Military, Emilio reckoned; a carrier's landing probe.
"Mr. Konstantin." One of the workers came running up, stopped with a bewildered spreading of his hands. "Is it true? Is it true that Mazian's up there?"
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"We were sent word that's what it is. We don't know what's going on up there; indications are things are quiet. Keep it calm; pass the word ... we keep our wits about us, ride events as they come. No one says anything about the missing supplies; no one mentions them, you understand? But we aren't going to have the Fleet strip us down here and then go off to leave the station to starve; that's what's going on. You pass that word too.
And you take your orders only from me and from Miliko, hear?"
"Sir," the man breathed, and at his dismissal, ran off to carry the news.
"Better put it to Q," Miliko said.
He nodded, started that way, from the hillside on which they stood. Over the hill a glow flared up, field lights on to guide the landing. He and Miliko walked the path over to Q, found Wei there. "Fleet's up there,"
Emilio said. And at the quick, panicked murmur: "We're trying to keep food for station and ourselves; trying to stop a Fleet takeover down here.
You saw nothing. You heard nothing. You're deaf and blind, and you don't have responsibility for anything; I do."
There was murmuring, from the resident workers, from Q. He turned, he and Miliko, headed by the path from there to the landing site; a crowd of his own staff and resident workers formed about him ... Q folk too; no one stopped them. They had no guards anymore, not here, not at the other camps; Q worked by posted schedules like other workers. It was not without its arguments, its difficulties; but they were less a threat than what descended on them all, which would make its demands for provisions for troop-laden carriers, and possibly demands for live bodies.
The ship came down in thunder, settled into the landing area and overfilled it, and on the hillside they stopped their ears in its sound and turned their faces from its reeking wind until the engines had shut down. It rested there in the breaking day, foreign and ungainly, and bristling with war. The hatch opened, lowered a jaw to the ground, and armored troops walked down onto the soil of the world as they on their hillside stood still in a line of their own, armorless and weaponless. The troops braced, aimed rifles. An officer came down the ramp into the light, a dark-skinned man with a breathing mask only, no helmet.
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"That's Porey," Miliko whispered. "That has to be Porey himself."
He felt the burden on himself to go down and answer the posed threat, let go Miliko's hand; but she did not let go his. They walked down the hill together, to meet the legendary captain ... stopped at speaking range, all too conscious of the rifles now much closer to them.
"Who's in charge of this base?" Porey demanded.
"Emilio Konstantin and Miliko Dee, captain."
"Before me?"
"Yes, captain."
"Receive a decree of martial law. All supplies at this base are confiscated.
All civilian government, human and native, is suspended. You will turn over all records of equipment, personnel, and supplies immediately."
Emilio made an ironic sweep of his free hand, offering the domes, plundered domes. Porey would not be amused, he reckoned. Certain hand-kept books had disappeared too. He was afraid, for himself, for Miliko ...
for the men and women of this base and others; not least of all for the hisa, who had never seen war.
"You will remain on this world," Porey said, "to assist us in whatever ways are necessary."
Emilio smiled tautly and pressed Miliko's hand. It was arrest, nothing less than that. His father's message, rousing him out of sleep, had given him time. About him were workers who had never asked to be put in this position, who had been volunteered for this service. He relied less on their silence than on the hisa's speed. It was even possible that the military would put him under more direct restraint. He thought of his family on the station, the possibility of Pell being evacuated, and of Mazian's men making deliberate ruin of Downbelow itself in a pullout, destroying what they did not want Union to get their hands on, impressing all the able-
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bodied into the Fleet. They would put guns in hisa's hands if it would get them lives to throw against Union.
"We'll discuss the matter," he answered, "captain."
"Arms will be turned over to my troops. Personnel will submit to search."
"I suggest discussion, captain."
Porey gestured sharply. "Bring them inside."
The troops started for them. Miliko's hand clenched on his. He took the initiative and they walked forward on their own, suffered themselves to be spot-searched and brought up the ramp into the glare of the ship's interior, where Porey waited.
Emilio stopped at the upper end of the ramp, with Miliko beside him. "We have the responsibility for this base," he said. "I don't want to make public issue of it. Very quietly, I'll comply with reasonable needs of your forces."
"You are making threats, Mr. Konstantin."
"I'm making a statement, sir. Tell us what you want. I know this world.
Military intervention in a working system would have to take valuable time to establish its own ways, and in some cases, intervention could be destructive."
He stared into Porey's scar-edged eyes, well read that this was a man who did not like to be defied. Who was personally dangerous.
"My officers will go with you," Porey said, "to get the records."
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5
i
Pell: sector white two; 1700 hrs.
Police had come in, quiet men, who stood by the door and talked to the supervisor. Josh saw them from under his brows and kept his head down, his fingers never missing a turn of the piece he was removing. The young girl by him had stopped outright, nudged him hard in the ribs.
"Hey," she said, "Hey, it's police."
Five of them. Josh ignored the blows in his ribs and she only jabbed him the harder.
Above them the com screen came on. The light caught his eyes and he looked up for an instant at another general announcement, for the return of limited freedom of passage in green section. He ducked his head and resumed work.
"They're looking this way," the girl said.
They were. They were making gestures in this direction. Josh shot a look up and down again, up once more, for troops had come in, armored.
Company soldiers. Mazianni. "Look," the girl said. He set himself back to work. The silken voice of central continued over the com, promising that it was all safe. He stopped believing it.
Footsteps were in the aisle, coming from the other side, heavy steps and many of them. They reached him and stopped behind him. He kept working in a last, feverish hope. Damon, he thought, wished. Damon!
A hand touched his shoulder and made him turn. He stared up into the supervisor's face, unfocused, on the security police from the station and a soldier in the armor and insignia of Mazian's Fleet.
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"Mr. Talley," said one of the police, "will you come with us, please?"
He realized the wrench in his hand as a weapon, carefully laid it on the counter, wiped his hand on his overalls, and stood up.
"Where are you going?" the girl beside him asked. He had never known her name. Her plain face was distressed. "Where are you going?"
He did not answer, not knowing. One of the police took him by the arm and brought him away down the aisle and up the side of the shop to the door. They were all staring. "Quiet," the supervisor said. There was a general murmuring. The police and the troops brought him outside into the corridor and stopped there. The door closed, and a troop officer, in body armor only, faced him to the wall and searched him.
The man took his papers from his pocket. He faced ab
out again when they let him and stood with his back against the wall, watching the officer go through the papers. Atlantic, their insignia said. A sick terror worked in him. Company soldiers had the papers in their hands, and they were all his claim to harmlessness, proof of what he had been through, that he was no danger to anyone. He reached out to recover them and the officer held them out of reach. Mazianni. The shadow came back. He withdrew his hand, remembering other encounters, his heart pounding.
"I have a pass," he said, trying to keep the tic from his face, which came when he was upset. "It's with the papers. You can see I work here. I'm supposed to be here."
"Mornings only."
"We were all held," he said. "We were all held over. Check the others.
We're all from morning shift."
"You'll come with us," one of the troopers said.
"Ask Damon Konstantin. He'll tell you. I know him. He'll tell you that I'm all right."
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That delayed them. "I'll make a note of that," the officer said.
"It's possibly true," said one of the station police. "I've heard something like that. He's a special case."
"We have our orders. Comp spat him out; we have to clear the matter. You lock him up in your facilities or we lock him up in ours."
Josh opened his mouth to state a preference. "We'll take him," the policeman said before he could plead.
"My papers," Josh said. He stammered and flushed with shame. Some reactions were still too much to control. He held out a demanding hand for his papers and it shook visibly. "Sir."
The officer folded them and carefully put them into his belt-kit. "He doesn't need them. He's not going anywhere. You take him and put him away, and you have him available if any of us want him, you understand that? He may go into Q later, but not till command's had a chance to review it."
"Understood," the policeman said crisply. He seized Josh's arm, led him down the corridor. The troops walked behind, and finally, at an intersection of corridors, their path and that of the troops diverged.
But there were Mazianni at every visible hallway. He felt cold and exposed ... felt profound relief when the police stopped at a lift and took him into the car alone; they were, for that ride up and around to red sector one, without the troops.
"Please call Damon Konstantin," he asked of them. "Or Elene Quen. Or anyone in their offices. I know the numbers."
There was silence for most of the ride.
"We'll report it through channels," one said finally, without looking at him.
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The lift stopped, red one. Security zone. He walked out between them, through the transparent partition and to the desk at the entry. Troops were inside this office too, armored and armed, and that sent a wave of panic through him, for he had hoped that in this place at least he was under station authority.
"Please," he said at the desk, while they were checking him in. He knew the young officer in charge; he had been here when he was a prisoner. He remembered. He leaned forward toward him and lowered his voice, desperately. "Please call the Konstantins. Let them know I'm here."
Here too there was no answer, only an uncomfortable shift of the eyes away from him. They were afraid, all the stationers— terrified of the armed troops. Soldiers drew him away from the desk, led him down the corridor to the detention cells, put him into one, barren and white and furnished only with sanitary facilities and a white bench extruded from the walls. They delayed to search him again, strip search this time, and left him his clothing on the floor.
He dressed, sank down finally onto the bench, tucked his feet up and rested his head against his knees, tired from his long working and knotted up with fear.
ii
Merchanter ship Hammer: in deep space;
1700 hrs.
Vittorio Lukas rose from his seat and walked the curve of Hammer's dingy bridge, hesitated at the twitch of the stick in the hand of the Unioner who continually kept an eye on him. They would not let him come within reach of controls; in this tiny, steeply curved rotation cylinder— most of Hammer's unlovely mass was a null- G belly, aft— there was a line on the tiles, marked in tape, which circumscribed his prison. He had not discovered yet what would happen if he crossed it without being called; he never meant to find out. He was allowed most of the circuit of the cylinder, the crew quarters where he slept; the tiny main-room section ...
and this far into the operations area. From here he could make out one of 259
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the screens and see scan past the tech's shoulder; he lingered, staring at it, at the backs of men and women in merchanter dress who were not merchanters, his belly still queasy from drugs and his nerves crawling from jump. He had spent most of the day throwing up his insides.
The captain was standing watching the screens, saw him, beckoned him.
Vittorio hesitated; at a second signal came walking ahead into that forbidden operations zone, not without a backward glance at the man with the stick. He accepted the captain's friendly hand on his shoulder as he took a closer look at scan; prosperous looking sort, this man ... might have been a Pell businessman, urged his crew rather than snapping orders. They all treated him well enough, even with politeness. It was his situation and the potentials in it which had him terrified. Coward, his father would say in disgust. It was true. He was. This was no place and no company for him.
"We're moving back soon now," the man said...Blass, his name was, Abe Blass. "Didn't jump far, just enough to stay out of Mazian's way. Relax, Mr. Lukas. Your stomach treating you better now?"
He said nothing. The mention of his malaise brought a spasm to his gut.
"Nothing's wrong," Blass said softly, hand still on his shoulder.
"Absolutely nothing, Mr. Lukas. Mazian's arrival doesn't trouble us."
He looked at the man. "And what if the Fleet spots us when we come in again?"
"We can always jump," Blass said. " Swan's Eye won't have strayed from her post; and Ilyko won't talk; she knows where her interests lie. Just rest easy, Mr. Lukas. You still seem to have some apprehensions of us."
"If my father on Pell is compromised ..."
"That won't be likely to happen. Jessad knows what he's doing. Believe me. It's all planned for. And Union takes care of its friends." Blass patted the shoulder. "You're doing very well for a first jump. Take an old timer's advice and don't push yourself. Just relax. Go on back to the main room and I'll talk to you as soon as our move in is plotted."
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"Sir," he murmured, and did as he was told, wandering past the guard back up the curving deck to the deserted main room. He took a seat at the molded table/bench arrangement, leaned his arm on the table, swallowed heavily.
It was not all nausea from jump. He was terrified. Make a man of you, he could hear his father saying. He seethed with misery. He was what he was, and he did not belong here, with the likes of Abe Blass and these grim very-same people. His father had made him expendable. If he were ambitious he would try to make points for himself in these circumstances, ingratiate himself with Union. He did not. He knew his abilities and his limits, and he wanted Roseen, wanted his comforts, wanted a good drink he could not have with the drugs filling his system.
It was not going to work, none of it; and they would snatch him Unionside where everyone walked in step, and that would be the end of everything he knew. He feared changes. What he had at Pell was good enough. He had never asked much of life or of anyone, and the thought of being out here in the center of nothing at all ... gave him nightmares.
But he had no choices. His father had seen to that.
Blass came finally, sat down and solemnly spread charts on the table and explained things to him as if he were someone of consequence to the mission. He looked at the diagram and tried to understand the premises of this shifting about through nothing, when he could not in fact understand wh
ere they were, which was essentially nowhere.
"You should feel very confident," Blass said. "I assure you you're in a far safer place than the station is right now."
"You're a very high officer in Union," he said, "aren't you? They wouldn't send you like this ... otherwise."
Blass shrugged.
" Hammer and Swan's Eye ... all the ships you've got near Pell?"
Blass shrugged again. That was his answer.
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6
i
Maintenance access white 9-1042; 2100 hrs.
The men had come and gone for a long time, men-in-shells, carrying guns.
Satin shivered and tucked further back into the shadows by the cargo lift.
They were many who had run when the Lukas directed, who had run again when the stranger men came by the ways that the hisa could use, the narrow ways, the dark tunnels where hisa could breathe without masks and the men could not. Men of the Upabove knew these ways but they had not yet shown them to the strangers, and hisa were safe, though some of them cried deep in the dark, deep, deep below, so that men would not hear.
There was no hope here. Satin pursed her lips and sidled backward in a crouch, waited while the air changed, scampered back into safe darkness.
Hands touched her. There was male-scent. She hissed in reproof and smelt after the one who was hers. Arms folded her about. She laid her head wearily against a hard shoulder, comforting as she was comforted.
Bluetooth offered her no questions. He knew that there was no better news, for he had said as much when she had insisted on going out to see.
It was trouble, bad trouble. Lukases spoke and gave orders, and strangers threatened. Old One was not here ... none of the long-timers were, having gone somewhere about their own business, to the protection of important things, Satin reckoned. To duties ordered by important humans and perhaps duties which regarded hisa.
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