There Will Be Dragons tcw-1

by John Ringo

  “Paul Bowman and a faction of the Council, just a short time ago, attempted to wrest power from the rest of the Council. They did so by releasing poison insects, attuned to the DNA of council members opposed to them, into the Council Chamber.

  “It was the intent of Paul’s faction to establish a tyranny with the intent of… hardening humanity and ‘bringing it back to the path of righteousness,’ and I quote.

  “In one way the attempt failed. I, Ishtar, Aikawa Gouvousis and Ungphakorn survived. I regret to inform you that Javlantugs Cantor was killed by the poisons. However, we were not idle and in the short battle seized control of enough Keys to check his direct action through the Net.

  “In another way he was very successful; it was Paul’s intent to strip most of the world of its wealth of energy and throw people back upon ‘work’ as a way on the path of righteousness. In that he succeeded. Until one side or the other submits, or is defeated, all available power is being diverted to the battle among the Council. This battle rages even as I speak and does not look to end soon. It is imperative that you seek such shelter as there is and prepare for a long period without the comforts and support that has become the norm. Because we, Ishtar, Aikawa, Ungphakorn and myself, refuse to give in. The castles in the air have fallen and the dragons are grounded, but I refuse to let him win.

  “Until this is decided, however, it shall be hard. Most of you live in habitations and locations unsuitable to this lifestyle. I urge you to prepare to move to more suitable locations. To those who are better prepared, I understand the burden but you must take it upon yourselves to help those less fortunate. To the extent that we can, the Council will aid you. I will be contacting leaders within local communities soon and giving what support I can.

  “To those of you who find yourselves in current peril or facing famine, find a local community that is prepared to survive in these conditions. Do not despair, for despair will kill you as surely as famine, cold or injury. Prepare wisely, then move to safety. In time we will start to reclaim this world and all that was once ours. But we will never be able to if we turn over the reins of power to fascist madmen.

  “Paul’s vision is ancient, as ancient as the slavery of the Hebrews and deaths by the hundreds of millions at the hands of a group called ‘communists.’ He says that it is for the good of all mankind, but then counters that, of course, a small group will continue to enjoy the conditions that everyone else has had stripped from them. Words such as this resound throughout history and in every case they have meant enslavement and death.

  “Our faction of the Council could submit to Paul. The power would come back on, some of the normal amenities of life would prevail. For a time. Until he and his council of dictators discovered the next ‘path of righteousness,’ the next ‘true form’ of humanity.

  “And all of us would be his powerless slaves.

  “I choose not to be a slave. I choose not to enslave my sister’s children and the children of my friends. I choose to fight.

  “On the shores of this land, once upon a time, was a great nation called ‘America.’ It is from the seeds of this nation that our present culture derives. The beliefs of the nation were simple: ‘We hold these truths to be self evident, that all men are created equal, endowed by the Creator with certain inalienable rights, among which are the rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.’

  “Through their vision, and their beliefs, the people of America, often alone, fought the tides of history and despotism and finally created our society, one in which all of those rights, and more, were protected.

  “Paul Bowman, Celine Reinshafen, Minjie Jiaqi, Ragspurr and Chansa Mulengela stand in opposition to those beliefs.”

  “I wish that it were possible to take an accurate poll of the feelings of all of you. But I cannot. I can only hope that you stand with me, and the rest of the Council, as this black night descends upon us.

  “But I believe, together, that we can win through this night, and create once again that society that we hold so dear. The way will be long, but we will stride it together, one nation, one people, conceived in the concept of liberty and true to those philosophies that we hold so dear.

  “Thank you, good night, and good luck.”

  “Sheida?” Daneh said as the image winked out. “SHEIDA??? Oh, great. Not a word for your sister?”

  “I guess she was just a little focused on her problems,” Rachel said, then snorted. “Not like anyone I know in the family.”

  Daneh shrugged agreement at the same time as she gave her daughter a quelling look. “Well, if she’s in that much trouble, it means that the world is screwed.”

  “It can’t be that bad, Mom,” Rachel said with a shrug. “Could it? I mean, it’s the forty-first century. Things like this just don’t happen!”

  “Well, it’s happening,” Daneh said with a frown. “Right here and right now.” She sighed and shook her head unhappily. “Why now? Why us?”

  “Well… why doesn’t one side or the other just give up?” Rachel asked. “Mom, people are going to die. Some already have,” she added, gesturing at the pile of blue dust.

  “More than Marguerite, and more thoroughly,” the woman said, shaking her head. “I know delving geologists who work in the magma. They’re gone.” She shook her head. “Gone. Just like that. No warning at all…”

  “Mom?” Rachel said after a few moments. “Mom. Why doesn’t one side just quit? Say ‘Okay, have it your way, it’s not worth fighting over?’ I mean, it’s not worth people dying, is it?”

  “Some things are,” Daneh said after a moment. “It’s hard to explain that without understanding history. Sheida does understand history. But bad as fighting is, will be, the deaths that are bound to occur, as bad as that is, some things can be worse. I’d tell you to go look up things like the Cultural Revolution, the Holocaust and the Khmer Rouge, but there’s no way to look it up.”

  “The Holocaust and the Khmer I remember from history reading,” Rachel said. “But people are going to start dying soon. I mean, the war is going to do the same thing that the Khmer did, in its way. We don’t have any farmers, Mom. Without farmers, we don’t have any food. And you don’t just pick it up. It’s a skill.”

  “Good girl, now you’re thinking,” Daneh replied. “But there are some farmers.” She looked at her daughter significantly.

  “That’s the point, Mom,” Rachel sighed. “There were farmers in Cambodia. But the Khmer and that guy… Pol something… he sent people from the cities out to farm. They didn’t know how and they were told how to do it wrong and millions died. Mom, I don’t know what day to start plowing, do you?”

  “Oh.” Daneh thought about that for a moment and nodded. “No, I don’t, but Myron does, and so do his sons.”

  “If you think I’m going to marry Tom or Charlie and settle down as a farm girl you’re out of your mind, Mom,” Rachel chuckled. “I’m going to be a…” Her eyes widened as she realized how much had been lost. “I was going to be a doctor, Mom. What in the hell can you do under these circumstances? There’s no nannites!”

  “Uhmm…” Daneh said, her eyes widening. “Oh… damn. You’re right. Not only that, no… medicines. Those were chemicals that were used prior to nano-insertion techniques. No medicines, no tools.” She shook her head. “I don’t even know how you… I think the term is ‘suture’ a person, that is sew them up.”

  “Sew?”

  “It’s how they used to close wounds,” Daneh explained. “But if this is going to go on for some time, we need to get ready to leave. There’s not much food in the house. We… we need to get to Raven’s Mill.”

  “How, there’s no porting!” Rachel said then shook her head. “You’re not thinking of walking are you? We don’t even have horses.”

  “Yeah, I wish now we hadn’t gotten rid of Buck,” Daneh said. “Well, we might as well get used to it. We need to go find some of the Faire stuff. There’s… sacks and things. I think I’ve got some traveling food arou
nd…”

  “Mom, it would take weeks to walk to the Mill!” Rachel practically shouted.

  “Would you rather stay here and starve?” Daneh asked, grabbing her by the arm and shaking her. “Do you think that Sheida is going to just give up? How about Bowman? If they don’t, Nothing Will Work. No food. No water unless we dip it out of the river! We have to get to the Mill and we have to get there before our food runs out! And you’d better hope that the weather holds.”

  Overhead, in the clear sky, thunder started to rumble.

  * * *

  “This is too complex,” Sheida said, shaking her head as she arose from Dream. “An elf couldn’t keep up!”

  “We need to break it down in such a way as it is legs complex,” Ungphakorn said, spreading his wings. “We have control of generators but we are throwing groups into them willy-nilly. We need to form teams…”

  “We need to be able to concentrate on one particular area,” Aikawa said. “We are starting to break out into regions again by taking the generators and controlling the power locally. We should start thinking about that.”

  “Are you saying form regional blocks?” Ishtar said, irritably. “To what purpose?”

  “We need to start thinking of the world again,” Aikawa said. “We’re going to have to help people rebuild. And we need to consolidate our power base. If humans are to survive this, they are going to have to learn to rebuild. We need to encourage that. And that is a regional function.”

  “This is a battle between factions of the Council,” Ishtar said. “Not between nations.”

  “Now, it is,” Aikawa said. “Don’t ask me about tomorrow.”

  * * *

  “We have to make plans!”

  “I don’t have much food in my house, where are we going to get food?”

  “People are going to be coming here, we need to get ready to take them in!”

  “Take them in? We don’t have enough for ourselves!”

  As if by pre-formed agreement, the permanent residents of Raven’s Mill had made their way to the pub, despite the sudden and unexpected thunderstorm. The temperature outside was dropping and the wind rattled the solid doors and shutters of the inn. What it was like inside was well-nigh indescribable.

  “OYEZ!” Edmund yelled after a few minutes of shouted debate. John Glass and Tom Raeburn looked like they were about to start beating on each other. “This is out of control. We’re going to have order here or I’ll start cracking heads.”

  “And I’ll help,” Myron said. “I’ve got food in my storehouses. I’ll not be selling it in penny packets to madmen so we’ve that. The planting season is nearly here. As long as the weather clears we’ll be fine.”

  “But not if we start taking in every person who comes here!” Glass shouted.

  “ORDER! We will have order here!”

  “I nominate Edmund as Speaker, hell, mayor,” Tom Raeburn said. Myron’s bullnecked son had his jaw set hard, but he was managing to keep his temper. “We haven’t needed one before but we do now.”

  “Second,” Myron snapped. “There’s going to have to be decisions made.”

  “Mayor, okay,” Glass said. “But not lord. We’re to have a say. And I say that, whatever Sheida says, we’re to turn away refugees. We’ve problems enough of our own!”

  “The vote at hand is whether to elect Edmund mayor,” Bethan Raeburn said, standing up. “We should keep this simple and straightforward for now. Any other nominations?”

  “Me, I’ll nominate myself,” Glass said. “I like Edmund, but I don’t think that he’ll have the interests of Raven’s Mill in mind.”

  “And what are the interests of Raven’s Mill?” Edmund asked. “I’m not sure I want to be mayor, or earl or lord or any other damned thing. But you’d best understand what I think are the interests of Raven’s Mill. We’re not some damn island. There are about a billion people on this earth. Maybe, maybe a couple of thousand outside of Anarchia have any ability to survive without technology. We are going to have refugees. And we’re going to have to integrate them into the society. We’re going to have to expand. And in case you didn’t understand the messages we got from the Council, there’s a war on. I was already asked to come to Sheida’s headquarters to help them. I refused because I’m thinking about the world. We’re going to have to rebuild it. And Raven’s Mill is going to be a part, perhaps a large part, of that rebuilding.

  “We’re going to have to take those refugees in and teach them how to not only survive but prosper. Teach them the skills that we know. Myron farming, John glassmaking, coopering, smithing, all the things you have to have if you don’t have replicators or even factories. The first of them will be trickling in maybe as soon as tomorrow. We’re going to have to prepare for that. That is what I think, where I stand. And one more thing…” He paused and looked around the room at the sea of now thoughtful faces.

  “There’s a war going on. I side with Sheida. I understand, in a way that I don’t think that even Bowman does, what his program would mean. Maybe, maybe, simply letting him take over would be for the best. But that’s only because the downside of a war in our situation is the death of up to ninety percent of the remaining population world-wide.”

  “What?” Charlie Raeburn was the first to speak. “How many?”

  “There’s no food. And right now there’s no way to get what food there is distributed. Where will food come from? The farms in the central plains supply the world. There’s no way to move it. The weather that just broke is probably because the weather controls broke down. What is the true weather of the world? Will we even be able to plant this year?”

  “We’ll be able to get something done,” Myron interjected. “Even with weather like this. Won’t be easy, but the seeds we’ve got these days aren’t bulgur wheat. It’ll grow in a hurricane. And the output on it… well let’s just say that even with rotten farmers we shouldn’t be facing starvation after the first harvest.”

  “So we can plant and grow some. But if the only people left alive are in Raven’s Mill, what good does that do the world? And as I said, I side with Sheida. The way things look, that might mean we have to fight. Hell, probably we will have to fight if no other group than bandits that want our food. This is not going to be easy.

  “But I’m not going to throw a wall around the town and say ‘no, go away and starve.’ Now, the people coming in are going to think we owe them a handout. That’s not true either. But I want you all to understand that I’m committed to saving every human being that we can. For our species, for the world, for the cause of freedom that Sheida represents. And if you don’t want that than, well, I think you should vote for John. Although if everyone’s dead, I don’t know who he’s going to sell his little glass figurines to.”

  “Edmund, can we do that?” Lisbet McGregor asked. The wife of the innkeeper looked troubled. “It’s hard enough supplying the Faire with everyone wanting period foods. I… we’ve got Elsie to worry about. Maybe other children in time. I’m willing to… to try to help out others. But not at the expense of our own children.”

  “I don’t know,” Edmund admitted. “If we threw a wall up around the town, difficult with it just being us, mind, and turned everyone away and if we didn’t have our crops burned by the bandits that produced and if the refugees didn’t decide to just overrun us and take all our food and goods, then we might be able to survive. And it might be easier than trying to save people. But… I’d have to live with that for the rest of my life.

  “Again,” he added. “The refugees coming to us will have to be shown the reality of life now. Nobody gives you anything but a smidgen of charity. After that you’re on your own. They’re going to have to learn to work. And in a way, so will we. When we tire of a project or a hobby, we go on to something different. Well, you’re not going to be pulling food from the Net either. Right now, the most powerful man in this town is Myron. He’s got all the food.” Edmund looked over and saw the shocked look on Myron’s face. “Ha
h! Hadn’t thought of that, had you? But if you want your thresher fixed, you’d best be willing to give some up to me. And I need a half dozen barrels and you need even more, so Donald’s sitting pretty. I don’t think any of us wants the tavern to go away so McGregor has a job. Hmmm…” He looked over at Robert and Maria McGibbon and frowned.

  “Falcons hunt food,” Robert said. “Which we’ll need. And I haven’t done bowyery in sixty or so years, but that’s because I got bored when there wasn’t anything else to learn. Call me Huntsman Bob.”

  “Game,” Edmund said. “The hell with sending one fellow out with a bow; the woods are teaming with game. Deer, bison, turkey, feral cattle, goats, horses and sheep. Send a hundred refugees out as beaters and drive the damned things off a cliff. This is about gathering food, not sport.”

  “Save the domestics,” Myron interjected. “We can redomesticate them. The big cattle bulls we can deball and use as oxen. We’re going to need draft animals. There’s wild horses and even donkeys as well. And the horseflesh on some of them is first rate. Emu, bison, wapiti, all of them can be adequately domesticated. We can rebuild stocks out of the ferals.”

  “There’s not much leather around,” Donald Healey said. The cooper used it in various ways and tended to go through a lot. “We’re going to need the skins.”

  “Meat’s not all you get,” McGibbon interjected. “Bone, horn, hair, all of it is useful.”

  “We can do this,” Lisbet said. “You’re right.”

  “Won’t be easy,” Edmund replied. “Easy just ended. But we can do it and we will do it, so help me God.”

  “Okay, okay,” Glass said, raising his hands. “I see which way this is going and I’ll even say I agree.”

  “We need a vote,” Myron said. “Any other nominations? Edmund, do you accept?”

  The smith looked at the ground and to the others. A weight appeared to settle on his shoulders and something old and hard seemed to be in his countenance. But when he looked up his face was clear.