by Kate MacLeod
“Did you know?” she countered.
“No,” Tucker said. “No, I didn’t know you had anything. Malcolm figured out you must have taken what he was looking for. I mean, you were there when Ruth died, right?”
Scout said nothing, only nodded.
“I thought so. There were a lot of bodies down there,” he added, looking up at her through his lashes. She just stared at him stonily until he went on. “Malcolm was going to search you. Thoroughly. Do you follow? It wouldn’t have been pleasant.”
Scout barked out a humorless laugh, then turned away until she had blinked away the prickly feeling she wasn’t going to let become tears. “You had a more pleasant option, I guess.”
“It was the best I could do on short notice,” he said. “I mean, I was pretty sure just asking you wouldn’t have led to anything.”
Reggie was looking up at Scout, brows furrowed as he tried to guess what they were not quite saying. She raised her chin a bit to let him know she was all right, then turned back to Tucker.
“What was on the disks?” she asked.
“The one you got from Ruth had what Malcolm has been looking for for quite some time,” Tucker said. “Design specifications for the big gun and proof that the Space Farers are dismantling the magnetic shield.”
Scout blinked, this time in surprise. “Wait, what?”
“Which part?” Tucker asked.
“Both!” Scout said. “So you already knew they were taking down the shield? You acted like I was imagining conspiracies when I brought it up.”
“Malcolm suspected,” Tucker said. “But now we have proof. We can warn everyone. People down here have a right to know.”
“It will mean war,” Scout said. “More asteroids falling on cities.”
“Maybe not,” Tucker said.
“Because there’s a big gun?”
“A very big gun,” Tucker said, and this time when he took a step closer to her she didn’t step back, although she put clear warning in her eyes. “It’s a secret Planet Dweller project. It’s why the governor has been saying some of the things he’s been saying.”
“He’s trying to provoke a war?” Scout asked.
“I think he started shooting his mouth off too soon,” Tucker said. “The gun isn’t assembled yet, and it seems like the construction fell behind schedule. That’s why he’s been quieter lately.”
“I didn’t notice,” Scout said, but then she wouldn’t have. Up until six days ago she had never had much interest in politics. Now there was little else she could think about.
“He did, but he’s going to start ramping up again, I guarantee it.”
Scout felt a cold chill run up her spine. She looked back over her shoulder, past Reggie holding her dogs to the vast cavern beyond. “Is it . . . ?”
“You can’t see from up here, but if you went to the bottom you’d see an immense railway. Truly enormous; the rails are taller than Bente.”
“A railway to where?”
“It runs from the closest city, Jakart, to the mountain range to the north.”
“All underground?” Scout asked.
“It was part of the mines, once upon a time,” Tucker said. “It fell into disuse decades ago, but after the last war Malcolm heard rumors about its existence. Rumors of what the governor was now using it for.”
“What?” Scout asked.
“They are building a gun up in the mountains,” Tucker said. “They machine the parts in Jakart, then bring them north on the mining railway. They’re assembling it inside the tallest mountain, but the mouth of the gun is already aimed for the region of high atmosphere where the Space Farer space stations pass. Once it’s ready, they just have to fire. If they pick the right moment they can take out two-thirds of the population in space in one shot.”
“How do you know this?” Scout asked.
“They did the math. It’s all on the disk you’ve been carrying in your pocket,” Tucker said, then leaned closer to her ear. “You really had no idea?”
Scout pulled away from him. Was he testing her again? Was he still pumping her for yet more information?
“Hey,” he said, reading her thoughts off her face.
“What was on the other disk?” she demanded.
“Census data,” he said.
“Census data?” It sounded so dry, and yet his eyes were gleaming again. “That wasn’t from Ruth, it was from a different woman.”
“We know which one,” Tucker said. “Liv something, right? We’ve been watching her for some time.”
“It’s a shame she’s dead, I’m sure she’d have been gratified to know that,” Scout said with as much disdain as she could muster. “What good is census data?”
“It’s real,” Tucker said. “As opposed to fake, like the data the Space Farers have been sending the governor since the war. They’ve been inflating their numbers to demand a larger piece of the harvest.”
“Inflating.”
“Tripling.”
Scout gave a low whistle. “People have been going hungry to meet those quotas.”
“In case the magnetic shield thing isn’t excuse enough for war,” Tucker said.
“I don’t want war,” Scout said, and the smile dropped from his face.
“No one wants war,” he said.
“Really? You seem to.”
“That’s Malcolm.”
“You don’t want what Malcolm wants?” Scout demanded. “You seem pretty eager to do every little thing that Malcolm tells you to do.”
“I want justice,” he said, practically spitting the word out. “Don’t you? For your family?”
“War won’t bring them back,” Scout said. “It’s just going to destroy more families, and for what? Both sides are wrong here. You do see that, don’t you? Both sides are wrong.”
“Only one side dropped a rock on my family,” Tucker said. “And yours.”
Scout turned away from him, looking down at her dogs. Maybe she should want justice, but she didn’t. She just wanted to leave this whole world behind her.
“I need my belt,” Scout said, and Tucker blinked in surprise. “I can’t leave without it. Can you get it for me?”
“You can have it back,” Tucker said. “But why do you have to go? Why can’t you stay? You can help us fight for justice.”
“It sounds more like revenge to me,” Scout said.
“Maybe against the Space Farers it is,” Tucker admitted. “They had no call dropping those rocks. But our own government also needs to be held accountable. That gun they’re building, just like the others they built before, is technically illegal. It violates the agreement signed between the original colonists on the surface and the support crew up in space. We can hold them accountable. That’s justice.”
Scout had to admit he had a point. But she didn’t have to admit it out loud.
“Can’t you stay?” he pleaded again. “Stay with us.”
“No,” Scout said, blinking back another prickle in her eyes. “No, I can’t do that. I would never feel safe working with Malcolm. He’s really unstable.”
“Malcolm isn’t in charge,” Tucker said, trying to catch her elbow, but she twisted her arm out of his reach. “Listen—sorry you have to hear it this way, Reggie—he’s not going to be in charge here much longer. He is unstable. He might be okay again someday, but he can’t be in charge anymore, not now. Not with all this about to go down. He’s going to be replaced.”
Scout wondered if that was even remotely true, but she decided it wasn’t really the issue.
“Then there’s the matter of you,” Scout said. “No force in this galaxy would ever persuade me to trust you again.”
“I told you why I did everything I did,” Tucker said.
“I don’t believe you,” Scout said. “I think you do as you like and find reasons to explain it all away later, and I don’t want any part of it. I’m leaving.”
“You don’t know me yet,” Tucker insisted.
“I don’t
intend to, ever,” Scout said. “You can be as angry about that as you like, but I don’t owe you anything.” She turned back to Reggie. “The compound is back that way, past all those stalactites?”
Reggie nodded. “You’ll be behind the warehouse.”
“Thanks. Hold the dogs until I get back?”
He nodded again. Scout turned to brush past Tucker but he caught her upper arm and held her tightly, leaning so close to her ear his lips brushed against the outer curve.
“You felt something too. Don’t you owe yourself the chance to find out what it was?”
Scout scowled and tried to twist her arm free of his gasp. She could feel her face flushing and saw a look of triumph dawning on Tucker’s own face. She had felt something. That was the worst part. She would always remember that moment of perfect bliss. His betrayal had marred it but not destroyed it. Even now it called to her.
Tucker’s hand reached for her cheek. She supposed he intended to brush her hair back from her face, maybe to touch his fingertips to her cheekbone. To draw her closer.
Whatever he intended, he never got the chance. His hand snapped back and disappeared from view. Then Scout stumbled back as he doubled over, howling in pain. At first she couldn’t tell what was happening.
Then Joelle straightened up from where she was standing behind him, holding his arm locked at what looked like a painful angle up behind his own back. She jerked it up tighter and he fell to his knees.
“Sorry to interrupt,” Joelle said to Scout, “but don’t you have someplace to be?”
“Yes,” Scout said. “Yes, I do.”
20
Tucker tried to get back to his feet, but Joelle raised the pinned arm ever higher and he desisted with a squawk of pain. The corner of Joelle’s mouth curled up in a self-satisfied grin. He was very much at her mercy. The bare muscles of her arms hardly even tensed as she kept him on his knees.
“Jo,” Reggie said, “she needs her belt before she can go.”
“I need that belt or I can’t go,” Scout corrected.
Joelle nodded, but her face was grim. “It’s with Ken, not my father. Ken will give it to you, but you can’t let my father see you. We’ve been doing everything we can to keep him focused on the data you were carrying, but sooner or later he’s going to remember he wanted to do a full interrogation. You have to be gone before then.”
“I will be,” Scout said. “I’m sorry if I misjudged you.”
“You thought I was the ‘just following orders’ type?” Joelle asked.
“Well, yeah,” Scout said. “I mean, he’s your dad.”
“I’m loyal to my cause,” Joelle said. “I’m still loyal to my cause. But my father . . .” She trailed off, looking at Reggie still hugging the dogs. “My father needs a break,” she finished. Not, Scout sensed, the way she had intended to. “Reggie, you need to get back before you’re supposed to be waking up. You’re running out of time.”
“But the dogs,” Reggie said.
“Hold on,” Joelle said, and Tucker gave another hiss of pain as she shifted her hold on him, then forced him to the ground. She kept a knee on his back as she took a tie from her belt pouch and cinched it around his wrists a bit more snugly than Scout would have done.
“What happens to Tucker?” Scout asked despite herself. Joelle raised an eyebrow as she took hold of the dogs’ collars without getting off of Tucker’s back. “I mean, if your father is stepping down—”
“Tucker is mine now,” Joelle said, the corner of her mouth curling up once more.
Scout wouldn’t trade places with Tucker for all the riches in the galaxy.
“Come on,” Reggie said, “this way.”
“See you in a few,” Scout said, and Joelle gave a nod.
“She’s really mad,” Reggie whispered to Scout as they wound their way through the maze of stalactites.
“If what you say about Tucker sowing discord between her and your father is true, and she knows about it, I can see why,” Scout said.
“Discord,” Reggie said wonderingly. “Nice word.”
Beyond the stalactites was a very narrow tunnel that twisted just at the end before it slipped out into the open space at the bottom of the ramp that led up to the top of the ridge. Scout wasn’t surprised she hadn’t noticed it before. Even knowing it was there it was hard to spot.
The first light of dawn was filling the bottom of the ramp with a gray light. She didn’t have much time.
“Come on,” Reggie said, leading the way back to the warehouse. Scout saw no sign of the door to the cell she had been trapped in. She wasn’t even sure what side of the warehouse it would come off of; the natural chambers she had passed through to get back up here had been so irregular in shape and nearly stacked on top of each other her sense of direction had no hope of compensating.
Reggie stopped at the refrigeration units. “The stairs to the dorms is over there,” he said, pointing to a dark corner of the warehouse.
“I can take it from here,” Scout told him. “Your sister said Ken had my belt.”
“Either he’s fixing something out in the yard with Bente or he’s working on one of the computers in the equipment room.”
“Probably the latter if he’s working on my stolen data,” Scout guessed. “Thanks for all the help. You’re a good kid. I hope your dad turns out okay in the end.”
“Me too,” Reggie said, although he sounded miserable, like he didn’t quite believe his father would be okay. “Maybe I should get a dog for him, do you think?”
“Dogs are very good for calming angry or scared thoughts,” Scout said from perhaps more experience than she would like to admit. “A dog would definitely be good for you. And there’s no such thing as having too many dogs.”
Reggie gave her a genuine smile, then dug into his pocket to fetch the plastic whistle and pressed it into her hand. “You might need to use this again.”
“Thanks,” Scout said. He grinned again, then turned to run up the stairs. She watched until she saw his body outlined by the lantern still in his hands disappear down the hallway at the top of the stairs, then stepped past the refrigeration units to peek into the kitchen. Empty. She tiptoed across to the hallway that ran between the offices.
She could hear voices. She pressed her back against the wall and took a quick darting glance around the corner into the hallway. Two of the office windows were lit up, but the voices were all coming from the one on the left. She could hear the deep rumble of Malcolm’s voice, the occasional quieter tones of Arvid, and a third voice that sounded downright robotic.
Scout leaned into the hallway again. The door to the office on the right was open, but she was pretty sure it was empty. The door on the left was closed. If she stayed low and quiet she should be able to slip past.
Scout crept down the hallway, only dropping to her hands and knees when she approached the lit-up window. The voices were still muffled by the closed door. When Arvid spoke she couldn’t make out a word, but Malcolm was growing angry and speaking more loudly, something about the big gun and the stations up in space and time being short.
The other voice, the robotic one, was coming through speakers turned up loudly enough to make the door handle rattle as it vibrated with the deep bass.
“This is well in hand, Malcolm,” the voice said. “Your further interference is not needed.”
“Interference?” There was a bang, like a fist on the metal surface of a desk.
“Do not forget yourself, Malcolm,” the voice said. “You have your place and I have mine. I see a bigger picture than you do. You will do as you’re told.”
Scout was desperately tempted to peek through the glass, but that was far too risky. She had a hunch that whoever was communicating with Malcolm was scrambling their voice and, if they were on videophone, their image as well. Did not even Malcolm know who he was taking orders from?
“This could all be over—” Malcolm said, but the voice interrupted.
“Now is not the tim
e. Do not forget, we have people in space. There is no call to sacrifice them without cause.”
Then Arvid spoke again, too softly for Scout to hear, and she crept on, past the window to the equipment room.
Where Ken crouched, watching her approach on all fours.
“Hey,” he said. “Joelle tells me you’re here for the belt.”
“Joelle tells you?”
Ken held up his wrist so she could see the screen strapped there. “Since that little communications mishap with Bente and I not getting Tucker’s message on time, we all have communicators now.”
“Okay,” Scout said, getting to her feet. “The belt?”
“Here it is,” Ken said, holding it out for her. “I’m afraid the gun is missing. Malcolm has it in his office. I’m sorry, this is all my fault. I sure hope you don’t intend a drastic rescue of your gun.”
“No,” Scout said, buckling the belt around her waist.
“Because I can give you another gun if you want. Not so shiny, maybe.”
“I’m good,” Scout said, tapping her palm on the tablet. “I have what I need.”
“Oh, good,” Ken said with a wide grin. “I was afraid I was going to have to talk you out of being crazy. And hey, sorry for driving you into the canyon wall last night.”
“I’m not sure I’m quite at ‘forgive and forget’ just yet,” Scout admitted. “But if you can settle for no hard feelings? Provided, of course, our paths don’t cross again.”
“Good enough for me,” Ken said, putting out a hand.
She hesitated but gave it a shake. “One last thing,” she said, and the smile melted from his face. “The data disks?”
“You still want those?” Ken said.
“I think so, yeah.”
Ken turned back to the computer console and searched through a random collection of protein bar wrappers and empty mugs before he found first one and then the other.
“You know we already have all of it on our computer systems,” he said. “And it’s been beamed to command, probably even into space.”