by S. N. Lewitt
"She cannot marry you, Comes Riton," Haakogard said carefully and patiently, thinking that everyone had gone insane except him.
"I am married, Comes Riton," said Nola Zim in much the same tone as Haakogard had used.
"A way will be found," said Comes Riton. Then he bellowed three terse words, turned and departed with his men, the band striving to make music and keep up with the fast march.
As they watched the Comes Riton's party leave, Haakogard said, "I've got to zap the Hub about this. We're up to our necks. Something's wrong." He started toward the main hatch when he paused and looked back at Zim. "We'd better arrange a story about this mythical husband of yours, so it'll stick."
"And we'd better include it on the zap to the Hub. If the Comes Riton checks up on us, I don't want him being told a different story." She seemed oddly tired, and she walked as if her feet hurt.
"What is it?" Haakogard asked as they went into the Yngmoto together.
She stopped, her head cocked to the side as if she sensed something following her. "It just struck me: Riton and Tenre are really the same person. What if I have another proposal to handle?"
"One crisis at a time, if you please. We'll deal with that when and if it happens." He noticed the Senior Bunter hovering nearby and resigned himself to dealing with the cyborg for an hour.
"Oh, it'll happen. It's bound to," said Zim quietly, with certainty. "This is one of those places."
Haakogard was in the conference room attempting to get an assessment from the Mromrosi when a band of Other Colonists attacked the Katanas. It was quite-late, and two of the Neo Biscay's three moons were down making the night as dark as it ever got. For the last hour the Mromrosi's conversation had wandered, going into subjects and concepts that the others could not entirely grasp. Twenty members of the crew were asleep, their Bunters serving as sentinels.
"We'll have zaps on this by morning and we'll know how they want us to handle this mess," Haakogard was saying just as a large rock thudded against the hull of the Yngmoto. He looked around as two klaxons began to whoop. "What was that?"
"Primitive artillery," said the Mromrosi. "There is another."
The Katana echoed with the impact, and yet another klaxon sounded. Lights came on throughout the ship, and the Bunters whirled into activity.
"Surveills on, conference room," said Haakogard, thinking he would have liked this better if the attackers had waited until morning. He was tired and grouchy, not the best frame of mind for battle, even as minor as this one might be. "Nightscreens full."
The gray panels on the walls filled with images.
"Those are . . . catapults, ballistas," he said as he recognized the weapons. Even as he watched, another large rock was lobbed at his ship. When it hit, he swore.
"The Other Colonists," said the Mromrosi, his color fading from pink to a tawny beige. Haakogard recognized this as a sign of condemnation.
"Interior hailers, all four ships," said Haakogard, and addressed the disk near his shoulder. "This is Line Commander Haakogard. We have been attacked by the Other Colonists, who are throwing big rocks at us. Do not return fire. I repeat: do not return fire. Set personal stunners on maximum, and if any approach you, stun your attacker. Otherwise, raise the deflection shield of your ships and wait it out. Report any serious damage at once. Good morning, everyone. Haakogard out." He stood up, hearing the soft, high shriek made by the deflection shield. "I'm off to the control room. Would you like to join me?"
"Directly," said the Mromrosi. "I wish to finish reviewing the zaps first."
"Whatever you like." Haakogard left the alien alone in the conference room and hurried the short distance to the control room directly beneath the bridge, where he found Navigator Zim already waiting.
"I couldn't sleep anyway," she explained, accounting for her presence in the control room. "The others are coming. Everyone's buzzed in."
"Good. Have one of the Bunters whip up something to wake us up, would you?" he asked her as he sat down at the tactical console and began to go over the damage assessments.
"Done," she replied, and signaled for a Bunter. "I wonder how they fit this attack into their honor? Or do they plan to lose this fight, too?"
Another boulder slammed toward the Yngmoto but crumbled as it encountered the deflection shield.
There was a series of emphatic and creative oaths as Section Leader Jarrick Riven stumbled into the control room. "What in the name of everything round is going on out there?"
"Zim has another suitor, I think. I recognize the style," said Haakogard, then immediately softened his remarks. "Or maybe the same suitor. That's the trouble with clones—they're the same thing in the same package." He was rewarded by Zim's wan smile.
"Are all the ships getting bombarded?" asked Riven as he took his seat and gave a quick, cursory glance at all the displays.
"Looks like it," said Haakogard. He reviewed the damage reports again and was relieved to see that the worst any of the four Katanas had got out of this encounter was a dent or two. He peered at the communication frame and shook his head.
"What is it? Goren? Why that look?" asked Mawson Tallis, who had just arrived with his Bunter following him, comb upraised to put some order into the Executive Officer's fair hair. "Why the commotion?"
"The Other Colonists?" Haakogard said.
"No, I mean, what's bothering you?" He relented and stood still for his Bunter, saying to the cyborg, "We are under attack, you know."
"Class five attack," said the Bunter. "Class five attack is very low priority and does not relax uniform codes." It took one more swipe at his hair, then moved, three of its four arms neatly telescoped into its body.
"Never argue with a Bunter," said Riven. He yawned. "I'm not awake yet. Someone nudge me if we get into any real trouble."
"I think we might have some real trouble," said Haakogard as he finally brought his attention to focus on what was bothering him. "I received a zap a couple hours ago that has me worried."
"What now?" asked Zim, her voice rising.
"It was from Fleet Commodore Herd. He leaves it up to our judgment but says that the Twelve have agreements with the Comes Riton and the government in the capital. That means we can't just walk out; they want something guarded here, but I don't know what it is. I don't know why the Twelve want it guarded. I don't know what it has to do with this clone business. Has anyone here ever been to Bilau?"
"It's on the other side of the continent, almost," said Tallis. "We might as well ignore it. It's too far away to—"
"I was there a couple years ago," said Riven. "It was a layover during a transfer. Bilau's like a lot of capitals on marginal planets—it has a few sights, a few thrills, a red-light district with some kinks, and the rest is utilitarian. PoMoend is more interesting for architecture, and the Hub has better entertainment."
"Yes," said Haakogard slowly. "But there was something in code for Perzda from Knapp at the end of the zap. If Alliance Intelligence Operations is mixed up in this—"
Everyone in the control room made sounds of disgust, and Nola Zim actually shrieked.
"That is what I think. So I want to talk to Perzda, and she's probably in the bunker. She ought to be there." Haakogard looked toward the surveills again. "No one fire back. They can't do much but keep us awake, but we would wipe them all out."
"Maybe that's what they're all after," suggested Tallis.
"Why do you say that?" Haakogard asked.
"Maybe they want to go out in a blaze of glory instead of having these long battles with the Comes Riton. Look what they did with the wild animals. They could all have got killed. This is the same thing, maybe." He looked rather smug; he was pleased with his assessment.
"Maybe, but I doubt it," said Haakogard. He rose, making up his mind. "I've had enough of this. I want Dachnor and Fennin to go out and catch me one of those Other Colonists. It's time we heard their side of it. Then we can decide what we want to do, if anything."
"I've already—" Zi
m began.
"That's not enough," Haakogard interrupted, kindly enough. "We'll get an Other Colonist together with Thunghalis and then we'll see if the Mromrosi can make sense of it." He stared out of the control room, bound for the security bunker where he trusted Perzda was waiting.
He was right. She held half a dozen fresh zap sheets in her hands and was thumbing through them as Haakogard came into the bunker. "I expected you before now."
"Sorry; things are a little confused," he said, and found himself a place to sit on the edge of her worktable. "What's the news?" He offered her the zap he had. "The last bit's yours."
"I've already read it," she said. "Fleet Commodore Herd has had the Marshal-in-Chief of the Grands arrested for taking bribes." She shook her head. "Stupid thing to do."
"Arresting him or the bribes?" Haakogard asked as he watched her go over the zaps.
"Both, probably," she said, a little distantly. When she put the zaps aside she looked at him directly. "We'd better do what we can to keep this farce here from exploding. Knapp's given me orders to report any divergence from specific instructions. We don't want to upset any of those delicate balances at the Hub, do we? So if you change sides now, or do anything that might make it appear you're countermanding what Herd wants you to do, you could end up in trouble. We all could." She sighed, her flinty eyes softening. "I don't want anything to go wrong. Not after all the years I've put in. I want to retire to Kousrau and study those ruins. They fascinate me. Imagine an entire civilization, a whole intelligent species, vanished and gone!—and only those ruins left.
"But I don't want to do it quite yet, and not in disgrace," she amended; then she touched one of the zaps. "Speaking of retirement, that's what the old Marshal-in-Chief of the Grands is going to be made to do, according to this. It's unofficial, of course, and there will be no public announcement for months. They're arranging for him to take over a tree plantation on Hathaway. He can't get into trouble there, and everyone can pretend the scandal was minor, including the Marshal-in-Chief. All very neat, all the nasty bits covered up." Her eyes were cynical and bright. "Less embarrassing this way." She flung three of the zaps into the air.
"Viridis," said Haakogard, not certain whether he was arguing or agreeing with her. When she looked at him directly again, he said, "Thanks for the warning. Now if only we could it explain it to everyone here." He hitched his thumb in the direction of the attacking Other Colonists. "Can we activate your surveills?"
"Sure," she said after a light hesitation. "If you want to. What do you expect to see?"
"I expect to see Dachnor and Fennin get one or more of the Other Colonists. I want someone to answer questions." He would have started the surveills himself, but in this bunker only Group Leader Perzda's geneprint would start the equipment.
"Is Alrou Malise on the bridge?" she asked as she stuck her hand to the identplate.
"Yes," said Haakogard, watching the screens come alive. "Look. They're on the other side of the Sigjima. They're wearing nightsuits." He indicated where Dachnor and Fennin were making their way through a low outcropping of rocks, taking great care with their footing as they went.
"Fennin's a good outside man," said Perzda as she studied his progress. "Dachnor's too quick, he gets noticed that way."
Haakogard did not say anything, being caught up in what his officers were doing. He leaned forward and watched the screens, as if he could protect them with the intensity of his gaze. At last he said, "Look just the other side of that boulder."
"Three of them," Perzda said. "I wish I'd put out a few more monitors. We might have got more of them, with less risk."
"It's all right," said Haakogard while his two Group Chiefs converged on the three Other Colonists, stunners ready.
In the next instant, one of the Other Colonists started to turn, made a muffled shout, then collapsed as the stun charge felled him. The other two were a fraction of a second too late, and both of them collapsed as well.
"Now what?" asked Perzda. "Two Harriers, three Other Colonists. You can't leave one or two behind, because they'll tell the others, and that could make them heat up the attack on us, which we don't want. So what do you think they should do, Line Commander?" She was teasing him but her question was sensible.
"They'll bring them all back here, of course," said Haakogard. "In fact, we'd better get the loading hatch open and arrange for the Freyama to provide some kind of diversion. Get me Chanliz and tell her it's urgent." This last was to the communications nodule set in Perzda's worktable.
The nodule beeped and three seconds later, Leilah Chanliz said, "What is it? And it better be good."
There were times when Haakogard would not allow such a response to go uncorrected, but this time he did his best to chuckle. "That'll be up to you," he told her, and explained what he wanted. "Be careful, but not too careful."
"Give me four minutes and we'll do it," she said, the irate tone gone and now replaced with faint amusement. "We'll give you—what? ten minutes?—outside. But tell Dachnor and Fennin to work fast. We can't distract them forever, no matter what we do." With that she signed off, and Haakogard sat back to watch with Viridis Perzda.
True to her word, four minutes later the side hatch of the Freyama opened and Chanliz, splendidly out of uniform in a gauze gown from her home planet of Lontano, stepped into the night, followed by her Communications Leader, Yenne Ciomat, who was wrapped in a lounging robe. The two of them wandered from one of the monitors to the next, taking time to stop and embrace each other at every monitor. Their attention seemed to be entirely on each other, and only the thud of a boulder landing a short distance away from where they stood attracted their notice, though not for long.
"Is this what you had in mind?" Perzda asked as she watched, a smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
"No, but it works better than my plan," answered Haakogard. Chanliz had slid halfway out of the clinging layers of gauze and was reaching inside Ciomat's lounging robe. "I only hope they don't divert our attention as much as the Other Colonists'." Then he saw Dachnor and Fennin crouching low, bringing the first of their three captives up to the loading hatch of the Yngmoto. "Better get ready for the first one," he said, addressing the nodule. "Everyone stand by."
There was the sound of the loading hatch opening and the scuffle of feet, then a few hurried whispers of instructions, and then silence returned.
"Watch them," said Perzda, pointing to Dachnor and Fennin on the surveills. "They're after number two."
"Good for them," said Haakogard, preparing to leave. "I've got to go find out what we've brought on board. You want to come with me?"
"I think I'd rather watch Chanliz and Ciomat," said Perzda with a wicked grin. "They're outrageous. They give me some good ideas."
"They certainly are outrageous," said Haakogard, hurrying toward the loading hatch. Now that he had a chance to speak with one of the Other Colonists, he was excited. Finally he could start to make a correct assessment of the situation here on Neo Biscay.
Two Bunters and Jarrick Riven had brought the first captive aboard. The Bunters were in the process of waking the captive out of the stun, and Riven leaned back on the wall, watching closely. As Haakogard hurried through the door, he offered a slight wave of his hand before he pointed. "Bagged one. Two more coming."
"I saw on the surveills," said Haakogard, squatting down next to the Other Colonist. "Big man, outdoor skin." He took the fellow's jaw in his hand and tipped his head back. "Looks pretty healthy."
"In a place like this you're healthy or you're dead," Riven pointed out. "There's no room for sickly types. Notice his hands. Someone mashed his knuckles more than once."
"Fighting?" Haakogard asked, and answered for himself. "No; there's no scars on his face that say he fights, and his ears are all right. His nose hasn't been broken. He might have got his hands hurt working with animals." He rose to his feet, a tad more slowly than he had five years ago, but still quickly enough. He let the Bunters continue their wo
rk. "I want the Medical Leader from the Ubehoff to come over and check these Other Colonists out. And I want Thunghalis to go to the conference room. We'll do our questions and answers there."
"You want to wait for Dachnor and Fennin?" Riven asked, noticing that the Other Colonist was starting to move on his own a little.
"Yes. But I don't want these men piling up here in the loading bay." He brushed off his hands and hurried away, wondering if Chanliz and Ciomat were still astonishing the men guarding the ballistas. A faint shudder of near impact answered the question for him.
Dawn was still almost a Standard Hour away; only the tasty and stimulating drinks supplied by the Bunters kept the crew of the Yngmoto at their work as the long night wound down.
In the conference room, the three Other Colonists had sat in weary silence while Haakogard and the Mromrosi attempted to coax them into speaking. It was not a promising beginning, and there was nothing to suggest new avenues to explore. Thunghalis kept to his end of the table, but he stared at the Other Colonists with such outrage that Haakogard wanted to order him to look away.
"We're not asking anything impossible," Haakogard pointed out, trying another tack with the three captives. "If we had decided to punish you for trying to damage our ships, I assure you we would have done it by now. We only want to talk to you, to find out the nature of your grievances with the people of poMoend."
The one who appeared the youngest of the three gave a single bark of contempt, then resumed his silence.
"We can do nothing to aid you if you will not inform us of what wrong needs redress." Haakogard looked over at the Mromrosi, knowing that the Other Colonists had been frightened by him. "He is here to be sure that you are treated fairly, and he cannot do that if you will not tell him what is happening here, and why poMoend is on the brink of war."
The silence continued, more ominous than ever.
"You are not helping yourselves or your people or your cause by refusing to talk with us," said Haakogard, feeling idiotic.
