by Love, Aimee
“They’ll kill the women,” he said finally.
“Probably,” I admitted. “But if I were down there instead of up here, my advice would be the same. Anyone would chose death over that kind of life.”
The older man I’d first called on stood up and fought his way through the crowd over to us, then surprised me by climbing up onto the table.
“Marcus,” Sebastian told me helpfully. “He runs the school.”
Marcus held up his hands and the room became instantly quiet.
“Everyone who can hear my voice is a dead man,” he boomed. “Titus will not stand for us knowing this and anyone who thinks differently is just plain stupid. As much as some of you may want to, we can never go back to the way things were. The only choice you have to make now is whether to cower up here and wait for the weather to clear so they can come and get us, or to go down and bring the fight to them. I for one may have lived my entire life like an animal, but I’m going to die like a man.”
I could have kissed him.
Chapter Eleven
The Magnificent Two
Sebastian and Marcus conferred together briefly while the debate raged around our table. Opinions varied wildly as to what should or shouldn’t be done, but it was clear that they had taken Marcus’ call to action to heart. He and Sebastian seemed to come to some sort of agreement and he put his hands up again, calling for silence.
“Can we all agree that the shit is about to hit the fan?” He asked them.
Almost everyone nodded.
“Anybody eager to die?”
A few laughs and lots of head shakes.
“Then before we make any decisions we need to take the time to get some things taken care of while we have the weather for cover. Agreed?”
Nods. God I loved this man.
“First, any man who wants no part in what’s about to happen should go now, either out onto the ice or down below. Any man heading to the ice can take three days of food and their own gear, anything more will be regarded as theft and dealt with harshly, understood?”
There were a lot of nods to that, some of them rather grudging. I didn’t like the chances of anyone who tried either option.
“So go,” he said, waiting. “When I say now I mean now.”
A few men shifted in their seats, but no one left.
“That’s good,” he said with a smile. “I didn’t raise any of you to be cowards.”
I realized this man commanded their respect for a reason. With none of the men knowing their parentage, the schoolmaster was probably the closest thing they had to a father figure.
“First, I want all crew chiefs to stand on a table and everyone to sort themselves out.”
As they did what they were told, he sat down beside me and motioned Sebastian closer.
“Okay,” he said, sounding tired. “I just bought us ten minutes. Now what do we tell them to do?”
“Well,” Sebastian said, looking at me and waving Quince over. “I know what to do with at least two of them. Shower and a nap for both of you,” he told Quince. “Or you’ll be useless.”
I opened my mouth to protest, but stopped. If I looked half as bad as Quince did… He’d removed the sweater I gave him at the beginning of our little outing, but the clothes underneath weren’t much better. He was covered in a dried crust of gore and blood, at least some of it his own, and looked like he was about to fall over.
“We don’t have to go back to our own room, do we?” I asked. “The tunnel…”
Sebastian shook his head.
“I already had all our things moved,” he told me. “And sealing the tunnels will be our first order of business. We don’t need either of you for that, so get going.”
I wasn’t sure we’d be able to make it to the door, but as soon as I started to walk, the crowd parted for me and quieted as I passed. I stopped at the table where we’d been sitting earlier and grabbed my med-kit, sure that both Quince and I had enough wounds for all of the bandages I’d brought and then some.
Two men near the door saw us going and came over to give us their heavy coats, to spite my protests that they would need them more than us. Quince waved off my words and took the coats, helping me into mine and then leading me out into the storm.
He took me to one of the long, low buildings behind the greenhouses. I had imagined something like an army barracks, which was silly of me. They had been living here for generations. Inside, there was a long communal hall filled with tables, chairs, and sofas. There was art on the walls and potted plants in some of the corners. All in all, it looked worn and tattered, but more comfortable and homey than I would have thought considering it housed a bunch of bachelors.
Quince went down a hall at the far end of the room and beckoned me to follow. It was lined with doors, many of them open, and inside I could see small rooms decorated to the owners taste, many of them considerably messier than the communal area had been. I also saw the bathroom, large enough to serve the entire building, with a huge shower stall. The building seemed entirely empty, but I still felt a tinge of guilt at the knowledge that Quince would have to stand guard for me.
He opened a door at the very end of the hall and ushered me in. It was larger than any of the others I’d seen, with a small living area and several doors leading off of it. He opened them all, showing me around. There were two tiny bedrooms and a little private bath. Someone had obviously given up choice digs for me.
“Who’s rooms are these?” I asked, seeing my crates stacked carefully against the wall of one of the bedrooms.
Quince pointed to himself and then to one of the beds, then seemed at a loss as to how to explain who he shared with.
“Sebastian?” I guessed.
He nodded happily and pointed to the me and then the bathroom, then disappeared into his own room and came back with an armful of clean clothes. He went to the door and looked at me expectantly.
“You’re going to use the big shower down there and I can use this one,” I supplied. “Then we can take a nap. I’ll set my alarm so we don’t sleep too long.”
He nodded again and set off.
I checked my crates carefully, picking out a clean onesie to wear. It was black with a high neck, insulated against both cold and heat, and had reinforced kevlar plating along the arms, legs and torso. If I’d been wearing it earlier, I probably wouldn’t have a gash in my side. I pulled out a pair of gloves and a belt, then checked the contents of the false bottoms, making sure everything was there. I left most of it where it was, but hooked a few more items to my belt, just in case. Laying my new outfit on the bed, I started to the bathroom, then stopped and snatched up the belt to take with me. Everything on it was waterproof, and it wasn’t as if it would be the first time I’d showered with a gun on.
My watch woke me after three short hours of sleep, but I felt much better for having gotten it. The wound on my side was little more than an annoyance and with a pill from my med-kit even that vanished. I strapped the little kit onto my thigh and woke Quince. His face looked red and slightly abraded, as if he’d scrubbed himself hard enough to take off a layer of skin, but otherwise refreshed and ready to go.
I brought him into my room and sat him on the bed.
“Do you know how to use a gun?” I asked, sure of his answer.
He shook his head.
I didn’t have time to train him, so I gave him a stun baton instead, showing him the safety and explaining that the electrical shock it gave off was just short of enough to kill a man, hoping he would be careful who he hit with it.
I strapped a knife and as many grenades as I could carry onto my own belt and then dumped out one of the crates. I put my remaining contraband into it, three extra guns, the transmitter, and various other technological gizmos, and threw the assault riffle, the only truly impre
ssive piece of armament I’d been allowed to bring, over my shoulder.
We both put on our jackets, Quince grabbed the crate, and we set off to find Sebastian.
The dormitory was more crowded than before, though obviously still well below capacity, and our passing quickly drew a crowd. No one spoke or tried to hinder us in any way, but they all came to their doors to watch and I again felt as if I were far from ready for so much responsibility.
Quince seemed as uncomfortable as I was at the sudden notoriety, and we hurried through the building as quickly as we could. One of the younger men, dressed only in a light shirt and pants, took it upon himself to run ahead of us, pulling the outside door open and holding it until we were through in spite of the frigid wind.
We were half way to the dinning hall when something materialized out of the swirling snow ahead of us. I grabbed for my riffle but it was trapped under my bulky overcoat. Instead I drew the pistol from my belt and put out a hand for Quince to wait where he was.
One step at a time, I advanced on the form, holding my gun in front of me. It felt good to finally be doing something I was trained for, but my stomach still did flip flops. My gun had three lethal and five non-lethal settings, but there were plenty of stories floating around the training camps of aliens that were immune to lasers or sonics for one reason or another, so I slipped the catch of my knife sheath just in case. If I could kill one with a screwdriver, then I shouldn’t have and problems with a five-inch hunting knife in my hand.
I kept my eyes glued on the advancing form, trying to make sense of it in the swirling snow. It was very large and moving with a shambling gate. I could see only a few legs, and a body that was…
I holstered my gun and ran forward, yelling for Quince.
Two men were dragging a third between them, his head hanging limply forward.
“What happened to him?” I asked, sliding to a stop just in time to avoid a collision.
“We’ve got all the tubes sealed,” the one on the right told me, yelling to be heard over the storm. “But this one decided to come up the ladder. We had guards posted in the pump house, keeping an eye out, so he didn’t make it far.”
A single man? Coming up the ladder in this weather?
I reached down and put my hand under the unconscious man’s chin, lifting his face for a look. He’d been badly beaten, though whether by our side or theirs I couldn’t tell. Still, in spite of the bruises I recognized the face easily enough.
Julian.
“Bring him to the dining hall,” I told them, though from their path I doubted that was where they’d been originally heading.
They obeyed readily, following Quince and I, and I wondered if it was my authority they respected or the fact that I was now very well armed.
The dinning hall had changed drastically while we slept. Supplies of every imaginable variety were piled on tables around the room and the crowd had cleared, leaving only a dozen men sitting around a table next to the kitchen.
They all turned to look as we entered and Sebastian waved us over, then stood and came to us instead when he saw the men following us with their burden.
“It’s Julian,” I told him as he approached.
We had the men lay him on a mostly clear table. They turned to go, but Sebastian grabbed one of them by the arm.
“Who beat him,” he asked darkly.
“He was like that when he came up,” the man said earnestly. “Only he was walking. We pulled him into the pump house and were gonna send someone to get you when he fell over, so we thought we better get him to the infirmary.”
Sebastian looked hard at the second man but got only a nod of agreement from him.
“Okay,” he said, releasing the man’s arm. “You didn’t leave the ladder unguarded, did you?”
They both shook their heads and practically ran to the door.
“I wonder what the hell he was thinking coming up here,” Sebastian mused, turning his attention to Julian.
“I don’t know,” I told him, unstrapping the med-kit from my leg, “but I know how to find out.”
“You should save that for us,” he protested. “The infirmary up here isn’t very well stocked.”
“It’s just a stimulant to wake him up,” I explained.
He rolled his eyes, reached over, and slapped Julian across the face.
His eyes fluttered and he let out a low groan.
Sebastian gave me a smug look.
“That works, too,” I admitted, strapping the med-kit back on.
Julian’s eyes opened and he looked around until he saw me, then smiled weakly.
“There was a man injured… He said he’d seen a woman…”
“And you knew it had to be me since he described her as clothed? Did you do a head count in the pits first, just be sure?” I asked, my voice dripping venom.
The other men from the table drifted closer but stayed a polite distance.
Julian must have known that it was useless to protest.
“I came to see if you’d been hurt. One of them was dead and I was afraid…”
“Your dedication to my welfare is duly noted,” I told him, no longer feeling any sympathy for him at all.
“Who beat you?” Sebastian asked, ever practical.
“When Titus found out the tunnels were sealed, he thought I’d told you about them. He flew into a rage. He’s convinced you’re trying to ferment some kind of revolt. I told him that nobody knew anything and that they were probably only trying to protect you but…”
“But you were very wrong,” I finished for him. “Where are the rest of the women?”
“You know,” he said, trying to sit up only to have Sebastian push him back down. “Below…”
“I did the math,” I told him. “I counted eighty women of various ages, but there are hundreds of men. Females account for over half of human births. That leaves a lot of women still unaccounted for.”
“That’s all of them,” he assured me. “They keep the population down.”
I hadn’t really expected any other answer, but still the thought was sickening and I looked away. With my attention off his face, I noticed a large blood stain on his shirt. I pulled it up and saw a stab wound on his stomach. It might have been from a knife, but I was betting it was one of the same barbed legs that had caught me in the side.
I reached for my med-kit again but Sebastian waved me off. He went to the kitchen and came back with two large men.
“Take him and get him patched up,” he told them. “Then keep him under guard.”
They lifted Julian roughly to his feet and half carried him off.
“We’ve got bigger fish to fry,” he told me, leading me back to the table where all of the other men were once again seated.
He went around the group, introducing them each and telling me why they’d been included in the party. I knew there was no way I’d ever keep their names or jobs straight, so I didn’t bother trying, but I recognized Marcus, the school master, and gave him a nod.
Quince looked ready to sit at a table nearby and I went over and drug him to ours, making him take off his jacket and sit beside me. With all of those stern faces pointed my way, I wanted at least one friend in the mix, and I wasn’t ready to count Sebastian in that category just yet.
“So what can you do?” Marcus asked once we were settled.
I wasn’t entirely sure what he meant.
“Earlier you said you weren’t suggesting that you couldn’t help, only that we shouldn’t expect off planet support. So what can you do?” He clarified.
I took a deep breath and let it out slowly.
“I’m not legally allowed to interfere in your decision,” I told them all. “I’ll probably be in enough trouble for what I’ve already done. I was sent to
discover why you were choosing to be so insular, not to attempt to effect your local government in any way,” they clearly didn’t like the direction I was taking. “However,” I continued, “having done so I feel it is my moral duty to assist you in whatever you decide to do. I can suggest several things that might be of considerable help to you, but if you ever tell anyone they were my ideas…”
“We will all deny your involvement to the bitter end,” Marcus promised with a smile. “We’ll tell them you were chained in a closet the whole time, if need be.”
I nodded.
“Then our first order of business should be to call a vote. If we can get a majority to agree that they want this planet to become a full member of the Colonial Board, then the situation will change in our favor. It won’t be legal, you understand, but it will give me room to breath with my superiors, or at least room to lie more effectively.”
“All in favor of joining the Colonial Board?” Marcus asked, looking around the table.
Everyone but Quince and I raised their hands.
“Done,” Marcus told me.
“We need a majority of the planets population,” I explained. “Not a majority of the rooms.”
“After you left everyone agreed to abide by our decisions,” he explained with a smirk. “We’re duly elected officials now and we’ve just unanimously agreed.”
I was pretty sure I was going to get fired and maybe sent to prison for all of this anyway, so I decided to let it go.
“All right,” I smiled. “Then I need to make some calls. In the mean time you should plan a partial evacuation of this area.”
They all looked at me as if I were crazy.
“To where?” Sebastian asked. “There’s nowhere else to go.”
“Inland, to the domed city,” I told them. I’d seen it in one of the orbital photos the Colony Board had shown me during my briefing, so I know it was still intact. “Does it have a name?” I asked, sudden;y curious. I realized I didn’t even know what they called the moon.
