The City Who Fought Part 37

"A friend," he said. A holo grew, of a boy about Joat's age.

Joat started violently. **Seld! They wouldn't let me see ya, said you were sick!"

The figure nodded. "You knew that. You know I've been sick a long while, Joat," he said with the incredible batience of the chronic in valid. "Only it went off the screen. I can see this," ancfne looked down at his frail, fimp body, strapped in an upright position on the bed, *1>ut I can'tfeelanything or move it, ordoanything, really."

"Oh, d.a.m.n!" Joat moved a hand through the holo as if she could reverse the damage somehow.

"The navy medicos have got me hooked up to a nervesplice monitor, to keep my heart going and stuff. Simeon himself," and now he managed a proud grin, "is hacking into it"

Joat blinked. "I'm sorry," she said in a small voice. "I shouldn't've called you a wuss. I heaved my cookies afterwards, too. I guess it's my fault, hey? Expecting you to do more'n you could, should!"

"Nah," Seld on the holo said. "I was stupid, you know. You could do all those things I couldn't, and I was... h.e.l.l, Joat, I was gonna end up like this anyway, sooner'r later. Grudly, but I knew it. Dad knew it, but he sort of didn't at the same time. I've had a lot of time to think about it."

Joat nodded, then narrowed her eyes. "Those caps were the final push, weren't they? Why'd you use one?" "'Cause I was so scared of seeing you get killed, Joat. You're my best friend. Besides," he went on, "that Kolnari Lord'd just belted me real hard. Then... I tell you, the ultimo grudly," and Seld rolled his eyes in disgust, "when he teserfme.solwantedsomeofmyownback."

"Yeah," and Joat nodded in approval, "you would at that!"

"That's when I had a fit. Would have happened eventually, really it would, Jo. Dad says another ten years, max."

Joat looked around at the Navy officers. "I don't Aim* McQffivy fe? SM.. Stirling think that's good enough. Can't you guys better the odds for 'm? Doesn't he deserve more than ten years?" Her hard voice cracked a little.

Questar-Benn winced and the commodore focused his eyes on something else. ^ "I never get used to this," the commodore under his breath. "What's the favor, Simeop?

Channa's head came up sharply. "Simeon? You've a suggestion?" "1 do," Simeon said in such a positive, you-should have known I would tone of voice that he commanded everyone's attention. "I've been checking around and the AtexHypatia-1033 told me about new tricks that Dr. Kennet Uhua-Sorg*s been working on. No one-yet-is able to regenerate the spinal nerve sheaths. Kenny Sorg developed a prosthesis - for himself, incidently, but it'll suitSeld'sparticularrequirements,too. Kid, you're too old to be a sh.e.l.lperson: you'd never psychologically adjust Kenny Soig's condition is about the same as yours and he gets around just fine," and Simeon projected a holo of a man, moving down a corridor but too smoothly to be "walking." He "walked" upright, true, but his body was framed by an slender exo-skeleton which held him erect, with his feet on a platform, similar but much thicker than the station float disks. The base ingeniously held the power supply and monitoring equipment. "I'm told, Seld, that you'll have use of your arms and the base is sophisticated enough to do as much for your body as my sh.e.l.l does for me. Long as you don't try slipping dirough ventilation ducts or falting headfirst out of services hatches, you should last as long as most softsh.e.l.ls, skeleton man!"

In this instance, Simeon's rewards were many: Joat jumping up and down, gurgling with laughter while tears streamed down her face, as well as Channa's, and Seld crowed like he'd turned rooster. There were expressions of intense relief on the faces of admiral and the commodore.

"I do like to see alternative solutions," Questar-Benn said, "and we'll put a naval courier B & B s.h.i.+p at the disposal of Seld and his father for transfer to the Central Worlds Medstation where Dr. Sorg is currendy practicing. Is that the f$vor you wanted, Simeon?"

"The very one," fhe station replied.

"Frabjus, Skelly Seld," Joat was saying to Seld, "111 be right down and we can celebrate together," and she waved a jaunty farewell behind her as she left.

Exhausted as much by this unexpectedly felicitous outcome as the weight of problems still to be resolved, Channa sank back into her float chair.

"One more on the up side," she murmured to rea.s.sure herself. "Simeon, I'm sort of tired. Could you... ?"

The others murmured apologies and moved aside while Simeon guided her chair away.

"A moment then, Amos ben Sierra Nuevo," Questar Benn. Amos turned in surprise, shot one anxious look at Channa's disappearing figure but had no choice but to give the Admiral his attention." If you'd be good enough to accompany the Commodore and me to our quarters..."

He was as glad as they appeared to be to leave the sad ambience of the cargo bay, though only one more of his shrinking band of Bethelites lay there.

The Admiral and Commodore noted his interest in the interior of their flags.h.i.+p and explained as they walked through the maze, absently accepting salutes or nods as they pa.s.sed details of men and women hurrying about their tasks.

None of the Central Worlds' s.h.i.+ps had taken much damage though the battle with the desperate Kolnari wars.h.i.+ps had been fierce, if brief. The guided tour was enough to make Amos wonder anew how Guiyon had managed to get the old Exodus anywhere, much less reach SSS-900-C.

He was sighing in semi-despair for all the problems he now faced in giving his poor plundered planet even a semblance of the efficiency and expertise Central Worlds took for granted.

"Ah, yes, here we are, Benisur..." the commodore said and Amos with suitable humility corrected him to "a simple Amos, sir." "We've been Aceiving updates of aflairs on Bethel and have need of your a.s.sistance."

Five men and women were seated about the lounge, the two youngest - a man and a women in their early twenties, jumping to their feet at the entrance of Admiral, Commodore and their guest "Here he is, gentlefolk^'Questar-Benn, "Benisur ben Sierra Nuevos, aka Simeon-Amos and the putative leader of the Bethelites."

"No, no," Amos said, shaking head and hand to deny that t.i.tle. He didn't want that mantle laid on his shoulders. Not now.

"As you will, young man," Questar-Benn said curtly, "but you were the leader of the dissidents as well as the defender of Bethel and we need your input." Then while Amos continued to demur, she overrode him by introducing the group. "Senior Counsellor Agrum of SPRIM, Representative Fusto of MM, Observer Nilsdotter, PAs Ferryman for SPRIM and Losh Lentel for MM. Simeon, are you here?"

"I am," Simeonsaid, his voice issuing from the comuniL He might have warned me, Amos thought sourly. BtU perhaps swiftly done is best done. He gave them a dignified greeting, hand to heart and mind. The young woman, the Observer, was both startled and charmed.

Suddenly he was seated and stewards were pa.s.sing among the group with drinks and finger foods.

Perhaps, I'm merely light-headed with hunger, Amos thought, feeling the better after a sip of a sustaining hot drink and a sample from the plate of delicacies offered.

"Quite simply, ben Sierra Nuevo ... all right then, Amos," the senior counsellor began with no more to-do, "we need your help to rea.s.sure those elements of your people who managed to hide away from the Kolnari. They are terrified and not about to take the word of any strangers even when we holo-ed every surface with 'casts of the Navy taking Kolnari prisoners."

"And making themsinload all die loot they'd stored," said die beetlebrowed Representative Fusto. He looked as if he had personally overseen that operation and enjoyed it. He had a narrow face and close-set eyes in a narrow head set on shoulders much too muscular in contrast "Some of my people survived?" Amos tried not to wince for this only reinforced the inevitability of his return.

"Specific figures number the survivors as 15,000...."

The population - the former population - of this station, he thought, unable to suppress a groan.

The Observer misinterpreted it with a smile of great sadness and understanding. "Your people have been very brave and suffered terribly. We of SPRIM and MM," and she pointed to the other four, "are empowered to a.s.sist die reconstruction of your world...."

Amos groaned again. So much to be done. And his people would resent the intrusion of infidels, no matter how well intentioned.

"We cannot, of course, interfere with the government of any planet," Agrum said, clearing his throat and giving the woman an admonis.h.i.+ng glance, "but humanitarian aid certainly fells in our jurisdiction and we are able to provide whatever supplies and materials are needed on an interim basis."

Beetle-brows Fusto gave his opposite number in SPRIM a dark look. "MM requires you to survive on your own efforts but we prevent exploitation of minority groups for any reason whatever. We prefer to establish contact with a senior government official, preferably elected by the minority in question, but you qualify - according to Simeon - as the logical and most accessible representative." for this I thank you, Simeon, Amos said, hoping that no one, especially the Observer, would hear him grind his teeth.

"Your planet got pretty well razed to subsoil," the commodore said. "'S going to take hetpto restart," and he, in turn, gave the MM official a quelling look, smiling at Amos as if to say "they mean well but they're heavy-handed." "We had to put up a transmitter," and he shrugged as if such a facility was a mere notibing, "and die engineers put up a temp at the s.p.a.ce field-which is littered with a lot of hulls, some of which could'well be refitted for whatever lunar mining would put you back on-line mere."

A transmitter and s.p.a.ce facility? Re-usable hulls for the craft the Kolnari had fused. Amos began to feel less despondent, though half of him resisted.

"Humanitarian aid will be sufficient to see your people through the on-coming winter," Agrum went on, "using whatever shelters your culture prefers..."

"We cannot land alter-culturals on Bethel, of course," Fusto half-interrupted, "but orbital staff is not considered by Central Worlds Authority to compromise indigenous integrity..."

"If you wish, you may request additional colonials of your own persuasion..." from Nilsdotter.

Amos turned from one speaker to the other, half dazed.

"Give the kid a break," Simeon said suddenly. "Why don't you let him read the reports so he knows what you're talking about, huh?"

"Of course," said SPRIM.

"Our intention, I a.s.sure you, Station Simeon," MM said defensively.

"Then let it be so," Admiral Questar-Benn said, smiling encouragingly at Amos as she handed him several disk files and led him to another room where he could digest the information in private.

"Not over until it's over," the Admiral remarked to the commodore as they watched the sometimes contentious delegation leave their quarters.

"And it's never over," Tellin-Makie replied, pouring them both snifters of brandy in the flag quarters. "I didn't have the heart to remind them that those aren't the only bunch of Kolnari running around loose."

"And if you leave a pair, they breed up again," she said wearily. "They know that. Which is the reason I suspect we'll have Simeon and the others on die rolls in a couple of years. The Kolnari will be a menace as long as two of them are left alive."

"The Psych people swear they can be rehabilitated."

"Rehabilitated to E equals M and C squared," she said, taking a sip. "Dam" c.o.c.kroaches." Another sigh. "Maybe this little atrocity will get us some resources."

"For a while, until the general public become inured to these particular atrocities," Tellin-Makie said, "then we can go back to peeing on bonfires. It's not as if they were the only serious problem, either."

"Would that it were so. Would that it were so, my friend."

She looked at the screen, which showed an exterior view of SSS-900-C. Repair servos and suited figures were already working on some of the more urgent damage, though it would be a generation before the devastation was fully repaired. She made a mental note to have Engineering help out while the task force was on station here.

"All in all, though, I'm glad we don't have their problems, poor heroic sods," she said.

"Amen."

"Yes, yes," Joseph said eagerly when Amos finished telling him of the help promised by SPRIM and MM, up to and including a Brain Planetary manager to replace Guiyon. "Wemustreturnasquicklyaspossible."

"Yes, you and Rachel must"

"Rachel and I?" Joseph repeated, staring in sudden alarm at Amos.

ArmeMcCajfiq& SJtf. Stirling "Yes, because there is much to organize on the ground before we may accept the beneficence..."

"But it is you, Amos ben Sierra Nuevo, who must return!" Joseph's face was stricken. "Itisyour duty. Our world is but a lake of mourning. They need^ow. They need a hero-and their Prophet"

Amos paced, hands behind his back, clenching and unclenching, up and down the floor of his room in Simeon's quarters.

"They need a hero, granted, Joseph," he said, stopping in front of his friend, "but if I am a hero, then so are you!"

"Me?" Joseph laughed. "I am your henchman. Your right hand, and proud to be so. Your friend, and prouder still of that But you are the prophet, the hero, the one the people follow."

Amos took him by the shoulders. "You are my brother, as truly as if the same mother bore us."

Joseph blinked as Amos drew him into the double cheek-touch of close kin to emphasize his words. "And it is you who will return while I deal with these infidels and make certain that what charity they would foist on us will not weaken our people but allow them to become strong in such ways that no other scavenger can ever catch us unawares." Who saves the saved from the savior* he thought "And I ... I wonder," Amos went on aloud. I wonder if it is good, that the new leader is of the old Prophet's line - may G.o.d smile on him! Too many generations have the people followed the old families." He winced. "And followed them to ruin."

"You would lead us to greatness!" Joseph said forcefully. The more so if you doubted yourself less, he added to himself. "You have shown your strengths as a selfthinker, a defender of his planet, a guileful strategist..."

"History does not show many battle-leaders who had the same talent for being peace-leaders!"

"But you are of a peaceful nature until roused to defend what you hold dear," Joseph said, "even as you have seen your duty now to protect us against those who wish to protect us!" Joseph turned sternly grim now. "It is the blind face of Channa d*t hides your way."

Amos looked so fiercely at him that Joseph turned his face away, his shoulders sagging in acknowledgement.

"I also cannot abandon these here to whom we, for our very lives, owe a debt of grat.i.tude. If, in this one instance, duty and honor are both served, let me serve it." Amos sighed deeply, torn between love and duty. "Are Simeon, Joat and Channa to be merely a chapter of my life because fourteen generations ago the Prophet fathered my many-times great granddather? We saw on Bethel what comes of that"

"Yes, Amos, in all truth we did. And you are right to wish to be indebted to all," and Joseph laid a subtle emphasis on the word, "the stationers even though the need for your special role is now over."

"Yes, that is over. In its place, I must a.s.sume several roles and do each well in all honor." Then he gave the younger man a sudden smile, the sort that had always drawn the required response from any recipient "And I give Rachel the chance to restore honor to her name."

Joseph gave him a sudden stare as fierce as the one Amos had given him. "What do you mean?"

"She was, after all, trained as an infosystems administrator. It is her duty to a.s.sist you in calling our people from their hiding places, to organize the reports that I must receive to know what is most needed. With you two side by side - that is what you wish, is it not, Joseph? Rachel by your side?"

The younger man laughed and blushed, which seemed to embarra.s.s him more.

"You know it is what I wish but, Amos, do not blame her for what she did."

"I do not," Amos lied stoutly, "but she will need to redeem herself in her own eyes!"

"Ah, yes," said Joseph with a sigh. "She is anxious to do that. She talks to me about it," he went on in a softer voice. "She talks of you but she aldb talks of you to me."

"Then go to her, Joseph my brother, my friend. If you insist on making me wear the mantel of a leader, then I have issued an order to you. But think also of what I have told you, brother hero. You return to Bethel as my brother and my equal, not my retainer-not even first among my retainers. The time forthoae petty protocolsis past"

"I go," Joseph said. He turned on the threshold. "And you, too, have earned a litde happiness, I think. G.o.d willing, may you find it!"

Channa had insisted on returning to her brawn's quarters, pointing out that there was nothing else Chaundra or his staff could do for her in sickbay.

"I'll be much better off there," she told him, "because I know my way around. Simeon can remind me where I put things so I can find what I need. Only time will make a difference now."

Once Simeon had angled the chair float beside her satin-draped bed, she lay down, not seeing, not speaking, absorbing the most recent events. Not that she wasn't overwhelmingly relieved that Seld had been granted a reprieve. But there were so many decisions to be made, hanging in the air, over her head, where she could feel them, even if she couldn't see them. She could feel a trickle down her cheek and, with a gesture she hoped masked the real reason, she blotted the cheek on the gray satin cover.

"Penny for your thoughts?"

Because Simeon had picked exacdy the appropriate light tone, she gave him a wan smile though she wondered how he had noticed such a small thing as a tear "I've none to sell," she said, "justbits and pieces float- jug around. Like, Happy endings suck the galactic m.u.f.fin. It's enough to give you a headache." "D'you have one?" Instant concern colored his voice. "No, no," she said, shaking her head on the pillow. "Look, Channa, youlwfl be all right," he said in the firm tone one uses when one is hoping against hope one's statement is correct.

She nodded once sharply, minding her temper and her manners. "Yes, I'm sure I will." Her voice was tight "I've scanned every report I could find on this kind of temporary blindness, Channa," he went, infusing his voice with confidence. I'd give anything to be able to hold you in arms and comfort you but all I've got is voice contact. Talk to me, Channa. "Worse scenario and you'll still see - through my sensors. Remember that, Channa. And I see real good and wherever I need to!"

She had stiffened and cut through his opening words in a rather shrill voice. "Simeon, spare me the... Could you do that for me?"

"Sure," he said, both surprised and testy. "But surely you knew that You've been using my senses for the last two weeks!"

Her jaw dropped and then a tremulous smile crossed her lips. "So I have, haven't I?" she said in a broken voice. After a moment's silence, she added in a contrite voice, "I owe you, and everyone else an apology, for acting like a self-pitying wuss!"

"Well, after all, you've had quite an adjustment to make."

"But I didn't have to snarl at you."

"Oh, that? I wouldn't know how to answer smartly if you didn't Don't break that habit, Charma-mine."

Her smile was stronger. "Then I certainly won't"

"Because you like the challenge, don't you? And, by and large, I'm good company."

"And so modest"