“Ten thousand liters of infrared dye for industrial tracking systems. No reason given in the logs.”
Schmidt ran out into the darkness and took her shuttlecraft into the storm. As she lifted off, she saw the hulking shapes of Lithians, marching in formation across the sand. They brought no scripture or gemstones this time; the only stones they carried were chunks of granite fashioned into clubs.
Shun the radiant sky.
Schmidt flew low to the ground, aiming the headlights at the surface of the lake and following the shoreline until it led to Ritter.
¤
Schmidt’s shuttle landed hard in the brush a few meters from the water’s edge. Ritter stood next to his blink craft, while antigrav loaders emptied each canister into the water and carried it to the back of Ritter’s two-seater blink ship.
Pop.
The blink ship vanished, taking the evidence with it. An instant later, the ship returned, empty and waiting for the next canister.
“You thought I wouldn’t notice, didn’t you?” said Schmidt, shouting over the wind as she sprinted. “I saw what you were doing back at the encampment.”
“You did?” said Ritter. “Then you’ll understand when I request sturdier furniture. What we had wasn’t up to Lithian standards.”
“Don’t play games.”
“I don’t have to answer to you. SEEK hired me to shake the Lithians out of their paralysis, and I’ve done it. You’ll see.”
“I see just fine. I see material evidence of cultural subversion and desecration of a religious site. This is a clear violation of Lithian autonomy. I’ll take this Earthside.”
“Principles are one thing,” said Ritter. “Results are another. When the storm hit, I gave the Lithian High Council a preview of the apocalypse. When they saw the lake boil, some of them begged me to let them blink out. Once the ordinary Lithians come out of their homes and see this new dose of dye on the lake, they’ll fall in line. The rest of the council will have no choice but to go ahead with the evacuation.”
“They’ll fall in line,” said Schmidt, “but not behind you. I talked to Raccoon fifteen minutes ago. Jackson is going to rid the world of our presence. By now, our encampment is a smoking ruin.”
“Impossible.”
“You remember the scripture, don’t you? Shun the radiant sky? What do you think the priests will do when they reach the Shelter Caves and find thirty-seven sky-demon starships?”
“I’ll have you know, Captain,” said Ritter, “that I have the assurances of thirty members of the High Council. They pledged their support. They wouldn’t let any harm come to those ships, not when we’re so close to saving their people.”
“Those Councilors turned their backs on the Great Streams,” said Schmidt. “They’ll turn their backs on their people and they’ll turn their backs on you. Congratulations, Ritter. You’ve shaken them loose from their moral foundation. Just don’t expect any loyalty in return.”
“I’ll show you,” said Ritter. “Computer, get me a status report on all the evac units in the caves…. Come on, dammit!”
“It must be the storm,” said Schmidt. “You remember, don’t you? The one you were going to use as an alibi in case I called to remind you of regulations. The transmitter in the encampment would be strong enough to cut through the storm, but you’re not getting a connection, are you? How long do you suppose it took the Lithians to tear the transmitter down and bash it to pieces?”
“Those crazy, backward, ungrateful…,” said Ritter. “We’ve got to do something. Get back to the ship. Talk to your security people. We’ve got to get a team down here now. Those ships cost more than you earn in a century.”
“The Lithians are the law here,” said Schmidt. “If you have a grievance, file a report. Or you could talk it over with the Lithians. I’ll bet they’re heading our way. With all that wind and sand, we wouldn’t see them until they were right on top of us. What do you suppose they’ll do when they notice your blink shuttle?”
“You think this proves anything?” said Ritter, as he backed toward his shuttlecraft. “Go to the Board with your accusations. I have testimony from thirty Councilors that will expose their benighted High Council for the sham that it is. If we had made a decisive push earlier, without you undermining me, this might never have happened.”
Ritter held up a data chip and tossed it in the sand at Schmidt’s feet as he spoke.
“Don’t take my word for it. See for yourself. SEEK will agree in the end. You’ll be towing junk across the galaxy again by the end of the month.”
Ritter stormed back to his shuttle and headed skyward.
Pop.
Schmidt knew he was right. Once the fiasco hit the press, she would be running a commuter shuttle or hauling scrap metal for her old friends at the salvage yard.
Until then, thought Schmidt, the Lithians still have a chance. She pulled the transmission coordinates of her last conversation and entered them manually into the shuttle’s navigation computer. As the shuttle lifted off, she climbed in the back and pulled an environment suit from the emergency kit. The suit will keep the sand out, thought Schmidt, but it also kept the heat in. If they catch me with Raccoon, it’s best that I don’t glow. The stale air and the familiar creak of the plastic closed in on her at first, but she welcomed the sensation. Maybe Ritter is right. Maybe this is the job I was meant for.
Salvage.
¤
Schmidt set the shuttle down on a ledge halfway down the hillside. She stepped out of the shuttlecraft and faced the entryway to a large Lithian dwelling. The flickering of blue and green LED lights in the darkness proved to her that she had found the right house.
“Go,” said Schmidt. The shuttlecraft lifted off and disappeared into the remnants of the storm.
“You should not be here,” said a voice. “You promised to stay away from the capital.”
“So did Ritter. I can’t let him get away with what he has done. I can’t leave without proof. I need to make a case that this choice was forced upon you. When the supernova hits, it isn’t right that you should suffer for his mistakes.”
“It is beyond Ritter now,” said Raccoon. “We follow the Streams.”
“Shun the radiant sky and seek the cool stones,” said Schmidt. “I know that’s the Council’s interpretation, but they might see things differently once your people have time to calm down. There’s still time to convince them.”
“Ritter has already convinced us,” said Raccoon. “It is clear to me now what the Streams expect of us. I know what you are offering, and I am grateful for it, but, like I told Ritter, my place is here.”
“I’m sorry,” said Schmidt. “Wait. What do you mean, you told Ritter?”
“I thought you knew. He was here an hour ago. I met him on this ledge. He showed me the boiling lake. I felt the wind of the storm on my face. He told me that when the people saw the lake from their doorsteps, they would know their fate. He said that he could take me away from all this and that I could lead my people to safety. Some people here might accept your offer, and they might thrive on some distant planet. They might even call themselves Lithians. I wish them well, but they are no longer People of the Rocks. They will follow different streams. They will have to find another leader. I will wait here with my people.”
“The lake was a trick,” said Schmidt. “Can you at least testify that Ritter misled you?”
“Ritter may have lied,” said Raccoon, “but he showed us a truth about ourselves. I turned to you, and bought those communication devices, because I wanted to set my own course. I let myself believe that I was better than this world, better than the world that had sustained me all my life. Ritter might have tried to mislead me, but all along, I had misled myself. Ritter helped me see my own cowardice. He showed me what I did not want to become. So I will not testify. I will not claim that Ritter is responsible for my decisions.”
“On the contrary,” said a thick voice behind Schmidt. “That is exactly what you are
going to do.”
Schmidt turned to see that three Lithians had appeared on the ledge. Balboa stood in the middle, and the others moved in to encircle Raccoon and Schmidt.
“[8666],” said Balboa. “You are hereby summoned before the Council to answer to the charge of conspiracy with alien forces to subvert our way of life.”
“Raccoon had nothing to do with this,” said Schmidt. “I contacted him.”
“Take the sky-demon as well,” said Balboa to the other Lithians, “as material evidence of their conspiracy against us.”
¤
For an hour, Schmidt trudged over the sand, struggling to keep pace with the Lithians’ long, plodding strides. As the bones that marked the entrance to the Council Chamber came into view, she wondered if a salvage team—maybe Ritter’s friends reclaiming their property—might someday find her bones, half-buried in the dead Lithian sand.
“Say nothing to the Council,” whispered Raccoon, in a moment when a storm wind distracted the guards. “If they see you as a sky-demon and not a person, it would make no sense for them to charge you with a crime. They might let you ‘claim’ me and release you into the desert. You could call your ship from there.”
“Is that what you want?”
“I don’t want any harm to come to you. You did what you thought was right. As for me, if they cast me out, what does it matter where I go?”
Schmidt tried to think of something reassuring to say, but she had no good answer to Raccoon’s question, so she continued on in silence.
Inside, the chamber was dark to Schmidt’s eyes except for a burning pile of coals at the center. Two priests spread the glowing embers in a circle with their bare hands. A third priest brought a pot of water, allowing the others to soak their hands in it. The two priests bowed and sprinkled the contents of the pot onto the council floor, so that a boundary of wet stone stood between the embers and the rest of the chamber.
The priests herded Schmidt into the center of the circle. The suit protected her from the heat, but sweat dripped down her back. Raccoon stood beside her, outside the circle.
Balboa sat on a front-row bench and addressed Raccoon.
“I have assembled the Council,” said Balboa, facing Raccoon, “to weigh your crime and determine your sentence. See what you have brought into our chamber.” Balboa gestured to Schmidt and then to the empty benches. “See what you have reduced us to. Our city is in chaos. We are no longer fit to face the summer, to say nothing of the Great Midday.”
Raccoon’s head sank until it nearly touched the ground.
“Have you no defense?” asked Balboa. “Then admit before this council that you have strayed from the water’s edge and that your false gods have failed you.”
Behind the translation, Schmidt heard reluctance and sadness in the rumble of Balboa’s true voice. This moment, more than any of Ritter’s bluster, convinced Schmidt that her SEEK mission was finished. She had promised the Lithians safety and wisdom. In the end, she had left even Raccoon, who had fought for her, with nothing. Forget the mission, she thought. What do they have that’s worth saving, and what do they have to do to keep it?
The answer to the first question came to Schmidt in a flash. Thirty-seven blink-capable ships. She wasn’t sure about the second question, but Balboa was the key. She remembered Raccoon’s words: Jackson has Balboa’s ear now. If Balboa wouldn’t believe her, but what if Jackson made the case for her?
“Wait,” said Schmidt. “Raccoon had nothing to do with Ritter’s scheme. If you are looking for treason, what about those thirty Councilors who pledged their loyalty to Ritter?”
“Captain, don’t,” said Raccoon.
Balboa’s head swiveled toward Schmidt like a tank turret.
“Silence,” said Balboa. “You have no standing to speak in this chamber.”
As Balboa rebuked her, Schmidt remembered the animated council meetings just a few days before and braced herself for denunciations. Only silence followed. Where was the pounding of fists? Where were the calls for the sky-demons to be cast out?
Where was Jackson?
Schmidt knew that if Jackson had been there, pious invective would have filled the chamber. In Jackson’s absence, the silence took on an air of noble futility.
Schmidt remembered Ritter’s words: I have testimony from thirty Councilors that will expose their benighted High Council for the sham that it is.
I might not have standing to speak here, thought Schmidt, but maybe Jackson does.
Schmidt took the data chip from her pocket and ran it through the translator. Jackson would have been Ritter’s first target, the biggest fish. Ritter would have been sure to turn Jackson before trying to sway his supporters. Schmidt played the first of the recordings from Ritter’s data chip on low volume, to be sure, before turning the sound up and running it through the translator. She didn’t have Ritter’s projector and sound system, but the sound from the tiny speaker echoed off the stone walls.
“Congratulations,” said Ritter’s voice. “We’ve given up because of you. We’re leaving. You’ve won.”
Before Balboa could react, Schmidt tossed the translator to Raccoon. Here’s your defense, she thought. The recording continued.
“Some victory,” said Jackson. “My servants fled at the sight of the sandstorm. Mobs have looted my library and trampled my gardens. The storehouses are empty. If this is the Great Midday, we are all doomed. If it is not, I am done for in the Council.”
“There is a way out. The colony world is waiting for you. No one would have to know if you disappeared right now. No one would question your legacy, or all that you have done to set the others on the right path.”
“Then scorch the Great Streams. I want in.”
“If [6851] has left us,” said Raccoon, “then the others have left, too. They would have left on their own eventually, when the crisis called upon them to offer more than words. Ritter helped us see the truth now, while there is still time to prepare for the Great Midday.”
“For what little good it will do,” said Balboa. “If we cannot count on the Council to stand together in these times, what can we expect of our people? What if at heart they are the cowards that the sky-demons expect them to be? I will not ask you to leave the Council, [8666], but you may wish I had, when you see what has become of our people in a month’s time.”
“You don’t have to leave the planet,” said Schmidt. “Nobody does. Not anymore. Are Ritter’s ships still parked in the Shelter Caves?”
“We have not fallen so far,” said Balboa, “as to allow a sky-demon to speak of sacred things in this hallowed chamber.”
Schmidt remembered. Only those that seek the cool stones shall have everlasting life. She stepped out of the circle and onto the damp floor. “I am no sky-demon. I seek the cool stones. I ask to address the Council, and I will abide by your judgment.” She removed her helmet. “I will not hide from you, not behind this mask, or the circle, or the SEEK mandate. I promise you that we can weather the supernova if you will accept my help. Would you refuse my help because I glow? So do the stones when they warm in the sun, but you use them to light your way at night.”
“I cannot hold your appearance against you,” said Balboa, “but you know nothing of the Great Streams. You cannot possibly understand what our world needs from us.”
“If I may speak,” said Raccoon. “She does not know the Great Streams, but she has risked everything to address the Council today. Is that not enough? It is better, I think, than those who claim deep devotion but abandon the Streams when it suits them.”
“If I leave before we have weathered the storm,” said Schmidt, “then your people will know me to be a fraud. None of them will follow me.”
“And all you want from us,” asked Balboa, “are the ships that you left behind during the storm? Take them if you want them. We have no need of ships.”
“I think you do,” said Schmidt, stepping forward and addressing the Council as a whole. “I can’t prove it, but
I think Ritter’s plan all along was to have his friends pick this planet clean once the Council formally abandoned it. Even the cost of thirty-seven blink ships was nothing compared to the value of the gems and precious metals on this world. Ritter expected you to be gone, one way or the other, and he knew the press would lose interest once he’d put on a good show. He’s always ducked out at the first sign of trouble, so he never expected you to stay and fight, and certainly not to stake a formal, legal claim to the planet’s resources.”
“By resources… you mean the ships?” asked Raccoon.
“From SEEK’s perspective, you are the law here, and that gives you the right to commandeer Ritter’s property in an emergency. Ritter will avoid the public embarrassment of asking for the ships back once the press learns about the stunt he pulled. His friends will write them off as a loss. By using those ships as collateral, you could raise funds to protect the caves properly from the heat, set up radiation shielding, and store seeds.”
“I understand,” said Balboa. “The ships are unharmed. We did not want to risk contaminating sacred ground with their debris.”
“Good. That will buy us enough time to get an independent geological assessment of Lithos, and you could negotiate with the mining consortia yourselves. I can put you in touch with the right people.”
Schmidt could tell, in the silence that followed, that Balboa found the idea distasteful, but she was sure the Lithians would accept the idea in time. If they could bring themselves to sacrifice bits of stone to the sky demons in order to get revenge on a neighbor, surely they would part with some of the planet’s riches in order to save the Great Streams.
“Very well,” said Balboa. “[8441] and [7226], prepare one ship for use as a temporary residence for our guest. For now, I move for the Council to adjourn. We need time to reflect on the task ahead.”
¤
Stupefying Stories: August 2014 Page 7
