She'd got Liam's crystal interface shut down. He would be weak and groggy for a while from the quantity of muscle relaxants she had pumped into his system to counter the cramping effects of the stun, but given the recuperative power of clones, he would be back to normal by tomorrow morning.
Annia left Cho'en in the shelter to oversee her Charmmes cousins and went outside. There were still a few hours before sneakdilly time. She heard voices and footfalls out on the fishing dock beyond the trees.
Mr. Hollin shouted, "Ms. Annia? Ms. Maycee? Ms. Cho'en? Who's home?"
He appeared through the band of trees that divided the lake from the shore and veered toward her.
"Where have you been?" she asked.
He caught her arms in his hands. "Where's Baldwin?"
"Someone at the clinic will know. Century plague has broken out. The clinic is full of patients."
"We'll talk when I get back." He ran to the gate. She stared after him in confusion.
"Ms. Annia, you're looking handsome."
Mr. Groche, had come up from the water with his monstrous catpil at his heels.
Puffy reared up from the spawning ground and clicked rapidly.
Mr. Groche heaved his catpil over his shoulder where it dangled almost to his knees back and front. "Beg your pardon, Ms. Annia. I forgot about your mess of catpils here. I'll keep Pachyderm away from your sporing ground, but after a while cooped in that boat underwater, it gets the need to test its land legs."
"It’s all right, Mr. Groche. Mr. Hollin came on your boat?"
He gave her a courteous bob with crossed ankles. "Roads are closed from Cyrion into Murrayville. They're closing the waterways, too. We slipped through the window just before it closed upstream, and we're headed downstream again as soon as Mr. Hollin finds his friend Baldwin. Seems Baldwin was some kind of general in the war on Cowper's World."
Annia slitted her eyes. "It's not such a bad idea—the quarantine, I mean. We don't want to spread this virus to the coast."
He nodded. "I wouldn't want my wife to get it, sweet thing she is. Baldwin and I will quarantine ourselves on my boat at the base. Mr. Hollin's heard some worrisome things from people in the city. Could be we'll need Admiral Hirshhorn on our side."
#
Tora loafed along the street in front of the clinic, watching the patients and passers-by for signs of panic or impending violence. Many child humans had died during the night and the morning without Maycee to help Cho'en. Humans were angry and frightened. Humans sometimes fought when they were angry and frightened, but they would not dare fight while Tora was there. She saw Mr. Hollin coming. Mr. Hollin only came to see Annia and when something was important. Annia was not here. That meant something important.
He gave her a quick slap on the arm for greeting. "Where's Baldwin?"
"Behind," Tora answered. General Baldwin was setting up small tents and awnings over the patients resting in the back of the clinic.
He broke away from her. She saw his tight shoulders and his long strides. There was something wrong. There were enemies coming. She followed him around the outside of the clinic. General Baldwin was helping to raise supports for another makeshift shelter. He saw Mr. Hollin and left the work to Mr. Ventnor and the other soldiers.
Mr. Hollin said, "No time to explain. Mr. Groche has got his boat at the Ms. Charmmes' lot. You've got to get down river."
General Baldwin's eyes had dark circles all around. "I can't leave. There's supplies to be carried to the people under quarantine, and I've got to organize the distribution."
Mr. Hollin took General Baldwin's arm. "I'll take care of that myself. Murrayville's been quarantined by Cyrion city and the Yetfurther parliament. You have less than an hour to get through the barricade before it closes."
General Baldwin balked. "If this is what Annia thinks it is, then we can't break a quarantine."
Annia had talked about quarantine. It meant surrounding the disease enemy so it could not get away and attack other people. General Baldwin was not sick. Tora looked around for Mr. Ventnor.
He saw her looking for him and came. "Problem?"
" General Baldwin must go out of quarantine."
"Out of what quarantine?"
"Mr. Hollin says get him out before barricade closes."
Mr. Ventnor slapped Tora's arm. "Sounds like they've quarantined the city. Come on, Colonel. The General's going to need someone to run the militia while he's gone." He followed Mr. Hollin and General Baldwin down the street.
General Baldwin, jogging by Mr. Hollin's side but not puffing like Mr. Hollin, said, "I haven't agreed to go."
Mr. Hollin said, "I don't trust Cyrion. A couple of kids have died, and some types are muttering that Murrayville is the source. Hirshhorn knows you by reputation. If things get dirty up there, I want the admiral's head thinking on our side."
Inside the gate of the camp, General Baldwin finally set his feet and refused to go any further. "The admiral doesn't know me."
Mr. Groche had his big catpil human across his shoulder. "Hirshhorn wouldn't let a known insurrectionist and revolutionary run tame on his planet without his knowing everything there was to know."
"That's not likely to be a recommendation."
Mr. Groche grinned. "He didn't pack you onto the first transport off world, did he?"
Mr. Hollin said, "The window's closing, Baldwin. Somebody's got to make sure Murrayville isn't just erased."
General Baldwin said, "There's work left to do: the distribution network, the clinic."
Mr. Ventnor said, "Put the Colonel in charge."
"Tora?" General Baldwin shook his head. "She doesn't have the training or the conditioning to oversee a quarantine."
Mr. Ventnor shrugged. "What's she got to know? We tell her the territory she's got to cover and how many people she's got to cover it with, and she gives the orders."
General Baldwin said, "It's too complicated."
Annia joined the circle. Her eyes were bright from too many stimulants, and she had a swollen red bruise on one check. Tora would make her rest soon. Doctors were highest priority for fighting the disease enemy.
Annia said, "It's exactly what she was designed to do."
General Baldwin said, "She can't be put in charge of humans. She doesn't understand the subtleties."
Mr. Ventnor said, "With respect, General, subtle she isn't, but everybody takes orders from her—civilians and militia both. We'll back her up if anybody gives her trouble."
General Baldwin said, "She's a clone."
Annia said, "She's an XX222."
Mr. Hollin said, "Admiral Hirshhorn will trust you. Maybe only you. If you don't get down there, then maybe it won't matter whether anybody organizes things here in Murrayville at all."
General Baldwin said, "I'll need to get a few things from my lot."
"I brought an old Commonwealth police uniform in your size. You'll have to make do with that. For the rest, borrow from Mr. Groche."
Mr. Groche said, "I'll bunk Pachyderm with me, so at least you can have a bed to yourself."
Mr. Hollin steered General Baldwin toward the water.
General Baldwin said over his shoulder to Tora, "Keep things quiet. Get some kind of supply routine set up for those quarantined in their homes. Use only healthy soldiers for that and work out a way to keep them from getting contaminated."
Tora said, "Yes."
He didn't listen to her. "And keep up what patrols you can. Solante may see this as an opportunity to seize control of the city from us."
"Enemies attack weak points. Yes." Privately, Tora thought that was not the Solante's way. He was the kind of enemy who tried to make bonds he could use and then break when he had what he wanted, but sometimes General Baldwin did not understand the way the Solante thought.
Mr. Groche's ship was tied to cleats on the side of the dock. Mr. Groche stepped onto the prow of the ship and swung his catpil toward the hatch. Pachyderm slithered inside. Mr. Groche helped General Baldwin ac
ross.
General Baldwin said, "Back her up, Mr. Ventnor. If she can't handle it, you've got to organize the other lieutenants."
Mr. Ventnor said, "Don't worry about the Colonel."
General Baldwin climbed into the hatch of the ship. Mr. Groche waved his hand and grinned. "We'll get out ahead of quarantine. Two days downriver at my top speed. Then we'll likely be quarantined at the base ourselves."
Annia ran down the boardwalk. She set her foot on the prow of the ship and held out a crystal. "This will show the medics at the base how to identify the plague. It contains a genetic map of the virus from our patients here. They must have a compiler there. They should be able to produce a counter-virus."
Mr. Groche took the crystal and stowed it in a pouch on his belt. "I'll pass it on to the right people, Ms. Annia." He closed the hatch over his head.
Mr. Hollin cast off the lines, and the cables reeled into their hatches. Engines hummed, water churned, and the ship backed from the dock. It drew out into deeper water and sank below the surface.
Tora spent a little time at the camp after General Baldwin left. She had not been home since Maycee had been hurt. Now she looked into the shelter where Cho'en sat by Maycee's head.
Maycee was not Annia. Annia was primary. Tora did not know why Annia was primary. That was just something she knew. But Maycee was very high priority. As high as Cho'en or Mr. Ventnor. Maycee was not in her body. Tora touched Maycee's lips and hands, but Maycee didn't feel. She looked at Cho'en. "Where is Maycee?"
Cho'en stirred, but her eyes did not open. Her bells did not change their murmur. They said healing things, comfort/hope/determination, and underneath that, grief/despair/frustration.
But Maycee's body was not broken, and if the body was not too dead, then Annia could make Maycee come back to it. Annia was very busy now fighting the disease enemy, but Tora would help fight the disease enemy at the clinic, and it would be defeated soon. Then Annia would be able to fix Maycee.
Tora patted Maycee's hand.
Liam was lying beside Maycee. He had been hit very close with a very strong stun bolt, and a very strong stun bolt could damage even a clone. He raised his head and touched Maycee. His hand shook. He was weak. Muscles in his shoulder and legs pulled and knotted so hard Tora could see them moving, but he was recovering and would be ready to fight tomorrow.
Mr. Ventnor had come to stand in the doorway. He said to Liam, "You did good, Chief."
Tora said, "Annia will fix Maycee."
Liam went back to sleep with his hand on Maycee.
The enemies lay on beds in the shelter. Tora didn't think the enemies should be in the same shelter with humans, but perhaps Annia did not have any other place to put them. The Elizabeth-Belle enemy would wake up soon. Tora would see that she went away.
The male enemy, the Jordan-Kyle, would wake up, but he would not go anywhere very soon. He had been dead. Annia had fixed him, but he would be weak for many days. Tora was displeased. She was not supposed to kill him, but she did not like enemies near Maycee when she was gone away and Liam could not protect her.
Mr. Ventnor looked down at the Jordan-Kyle enemy. "That the one that stunned the Chief and Ms. Charmmes?"
Tora snorted.
He slapped her back. "Don't gnaw at it; the Chief will be back on his feet a long time before this one moves again."
That was true, but soon, Cho'en must go do doctor work. Liam was not ready to protect humans yet, and Annia was a human and a doctor, and she must rest. They must all be protected. Who would protect them if Tora were gone?
Mr. Ventnor said, "You want me to bring the lieutenants here when they get in from patrol? Seems like you people don't use the other lot for much. You could use it as a staging area until Baldwin gets back."
Tora was pleased. She could give orders and still stay and protect her humans.
Mr. Ventnor touched his truncheon to his shoulder in a salute and left.
Tora went outside. Annia and Mr. Hollin were leaning against the edge of the deck together. She stood with her head bent. He rested his hand on the deck behind her. His stance reminded Tora of the Solante enemy in his room full of cushions, but Mr. Hollin was not fighting with Annia, he was protecting like a clone.
"Annia sleeps now," Tora said firmly.
Annia said, "Later, Tora." She backed away from Mr. Hollin. "I have to get back to the clinic."
Tora had just come from the clinic. Annia was not needed there now. The nurse humans did all the work. Annia's job was to fight the disease enemy and kill it. She could not do that if she was weak and tired. "Doctors are priority. Sleep now. Work later."
"There isn't time."
Annia was only a human. Humans had to sleep. Tora pointed to the silvery shelter she shared with Annia and Liam. "Sleep now. Fight later."
Mr. Hollin said, "Ms. Miraz is right, Ms. Annia. You're swaying on your feet. If you don't follow orders, I'll sedate you myself.
CHAPTER FIVE
General Baldwin should not have thought his lieutenants would not obey Tora. When Lize and Ms. Stamos heard Tora was Command, Ms. Stamos nodded and said, "Good." Ms. Bettuane, Tarl, Dess and Mr. Bracxs, all the others who were lieutenants now that Tora was Command, came to the campsite and reported to Tora.
Tarl said, "There are Special Forces police from Cyrion on the perimeter of the city. They're making it harder to keep people under quarantine. It's one thing to keep themselves at home and away from their neighbors. With the threat of police action, they're afraid they'll be forced into internment camps. Some of the rabble are going around to their neighbors telling them Cyrion is already shipping crates of the kill switch to the camps, which would be a trick, since there aren't any camps. Yet."
Tora did not know what kill switch meant. Mr. Ventnor leaned toward her. "DV used for execution of capital crimes. Switches off the brain. Painless and quick, but as far as I know, there's none on Yetfurther. We don't do capital punishment."
Tora nodded.
Dess said, "People have been stopping me and asking me if it's true people are catching century plague from the procreationists. Today, I saw two attacks on Believers in the market. We settled them, but there's a storm of bad feeling with so many people so close together. It made my skin itch."
Tora knew skin itch. It meant something very bad was going to happen. The market was a volatile place even when things were peaceful. Many humans together could pass anger to each other and make it bigger until nobody could think at all. Usually, soldiers were there to stop small fights before they got big enough for humans to get hurt, but all the lieutenants had reported small fights today, many more fights than usual. The humans in Murrayville were afraid, and humans afraid should be kept apart and quiet. Right now, the market was more dangerous than police on the perimeter.
Tora said, "Close the market."
Ms. Bettuane said, "Nobody will stand for that."
Humans would not like it, but Tora was determined. There would be bad fighting if the humans were left all together in the market where fights were more common than anywhere else in Murrayville. Tora assigned the lieutenants who were off duty now to rest their units one hour, make sure everyone had eaten, and meet on the corner near the market.
Ms. Stamos stayed after the others had gone. "Are you sure about this, Ms. Miraz? People are going to think you are taking too much freedom with your authority. They expect to be able to assemble where and how they like. It's why most of them choose to live here rather than in the city."
What humans thought did not interest Tora. "Protect humans," she said.
Mr. Ventnor said, "Colonel's right. If there's a riot brewing, we'd better get it under control now. We can always reopen the market later, but a riot there could bring the police into the town, and then we'd be seeing outright war in the streets."
Tora and Mr. Ventnor went first into the market while the soldiers circled around and closed in from the edges. Tora felt at once why Dess's skin had prickled. There was anger in th
e market. People's backs and shoulders were taut. They held their fists bunched. Their voices were sharp and impatient.
A woman with four children behind her and one on her hip went past Tora. People stared at her or put on a show of going far out of their way to avoid her. The woman and the children went with stiff, frightened faces, staring straight ahead as if they were alone in the market and all the hostile people around them were not there.
A man near Tora spat on the ground as the family went by him. One of the children was too small to walk very far. He clung to his mother's skirt to pull himself along and looked at the man with a confused and frightened face. Tora saw the man's shoulders hunch for an attack. He was going to start a word fight, and with all the anger in the market, a word fight could become a killing fight very quickly. Tora put herself between him and the woman and scowled.
He walked away, but he still wanted to fight someone.
Mr. Ventnor said, "We need to get these people out of here."
At the edge of the market square, Dess and her partner Mr. Bracxs started moving people out of the market. Mr. Bracxs was bigger than Tora, as strong as Liam perhaps, and much bigger. Humans did not argue with him. Dess smiled and talked, and people did what she said. She spoke to a woman with a basket of sweetroots. She touched the woman's hand and arm. The woman picked up her folding chair, and her basket and walked quickly away from the market. That was good.
The vendors who did not have a settled place were the easiest to send away. Tora listened to Lize tell a man with terabits to sell for food that Baldwin's police would set up a distribution system, and he would be able to sell his terabits without coming to the market. That man went away.
Shopkeepers who had permanent shelters or big tents and came to the market every day did not want to leave. Mr. Bracxs spoke to some of them, and they didn't argue any more, but they were too many for Mr. Bracxs to talk to them all. The others were so loud and angry that their neighbors became upset, and the skin-itch of the market rose.
Farenough: Strangers Book 2 Page 5
