The Rats, the Bats & the Ugly

by Eric Flint

  "Mercenary bunch," said Bronstein. "Capitalists! Still . . . um . . . Ginny. You wouldn't care to become a major shareholder in something else would you? The Bats' Bank? We won't be bloodsuckers! 'Tis just a way of Vats winning free of Shareholders, by liberating them o' the iniquity of compound interest."

  Ginny raised an eyebrow at Bronstein. "I'll talk it over with Chip. You know he's got rather strong feelings about Shareholders."

  "Uh, we were thinking of a cooperative. You know . . ." Then Bronstein realized what Ginny had said. "Er. To be sure. We'd better get him loose, then. Not that you have to coerce us, Ginny. We're supporters anyway."

  "I know," said Ginny, quietly. "But you don't know how much it means to me to have you with me."

  * * *

  The Council meeting gave Virginia her first sure insight into the fact that Talbot Cartup might be on the run, but he wasn't beaten yet.

  "I'm afraid," said the Chairman, "that until probate is granted we cannot allow you to exercise your vote in this Chamber. As a Shareholder in your own right, you may of course petition the Chair to address the house when the open session is declared."

  Her new legal advisor got to his feet. "Mister Chairman. I'd like you to explain to the Council how, if this is the case, you accepted proxy forms allowing Talbot Cartup to exercise Ms. Shaw's vote?"

  "Ah. We were not aware at the time that there were some legal challenges to the disposition of Aloysius and Gina Shaw's estates," said the Chairman smoothly. "And as Virginia Shaw is still under twenty-one, her votes cannot be exercised without her trustees' consent."

  The attorney cocked his head and pursed his lips. "So, in other words," he said grimly, "not only were the proxies obtained under duress, but the Council failed to get the permission of those trustees, thus rendering this vote for extradition null and void. An illegal exercise."

  "Er, yes," admitted the Chairman. "Done in ignorance of the facts, unfortunately. It is a rather an embarrassing situation. But we have on the agenda a motion to ask for Connolly's return."

  " 'Embarrassing' is the wrong word, Chair," said her counsel, grimly. " 'Actionable' is the correct one. And 'ask' is the wrong word too. 'Demand' is the correct one there. But Ms. Shaw should at least be allowed to speak. To tell us how she would exercise her vote."

  Eventually, in the open session they were able to raise the matter of the conspicuously absent head of the Security portfolio. Her new attorney spoke first.

  "We've hired private investigators. We're running parallel investigations with the police for the cases in which the Special Branch are implicated. We've had nothing but complete cooperation so far from the Internal Affairs Department of the National Police."

  He didn't add amazingly enough, nor did he explain that Van Klomp's paratroopers were launching what amounted to a systematic campaign of intimidation against the police—and were being eagerly assisted by hundreds of Vat soldiers who had been stationed in GBS City. That campaign had—so far—stopped short of homicide against the regular police. Eighteen such policemen had been admitted to the hospitals suffering from various traumas, true, but most of them were no worse than some bruises or bloody noses.

  The army's campaign against Special Branch, on the other hand, showed no such limits. Special Branch had murdered military personnel and the army was responding in kind. Any Special Branch detectives who fell into the hands of Van Klomp's soldiers received multiple fractures at a bare minimum. Eleven Special Branch detectives had been "shot dead while resisting arrest." So far as anyone could tell, the paratroopers' definition of "resisting arrest" ranged somewhere between he didn't get his hands up fast enough to he looked at me cross-eyed.

  "The corruption and level of misconduct on the part of Special Branch we've uncovered so far is utterly appalling. Among other things, we've discovered that almost all the staff on Shaw House premises are Special Branch operatives. They denied it, of course, but a number of them even had their ID badges with them. It seems they thought they were above prosecution."

  A senior council member rose to reply. "While I appreciate that you have had problems with a few renegade elements of the Special Branch, who were misled by Dr. Thom, it is simply impossible to take these steps. Why, if the Special Branch was disbanded—"

  "If it was disbanded?" snorted Ginny angrily. "In case you've been living on another planet, Special Branch is being held responsible by the army for murdering army personnel. The question is not 'if' Special Branch will be disbanded. The question now is simply whether there will be enough of the thugs left alive to disband at all. The paratroopers are in a pure fury."

  The senior council member gaped at her. "But . . . but we might all be murdered in our beds! These Vats are getting out of control!"

  Ginny stood up. She'd been totally terrified of speaking in public at first. But, if she didn't, Chip would be doomed. As it was, all she could do was speak, until probate was passed and the shares became legally hers. Funny, how they'd been happy to accept her proxies, but not her actual vote. Well. She'd just have to use her voice as well as possible.

  "This colony, fellow Shareholders, was set up to escape tyranny and repression. To build a new utopia, for all the people of Harmony and Reason. Not just some of us. The right to free association and public assembly is set out in our constitution. That right does not just apply to Shareholders. We have no need or right to have a repressive organization, with basically unlimited license and no controls, here on Harmony and Reason. If, and this is a very big 'if,' the Special Branch is not simply disbanded as it should be—as I intend to demand that it be—then the Council must move and move swiftly to take proper, accountable control over them."

  The Chairman was at his most icy. He knew he had little to lose. He was a well-known Cartup family loyalist. When she wielded her votes, he was going to be out of that position. "We already have someone who is responsible for the Special Branch, that you want removed. Talbot Cartup is only implicated by your accusation, Ms. Shaw. A man is innocent until proven guilty."

  She looked down her nose at him. "Not that Special Branch has ever respected that legal axiom. But leave that aside. Firstly, if you suspect a man with bloody hands of axe-murder, you take his axe away and put him in custody while he awaits trial. If he is given bail, there are strict conditions set to stop him committing another crime. The trial will establish his innocence or guilt—but you don't leave him on the loose with his axe, Mr. Chairman. And secondly, by giving all responsibility for the Security portfolio to one individual—without any checks and balances on that power—we, as the Council, must accept the blame for that individual's actions. We need to set up those checks and balances. We also need to at least suspend Talbot Cartup from that post, until the courts decide on his innocence or guilt."

  "Those seem fair calls to me, Mr. Chairman," said one of the younger councilors. "Shall we put that to that to the vote?"

  The two motions passed . . . by the slimmest of margins. But when it came to direct action against the Korozhet, unless they returned Charles Connolly, Ginny had less luck. The Council refused to do more than issue another amorphous, weak-worded request, without time limits or the intimation of threat.

  * * *

  Afterwards, still seething with fury, Ginny spoke to Bronstein.

  "Look, Bronstein. I've changed my mind. You've got a deal right now. But I need your support. This is the deal I am offering . . ."

  * * *

  Virginia looked out onto a sea of faces. Meilin's VLO was far larger than the Special Branch had reported . . . or the public's curiosity about the guest speaker was larger than anyone had guessed. There was a whole stadium full of Vats. Many of them were women with young children, the men and unmarried women being off at the war-front. They hadn't cheered when she'd stood up to speak. But they hadn't booed her yet, either.

  Virginia cleared her throat, and flung straight into it. "I'm here because one brave soldier made me realize that Vats are not second-class citizens." A rippl
e of surprise ran through the crowd.

  "I am here to tell you I am going to stand by you and for you." They liked that, but didn't trust it. Well, she wouldn't have, either. But if the Special Branch could play dirty, so could she. "And here's my first—and unconditional—demand. Abolish the Special Branch. Destroy it, root and stem."

  They cheered wildly, then. She had them.

  "It is the system that has to change. You can change a system in two ways. Either you can smash it, in which case a lot of people are going to get killed. Our people as well as their people. Or you can take it over, and nobody has get hurt. Nobody but the Special Branch." She smiled at the crowd. "They've always said 'anyone can become a Shareholder, just as soon as their debts are paid.' Only . . . the longer it takes the deeper in debt you get. Twenty-two percent per annum, compounded, interest on interest. The Shareholders get rich and you get poorer."

  Now the crowd booed. She held up her hands for silence, and they were still.

  "I intend to break this. Completely. No Shareholder child is expected to pay for his or her upbringing. But to do this legally, without bloodshed, I will need votes. And to get that I need Shareholders to support me. And we need to do it without fighting on the streets, except in self-defense, because if we fight they can repress us. As soon as I have legal control over my fortune—and I own one-third of all the shares in the colony—it is going to be given to the Bat Credit Cooperative."

  A sea of tonsils stared at her from the open mouths on the stands.

  "To explain, I am going to hand this microphone over to one of the organizers. Michaela Bronstein."

  The stunned crowd watched a bat on the podium tap the microphone with a wing-claw.

  * * *

  "Indade, we're planning to break the stranglehold of Shareholders. We don't wish to make money out of this project. We bats have no interest in money. Ask those Vats who have fought beside us on the front lines. All we want in exchange is freedom for the uplifted creatures. We want you to vote for us to be recognized as sentients. As well as the rats." Bronstein shrugged her batwings. "I can talk and think. But any human can legally kill me as they would sheep. We will support you, but we want your support in return. We need to stand wing to shoulder against those who oppress us. We've fought as comrades in arms in the trenches. Will you stand with us here?"

  The clapping was hesitant at first. Then, as Virginia held out her arm, and Bronstein flew onto it, the clapping became a wall of sound. Virginia raised her arms and hushed them.

  " 'Tis a vile underarm bouquet you have, " said Fal, with a snigger from his perch just inside the podium.

  Somehow, that made the rest easy. "And when we have those votes, we'll move on three things. Firstly, we want to move to a 'one person one vote' system, instead of the votes being weighted by shares. Secondly, we want a debt cancellation for the rearing of clones. Thirdly, we want recognition of full sentient rights for the uplifted creatures."

  She waited for hush again. "We are going to do all this because we can. Because when we start to organize there is no force that can stop us. We are going free Chip Connolly. We are going to drive the Magh' and . . . their allies off Harmony and Reason. We are going to build a free society of equals. We are going to do this—"

  She stood in the dramatic position she'd assumed, frozen.

  Literally.

  The bullet that interdicted the slowshield Liepsich had fitted saw to that.

  Chapter 45

  Mostly in the nest area of the head of the Ratafia.

  After the sort of day she'd had, Ginny thought, nothing should faze her. The paratroopers had killed the would-be assassin. That was perhaps unfortunate, since it might have been better to capture him and make him talk. But . . .

  The paratroopers were more concerned with completely, thoroughly and utterly terrifying the police—especially Special Branch. They'd practically blown the assassin into shreds.

  Afterward, Ginny and Bronstein had calmed the crowd. That had taken some doing. If she had been killed, a riot would indeed have occurred—which, clearly, was what Special Branch had intended.

  Surely no more could happen today?

  This phone call had knocked her back in her tracks. Not even being shot at had done that. They hadn't yet been able to find Talbot Cartup. But he'd found her.

  He didn't beat about the bush. "I've got access to Connolly, Shaw. If you want him that badly, I'll arrange it. But the price is going to be very high."

  Virginia sat down, hard. "All right. I'll pay. What do you want and when?"

  "Oh, not money, Shaw. I have plenty of that. A number of other things. The first one is for you to drop all the charges against me. The second one is to stop your rabble-rousing among the Vats—I don't need any extra trouble from them. The third one is that a motion will be put forward in the Shareholders Council to reaffirm the Council's confidence in Special Branch and with me as the holder of the colony's Security portfolio. You'll vote for that."

  "I can't. Not until probate is granted on the will. Council objected."

  "Hmm." There came a heavy chuckle. "I have made things rather difficult for myself, haven't I?"

  There was a brief pause. Then: "Well, I gather you are a convincing speaker. You'll make another speech saying that in the light of new evidence you want me back heading the portfolio. You can arrange the checks and balances . . . I'll provide you with names of suitable candidates."

  "Very well."

  "And then I will want a number of shares as a deed of gift. I'll leave you with one percent of the stock. More generous than a dummy deserves, and I'll keep silent about your uplift status. That would cost you all of them."

  "You can have anything you want," said Virginia. "But first I want proof that Chip is fine. When he is free and well, you will have all the things you want."

  "You'll just have to trust me, Shaw. He's fine."

  "Cartup, I have no reason to ever trust you. You provide me with proof. Let me talk to him, and I'll start doing things. Until then, Talbot Cartup, we're hunting you. And trust me on this: if Chip Connolly doesn't get back safely, I'm going to cut you in half, personally, with a chainsaw."

  For five minutes after she put the phone down she sat there, shaking.

  Melene came in to the room. She took one look at Ginny, and handed her a small bottle from her rat-pack, without a word said.

  Ginny drank from it, glass clattering against her teeth. She stood up. "Take me to the Ratafia. Take me now. I need to start fighting and I need people who won't just talk."

  * * *

  "Is simple the problem, as I see it," said Darleth. "Openly attack the Korozhet, the rats cannot. At the idea, even you wince. Even if we could, the weaponry on the ship is fierce. Force fields they have. When in place these are, the Korozhet only can use the heavy laser. What they do is to raise these for very little time, and then launch missiles from the targeting spines on the top of the ship. There are two force fields—like airlock, not one like Magh'. Many thousands of the people, the Jampad, with heavy lasers we force our way in. And then the ship was exploded, with most of the slaves and attackers killed, when the Korozhet fled in their lifecraft."

  "I don't think we can take them on frontally—even if the soft-cyber would let us. But we can raid . . ." said Meilin.

  Virginia had been less than surprised to see the Vat organizer there. Too many ends in this tied together. Somebody, somewhere, was pulling strings, she'd slowly come to realize. She had no idea who it was, although it was clearly someone who—for whatever reasons of their own—seemed determined to shatter the existing political setup on Harmony and Reason.

  At the moment, that was good enough. One day she'd track them down. Right now she had other priorities.

  The Jampad nodded. Virginia had learned that meant no. "To gain entry means the double-front portal. No other ingress have the Korozhet ships. The last reports from our attackers before the ship was destroyed they said there was a force field inside the entry p
ort. We believe, but not know, that the inner portal is a fire chamber that is triggered if anything other than Korozhet or an implanted slave goes into it."

  Ginny frowned thoughtfully. "They must bring things in. I mean we've been paying them for the soft-cyber and slowshield units. We could hide in that."

  The Jampad nodded furiously. "It is irradiated. Only through the double portal do live things pass. And, from what my people could establish, only implanted victims or Korozhet themselves."

  Ginny sighed. "So what you are saying is that we can't attack them."

  The Jampad shook his head. "We can. The Korozhet, my people attacked, and their client species very successfully when they come out of the ship. Their slaves they use as soldiers, and some, like the Nerba, are very good. But while inside the ship they are hidden, they can only be attacked with great force. I prepare for the guerrilla fight."

  Ariel wrinkled her ratty snout. "Methinks I'll talk to Fitz, Ginny. Strategy and tactics are his thing. I'm going there later tonight and he goes to court tomorrow. He needs something else to think about."

  "I'm sure he has enough on his mind," said Ginny, wanly.

  Ariel patted her hand. "He has a very wide mind. It encompasses everything from chocolate to war."

  Virginia sighed. "I'm still due to see Liepsich tonight. I'm not sure when he sleeps. I'll talk to him about the problem. But I still want to hire the Ratafia. I want Talbot Cartup found. He's trying to blackmail me with Chip's freedom. If I could trust him, I'd gladly give all he asks. But if I catch him before the police do . . . I'll get real cooperation. Even if I have to get Fat Fal to 'circumspect' him."

  "Methinks the rats will be a bit worried," said Gobbo doubtfully, "with this move into formal employment."

  Meilin laughed. "You'll have to shift from burglary to other enterprises soon anyway. The humans are going to catch on. And once they do that, it could just become easier to work than steal."