Spear of Light (9 page)

“If we can find out anything. Call me if you find the . . . the men who killed Davis. Or if anything else happens.”

He smiled. “Let's just call each other in a few hours. Period.”

As they walked back out of the forest, hand in hand, he again marveled that it felt so good and so easy to be beside her.

CHAPTER TEN

NONA

As Jean Paul piloted them down the valley, Nona watched the deep shadows of the forest below them, black on gray on black. They flew dark, both cabin lights and external lights off. The stars and their reflection on the scraps of river and stream below them were the only light available, pale and thin except for the occasional bright beacon of a station.

Jean Paul wasn't talkative. In fact, he said nothing at all until they came to the end of the ravine, to the place where the great waterfall of the wide river spilled into what was now a dark pool of shadows.

He tilted the nose of skimmer up and opened the doors. She couldn't see the robotic parts that spilled out of the back compartment, but she felt the skimmer rise as they lost the weight. She imagined the metal pieces falling and twisting through the sky, a whole line of metal parts. Maybe the cameras were taking pictures of the fall and someone would come look for them someday, if civilization didn't fall apart first.

Jean Paul shook the skimmer with a quick twist right and back left before he closed the doors. One more piece of something banged against the side of the cargo bay before falling free. “I hope we got them all.”

“Because they'd be evidence of a crime?” she asked.

“Yeah, that.” His voice had calmed so much that he didn't even vaguely resemble the man who had been methodically shooting at a dead robot not long before. He seemed to be someplace far inside himself.

She curled up as comfortably as she could, pillowing her head on an old blanket she found behind her seat and pulling her coat tight around her. “Jean Paul?”

“Yes?”

“What do you think is happening in town?”

“I think Manny's about to get kicked out. I think there's a bunch of people that would rather have a fight than order, even when they can't win. The damned Next are dismantling generations worth of work in weeks.” He fell silent, looking in front of them rather than at her. “Who would have thought we were so fragile?”

“Civilization?”

“Yeah.”

“The Deep went crazy at first.” She looked up, as if she could see it. “Factions we didn't even know were there started protesting. Fights broke out over nothing. People started hoarding. Not everyone, of course. Some were great, looked after everyone else, tried to stop the craziness.”

She couldn't see his face in the darkness, but his voice sounded grateful. “Thank you.”

“It's a scary time. It's getting better up there now, calmer.”

When he didn't say anything else, she asked him, “What else can we do except check on Manny?”

“Who knows.”

She gave up. He clearly didn't want to talk to her.

It had grown even darker, the sky now clearly punctuated here and there with the bright lights of stations. The Glittering. She wondered if the Deep was someplace where she could see it, but she didn't disturb their night vision by pulling out a slate to check.

Jean Paul called Gerry and told her they were going into town. “Do you have any more information?” he asked her.

“Nothing good. Manny's not answering. Two of the other rangers were conscripted by the Port Authority. They declared a state of emergency.”

Jean Paul grunted. “Has anyone found Manny?”

“Not yet. He may be holed up in his house.”

“Okay. Keep us posted.”

“I will.”

From time to time, Jean Paul tried calling Manny but got no answer. After three failures, he showed her how to do it, and then had her give up after three more failures.

Eventually the lights of Nexity shone over the horizon and grew quickly dominant, the whole fabulous marvel of the Wall glowing with inner light. No wonder the people were upset. The Deep had gone from being the strongest force in the solar system to one under threat from an outside force, but Lym had been invaded.

A building burned. The wild arcs of flame crawled up her spacer's nerves, but Jean Paul merely grunted. Even from this distance it was possible to make out the squat, squarish figures of robotic firefighters, and she had the irrational hope that the people recognized that they, at least, were not Next.

She tried to reach Manny again and got no answer.

Jean Paul broke his long silence. “Close your eyes.”

She obeyed. When she opened them, the inner and outer lights of the skimmer had come on, and it was much harder to see the town clearly, even though they were flying right into it. As they neared the town center, streetlights revealed more people, mostly traveling in small groups. Here and there, light glinted on weapons. In a place full of predators, the average person had far more deadly capabilities than almost anyone on the Deep. “I'm glad Charlie kept Cricket with him.”

“Me, too. Manny's place is just ahead. I'm going to just fly in there like we belong. Hang on in case I need to change that plan at the last minute.”

He looked grim, his eyes wide and wild. She watched out the window as they flew low and fast over streets that were now full of people and, here and there, bicycles. Most people were going inward, but a few struggled to go the other way, some tugging children behind them.

People mobbed against a fence around Manny's house. At one end, the fence had been torn free, and a few people at a time streamed through, chanting and calling. Jean Paul muttered under his breath, “They're on the landing pad.”

A fire licked up the edges of one wall of the house. Two people tried to smother it, as a small mob lit more fires. She had been there; it was a beautiful place. The senselessness of the violence sickened her.

Beside her, Jean Paul clenched his jaw so tightly it was white as bone, and a small mewling sound escaped his tightly closed lips.

Someone pointed at them, and then someone else. Something pinged hard against the skimmer's metal skin.

Jean Paul pulled up quickly and banked right.

No one else shot at them, but then there were other skimmers in the air, and they might not be identifiable as friend or foe. Nevertheless, he banked hard enough to throw her against the door and took them toward the spaceport.

Out on the tarmac, every possible light shone; night was like daylight. Uniformed human Port Authority guards stalked the grounds. She leaned into Jean Paul. “Is this smart? Didn't Gerry say the Port Authority supports the rebels?”

“There are no smart choices,” he growled. He landed them smoothly next to another skimmer with ranger markings and started turning things off in measured order. Except for his shaking hands, he seemed eerily calm.

They climbed out. He locked the doors behind them and walked quickly but with control toward the main spaceport building. They saw no one. “I expected it to be more chaotic here,” he said.

She nodded, afraid to make noise, wanting to tell him to whisper. His deep calm infuriated her.

Their steps echoed. All around them, skimmers and, in the distance, bigger transports. Beyond that, the Next ships that were melting into the glowing Wall.

A Port Authority guard stepped out in front of them. “State your business.”

Nona recognized the woman who had warned them earlier. Farro watched them both closely as Jean Paul said, “We've come in from patrol. We heard there were problems in here and decided we should come in and help. But first, I need to protect Nona here. She's an ambassador for the Diamond Deep. We need to find Manny for her.”

Farro glanced toward town, and then shook her head. “Manny escaped.”

“Do you know where he went?” Nona asked.

“No one does.” Farro listened into her ear for a moment before giving Jean Paul a command. “They want you on the perimeter. They have a partner for you.”

Jean Paul's face was still hard from the fire and the flight here; she couldn't tell if this was an additional blow or acceptable to him.

Farro apparently had a better read. “You have to,” she said. “They've called martial law and that means we trump you rangers.”

He glanced at Nona. “I can't.”

Farro followed the look. “She can go someplace safe. She's not one of us.”

He looked apologetically at Nona before replying. “Of course.” His attention returned to Farro. “Nona's no fighter. Can she wait in the observation deck?”

Nona bristled at the truth in his assessment.

Farro looked torn for a moment. “Maybe she should stay here, in your skimmer. Lock it down.”

“It will get cold,” he replied.

“It's safer than the observation deck,” the uniformed woman said.

Nona didn't need them to tell her what to do. “I'm going to town. At least I might be useful there.”

Jean Paul's jaw tightened but he didn't contradict her.

Farro glanced at Jean Paul, “You'll stay?”

“Do I have a choice?”

“No.”

Nona didn't understand the ranking system here, but she had to assume Jean Paul was doing what he needed to. “I'll be careful,” she said.

She headed toward town the way she had gone with Charlie her first day here, crossing open landing bays in the shadows of silent ships until she was through them all and the town was across a long field in front of her. A fire still burned, and it made a reasonable beacon as she headed toward it.

Nona started running into people fleeing before she even got to town. They circled the spaceport outside of the brightest lights, a scattering of refugees rather than a line. She stopped beside a woman with two children in tow and a huge and unbalanced pack. “Where are you going?”

“We have a farm.” She pointed inland. “We can walk. It's going to take all night, but we can walk.”

The children looked to be half-grown; they stood behind their mother and peered at Nona with wide eyes. “What are you running from?” Nona asked.

“They killed my sister for being rich enough to have housebots.”

Maybe civilization was breaking. “I'm sorry.”

“Don't go in there. Come with us.”

“I need to find Manny,” Nona said. “Do you know what happened to him?”

“He's fled to Nexity. The damned pirates he fell in love with have taken him in.”

So the fleeing woman was scared of both the townspeople and the Next. A tough situation. “Are you sure?”

“I saw it happen. A Next ship came and got him.”

“How do you know it was a Next ship?”

The woman looked frustrated. “It wasn't ours. Will you help me with the pack?”

“What do you need?”

“I can't carry it like this. It's too heavy.” She dumped her pack out on the tarmac, spilling food, clothes, shoes, and a blanket. “Help me organize?”

“Can the kids carry some?”

The woman pursed her lips, but the older child, a boy, said, “I'll take the blanket and Su can have the flashlight. She can show us the way after we get out of the light.”

Nona smiled at him. “Very good.” She bent to help gather up the heavier things and started putting them in the pack. She asked the woman, “What's your name?”

“Amica Earl. The farm is Earl's. That's its name. Earl's Farm. It's a safe place.” She squinted at Nona in the eerie fluorescent light. “Are you sure you don't want to come with us?”

“I can't.”

“There's no point in finding Manny. He's a traitor.”

“I don't think so,” Nona said. “I just got back here today, but the last time I saw him he didn't want the Next here at all.”

“You could have fooled me. Besides, you can't find him now anyway. Come with us. You can help carry things.” Amica's eyes grew slightly cunning. “I have food.”

“I have things to do.” Like rejoin Charlie.

The kids helped fold clothes into corners of the pack, leaving three pairs of shoes and a dress out when they didn't fit. Nona helped Amica fasten it correctly.

The slight woman smiled at her. “Earl's. Find us if you need a safe place.”

Nona smiled at her. “Thanks. I will.”

She watched them walk away, the youngest child flashing the light at the sky and then the ground and then the sky, even though they were still on the spaceport property and the grounds were well-lit.

Amica said something under her breath and the light went out, turning the little family into receding shadows in the near dark at the edge of the civilized part of Lym.

Nona turned and angled across the spaceport toward the tall, bright Wall of Nexity. Twice, she had to hide from patrols, the first time behind a small shed. The second time, she knelt in shadow under the belly of a skimmer. Eventually she was free of the port proper, walking carefully under faint starlight. For about twenty minutes she wished for a flashlight herself, but as she neared the Wall the light it threw illuminated the ground under her feet. At least she'd put her boots on and changed out of the ridiculous sexy dress she'd chosen to meet Charlie in.