Pliocene Exile - The Adversary Part 90

Why didn't I think of that? Of course, every great solution looks simple in retrospect, doesn't it? Marc-thank you. It's magnificent."

The elegant mental edifice seemed to hover between them.

She enfolded it in her memory with meticulous care, and then Marc rose.

"No doubt you noticed," he said, "that the metaconcert does not include you."

She looked away. "That's for the best."

"Are you so very anxious to return to the Milieu?"

His voice and mind carried a warning flavour, and she suddenly felt her heart go cold. "You're going to oppose us after all! You've found some way to keep the gate from opening!"

His coercion compelled her to face him. "I must."

Her mental voice cried: Anatoly I told you so ...

He had taken her by the hand, and before she realized what had happened they had walked together to the other end of the garden. The noon sun was harsh and the two suits of armour, enveloped in heat-s.h.i.+mmer, loomed facelessly over her.

She heard him say, "I could show you another world where you would be truly needed. An educative work that would never pall. Challenge without end."

"No, Marc." Her voice was steady. She pulled her hand away.

He said, "I'll win, one way or another. You must tell Anatoly that the temptation was too great."

"Yes, I know," she said.

He took a step backward into blackness and in a moment the gravelled yard was empty.

Jordan Kramer came onto Kyllikki's bridge with obvious reluctance, closed the door behind him, then gave a curt exclamation of surprise as he spotted Alex Manion standing behind the chart table, out of casual view from the quarterdeck.

"Dammit, Walter-what's he doing here?"

"We both want to talk to you, Jordy," Saastamoinen said.

"I should be back in the stern hold with Gerry. Marc will be back soon from Black Crag-"

"That's why we want to talk to you now. Time's running out."

He thumbed several studs of the autowinch unit. "Half a mo', though. Little headwind coming up and we're sheet-heavy.

Liable to drag anchor. One disadvantage of solar-collection sails."

Manion the docilator headpiece firmly in place, fixed intent eyes on Kramer and said, "Marc ... ordered ... batteries ... recharged ... max. He's ... ready ... to ... flit."

"Jesus, he can override the docilator!" Kramer cried.

"But it's hard on him," Walter said. "Let him out, Jordy.

You've got the keying sequence."

"Are you out of your mind?" the shocked physicist asked.

Manion said, "You , .. are ... if ... you ... think ...

Marc ... plans ... let ... kids ... live." He drew a shuddering breath. Sweat poured from his head and stained his light knit s.h.i.+rt. "Do ... you ... love ... Marge ... Becky ... more ... than ... Marc ... or ... not?"

"What have my children got to do with this?" Kramer had gone white. "Walter-what the h.e.l.l are you two up to?"

"Not just us, Jordy," said the skipper. "The whole d.a.m.n fo'c'sle gang. And now we want you and Gerry. Van Wyk doesn't have any kids, but you can pressure him into cooperating. With threats, if nothing else. Unhook Alex. He's not going to attempt coercion. A coerced mind won't fit a metaconcert."

"It's a G.o.ddam mutiny, isn't it?" Kramer said.

"Very astute deduction. Precipitated by Marc's order for the express battery charge before he went jumping this morning.

He's made up his mind to go after the kids and force them to submit-kill Hagen and Cloud if necessary, and any others that stand in the way. He'll take Mental Man's genes from the dead bodies of his own kids and coerce whatever survivors there are into going away with him to the Goal world. He only needs seven or eight live ones for an adequate reproductive pool."

"You can't know what his plans are!"

"The big power requirement can only be for one purpose, Jordy. Marc is ready to teleport the entire CE complex off Kyllikki, to some safe hiding place where he can make his moves without having to worry about our fizzling loyalty. Do you think he's been blind to the mood on s.h.i.+pboard during the last two weeks? The only ones who are still committed to Marc and Mental Man are Castellane, Warshaw, and Steinbrenner."

"You're not making me out a traitor," Kramer bl.u.s.tered.

Then his expression changed. "Do you mean to tell me that Ragnar Gathen is in on this conspiracy?"

Manion said, "Elaby ... was ... among ... first ... to ... accept ... my ... insights."

"And Ragnar's with us for the sake of his son's memory-and for Cloud," Walter said, "just as you have to join us for the sake of Becky and Marge. Marc's hatched some new scheme, I tell you. Boom-Boom Laroche came to him in the library studying the specs of the Guderian device. And he made a casual remark to Ragnar two nights ago about farsnooping the Firvulag at this tournament gathering upriver. Something to do with the gnomes making droll, inefficient efforts at metaconcert.

Do you realize what implications that could have?"

Manion said, "Eighty ... thousand ... Firvulag."

Kramer's eyes darted from one man to the other. "This is all pure speculation-"

Walter leaned closer, fury blazing from his weatherbeaten face. "Listen to me, Jordy! Once Marc teleports the CE equipment off the boat, we'll be helpless to stop him. We have to act now-put together a mind-meld strong enough to overpower Castellane and the other two, and then sabotage the powermodules."

"Trap ... Marc ... in ... grey ... limbo."

The pair of them stood back, quietly waiting. Kramer had his hand on the door latch. His teeth bit his lower lip and a whirlwind of conflicting thoughts seeped through undermined mental defences. "Let me think ... G.o.d, you can't expect me to make a decision like this right off the top of my head!" He tugged at the door. It remained firmly closed.

Alex Manion sang: What though the night may come too soon, We've years and years of afternoon!

"We need you, Jordy," Walter said. "You're a magnate, the last unit we need in the offensive combo. We can't hack it without you, and it's got to be done right away."

A farspoken thought impinged upon all three of their minds, a call from Gerry Van Wyk down in the stern hold, broadcast with typical sloppiness on the declamatory rather than the intimate mode: Jordy get down here man. Marc's at superficies.

"Well?" Walter said to Kramer. "We're ready to act the very next time he d-jumps. If you're with us."