by Terry Mixon
Compact screens kept the atmosphere from creating much drag, so it could go as fast as many atmospheric interceptors. She’d never been aboard when that kind of speed was necessary, but her pilot had confided to her that it was a rush to fly so fast.
Her personal guards and Mertz’s marines postured at one another, but got into the car without any actual trouble. She sat across from him as they rose into the air and headed for the city.
“We’ll land directly on the roof of the hospital,” she said. “I suspected we’d be coming, so I made arrangements to go right in.”
“How many people died after they arrived?”
“Many were badly injured,” she said with some sympathy. “We did what we could, but several dozen died anyway. We have their bodies ready to go back with you. I assume you know how many people we have in custody.”
He nodded. “We recovered the bodies after the battle and know who wasn’t there. We’ll do an identification on everyone as they come back. If someone remains unaccounted for, there will be questions.”
“Understandable. We have implant recordings of them coming off the cutters. Your experts will be able to tell that we haven’t tampered with the vids. We won’t be keeping any of your people from you. Again, you have my word.”
She watched him look out over the city and let the silence grow longer. She could see how he took in the vast sprawl of the city. Her suspicions grew as she watched how he reacted. It was as though he’d never seen an urban center this large.
The air car made good time to the hospital. Her driver had no doubt called ahead to clear the way. And, even though most people would probably never notice them, there were other cars keeping pace with them, just in case there was trouble.
The car landed on the roof long enough for the passengers to exit, then it flew away. It would circle until she called for it. She led Admiral Mertz into the busy facility. A trio of doctors in white coats met them just inside.
One stepped forward and bowed. “Coordinator West, I’m Doctor Janice Hauptman, head of the surgical department at Adams Memorial. These are my associates, Doctors Mather and Jimenez. We’ve been overseeing the treatment of our guests.”
Olivia bowed slightly in return. “Doctors. This is Fleet Admiral Jared Mertz. I’ll defer to him about what to see.”
Mertz extended a hand. “Doctors. Thank you for your care of my people. Might I inquire about who they are and their condition?”
“Of course,” Doctor Hauptman said. “We tried to get some medical information from those who could talk, but they were uniformly uninformative. Most gave us a name and serial number. Nothing more. Here is a list.”
Mertz took the tablet from her and scanned the list. “You have several without names. I assume that’s because they’re too injured to speak?”
Hauptman nodded. “Yes. Three of them have been unconscious since they arrived. They are in critical condition, even with full support. I’m guardedly optimistic about two of them making some kind of recovery. The third is still too injured to know.”
He nodded, his expression somber. “If you don’t mind, I’d like to see them first. I might be able to provide their names for you.”
They traveled as a group to the intensive care ward. The first woman was so heavily bandaged that Olivia couldn’t clearly make out her face. She lay in a bed surrounded with life support machines. Tubes and wires crisscrossed her body.
“Why can’t you regenerate her,” she asked Doctor Hauptman.
“Her injuries are so severe that she’s been through six brief sessions in the regenerator. I’m hopeful that she will be strong enough for a longer stint tomorrow. If we can get her to the point she can tolerate full-time treatment, she’ll make it.”
Mertz turned to them. “This is Petty Officer Margret Powers. Do you think she’ll recover?”
Doctor Hauptman nodded. “I do. As will the young man beside her.”
They turned to another young person in much the same condition. Mertz identified him as Able Spacer Thomas Rinaldi.
Doctor Hauptman showed them to a third ward. “This gentleman is in the worst condition. He’d lost his legs prior to arrival and suffered a tremendous amount of internal damage. Frankly, I’m astonished he survived the trip down from orbit. His life or death is almost out of my hands. All we can do is care for him as best we can while his body decides whether to live or die.”
Mertz stared at the man for a long time. “His name is Paul Cooley.”
Chapter Fifteen
Kelsey watched the city pass slowly beneath William’s air car. It had an air of decay about it. Few of the buildings were clean, and some even looked abandoned. It had few of the mega structures that she’d seen in the vids of Terra.
And even though she had no evidence to base her suspicions on, she thought it had been this way even before the AI attacked the planet.
After a few minutes, she turned her attention to the Rebel Empire nobleman. “If you don’t mind my asking, what was behind the suppression on Harrison’s World? I know the basic facts, but what specific events occurred?”
He leaned back in his seat and looked at her with a thoughtful expression. “I’m not privy to all the details, mind you, but I know the general outline. The system lord discovered a movement afoot to usurp its rule. To say that it reacted strongly, well, that’s self-evident.”
“So I’d heard. But, how could it know what was going on down here on Harrison’s World? Boxer Station is not close by and an AI isn’t capable of dropping in for a visit.”
“The Lord had its ways of observing the general populace. It was plugged into every computer system on the planet, I’m sure. It must’ve heard something it didn’t like. I’d imagine that it used persons of proven loyalty to verify everything. That’s all supposition, of course. I have no idea of what really happened. Olivia would know more.”
“It seems like it could’ve used those loyalists to take the conspirators into custody,” Kelsey said. “It’s a huge jump to bombarding the planet.”
He nodded. “It was quite shocking. We haven’t even begun to recover. The Lord obliterated the capital and every spaceport. Unfortunately, those also had large cities around them. We lost more than a third of our population in that one afternoon.”
Kelsey could see the pain he felt clearly written on his face. “You must’ve lost so many friends. I’m sorry.”
William smiled wanly. “You didn’t do anything. The Lord made the decision.” He took a deep breath. “In any case, what’s done is done. Tell me what you think of the city?”
She scrunched her face a little. “It seems as though it could use a good washing. Sorry.”
“Plainly stated, but true. A decade ago, this was the largest manufacturing center on the planet. Mostly run by the middle orders and staffed by the lower. They didn’t have to keep things in the most pristine condition. Functional was the byword. We still haven’t recovered enough to begin making progress on it.”
“It must’ve been quite a challenge to turn it into the capital of the planet.”
He snorted. “You have no idea. My fellow lords never had to directly rule over the common people. They had an entire bureaucracy in the old capital that carried out their instructions and shielded them from any distasteful contact with the grubby merchants and workers. Or, heaven forbid, the criminal elements.
“My family came from the merchant classes of the Empire before the revolution. We still have many connections to that kind of people. That spared us the devastation the other ruling families suffered. Their estates were centered around the old capital. Ours was here.”
He gestured at the cityscape flowing past his elegant vehicle. “This city is not a haven for the higher orders. These people blame us as much as they do the system lord. After all, they don’t know about our AI leaders.”
She thought she heard a mocking undertone to that last, but she wasn’t sure. Perhaps he wasn’t enamored with a machine ruling him.
“Where would you suggest we go first?”
He pursed his lips. “I can think of a number of interesting places.”
“Dealer’s choice. You have some assumptions about what kind of person I am. Surprise me.”
William smiled. “I know just the place.”
* * * * *
Abigail barely noticed as Nelson unstrapped the prisoner that they’d just finished questioning. The first woman had cracked, but she’d held out far longer than Abigail had anticipated. And then there’d been the need to verify the tall tale she’d told. With three others telling the same basic story, Abigail had to believe it was true.
Horrifying, but true.
These people were nothing but puffed up pirates from a planet the Imperial lords had missed during the revolution. Or perhaps not so puffed up. They’d eliminated the system lord. And they controlled the bombardment weapons in orbit. She had no idea what their ultimate goal truly was.
Well, she could find out from “Admiral” Mertz. He’d tell her everything she wanted to know, if she could get her hands on him.
Abigail smiled. This also sealed Olivia’s doom. She was conspiring with rebel scum. That wouldn’t be too hard to spin into a death sentence. It virtually assured Abigail the coordinator’s seat and the restoration of power for the conservative alliance.
She gestured for the guards to take the prisoner away. “Put him with the others. See that they’re fed and given any mandatory medical care. These people might very well be important witnesses to a very despicable crime.”
The plan for killing them was no longer required, of course. She didn’t need to cause a split between Olivia and Mertz. She didn’t want to. Unseating Olivia would now take a very different form.
She strode back out to her vehicle, sending the driver scrambling to open the door for her. “Calder Consortium. Now.”
Her vehicle took off and curved toward the city. Once she’d had a chance to speak with Master Calder, she could make her move against Olivia without any fear of damaging her own standing.
She allowed herself a luxurious stretch and grinned. Life was looking very good.
* * * * *
The sight of the remaining patients pained Jared. These brave men and women had grievous injuries that would take months to recover from. Injuries that hadn’t needed to happen. The list of crimes Breckenridge had to answer for kept getting longer and longer.
Coordinator West sent all of the injured except for the three in intensive care to join the rest of the prisoners going back to Invincible. The remaining three weren’t stable enough to move. A final vehicle transported the dead. Fleet would eventually lay them to rest at the Spire.
The thought of all the bodies that had to fill the ships in the graveyard made him despair a little. The Empire would need to expand the Fleet burial ground many times over to allow room for the millions of heroes waiting to go home. Just recovering them would be a gargantuan undertaking.
Olivia seemed subdued as they waited for her car on the roof. “I’d read about their injuries, but that isn’t the same thing as seeing them. I can only imagine the events that hurt them.”
He gave the woman a small headshake. “I’m afraid you can’t begin to understand them. These are the people that survived. All told, thousands died. Not unlike those who perished when the system lord obliterated so many cities, I suspect. That’s something I can’t grasp.”
The air car settled in front of them and they all boarded. It rose and headed for the ocean.
Olivia gazed at him quietly for a minute before sighing. “We must avoid anything like that going forward. I’m taking you to see the rest of your people, but I want you to understand that I’m doing everything I can to get them released as soon as possible. If you try to send your forces after them, there are weapons that can destroy your small craft. That would prompt a stronger response from you. I beg you, let’s take this slowly.”
“I’ve sent too many people to their deaths recently,” he said. “I’d much prefer to let this situation resolve itself. I appreciate your courtesy.”
The air car flew out over the bay, giving him an excellent view of the many ships and small craft on the water. Almost all of them seemed to be purely oceangoing.
He pointed at a large container ship. “That isn’t a grav craft.”
Olivia looked at it for a moment and nodded. “No. Most bulk cargo still moves via water. Why waste the energy to move something by air when it’s more cost effective to go slowly? The economy itself dictates what works best.”
“I looked over the maps of this area shortly after we knew which city we were coming to,” he said. “There are a number of populated islands not too far away, aren’t there?”
“Indeed, though most of these ships come from more distant ports. The global trade is still intact, thank goodness. Harrison’s World is slowly getting back on its feet. Look over to the left. See that island port? We’ll land there so you can see how this works from the ground level. The camp where your people are is on the same island. We can walk from the port to the camp.”
Jared examined the port more closely as she instructed the driver where to go. It seemed to have an unending stream of large ships unloading bulky containers. Vast fields of them were stacked high in the interior of the island.
The other side of the landmass captured more of his attention when he realized it must be where his people were. A number of low buildings sat inside a fence. Small air ships circled above the area, no doubt on the lookout for potential escapees. He was just close enough to see small groups of prisoners. His people.
The air car came down on a flat pad that seemed designed for loading containers into flatbed grav haulers. A number of them were doing so nearby.
He suspected that this pad was supposed to be in use, too, based on the man stalking toward them. He wore a faded yellow hardhat and a deep scowl with equal ease.
The scowl fled when one of the coordinator’s guards got out to speak with him. In fact, he became quite a bit more accommodating. The remainder of the guards climbed out before Jared and Olivia exited the vehicle. His marines brought up the rear.
Her air car took off and allowed another with even more guards to land. Those men and women spread out around them in a close circle.
Jared had seen the Imperial Guard do the same when the emperor went somewhere with crowds.
Many of the workers stopped what they were doing to gawk. Coordinator West took that in stride, barely seeming to notice them. Her guards saw them, but only as potential threats.
That left him time to look at them as people. Perhaps that’s why he saw the man staring at him in obvious surprise.
Of course, Jared was equally shocked, though he suppressed the expression before it made it to his face. The last person he’d expected to see loading a container onto a grav lifter was Commander Sean Meyer.
* * * * *
Sean locked eyes with Jared Mertz long enough to see the recognition flare in the man’s eyes. He was dressed in an admiral’s uniform and traveling with someone important. A powerful woman with dark hair in an impeccable suit. Guards surrounded both of them.
The woman and Mertz exchanged some words. He started over toward Sean. Well, this was going to be interesting.
Mertz stopped beside him. “Pardon the interruption, but could you explain how this works?”
Sean bowed as he’d seen the foreman do with other important visitors. “I’d be happy to explain the process, sir. If you’ll step this way, I’ll show you where it starts.”
He lowered his voice. “Well, this is the last place I’d have expected to see you. Does this mean we’re going to get out of here soon?”
“I hope so,” Mertz said softly. “And how the hell did you escape the prison camp?”
“We found an unguarded access tunnel and some of the marines are good at making friends. We even have some people on shore looking for a way to get everyone to the spaceport, just in case we have to make our
own travel arrangements.”
“You’re very resourceful, Sean.” His tone was admiring. “You might as well call them back. There are no spaceports. The AIs had this planet on lockdown. It blew the capital and spaceports just like they did during the rebellion.”
Mertz put his hands on his waist for a moment before raising his voice. “Tell me about how the ships are unloaded.”
Sean gestured toward the ships nearest the dock. “Each of these comes in and is assigned a docking time. The large cranes unload it and place the containers into the stacks. Each has a number that the supervisors keep track of. Based on things like the perishability of the cargo, the need for faster delivery, and other priority factors, each is loaded onto these grav lifts for transport to shore.”
“And once there, the lifts take them to other cities and so forth?”
Mertz shielded them with his body and slipped Sean his com.
Sean pocketed it and shook his head. “No, sir. Grav trains take cargo to the more distant locations. These lifts only deliver the containers to a facility similar to this on the shore. Workers there see them on their way.”
Mertz frowned. “Then why not just unload them there in the first place?”
Sean had wondered the very same thing. “The yard on shore is too small. With all of the extra cargo coming through this bay, it was easier to use the island to get all the ships unloaded. The grav lifts serve the shore port and a number of train yards. I should’ve said that up front. Sorry.”
“I hope you can get back into the camp quickly,” Mertz said softly. “We’re on our way there now. Coordinator West probably didn’t get a good look at you, but you’d best change your appearance some. A hat, shave, etc.”
Sean had been cultivating his stubble to blend in. That would be an easy fix. That and a hat would hopefully be good enough.
Mertz shook Sean’s hand. “I think I’ve got it. I appreciate you taking the time to explain it to me.”