They Also Serve: A Jump Universe Novel Part 24

The padre's eyes had grown larger and larger as Ray summed up their problem so tersely.

"Matt, I have just dumped in your lap the hottest potato in human history. Next time you're in system, I may be saying all's well and come on down. Those words may be true or false. You will have to decide for yourself and all of humanity whether this planet can be trusted with s.p.a.ce flight, or even to continue existence. I'm sending you as much data as I can now. I know it's not enough. Good luck, and G.o.d help us all."

The little priest was shaking. Mary, Kat, and Lek stared straight ahead. "You know how hard we fought to keep from rocking Wardhaven in the war," Mary finally said.

"I know," Ray nodded, "and now I'm asking Matt to do just that for me. Do you think he will?"

"You can't," the priest whispered.

"If I'm reduced to a mindless zombie," Kat said slowly, "I don't care if I'm jumping for joy, I'd rather be dead."

"Couldn't he just allow no one to land?" the priest pleaded.

Mary shook her head. "We're a s.p.a.cefaring race, Padre. Give us twenty years and we'll be back in s.p.a.ce. Another twenty and we'll be leaping from star to star. We"-she pointed at her forehead-"know how to do it. If they want us to build it, we can and will. No, Father, it's best we pa.s.s sentence ourselves. If the Teacher wins, if it takes us over like we know it can, then we've got to die. And if it kills us in the process, then, d.a.m.n it, I want Matt to take this planet apart brick by brick."

"There's got to be another way," the priest whispered.

"That is what we're looking for," Ray said. "Hang around. Father. Maybe you can help us find it."

Dumbly, the poor priest nodded. "I thought you were opening doors. Now, I see, you are-"

"Father, you yourself said the north side got worse when the Teacher arrived," Mary cut in hard. The padre nodded. "And now it's down here, and people are rioting."

"I know. But death for an entire planet?"

The others had no answer for that. Lunch that noon was a quiet affair until Lek interrupted. "Colonel, somebody's taking your name in vain, and that somebody is Miss Vicky Sterling. Putting her through."

"d.a.m.n it, I know you can hear me. Probably hear every word I say near any computer. You better talk to me, you robbing, thieving sc.u.m."

"Yes, Miss Sterling," Ray cut into the diatribe.

"What do you mean, pa.s.sing off that gutless wreck as worth ten thousand pounds. No factory delivered something in that condition and called it done!"

"It does if that is what we ordered," Ray answered. "We did, and that is what you ordered. We add our own equipment to meet our special requirements. You wanted it that way. You got it."

"You cheated me!" she shrieked.

"Can't cheat an honest woman. You didn't come by your ten thousand pounds of copper very honestly."

"You stole from me, and you're going to pay. I know about the thing that makes mountains vanish. I've got my people looking for it. We'll find it. Then we'll see what your precious camp is worth vanished into thin air. And if you think you can watch me all the time like some Peeping Tom, see what I can do," she said, slamming her hand against the side of her screen. The picture went blank.

"That's one way to turn off your vidphone," Ray observed.

"We can't let her get her hands on the vanis.h.i.+ng box." Mary's words were flat, absolute.

Ray tapped his commlink. "Doc, do you have an electrocardiograph signature for Jeff Sterling?"

"Yes. Why?"

"I need to talk to him, and his phone's off. Pa.s.s it to Mary. Lek, get me Ms. San Paulo. It's time her people know what's at risk, and start pulling together."

It started to rain about midafternoon. Annie held Nikki close, trying to protect her from the ram, trying to keep her warm. Trying to lose the sick feeling growing in her stomach.

The search had gone sour somehow, and Annie didn't know why.

They had pa.s.sed through seven villages now, but not changed rides since getting in the rickety wagon, At the last village, Annie's ma knew a woman. Annie had wanted to stop by, share a word with her. Instead, the old man had headed for the other side of the village and parked beside a broken-down barn. A young woman met him there. Now she was traveling with them.

Annie didn't like this at all. It was as if they were being taken somewhere rather than searching for someone. But how could that be? Annie held Nikki close, huddled against the rain, and wished Jeff were here. He'd know what to do. He'd lived in the big, complicated city where everyone you met wasn't a friend. He'd know when she should think about using the gun that weighed so heavily in the wallet at her waist. Annie let the rain fall on her, protected Nikki, and suffered as the cart jolted on its way.

Jeff waited with the horses while Old Ned talked to the couple. It was raining; he was cold and tired. He waited patiently. Ned's words from the last village shook him. "They didn't stop in with Grandma Moynihan. She's the one all Greens hereabouts look to. They talked to some new folks in town."

Old Ned returned, threw himself on his horse, and kicked it to a trot. Jeff waited until they had left the town far behind before calling to Ned. "What's happened to Annie?"

"She's in trouble, Jeff. Big trouble."

"Ms. San Paulo, don't you trust your people?"

"Trust has nothing to do with this. What would make you say that? It's just that we people in the circles are expected to handle problems. The people call us out to solve their problems, not dump them back in their lap. How can they live their lives in peace if we tell them about every little problem?"

Ray bit his lip; telling her his opinion of how well the circles had handled this problem so far would not help anything. "This is hardly a little problem. Entire cities could vanish."

"Yes, but you couldn't talk about this without bringing in your Teacher thing. Why, I hardly understand what you said. How can I expect other people to? No, Mr. Amba.s.sador, I will alert our security people to watch for six people carrying a large box. If they see it, I will know about it immediately."

"I could go to the media," Ray said softly.

Hen snorted. "They will not pay a bit of attention to you. They know what their viewers.h.i.+p wants. No. They will hang up on you as fast as I'm going to. I must, you see. I have a meeting to call and contacts to make. Good day, Mr. Amba.s.sador."

Ray swung around in his chair. Stomping around awhile would be a distinctive pleasure. Instead, he turned to the priest. "Is she right? Will the media ignore me?"

The padre nodded. "We may not be Covenanters, but we have a low threshold for gossip. Well, many of us do."

Mary did stomp halfway across the room. "I can't believe this. I've cussed out news shows and magazines for the stories they carried. But to ignore the news. This news!"

"It might disturb people," the priest said softly. "Especially those who rioted, did things they are ashamed of. How would they react to being told there is this ma.s.sive thing called a Teacher lurking over them?"

"If I understand Ray," Dr. Isaacs put in, "the Teacher doesn't control anyone yet, even Ray, and he's plugged into it better than most. I suspect the Teacher's efforts to communicate are what's causing this ma.s.sive mental illness. The mentally ill do not choose to act the way they do; they are driven."

"That your professional opinion, Doc?"

"Call it a professional guess. Not enough data to go on."

Ray smiled. "The Dean doesn't understand how we humans can make decisions without total information."

"If that thing ever thought it knew it all, it was wrong to start with," Kat cut in.

"So, what do we do?" the priest asked.

"Lek, can you patch me into every net on this planet, media, entertainment, communication, whatever? If it can carry a sound, I'd like to be the sound they hear."

"Boss, you sure about that? Vicky's already destroyed one workstation. You want everyone to know they can run, but they can't hide from us?" Ray's eyes swept the table.

"If we agree we want everyone to know we need help and they ought to help us, I don't see an alternative," Mary summed it up. Kat nodded. Doc shrugged.

"Holy Mother of G.o.d, help us," the priest prayed.

TWELVE.

DAGA HAD BEEN in trouble before. In her twelve years, she prided herself on how often her da or her ma said she was in trouble. What she was in now went so far past trouble, it terrified her.

"I say we just zap Richland. No Richland, no Sterlings, no problems," Sean the bully said with an empty grin.

"Sean, you're a dumb ox. All the copper is under Richland. We make it vanish, where we gonna get copper for a TV?"

"TV rots your brain" was Sean's usual comeback, and he used it again. Daga prayed the quiet woman would tell them to shut up; sometimes she did. The woman and the two men with her just stared out the window at the pouring rain. They'd slept outside since leaving Hazel Dell; tonight they were in a house. The couple who owned it had given them their upstairs room and were downstairs, listening to a muted weather report.

There was running on the stairs. The man of the house skidded to a halt at the open door. Behind him, the sound of the TV grew loud. "You better come hear this."

The unnamed woman turned from the window. She and the two men swept past Daga. Sean and Jean Jock followed, Daga trailing them. On the stairs, she stopped to watch. The amba.s.sador from the starfolk was on the TV.

"I apologize for interrupting your evening," Ray began, "but some very strange things have been happening here on Santa Maria, since just before we arrived."

Annie huddled beside the fireplace, taking what little warmth it offered. The wagon had rolled on long after dark. The wind and the rain had whipped at them, soaking their clothes. Finally the young woman had pointed the old man at a large stone house far beyond the edge of a village. The woman had greeted a man with cheer; they talked quietly at the other end of the great room. Two youths, one hardly older than Annie, did their bidding, preparing a meal. They said nothing, but the looks they cast Annie were as frightened as the ones she spared them.

What have we gotten into? Oh, to be home, with Da, and Ma, and Jeff. To have a warm bed, warm food, and dry clothes. The older servant cautiously approached the two. "Master, the television in the kitchen is behaving strangely. All channels show only the starman."

"Let's see what he has to say for himself," the woman answered. The two left the room.

"Nikki, stay here," Annie said as soon as they were gone.

"Don't go," Nikki whimpered.

"I have to. Stay here." Quickly Annie stepped off the distance. Yes, she could hear the Colonel's voice, so calm, so confident, explaining what Jeff had told her about the tumor growing in their heads, and the machine that was trying to make contact with them but failing.

"You believe any of that?" the man asked.

"We've been here three hundred years with no problems."

"But you will admit, people have been acting rather strange of late. Even, dare I say, the divine Miss V. This might explain it better than anything."

"It might," the woman said slowly. Then the Colonel told the world about Nikki and Daga's vanis.h.i.+ng box.

"Oh, s.h.i.+t. That lets the cat out of the bag," the man snarled and stomped around the kitchen.

For the first time Annie was learning about them. She'd heard Jeff growl about the divine Miss V, his sister.

Now they talked in hushed tones, too low for Annie to hear, so she hastened back to Nikki. She had heard enough; they were in Vicky Sterling's hands.

As Annie settled down beside Nikki, she moved her wallet over to keep it from coming between them. It was bulky with Dumont's automatic. No one had searched her, no one had violated the privacy of a young woman's wallet. The two in the kitchen, still discussing the Colonel's call for help, thought they had everything planned.

Annie knew at least one thing that was not in their plans.

Jeff sat quietly, nursing a no longer hot tea and trying to keep from thinking of Annie out in this weather. Surely whoever had taken her would have her inside on a miserable night like this. Even Old Ned had agreed to stay in an inn. So the two sat with their backs to a corner, forming a quiet s.p.a.ce in a happy babble as the customers watched a replay of last summer's soccer champions.h.i.+ps. People cheered their favorites, as if the outcome were unknown. Then the Colonel came on.

There were groans and demands to put the channel back. Several channel switches showed only the same earnest visage, with the same unbelievable message-a.s.suming you hadn't been living it the past few weeks. While the message sank in, the general complaining continued. Several people voiced loud doubts that everyone had a lump in their head, even when Ray showed them brain scan after brain scan. Over time, more grew thoughtfully silent. Finally it was the ones who interrupted who were told to shut up so others could listen. The room was a deathly hush when the Colonel told about a mountain vanis.h.i.+ng beneath his s.h.i.+p as it made its first orbit. The camera panned to show Willow and Emma, describing the box, what it had done, and how they'd run.

"They're just girls," someone grumbled dismissively.

They were roundly shushed.

"Well, the fox is in the henhouse," old Ned whispered. "What's the starman think he's doing?"

"Begging for help," Jeff whispered, and kept watching.

Hen was meeting with her security consultants when her a.s.sistant stuck his head in the door. "Ma'am, I think you better see this. It's even interrupted the letter I was typing."

Hen fumed as Longknife told everyone what he said was happening to them. Behind her, some consultants marveled at things they didn't know, as if they needed to know it all to do their jobs. She doubted anyone really understood all that babble about viruses causing lumps in their heads and the huge computer that was trying to talk to them and had made Rose's life so miserable. Now he was telling everyone that the strange box could make anyplace disappear. That would certainly help people sleep tonight. He had to be out of his mind.

But his ending was the most puzzling. Why tell everyone that he and his people were starting to extract metals and would make it available to the manufacturers of New Haven and Refuge? When the metal was ready was soon enough. If he failed, now he faced embarra.s.sment and disappointed people.

"The man is a fool. He does not understand us," she snapped at her consultants when he finished.

"If the right people are listening, we may find out who knows where the vanis.h.i.+ng box went," one ventured.

"The panic we will see in the streets tonight will hardly be worth the few extra days this gives us in finding it," San Paulo snapped. No one disagreed with her on that.

Ray leaned forward. "The problems you and I face today may seem daunting. The power of the vanis.h.i.+ng box is immense, yet the six who have it have not used it since fleeing Hazel Dell. The threat of the teaching computer and its ability to rattle even our very skulls is terrifying, but we can choose to control our fear, anger, terror even as we feel them beating at us. The choices are ours. If we work together, we can make good ones.

"If you have reason to believe that you have seen the six with the box, call us at the number on the screen. If you operate a manufacturing concern and need metal to keep your employees working, call us at the second number. We can arrange for at least a minimum supply to keep you going over this disruption. There is no reason for us to fear. There is no reason for us to tear at each other.

"Together, we can make it through this."

"Now everybody knows about us," Sean the bully whined. "They'll all be after us."

"Not if we stay far from view," the nameless woman said. "Saddle our horses. We ride tonight." Three men moved to obey her, stepping out into the wind and rain without a backward glance. The woman of the house dismissed herself for the kitchen to pack a basket with all the food she had.

"But what if we're caught?" Sean stayed where he was.

"Then we see how good the vanis.h.i.+ng box is," the woman answered with a voice so even it made Daga s.h.i.+ver worse than the cold wind from the door as the boys moved to obey.

"Should I call the Colonel?" Jeff asked as people around the Public Room discussed the first real news any of them had probably ever gotten from a TV.