowed with sullen sincerity.

“It didn’t happen that way. I’m going to start from the beginning, so you know it all. Julian Martin is trying to take over Mira City, and he used Hope of Heaven to do it.”

“So you believe,” Jake said.

“It’s true!” Kang said, and for just a moment Jake saw how young he really was. “When we attacked Mira during the first evacuation, the drill, Nan Frayne and her fucking Furs stopped us. That part’s true. But they only did it because Julian Martin stationed them there. His so-called scientists—and you should ask your own scientists, Mr. Holman, how much ’research’ those Terrans have actually shared since they got here—made contact with the wild Furs. That’s how the Frayne woman even knew there was an evacuation of Mira City. Fur spears work when nothing electronic will, so Martin posted them in Mira hoping we’d attack. Right after that you poor dupes all made him defense admin, didn’t you? He gained a lot of power from stopping us.”

Jake said coldly, “There’s no way Nan Frayne would cooperate with Julian Martin. Let alone get wild Furs to help Mira. They don’t give a fucking fart about us.”

“But Nan Frayne cares about those Furs. In return for her help during the evacuation, Martin gave the Furs laser guns to use against the Cheyenne.”

Jake stared.

“That’s right, Holman. I’m surprised you haven’t heard about it already. Furs are killing Cheyenne with laser guns, made by his Terrans at a secret place about thirty miles from Mira. I’ve seen it from a distance, anyway. Laser guns aren’t hard to make and the parts are easily available on the black market.”

Black market. Of course Mira City was large enough to have a black market. Jake should have realized it long ago, would have realized it if he weren’t so feeble. He must tell Alex.

“Pay attention, Holman,” Kang said. “Don’t crash on me. After the evacuation drill, Hope of Heaven was watched night and day by Martin’s new army. There were guards on Wong, Wu, and me night and day. Do you really think primitive Furs could get us away from Martin? His own men abducted us and they used Fur weapons to kill those two deluded Anglo-Arab ’soldiers’ so it would look Furs did it. And right after that you bastards in Mira voted to give Martin unlimited military rule.”