"Camelot is under my law, but is autonomous to a degree. Something about which I am having second thoughts. I intend to make it clear to my peers that if Camelot does not find other ways of supporting itself within a reasonable time frame, I shall cut them loose to go their own way, completely independent of us. Is there anything in this judgment that is unclear?" Heather asked, looking between the two of them.
"No, Ma'am," Bruce found his voice and spoke up clearly.
"We thank you for your judgment," Hannes said politely.
"I'm the only We here," Heather warned him, "but I take your meaning," She looked away dismissively, done with them.
"You there, on the bench. Whoever has a gripe step up to the carpet and let's get on with it," Heather said sharply, not speaking through Dakota.
The one left alone on his bench stood, looking worried. "Ma'am, I've decided to not pursue a formal judgment. I'm going to the cafeteria, and if these other folks will join me to discuss our differences that would sure be welcome. I think we could work something out." He'd lost his scowl.
"That's an excellent idea," one of the other group said, standing. "Our Lady has heard enough foolishness today. Let's not try her patience with this." They all left together, hurrying, before she took an interest.
"Court is adjourned," Dakota called after them. She didn't bother to take the carpet.
Chapter 22
"I feel so bad for the people," April said, looking at the screen. It was an overhead view from an Indian satellite service. This wasn't something North America would want broadcast.
Jeff had mixed feeling about that. He realized he wasn't as nice as April. He held it against the North Americans that they didn't kick the scoundrels out and take charge of their own lives again. Hadn't the people of Home done that? But part of him admitted their cost would be higher. Not that Home might not have lost everything. They'd shot nukes at Home, back in the war. Still, he was cautious of her feelings in his reply.
"The refugees?"
"Yes, they look just like the video of others I've seen. Well, films for some of the real old ones. I guess they didn't have video back in WWII."
"No, and most everything we've got is transferred," Jeff mused. "There was probably lots lost because film got brittle and discolored and stuff. It went bad, and was costly enough to store that short sighted people just threw history in the trash. Some of the early video on tape wasn't much better."
"Chen tells me there are mainly three separate committees claiming authority to govern North America," April said, waving her pad to indicate her source. "Two new ones, and a few smaller regional groups that aren't going anywhere if they don't attach to one of the big ones. But none of them have a consolidated territory. The military are mostly hunkered down in their bases, trying to avoid direct conflict. Except in DC. Everybody wants to control the Capitol, even though anybody in their right mind has fled the fighting and nothing is functioning. Most of the civilian population, including all the people that staff the agencies, headed to Maryland if they were on that side, or for points south, even if they had to swing west through Virginia."
"The smart ones see winter is coming," Jeff said. "Last winter was tough enough with power outages and short supplies. If you have no job to hold you, time to go where you won't freeze to death if it's worse this year. Even if you have to walk."
There were columns of refugees walking along the shoulders of the expressways. Local police had given up trying to stop them. Now they just wanted then to keep moving on. They were trying to keep them from blocking or looting traffic. Truckers were ignoring the ones that climbed on top of flatbeds and clung to tankers as long as they didn't cut tarps or mess with the hardware. If you chased them off you had new aboard as soon as you climbed in the cab.
There were impromptu camps near some of the truck stops and exchanges, except where it was inside a town that forced them to move on. Some stopped because they or family were sick or exhausted. Some stayed the night or a few days and moved on. Some just gave up and quit wherever they were. Security to keep them out of the truck stops and fueling centers or nearby towns became a major expense and source of conflict. People carried what they could, draped it on bikes, and not a few piled it in grocery store carts, which proved surprisingly durable.
Some of the smarter migrants could be seen following railroad tracks or power line right-of-ways. Those were more self reliant sorts who didn't need the supplies to be had along major roads and could protect themselves from those preying on travelers.
From as far away as the Twin Cities and Pittsburgh people anywhere near the Mississippi or its tributaries turned previous pleasure craft into vessels of escape, whether theirs or not. There were canoes, kayaks and less probable things such as homemade rafts on drums or plastic jugs. There was little fuel to be had and most had homemade paddles and oars even if they hadn't discarded their motors. They covered the water by day, and the sensible ones tied up at night to avoid collisions with big boats.
The authorities of every flavor and faction discouraged this migration. They fed a steady diet of horror stories to those who still had media access even if just a pad or phone. They warned life on the road was hard and dangerous. A charge on their phone was something a lot of refugees valued over food or shelter for the night.
"It's hard knowing there isn't much I can do for any of them," April said.
"You have a rescue complex. It's sweet. It's one of the things I like about you," Jeff was quick to add. "But you got Gunny and the lieutenants up here. You certainly influenced Papa-san to come, and Don Adams off ISSII. I think you're doing pretty well. And they have all adapted."
April gave a curt nod of acknowledgement, but she wasn't really satisfied. Her pad gave a ping.
"I'm changing the feed back to DC," April said. "Chen says the Sons of Liberty and God's Warriors merged and are pushing the Patriot Party out of DC. He said to watch it in the infrared. You can see the armor doing a scissors north and south on the beltway and the Patriots aren't just being pushed out the gap to the west – they are flat out being overrun."
"Before you go, how many people are migrating?" April asked Chen. Do you have an estimate?"
"Somewhere around three hundred thousand. Most are in the east. We see very little movement in the western states. Almost no people walking, like in the east."
"That's all? I thought it would be millions," April protested. She related the numbers to Jeff.
"This has happened before," Jeff assured her. "In the 1930s almost that many left the plains states just for California alone, when there was a drought and economic depression. Lots more went to other states, but the California migration of 'Okies' was documented in popular books and motion pictures."
"If it's that few why isn't the government helping people?" April asked Jeff indignantly.
"April...Just like in the 30s, government is causing it, more than helping anybody. It's a symptom of failed policies. Again, your heart is in the right place, but it is their problem to solve. We can't stick our nose in it and we would be unwelcome to even comment on it."
April just looked stunned trying to absorb that, and was quiet a long time while they watched.
It wasn't from any particular animus or disrespect that they had popcorn while they watched it unfold. Dinner was light and April had promised it. The collapse of armed resistance in DC was easy to read in the satellite view. The leading edge of armor showed as a hot line of dots in the infrared, and flowed across the remaining west half of DC in an hour, leaving smoldering hot spots behind.
"Are they going to pursue them to the west and mop up, or will they establish a perimeter and hold it?" April wondered.
As if to answer her three hot sparks flared simultaneously over DC and very briefly overwhelmed the camera. But they faded quickly.
"What's that?" April demanded. "It was so bright I thought it was a nuke at first, well, nukes, but it didn't spread out in a big mushroom cloud and block the view like yours d
id in China."
"I don't want to say and sound stupid. If it's what I think, Chen will know and tell us pretty quickly."
April looked at Jeff funny. He seemed really upset. He'd barely squeaked that out, like it was hard to say. She just kept quiet rather than upset him more.
It was almost four minutes before her pad dinged and she read Chen's message.
"The Patriots used enhanced radiation weapons over DC after losing the city core."
"You weren't stupid," April assured him. "Somebody else was stupid."
"Now I really do feel sorry for the people down there," Jeff admitted.
"Why would they do that?" April asked.
"I'm not sure if this is what you are asking, but it preserves all the buildings and museums and monuments. It's a statement from the Patriots that they value all that and identify themselves as a legitimate continuation of government. And a statement they intend to return and reclaim it. The worst it might do to the city is bust a few windows. But it's a terrible way to die."
On the screen it washed out in a massive white flash, and the view was blocked this time by the expected mushroom cloud when the glow died away.
"Well, somebody else had the final word," April said.
April and Jeff stayed up until they were exhausted, worried it could spread and worsen, but the conflict didn't escalate.
* * *
In the morning Jeff started looking at the news feeds and satellite views as soon as he stumbled out. April decided she needed coffee at a minimum to face reality. The odor of brewing coffee was filling the apartment before he reported: "The new alliance seems to be in control. But they are blaming the Patriots for destroying Washington, and 'the nation's precious heritage'."
"Oh baloney. They killed all the forces that had just pushed them out," April insisted. "Any fool could see that. But there wasn't any reason to do the second nuking on top of the first."
"But I can guarantee the public down there will never be shown the sat feeds we saw. I can kind of see it. They denied the Patriots a chance to look good to a lot of people," Jeff said.
"But, they killed their own forces than had just swept across Washington!" April objected.
"Yes, that would look really ugly, if the public ever was convinced. Although by that time it was a mercy killing. They were dead men standing. But anybody who claims it will be ridiculed and labeled a conspiracy theorist. Video is so easy to fake now that revealing the recordings would be pointless."
When April looked at him with obvious skepticism Jeff added: "And we'd be the last people they would believe. We're thoroughly discredited with the public."
It seemed from her scowl April would argue with him, and Jeff was braced for it. He expected her to argue it was their duty to reveal the truth.
But all she said was, "I'm going to have some scrambled eggs, want some?"
"Please," he said, thankfully. It was nice having the place to just the two of them. Not that he didn't like Gunny, the man was a solid friend, but he couldn't relax with April if he had to worry about Gunny showing up. Gunny seemed to relax on vacation just fine, but when they got home it was all back to business, including some North American formality. Maybe that would ease with time.
Both of them had other things to do. Neither paid those things any attention, following the news reports all day long in horror. The force lost at the capitol broke the Patriots, and a wave of undecided military pledged to the new coalition. By late afternoon the outcome was certain.
"They declared a new capitol at Vancouver," April called from the couch. It was Jeff's turn in the kitchen and he was heating some stew.
"The one in Canada or the one in Washington?" Jeff asked.
"Isn't it all one big metro area sprawled across the old border?" April asked.
"No, there another down by Portland, just across the river."
April tapped on her pad and looked. "Huh! And there's a Detroit, an Albany and a Dallas to the south too. Didn't these people have any imagination at all? It's confusing having so many."
"What can I say? Heather decided to recycle Camelot for the Chinese base."
"Yeah, never thought about it that way. New rule," April decreed. "One city name per planet."
"You'll have to take that up with the sovereign," Jeff said neutrally.
"I need to visit," April agreed. "I can't get her to come here and I miss her."
"I'd be happy to join you. There isn't anything I can't handle on com. I miss her too."
"The head of the new government is making a statement," April said.
"Don't bother to turn it up for me," Jeff said.
"Summary then," April said, "Blah, blah, historic, blah, blah, heroic, blah, blah...Oh crap. He just declared the actions of the previous regime are void and they never left being in a state of war with us."
"That is...unfortunate," Jeff said calmly. "I wonder if he has fully considered all the consequences of that stance?"
April looked at Jeff, paused with a bowl in his hand. Seemingly staring off in space. His demeanor was as icy as his voice.
"Hey, remember what you said to me about chilling, because I know I'm not powerless? You're not going to do something crazy are you?" Inside his clear spex his eyes didn't seem to be active. That was a good sign. He wasn't assigning targets...
"Not at all. Just thinking. Trying to look at it differently, not just the balance of physical forces, but as a social problem as you've been teaching me."
"Glad I can help," April agreed. "How is the stew coming?"
"You don't have to distract me. I'm quite calm, and the stew is hot." He brought a bowl in each hand to the couch and served her at the low stone table.
"I believe they need something external for the population to fixate upon. An external enemy is always a good bet as a distraction to rally the people and make them ignore other things," Jeff decided. "If we act belligerently I suspect it will just play into their hands. They will say – 'See? Their behavior confirms our worst fears.' If we refuse to react, and force them to prosecute their war...What shall they do? They have little ability now to project force even to LEO, much less trans-lunar. We just acknowledge there is nothing we can do to hinder them from making silly declarations, but like a toddler having a tantrum one can simply ignore it."
"Sounds reasonable to me," April said. "Now how do we get the rest of Home to agree?"
"You call Jon and Eddie. I'll call Muños and Chen. Start a com tree branching and take control of it before it gets away from us," he said, and sat his stew back on the table in front of him and started working his pad.
It was two hours before Jeff sighed, put his pad down and picked up the bowl again. He tried a spoonful of cold stew and made a face.
"Don't eat that awful stuff. I'll go warm it up for us," April insisted.
"Muños is calling an Assembly," Jeff said. "He announced it for 1400 tomorrow."
"He'd have to," April said. "He'd be swamped with demands to call one if he hadn't."
"He was swamped," Jeff said. "A fair number of people wanted an Assembly tonight. But he refused to move it up. That undoubtedly saved us a lot of grief. All the hot heads would have been eager to declare war right back, and do something. With more than half the population on Main Shift tired and ready to go to bed. Or worse, awakened by a priority alarm, they might have been pushed into doing that. By the morning everybody will see that we may have been told we are at war, but there is no immediate attack. After everybody has had a chance to see nothing bad is happening right away, and they have some lunch and their blood sugar is at a reasonable level – we can all talk."
"If you speak, what are you going to say?" April demanded.
"I'll let Muños speak first, and Jon if he has anything to say. Muños is like our senior statesman, and Jon also has a lot of respect. I'm still seen as a hothead by some, and I still suffer from looking young. Muños is looking more middle aged now, but I suspect most folks are like me. If I close my eyes I see Mu�
�os the way he looked two years ago. Like somebody's benevolent grandfather. If they can control the mob mentality I'd be just as happy not to say anything."
Jeff ate a little more stew and thought about it. "But if I get a chance I'll put forward a proposal for our housing project. Especially if I see Muños wants to close out the discussion about war and move on to something else. It'll keep somebody from trying to open it back up after a vote if we've moved on to something else."
April's pad gave a beep and she examined it. It had a site that tripped five key words. That was enough to trigger a notice to her. She routed it to the wall display, and had it back up to the start. Jeff watched with interest. The banner at the bottom identified James Stuckey as a member of the Executive Committee. He was in uniform, but what branch and rank April couldn't tell. The newsperson was in shirtsleeves, a format that was revived recently to project a sense of urgency. The idea apparently being that he'd rushed to the camera without time to put his jacket on.
"This isn't the head of the committee who was talking earlier," April told Jeff. "I'm not sure if the lesser members have special titles."
"Why pursue conflict with any of the space powers?" The anchor was asking. "Don't we have enough right here to keep us busy without looking abroad?"
"Because, John, those space powers have never entirely let off from their conflict with us. We were dismayed to find the previous administration covered up such acts in a cowardly fashion. There was an incident in which Home attacked and destroyed several military satellites shortly before they removed themselves to translunar space. These were manned stations. They killed personnel, and even took one of our officers prisoner. Then conducted a mock murder trial of him for their propaganda purposes."
They Said It Would Be Easy (April Book 7) Page 31