War World X: Takeover (64 page)
Becca felt sure she knew the name but could not place it.
“I am sorry, Mister Voorhees, but my mother never mentioned you to me.” She became aware of a mild sense of apprehension; this man was looking at her with a great, and progressively unwelcome, intensity.
“I would not think she would. We only met briefly. I was working on a research grant at the time. Your mother was a student volunteer, the only one who—” he stopped.
Becca frowned. “The only one who what?”
“The only one who was also a medical student,” Voorhees continued smoothly. “It gave us a common ground to talk about. She could fully appreciate what I was trying to accomplish here on Haven. Her…contribution…was a great encouragement. We were more friends than colleagues, but I daresay I could not have succeeded in my research were it not for her.”
“Well, my mother never finished college,” Becca said, wishing to end the conversation. “She married my father in her second year, and I was born in what would have been her third, so I don’t know how she could have given you much help with your research, but I’ll take your praise as a compliment to her and thank you for it.”
She felt an immediate and unreasoning dislike of Voorhees, but being unable to explain the feeling did not mean she was prepared to ignore it.
“Please do; I meant it sincerely as such.” Voorhees nodded in farewell. “I just wanted to see you and speak to you briefly.” He looked past Becca’s shoulder to where her children were waiting, two of them holding children of their own. “An excellent family,” he said, and turned away.
Becca watched him go, trying to remember where she had seen him before. Years ago, and only briefly, at some gathering. Becca had only attended one gathering in her youth, and suddenly she remembered. It had been just before her return to Haven.
“Mister Voorhees! You were with the Olympics in ’82, on Earth!”
Voorhees turned and smiled. “I am flattered you remember me, Mrs. Parmenter.”
Becca’s lips thinned with anger. “It is not a happy memory, Mr. Voorhees.” Becca took two long steps toward him. “It was at the memorial for the athletes. Twenty-two young men and women died. I survived only because my ship was late because trips to and from Haven were so infrequent in those days. I missed the ship to Wayforth that carried almost all the other athletes.”
“A terrible tragedy, Mrs. Parmenter,” Voorhees agreed.
“Yes. One I have had to live with every day for the last thirty years. I had friends on that ship, Mr. Voorhees. People I had only known a fortnight, but with whom I shared bonds that have lasted my entire life.” Becca could feel the blood pounding in her ears; thirty-five years of anger and grief trying to burst forth.
“I share your grief, Mrs. Parmenter, but I do not understand your apparent anger,” Voorhees was trying to be conciliatory, but something inside Becca told her that both his statements were lies.
“I am angry, Mr. Voorhees, because those young people—my
friends
—were on a
Sauron
ship, a ship which you, too, were supposed to be on. At the memorial you mentioned a ‘cruel trick of fate’ that detained you at the last minute. But for some reason, I never believed you.” Becca felt tears on her cheeks. She had not cried for her mother today. She had never cried for her friends, not in thirty years; but now she cried.
“But what could a sixteen-year-old girl do? Nothing. Nothing but go home; live, marry, raise a family and try to forget her pain and her suspicions.”
Voorhees was silent for a long time. “I don’t know what you expect me to say, Mrs. Parmenter, so let me say this: Living, raising a family and forgetting one’s pain is the sum total of human existence.” And suddenly, Becca saw a gleam of revelation in Voorhees’ eyes, as if he only now was seeing the truth of his own words.
“You could say they are the ‘golden apples’ of our lives.” He nodded again and turned away, walking back to a car where a driver opened the door as he approached; on the door was the State Seal of Sauron. “Goodbye,” he said.
Just before he reached the car, Becca called after him. “What exactly was the research you were doing that my mother helped you with?” she asked.
Voorhees turned and favored her with a smile of paternal love.
“Obstetrics.”
The car door closed, and the vehicle slid down the hill and out of sight.
The End
JOHN F. CARR is the author of numerous books and, along with co-editor Jerry Pournelle, has edited over 30 theme anthologies and short story collections, including the 2001 Prometheus Hall of Fame Award recipient:
The Survival of Freedom
. His many anthologies include,
Black Holes
,
Nebula Award Stories Sixteen
, 9 volumes of
There Will Be War
, 4 volumes of
The Endless Frontier
, 3 volumes of
Imperial Stars
and 10 volumes of the shared-world anthology series,
WAR WORLD
. He was also the Managing Editor of the
Far Frontiers
paperback magazine for Baen Books.
WAR WORLD: TAKEOVER
is the 10th book in the on-going War World Saga, which includes 3 novels, the most recent being
WAR WORLD: The Battle of Sauron
by John F. Carr & Donald Hawthorne published in 2008. The War World series is a shared-world universe created by Jerry E. Pournelle and John F. Carr and set in Jerry Pournelle’s CoDominium/Empire of Man future history. For more information on War World visit:
www.warworldcentral.com
W
AR WORLD: TAKEOVER
is the second volume in a grand reissue of War World that will present Haven’s history in a chronological fashion for the very first time. Each book will include both the best of previously published stories as well as many brand new yarns.
On Earth, overpopulation and rising nationalism require the resettlement of millions of troublesome minorities or the fragile peace between the USSR and the USA will go down in flames. It is up to the CoDominium to solve this problem and it just so happens the Bureau of ReLocation has discovered the perfect dumping ground for millions of unwanted minorities and religious fanatics. This happens at the time when the mining companies, exploiting Haven’s considerable resources, need a cheap and expendable labor pool. Since one hand washes the other, the CD Bureau of Intelligence gives orders to subvert Harmony rule and turn Haven into a CoDominium Protectorate.
After the failure of their first attempts to sabotage the settlement of Haven, with the Docktown Rebellion, the secret masters of the CoDominium go back to their drawing boards to come up with a new plan. Once again they send in BuIntel’s top troubleshooter, Maxwell Cole, and his usual band of miscreants. This time Cole will either succeed in subverting Harmony rule of Haven, or be stranded there forever! They don’t call Haven End of the Line for nothing….