“I used my position as mayor to raise her to associate status, and tonight I want to bring her forward as a candidate for citizen. I can’t have a personal assistant who has to leave New City at the evening siren. I know she’s new, I know she’s only been an associate for a few weeks, but she’s proven her worth, and when that ship comes back she’ll prove her worth again. I now give the floor to anyone who wishes to speak. Let me remind you that all speakers have a right to the floor without any interruptions. Once everyone’s had their say, we’ll vote.”
The Doctor sat down. Yu-jin sank into the chair next to him. The other leading members of New City sat with them on a row of chairs on the platform—Assistant Mayor Marcus Callahan and Head of the Watch Clyde Devon. Marcus kept a neutral expression; Clyde did not.
Neither did the dozen burly guards taking up the front row of the audience, arms crossed and all glaring at her like they wanted to tear her apart. Significant in his absence was Kent, who used to be Clyde’s second-in-command until he tried to blow up the ship. Yu-jin had stopped that with a couple of well-placed arrows. The Doctor had bandaged him up and then stripped him of his citizenship.
Many people had seen that as unfair since he had only been following Clyde’s orders. The Doctor hadn’t done anything to Clyde.
He hadn’t dared.
For a moment the room remained silent, then the voice of an old woman sitting in the second row spoke up.
“I’d like to have the floor, please.”
“I give the floor to Rosie Callahan,” The Doctor said.
Yu-jin thought she heard Marcus click his tongue. Rosie was Marcus’ wife. She’d welcomed Yu-jin. Marcus had gone along with that, but his lack of enthusiasm had been obvious.
Rosie stood. She was so short that little was visible above the row of guards except a pair of kindly eyes and a bun of gray hair.
“Everyone is going to waste their breath hinting at it, so I’m going to come out and say it,” Rosie started. “Many of you don’t want Yu-jin to be a citizen because she’s Chinese. You see a Chinese person and you say ‘That person can’t be trusted, that person is going to stab us in the back’. But when was the last time that happened? With an invading army almost a hundred years ago? Oh yes, there were Chinese bandit groups even as recently as thirty years ago. I lost one of my own sons to them. But there were white bandits too, and black bandits, and even bandits who called themselves Christian. The Righteous Horde said they were Christian, and they nearly wiped us out. If you want to mistrust someone, you have a better case mistrusting Christians than you do mistrusting Chinese.
“But of course you’re not going to do that. That would be wrong. So why mistrust Yu-jin? If she were any other color you’d be hailing her as a hero and we would have unanimously made her a citizen already. And yet you hold her accountable for her heritage. She wasn’t even born in China. She’s a local, as much as you or I.”
Rosie sat down. Yu-jin shifted in her seat uncomfortably. The speech had been great until that last bit. Even someone as kind as Rosie thought she was somehow less Chinese just because she wasn’t born in China. Anglos just didn’t get it—even when they tried, even when they accepted you.
A hand raised near the back.
“I grant the floor to Bill Parker,” The Doctor said.
Parker was a lean, no-nonsense farmer, well respected throughout the territory for his honesty.
“Thank you, Rosie, for showing true compassion. I know you feel Austin’s loss terribly, and it’s mighty Christian of you to bury the hatchet. If I was a betting man I’d wager we’re going to hear a lot of thinly disguised hate speech here tonight, so I’m glad you set a good tone right from the start. But I’m going to have to disagree with you about Ms. Song here.
“She’s done us a pretty good turn and deserves our thanks. But citizenship? No. How much do we really know about her? She’s a scavenger, someone who’s only been coming into the Burbs for the past five winters. Who knows what she gets up to out there in the wildlands? Who knows what kind of company she keeps? We simply don’t know her well enough to grant her unlimited access behind the gate. I’m saying that because she’s a stranger, not because she’s Chinese.”
Yeah right, Yu-jin thought, trying to suppress a frown. What were you saying about thinly disguised racism?
One the Clyde’s guards stood up next and gave a fiery speech about the dangers of having an almost total stranger, and one who had lied about her identity at that, being allowed access to the city’s mayor. He chose his words carefully, but his meaning was clear enough. Yu-jin tuned out. She’d heard it all before and a lot worse, and she knew she’d hear a lot more of it tonight.
And she did. In speech after speech—some angry, some with a veneer of tolerance—the citizens of New City told her they didn’t want her kind sharing the safety of the walls.
There were dissenting voices, far too few, of citizens who stood up to say that her contributions had more than earned her citizenship. One pointed out that she could have hurt The Doctor any number of times in the past few weeks and she hadn’t. Others warned of the dangers of Blame, and how the elevation of their first Asian to New City citizenship would send a message of tolerance to the rest of the world.
That was the term used. “Their first Asian.” Yu-jin shook her head. With friends like these …
Clyde Devon was conspicuous in his silence. Instead he got his allies to speak for him. In fact, he was even savvier than that. He had only one guard speak, and he wasn’t even the most obnoxious person to speak against her.
After what seemed like days, no one else requested the floor. The Doctor stood and glowered at the crowd.
“We will now vote on the elevation to citizenship of Song Yu-jin. All in favor say aye and raise your hands.”
About a quarter of the crowd said aye—Rosie, Marcus, and Roy included. Yu-jin noticed Marcus hesitated a moment.
“All in favor say nay and raise your hands.”
A roar of nays came from the crowd. Clyde didn’t even bother to vote. He just laughed.
The Doctor shot him a venomous look.
“And now for the next item on our agenda. The post of Head of the Watch is an annual position and needs to be elected by a simple majority. Clyde Devon’s term runs out in a week’s time. Who here would like to run for the office?”
“I would like another term,” Clyde said. “That would make 27 years since poor old Chuck Diamond got killed in the line of duty.”
“I’d like to run too,” Earl, one of the guards, said.
The Doctor had told Yu-jin about him. He was one of Clyde’s cronies and ran every year so Clyde wouldn’t be the only candidate. But everyone voted for Clyde, even Earl.
A man sitting about two-thirds of the way back stood up.
“I’m Maxwell Grant and I’d like to announce my candidacy. I’ve been a citizen for almost twenty years and own one of the biggest farms. I’ve organized the farmers for mutual defense against bandit raids countless times. Killed plenty with my own hands.”
The Doctor nodded. “I think you’d make a fine Head of the Watch, Max.”
Yu-jin glanced between the two and suddenly understood. The Doctor had put him up to this. The mayor’s next words confirmed it.
“I’d like to make a motion to declare Clyde Devon’s candidacy invalid on the basis of disobedience to the mayor’s orders and gross dereliction of duty.”
There was a roar of disapproval from the front ranks. Several of the guards leaped to their feet.
“He planted a bomb on the Chinese freighter against my express orders! He detained me! It was nothing less than a coup d’état!”
Soon everyone was shouting, some against Clyde, some for. Clyde took it all fairly coolly. He looked angered and a bit sad, but not surprised.
Can I go now? Yu-jin wondered.
The Doctor managed to regain order.
“To declare someone invalid requires a simple majority. Before we vote, who would
like to have the floor?”
Clyde stood up. “Well shoot, I’d like to speak.”
“It’s not like I can stop you,” The Doctor said. Yu-jin thought he sounded like a petulant child.
Clyde turned to the crowd. “You all know me, and you all know where to find me—on the wall, protecting New City. That’s what I’ve done for 26 years now. And before that I was Chuck Diamond’s assistant for, what, ten, eleven years? That takes us back to New City’s founding. All that time, I’ve been wearing Kevlar and toting a gun to protect what we have. I’ve fought off bandits and survivors from the old armies and I’ve fought off the Righteous Horde. Now some people say I overreacted to the Chinese. Did I? Doc took a gamble with them, and so far it’s worked out. And I do mean so far. Because what do we really know about their motives? Can we really afford to gamble? Gambling with New City, with all our children and property, now that’s gross dereliction of duty.”
Clyde held up his hands to ward of a rising swell of angry grumbles.
“Now wait. Wait! I don’t mean to say Doc should step down. No one can run New City like he can. He keeps going on about me staging a coup. Hell, no. I don’t want to run New City. I want to save it. And if sometimes I have to go against him to do what’s right, then that’s what I’ll do.”
“You nearly started a war with the Chinese!” The Doctor shouted.
“Did I? Or maybe they’re starting a war with us. My scouts say that right after the ship left Toxic Bay, it sailed north and traded with Weissberg!”
The room fell silent. The Doctor stared at him. “You got proof of that?”
“Just my scouts’ word, not that you’ll believe them. Weissman has a whole row of wind turbines he didn’t used to have. Where do you think he got those?”
When The Doctor didn’t respond, Clyde turned back to the audience. “So was I really so hasty in mistrusting them? Was I really so paranoid? They gave our enemies electricity! Helped out Weissman and all the others who betrayed us.”
Yu-jin stood, heart beating fast. “Can I say something?”
Silence. Yu-jin swallowed.
The Doctor cut in before she could speak.
“Only citizens can have the floor at a Citizens Council meeting.”
Clyde raised a hand. “No let the … let her speak.”
You were about to say “bitch”, weren’t you?
Clyde gave her a haughty look. “I’d like to hear how she’s going to justify this one.”
Yu-jin took a deep breath and said, “I don’t have to justify it. Why should the ship pick sides? We never made an exclusive contract with them. They’re not taking sides; they’re being neutral. They probably don’t even know what’s going on between us.”
“You can bet Abraham Weissman didn’t tell them!” someone from the crowd shouted.
“So yeah,” Yu-jin went on, “you can’t blame them for that.”
“Sure I can, it’s called divide and conquer,” Clyde snapped.
“We were dividing ourselves long before they ever showed up,” Yu-jin replied. “But I don’t want to speak about the ship. I wanted to speak about your candidacy.”
Clyde chuckled and folded his arms over his chest. “This should be good.”
“I think you should remain Head of the Watch.”
Clyde gaped. “What?”
“I think you’re the perfect person for it. You’ve been doing it since before I was born, and from what everyone tells me you’ve done a good job of it too. Everyone respects you. Even the children in the Burbs look up to you. They have a game called Guards versus Bandits, and all the kids want to play you. New City needs someone like you. And yes, I was against you with the ship, I even shot a couple of your guards, and I was right to, but I don’t think New City should lose one of its most valuable leaders for a single mistake. I didn’t even want Kent to be banned. If we keep Blaming each other for every little mistake, we’ll never get anywhere. Weissman left because he thought letting noncitizens inside the walls when the Righteous Horde attacked was a mistake. You almost blew up the ship because you thought our talking to them was a mistake. Kent got banned for making a mistake. Now some people are trying to take your job because of a mistake. Enough. Let’s move on. Together.”
Clyde cocked his head. “What are you playing at?”
“Rebuilding society, that’s what I’m playing at.”
The Doctor interrupted. “This is all very nice, but I’m calling for a vote of no confidence. Do I have a second?”
“Seconded,” Marcus said.
The Doctor rubbed his hands together. “All right then. A simple majority will keep Clyde Devon from running again. A two-thirds majority will kick him out of office immediately and I get to appoint an interim Head of the Watch.”
A deathly silence fell over the room. Yu-jin glanced around. There had been a lot of angry faces at Clyde before this, and a lot of hard talk in the days leading up to this meeting. He had sown a lot of ill will when he had detained The Doctor. It was that, more than his attempt to blow up the ship, which had made people lose confidence in him. Now everyone looked uncertain. She could tell they felt nervous. That glowering row of guards up front didn’t help matters, but in a vote they were badly outnumbered. Clyde might lose this.
“Those who wish to vote for—”
Yu-jin cut him off. “Can I speak again?”
The Doctor raised his hands in exasperation. “Did I not mention that only citizens can have the floor?”
“Most of this argument is about me, so it makes sense that I should talk, doesn’t it?”
Clyde grinned. “Let her talk, Doc. She’s a great source of enemy intel.”
Yu-jin shot him a nasty look and tried to suppress her guilt feelings. She had been raised to respect her elders, but she kept getting pushed into circumstances where she was forced not to, often for their own good.
“I’d like to make a proposal,” Yu-jin said. “Let’s have everyone cool off for a week and come back to this at next week’s meeting. In the meantime, we can check out what Clyde says about Weissberg.”
Clyde looked suspicious. “What do you mean ‘we’?”
“The Doctor doesn’t trust the reports from your scouts, so we need to send someone he does trust.”
“What do you mean ‘we’?”
“You and me.”
Clyde let out an incredulous laugh. “You got balls, I’ll give you that!”
Balls? No. You and your lackeys scare the hell out of me.
“Do we have a deal?” Yu-jin asked.
Clyde shrugged. “Sure, we have a deal.”
They both looked at The Doctor. He snarled and nodded.
Yu-jin tensed her muscles to keep from trembling.
Why is it that trying to get people to cooperate is always the most dangerous option?
CHAPTER FOUR
The instant David went for the zipper of The Pure One’s tent there was a rifle shot behind him and he felt a spray of wet and grit against his cheek. That was Bill’s brains and bits of his skull. Aaron had done his job.
Now David needed to do his.
The Pure One sat on the camp bed inside the tent. All David saw was a look of surprise, a hand lifting up the little black box, and then David put a three-round burst straight into His chest. One bullet passed through the box and it burst in a flare of sparks.
His leader, his mentor, the man who had once been the anchor of his faith and his hope for a better future, fell to the ground with a thump.
David dropped his gun on the bed and drew his Bowie knife. He yanked Him up by his long blonde hair. The Pure One coughed and flailed, the last moments of his life ebbing away.
David pressed his knife against His throat and began to cut.
Shouts and shots from outside. Aaron would be rallying their faction, gunning down anyone from Bill’s side and securing the perimeter. That would create confusion. The other factions and the camp of machete men and porters would stay back, unsure what was go
ing on. David would have a few moments.
He hoped.
The Pure One made a sickly wet sound from His open throat and fell slack. David held him up by His hair, still cutting.
With a final effort the head parted from the neck, the body crumpling to the ground. David’s pants were soaked with blood and, he suspected, his own piss. He couldn’t bear to look at the grisly trophy in his hand.
He wiped the face with the hem of The Pure One’s robe. They must see clearly whose head it was. There could be no doubt.
David Nimitz took a final look at the headless body lying on the ground in a vast pool of blood, and strode out of the tent.
In the next few moments he would see the face of God, and would be cast into eternal torment. It was only justice. At least the Lord had granted him a chance to make amends.
Aaron stood at the entrance along with some of their trusted companions. Except for Aaron they looked stunned. None had expected this. Shots crackled in the Elect camp. His comrades’ eyes widened as they saw what he held.
Training took over. They flanked him, spacing themselves out, and matched his pace as he walked towards the camp, holding The Pure One’s head high in one hand and the bloody knife in the other.
Collect me, Lord, and do what you will with me. I deserve all the fires of damnation, not for this, but for all that came before.
The gunfire rose in pitch. Up ahead, David saw a couple of his faction fall. Bill’s gang had rallied quickly. Were they outnumbered? Figures darted to and fro, half-lit in the glare of the campfires, some firing, some not.
Then they noticed him.
The first man who saw him was from one of the smaller factions. He gaped for a moment, then dropped to his knees, setting his M16 on the ground.
The second man was from a different faction. His face twisted in rage and he leveled his assault rifle at David, squeezing off a round that zinged past David’s ear before Aaron blew the man’s skull apart with a well-placed shot.
Emergency Transmission Page 3
