Clarion

by William Greenleaf

  "Left," Paul said.

  The car jerked forward, shuddering over the low ridge that bordered the road. The fans churned rocks and dust. Then the car swung around and headed down the road, weaving unsteadily from side to side.

  Paul got the rest of the vidscreens on at last so the bank above the weapons board gave a full threesixty view. As far as he could see, there was no pursuit. But the stemview screen gave evidence of the cloud of dust boiling up behind them. That would be more than enough to give the deacons and Sons at the temple their general direction.

  "What was that all about?" Frakes asked, jerking a thumb back toward the temple. "Quite a free-forall."

  "We'll talk about it later," Paul said. Frakes had a few answers to give, too. But for now Paul wanted to concentrate on reaching the building at the river. They slid over the roadway, blasting through the rubble from collapsed domes and vegetation that grew up through the pavement. Twice Frakes had to steer the car off the road and pick his way around sections of tube that blocked it.

  The road began sloping downhill a few minutes before they saw the glimmer of water on the forward screen. The car passed over a small stream that had branched off from the river. The road ended abruptly at a solid wall of trees and brush, and the car shuddered to a stop.

  "Turn right," Karyn called from the back. "Stay as close to the river as you can."

  Frakes turned the car and began easing it through the heavy growth of trees and underbrush. Paul watched the vidscreens, and within a few minutes he saw the broken spire thrusting up above the trees. He pointed it out, and Frakes guided the car toward the building. The fans got bogged down in heavy growth when they were still fifty meters away.

  "Close enough," Paul yelled above the roaring engine. "Shut it off."

  Frakes experimented briefly with the controls; then the engine wound down abruptly and the car crashed to the ground.

  "Oy!" Jacque muttered from the back. Paul let out his breath and turned around in his seat. "Everyone okay?"

  Karyn and Sabastian had been thrown together into one corner of the back seat. Sabastian's face was gray, but his eyes were open and clear.

  "Where's Olaf?" Karyn asked.

  "Dead," Sabastian answered.

  She drew a quick breath and started to say

  something, then changed her mind. Her eyes went to Erich Frakes. "Is he with the Fringe Alliance?" Paul shook his head. "UNSA."

  "Does that mean we can trust him?"

  "I doubt it."

  Frakes began to make a sound of protest, but William Greenleaf

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  Karyn ignored him. "Then we'll keep an eye on him. Let's get inside."

  Jacque was picking himself up off the floor.

  "Look what I found!" He held up a long-barreled carbine in one hand. "More goodies down here, too. Let's get 'em out, Selmer."

  By the time Paul and Erich Frakes had helped Sabastian out of the car, Selmer and Jacque each had armfuls of weapons they'd found in the car's rear storage compartment.

  "So there really is a city," Frakes said with a trace of awe.

  "Let's get inside," Paul said. He waited for Frakes to go first, then ducked through the arched entrance. The scene in the inner chamber was exactly as they had left it: Dorland sat on the pedestal, and Elli stood above the chauka.

  Sabastian and Karyn had stopped just beyond the door.

  Dorland heard them and looked around.

  "What the hell?" said Erich Frakes. He was staring at Elli.

  "Tal Tahir," Paul supplied. While Karyn filled Dorland in on what had-happened at the temple, Paul pulled Frakes back through the archway. Now that he knew Dorland was safe, he wanted to get some answers from Frakes. "How did you find us?"

  "I followed him here." Frakes couldn't take his eyes off the figure of Elli swaying above the chauka. If she noticed that others had come into the room, she gave no sign of it.

  "Followed who here?" Paul prompted.

  "One of Maiar's agents."

  Paul felt a chill along his spine. Was the Fringe Alliance that close to finding Clarion? "Come on, Frakes, tell me what happened."

  Frakes looked at him, then cleared his throat.

  "Yeah, I guess I should. I got word about that Fringe agent." Paul recalled their discussion on the hotel's rooftop parking pad on Fynnland—

  something about a courier's message. "We finally got the message decoded. It wasn't as useful as we'd hoped, but it gave us the name of one of Maiar's agents who I knew had to be involved. I've been following him the last couple of days. When he took his streamer out and skipped, I had to track him. I couldn't risk calling for help—that would've given me away."

  "He led you here?"

  Frakes nodded. "He had the coordinates, no doubt of that. He must have spotted me on his scope when I broke out of the stream behind him. We took potshots at each other all the way down. It was clear he was following a beacon. It brought him straight to this place."

  "Sabre doesn't know where you are?" Frakes shook his head. "Like I said, I didn't get a chance to call back."

  "Damn!" That meant they couldn't expect help from UNSA. And if Hans Maiar had the coordinates, it wouldn't be long before he sent someone else to Clarion.

  Through the archway Paul could see that

  Dorland had returned to the chauka and was again talking to Elli. He stepped past Frakes and picked his way through the pedestals. As he neared Dorland, he felt the buzz in his mind and heard Elli speaking:

  *Kra'ith (group/touch) Dorland can see——best youth kra'ith*

  "We have to get out of here," Paul said to Dorland. "The deacons and Sons will be here in a few minutes."

  Dorland's eyes left Elli with a visible effort and focused on Paul. "We can't leave the chauka. If High Elder Brill finds it, he'll destroy it."

  "We don't have any choice," Paul said. "We're running out of time—"

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  "We already have," said Karyn, behind him. Paul turned around. Karyn and Jacque stood in the doorway. "They're coming. Jacque saw them about halfway from the temple. They'd spot us before we ever reached the tubes."

  *Tem kra'ith (unpleasant)——(?)*

  Dorland turned back to Elli. "Yes, unpleasant. What do you know about the Tern kra'ithT'

  *Tem kra'ith (group/touch) nevermore——dark

  edge*

  "Let's move back," Paul said. He couldn't think with the constant intrusion of Elli's thoughts.

  "Was that—?" Frakes rubbed his head. "It seemed like . . ."

  "She's telepathic," Paul said. "Or close to it." He turned to Karyn. "If we can't reach the tubes, we'll have to find another way out of here."

  "There isn't another way out," Karyn said.

  "Anyway, we have a bigger problem."

  "They're bringing another floater," Jacque said.

  "It'll get here first. With that big gun, it'll pound this old building to pieces."

  "And knives and a single burp gun won't stop it," Karyn pointed out.

  "What's a floater?" Frakes wanted to know.

  "Combat car," Paul answered.

  "Like the one we commandeered?"

  Paul nodded.

  "I was afraid of that." Frakes chewed his lower lip. Then: "Maybe another combat car can stop it." Paul knew immediately what he was suggesting.

  "Can you do it?"

  "I can give it a try," Frakes said. "But there's no way I'll be able to drive and shoot at the same time."

  It took Frakes a few minutes to get the combat car's engines started, then a few more to maneuver it a hundred meters down the narrow road to the

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  intersection of the broader roadway that led from the temple. From the building's roof they had verified that this was the most likely route the other car would take.

  Paul gripped the arms of his seat as the car bucked and roared. Frakes was positioning it in a way that would a
llow him to turn quickly if he had to and head down the other roadway on a parallel course with the river. He was hoping to get the first strike and disable the other car before they were spotted, but if that didn't work they might need a fast way out.

  After the roar of the fans had died down to an idle, Frakes looked over at the weapons board and said, "Got it figured out?"

  "I think so." Paul had taken a few minutes to sort out the panel as well as he could. His early Guard training was enough to give him some idea of how the car's weapons system had been designed. The primary armament consisted of a heavy, swivelmounted cannon to fire forward over the hatchway, and similar guns, also swivel-mounted, on each side to cover the flanks and rear. The antipersonnel nozzles were lower down near the skirts. The controls for the weapons seemed straightforward enough, although Paul wouldn't be sure he'd gotten them clear in his mind until the time came to use them.

  "Now that we're here," Frakes said, "maybe you can give me an idea of who we're up against."

  "Deacpns," Paul answered. "And Sons of God." Frakes hunched down into a more comfortable position in the driver's seat. "They're part of the Holy Order?"

  Paul hesitated, then decided Frakes had earned a right to know whom he was fighting. He kept his sentences brief and to the point, and got through his explanation in a few minutes.

  When he finished, Frakes jerked a thumb toward William Greenleaf

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  the building on the riverbank. "That thing I saw was a Tal Tahir?"

  "We haven't been able to find out for sure. Communicating with her is a little difficult—" Then Paul's attention went to the forward

  vidscreen, where he could see a cloud of dust rising out along the roadway. Frakes saw it, too, and fell silent. A few minutes later Paul heard a distant roar, and the combat car came swaying down the narrow road. It passed over the small stream, fans blasting its surface into a fine mist.

  "Get the big one ready," Frakes said. The cannon had no automatic aiming mechanism. Paul sighted the other car in the cross hairs, then pressed the orange bar. The car bucked, and a missile exploded in front of the other car, throwing up rocks and dirt.

  "Damn!" Frakes muttered.

  The combat car came to an abrupt halt, and the cannon swiveled around. The muzzle blossomed orange light. The building beside Paul and Frakes exploded into pink fragments. Paul used the double handgrips to steady the gun while he watched the targeting cross hairs. He hit the orange bar again. Dust and reddish-brown stone erupted a few meters behind the other car.

  "I take it you didn't get too many ribbons on the gunnery range," Frakes observed.

  The other car wallowed as if the driver were trying to decide what to do. Then it came straight on down the road. Paul adjusted the range and pressed the bar again. A tone sounded from the weapons board. A telltale glowed red.

  "Any idea what that means?" he yelled.

  "No, but I don't like it—"

  The car shuddered from a glancing blow. The vidscreens blanked, then came back on. Paul lined up the cannon and pressed the bar again, but nothing happened. It was clear now that the cannon

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  had either jammed or was out of ammunition. There was no time to figure out what to do about it. Frakes had already reached the same conclusion. The fans screamed to life as he backed the car around behind a collapsed domed structure, then roared off along the road on a course following the river. On the aft vidscreen, Paul could see the other car turning sluggishly to come after them. Light flashed from the nose cannon. Frakes slid around a corner onto another road, pulverizing a domed structure. Debris flew all around them. The car took a hit and skidded around in a half circle. When Frakes jammed his foot on the pedals, a heavy shudder ran through the car.

  "Portside fans are out!" he yelled. "She won't go." The domed structure in front of them exploded in fragments, and part of it rained down over the car. The car lurched again as the fans revved. Then it slammed to the ground. Frakes cursed, already unbuckling his harness.

  "We'll have to run for it!" he yelled. Paul knew Frakes was right, but he also knew they didn't have much chance of escaping that combat car on foot.

  They waited for the next blast. As the ground behind the car churned into dust, Paul scrambled through the hatchway and down over the skirts. Frakes was close on his heels. A missile blossomed against the side of the car, and the concussion slammed Frakes to the ground. He was up and running an instant later. He ducked around the pile of rubble behind which Paul had taken cover. They waited, watching the approaching car. It skimmed over the road, throwing up thick clouds of dust.

  "They don't know where we are," Frakes said, breathing hard. The car slid closer. Frakes withdrew a handgun from his belt holster and handed it to Paul.

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  "Cover me," he said. "If anyone sticks his head out of that hatchway, blow it off." He had taken out another gun, which he gripped in his bloody hands.

  "What are you—"

  But Frakes was already scrambling up onto the roadway. He jumped for the combat car as it slid past and pulled himself up over the skirts. The car jerked to a stop and the antipersonnel nozzle sputtered. But it was too late. Frakes reached forward, grasped the hatchcover and yanked it open. He fired his gun directly into the cockpit. The sputtering sound of the weapon was punctuated by a hoarse scream.

  Chapter Seventeen

  THE BUILDING'S ROOF WAS FLAT AND SQUARE AND

  had the appearance of a sheet of reddish-brown stone. The crumbled edges curved down to vertical walls that dropped ten meters to the ground. The spire was a thick white column curving upward from the center of the roof to reach a height of twenty meters before it ended in a jagged break. Paul was on his knees near the edge of the roof, looking out toward the roadway. By the time he and Erich Frakes had reached the shelter of the building, the deacons and Sons of God who had followed the combat car on foot were close behind them. Even though he couldn't see them from the roof, Paul knew they were out there now, probably putting their plans together. Sabastran was sure the boys would be the first wave of attack.

  Paul shifted his gaze farther along the broad roadway that led from the temple. A large crowd had gathered there. Hundreds of them had followed the Sons of God from the temple. They were milling about, talking among themselves and look181

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  William Greenleaf

  ing up at the building and the broken spire. Paul could see more people coming down the roadway.

  "Can we expect help from them?" he asked.

  "Are you kidding?" Karyn said. "They'd cut their own throats before they would act against Lord Tern and High Elder Brill."

  "Haven't they already done that by coming out here?"

  She shrugged. "Guess so. But I wouldn't count on them to bail us out."

  "Why do you think they came?" .

  "Curious, probably."

  Karyn and Jacque lay on their stomachs at the crumbled edge with the long-barreled carbines they had taken from the combat car. Selmer Ogram and Erich Frakes were crouched farther down toward the comer of the building. Frakes held something Paul didn't recognize—a short, wide-mouthed tube with a shoulder saddle and an oddly shaped firing device. A brown canvas pouch lay at his feet.

  "Grenade launcher," Karyn explained when Paul asked about it.

  Paul felt the blood drain from his face. We've never had to hurt any of them, Selmer had said. But it's only a matter of time.

  "We think they're sonic grenades," Karyn went on. "With luck, they'll only knock the kids out for a while."

  "But you aren't sure?"

  Karyn shook her head. "We'll find out when we use one."

  Feeling slightly sick, Paul turned and went down the stairs to the inner chamber. Dorland paced back and forth in front of the chauka with his hands clasped behind him. Elli was in her usual position above the chauka, swaying gently as if
to music that none of the others could hear.

  "The kra'ith," Dorland said, "is made up of youth as well as older individuals." He spoke slowly, as if he'd just now grasped a point Elli was trying to get across.

  * (Group/touch) kra'ith Dorland is (acceptance)*

  Paul hitched himself up onto the pedestal in front of the chauka. He felt a twitchy urgency.

  "Getting anywhere?"

  "She still won't say much about Lord Tern," Dorland said. "But I found out one thing about him. He's Tal Tahir."

  "He is? Then Elli—"

  "She's Tal Tahir, too. The males are a lot different from the females. I couldn't get it all—it came in a flash, and she wouldn't repeat it. But my guess is the males evolved as the workers and the food gatherers, while the females were more sedentary. They probably cared for the young."

  , "That's all you've been able to find out about Lord Tern?"

  Dorland nodded. "All she wants to talk about is the kra'ith."

  "That doesn't help us. We don't even know what it is."

  "I'm getting an idea about it," Dorland said. He spoke carefully, his eyes thoughtful. "It's obvious the kra 'ith is a basic part of the Tal Tahir social structure. I think the closest human word for it is family"

  "The kra'ith consists of parents and their young?"

  "Maybe. But I get the impression there are levels of kra'ith. One level is the family group that lives in the domes. Another level may be a group of

  domes—"

  "A quadrant sector?"

  "That's my guess. I don't know how many levels there are, but I know they're all connected."

  "One big happy family."

  "Something like that. Everything the Tal Tahir do is for the common good. They never think of the 184

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  individual." Dorland paused, and his eyes returned to Elli, who stood silently above the chauka. She watched them intently with the sensor nubs pulled back against the flap. "Working for the common good is why the kra'ith exists. For the Tal Tahir, that means dedicating every action toward the well-being of the youth."