They Also Serve (40 page)

Mary pulled one from her pants pocket, opened it. The sixteen hundred update was just coming on line. The high up North that had been aiming the weather at them like a rifle was breaking up. Part was being sucked down behind the storm that was dumping weather on them now. Hurricane two was edging to the south while still offshore. Number three was headed north. Four was stalled. "We got to get this news outside the fence pronto," Mary said. "The old priest, he'll know how."

Mary headed down the stairs like a falling angel. Kat did it! She'd scrambled the weather. Now, as soon as they got a blimp repressurized, they could get help to Kat. Mary paused at a landing. No, they couldn't. No blimp for Kat while she's in a hurricane herself. Still, things were changing. Mary picked up steam again on the stairs. Things were changing.

She found the padre leaving Ray's conference room. "Father, have you seen the new weather forecast?" She didn't wait for an answer, just jammed her reader under his nose. "They're breaking up. It looks like Refuge and Richland won't be underwater."

"That's good. I guess I can tell people they can go home."

The priest was not reacting quite the way Mary expected. "Something wrong?"

"Talk to your Colonel," he answered and slipped away.

Mary entered the conference room. Ray had his computer allies arrayed around the map. "So, the Provost is history," Ray observed dryly. "You don't look like you're celebrating."

"The Pres is not, ah ..." The Dean sputtered to a halt.

"Not talking to you," Ray finished for him.

"Not one peep," Dancer put in irreverently. "And it's not like they haven't been trying, is it, boys and girls?"

The computer images stuffed their hands in their pockets and didn't look Ray in the eye. He tapped his commlink. "Kat, the Provost is down, much thanks to you. Have you got a shot left to take before sunset?"

"About fifteen minutes from now, sir."

"What'd hurt the Pres most?" Ray asked the Dean.

The Dean fidgeted. "It appears you are aware some of our information was not as accurate as it could have been."

"Bloody damn lies," Dancer spat in pure Lek rhythm.

Ray looked hard at the Dean, letting him hang. "No, it wasn't," Ray said finally. "Why?"

The Dean glanced at his associates; Dancer gave him the finger. The Dean turned back to Ray. "The memory impressing system shared a location with much of our—we twelve's—extended data storage. When it vanished, so did much of our unique recollections. I know we should have had them in other locations, but, over time, many were lost and we didn't bother making other arrangements."

"You've been lazy for a million years," Ray offered.

"Too true," the Dean agreed.

"What node on the mainland can we vanish that would most hurt the Pres? I don't care what's near it, with it. I need to hurt the President bad in the next fifteen minutes."

The eleven went into a huddle. One held back for a moment. "Why don't you just ask him?" Net Dancer bowed sardonically at the recognition.

"Because I think you still want to ally with us. But I need some evidence of that," Ray said. "I'm still waiting."

The eleven huddled for a long five minutes. When the Dean came forward, he highlighted a mountain. "It's your target number nine. It contains a major processing center as well as data storage and energy. He'll need it to acquire the Provost's existing assets. You destroy it, you'll keep him from getting any advantages from his victory and slow down his ability to correlate present happenings with alternate options."

"Dancer?" Ray said.

"A judgment call. Depends on how much you don't want him integrating the Prov verses generating new ideas."

"Thanks for the clarification, Dancer. I'll go with their choice. Kat, hit target nine."

"Nine, you say. Wait one." Kat was back in fifteen seconds. "Got the beggar. Pardon me, boss, but we got to beat feet."

"Your team's done good, Kat. You've had to be predictable today. Do something surprising tonight."

"Plan to, Colonel. I'll call in when the sun's up tomorrow."

Ray punched off; he eyed the images. "You know the Pres wants to return to the good old days. One computer intellect."

"We do now," the Dean agreed. "We thought we could settle this, find a compromise. Guess not."

"Definitely not." Ray let that sink in. "If we want to keep being who we are, we have no choice."

"It's so nice to see such enthusiasm, Dean," Ray rumbled. "Now, concentrate on your defensive line. Let me know when the Pres starts probing you. I'll call you back in an hour." They left. Dancer stayed.

"What are you and Lek up to?" Ray asked.

"I want to see what the big boy is doing about salvaging the Prov's carcase. I know about the guys you lost to the nanos, I'm looking at chasing that line, making sure the Pres don't."

"I'd appreciate that. Machines eating humans, humans eating machines leave a bad impression in a lot of minds."

The Dancer actually chuckled. "I'll be inside the Pres's matrix for a while, so I'd appreciate it if you'd let Lek know before Jeff starts cutting lines." And he vanished quite away.

"I will," Ray said, then glanced up. "Mary, sorry to be ignoring you. What's up?"

"We've got a definite change in the weather."

Ray studied her reader. "Good for us. Bad for Kat."

"I ran into the padre on the way in. I suggested he pass the word to the outside. He seemed a bit upset."

"He came to thank me for opening the base to everyone. I told him it was a false rumor. He understood, but didn't want to think about the level of force I'll use if we have to make a last stand." Ray put down the reader, stared out the window, went on, half to himself. "The Pres won't call it quits while he can move an electron. He's gonna be screaming in every mind he can connect to, trying to pump people full of images, run them around like puppets. There's no telling what folks will do."

"Maybe people who listen to the padre will be far enough away when the trouble starts."

"We can hope, Mary, but we better get things down tight tonight. Very tight."

Mary saluted, swallowed hard, and went to obey.

Du stood, one leg on the ledge of the factory, watching the gray day fade into a very dark night. The rain still fell in sheets, though the wind was dropping. The temperature was rising; night might be warmer than the day. Crazy weather.

He had a sharpshooter at each corner, the fifth marine taking a break in the tent. Same on the hangar, five klicks away. The last hint of light disappeared from the western sky. "Okay, crew, listen up," he said on the squad net. "If we're gonna have trouble, the Colonel says it'll be tonight." That brought a few cheers on the net. "Let's make one thing clear from the get-go. All squad weapons are locked. I repeat, locked. Arming bolts loose, safeties on." A chorus of groans met that. "You will fire only after I give weapons release. To keep Heave happy, Captain Rodrigo also can give you weapons release."

"Let's hear it for us girls" came back for that.

"I want a personal acknowledgment from every one of you animals on that one." He went down the squad, got a "Yes, Sergeant," from all ten. "One last point: If things come apart tonight, the squad's fallback position is the base hospital. The Colonel's command post is there, for reasons he didn't bother sharing with me. If we lose the perimeter and you get orders to fall back, head for the hospital. We do not let anyone who ain't from
Second Chance
in that hospital. Understood?"

The "Yes, sirs" were more subdued this time. Nothing like the address of the last stand to take the wind out of a gunner's cheer. "We didn't come to this planet to start nothing. We aren't at war with these people. But I and the Colonel both expect we will finish anything these locals start. Understood?"

That got a rousing round of "Yes, sirs." Du left it at that. He zoomed his night goggles to survey the wall. Mary was in front of him, covering the east and north half of the base. Cassie had the south and west corner under her supervision.

Du took a couple of deep breaths, to relax himself, to sample the night's air. It was wet. But there was an undercurrent of something else. Open latrines. Humanity. Fear.

Du shook his head. It looked to be a long night.

Kat settled her team down well away from the nearest riverbed. She'd spotted this place late in the afternoon. A jumble of downed trees marked where the land had let go during a storm sometime in the recent past. The trees were big. It took them a good half hour, with Nikki bouncing in the lead, to work their way twenty meters back into the twisted and torn trunks. She finally found what she was looking for, a bit of open ground, that the slide had very definitely disturbed, with lots of trees around and over it. Let it rain; the big log overhead would keep them dry. They even found enough dry wood to start a fire with the torch in Kat's survival kit.

"All the comforts of home," the copilot crowed as they stretched out.

"Feels that way. We done good today, crew," Kat said, mimicking how the Colonel or Matt would pat the middies on the head after a particularly good bit of problem-solving. "Let's get a good night's rest."

"Only thing missing is a good cup of me ma's soup," Nikki muttered. This started a long competition between them as to what meal they would prepare over the fire. It was kind of hard to sleep when your stomach was rumbling.

Kat let them rave on, enjoying the imaginary cuisine. What the heck, she wasn't all that sleepy either.

Jeff was exhausted, hungry, aching from every muscle he didn't know he had, and desperately wanted to lie down for a quick nap of a month or two. They'd fed the horses the last of the oats Ned had packed for them. Humans and horses were on their last legs.

They crested a ridge; in the rainy gray it was hard to tell, but it looked like the railroad cut across the long valley ahead. Too much of the valley was underwater. They spent what was left of daylight taking the long ways around to the railbed. Beside him, Annie and Lil kept putting one foot down after another. Damn, it would be embarrassing to call it quits in front of them, the woman he loved and, he wasn't quite sure what Lil was-the mother he'd hardly known? That was no idea to share with the marine. Under a spreading oak, Lil called a ten-minute break. Jeff collapsed, trying not to let the women see how blown he was.

"What do we do when we reach the rails?" Jeff asked.

"Plant demolition charges, rig a detonator, and walk the rails. I want to cut 'em several places at once. Let 'em fix one gap, only to find another. Introduce the computer to the world of human disappointment," Lil chuckled horsely. "You okay?" Jeff asked Annie. "As good as you are," she snapped. "That bad," he admitted, trying to make it a joke. "Let's get moving," Lil ordered. "Rest too long and it only hurts worse to get moving."

Ray eyed the contraption Lek and Dancer had put together in the clinic's back room. Part radio, part computer, plenty of chunks of rock-both those Harry had sampled and the high rising stone from the cave where he and the kids had their final talk with the Gardener. Ray wondered if anything patched together from so many different levels of technology could work.

He'd find out soon enough.

The doc went from kid to kid, attaching leads to monitor their heart, brain, and anything else he thought important. Jerry would pull any kid out of the circle around the rock if he thought the child was in danger. Jerry finished with David and came over to Ray, more monitors in hand.

"You're not pulling me off that rock. I come off when I'm done."

"I know. I know. Still, I want to monitor what's going on. Compare you and the kids. Okay?" Over the past year, Ray had been in servitude to the docs too many times to refuse one of their orders now. Besides, it took up time, time he could only spend waiting. The next move was up to the President.

Mary was back to prowling the wall. First she went halfway down the east wall, then back. Then halfway down the north wall, then back. The people were out there, milling around like cattle. Was it her imagination that there was something different in their tone tonight?

The padre joined her. Somehow he made it less a prowl and more like a quiet stroll. Then the little priest seemed to give everything the quiet, eternal permanence of his God. Mary found herself slowing, calming. "Many people listen when you told them the weather had changed?"

"Most hadn't believed five hurricanes were headed here. They're panicked over the crop failure."

"Think you can get a crop in now?"

The priest shook his head slowly. "Maybe some. Maybe enough if we all pull together, tighten our belts like we did in the landers' time. Our people are like that."

Mary saw the rest of it hanging unsaid. "But folks aren't acting like that right now. Not with the computer driving them half mad to start with."

"I'm afraid so."

Mary watched the crowd. Here and there, people moved quickly from person to person, saying something, moving on. "Something may be starting here in a little while. Best you leave it to us with war-blackened souls," she said. "You'll be needed with the families. They're going to be terrified."