A Day for Damnation twatc-2

by David Gerrold

  I stopped and looked at the herd speculatively. There was something else here-something still beyond my ability to comprehend, let alone communicate. I frowned....

  Fletcher followed my gaze. She asked quietly, "Are you thinking about your father? Do you still think he's alive? In the herd?"

  Her question brought me back to Earth. I looked at the thought for a long moment. And then I shook my head. "No. I can't imagine my father giving up his power of reason-not for this. It's-easier to imagine him dead." I turned to her. I felt remarkably complete. "I can believe it now. Thank you."

  Fletcher touched my cheek. "I know it was a shock, Jim. It's good that you're-" She saw something past my shoulder and her face hardened abruptly.

  I turned to see a tall, broad-shouldered man approaching us. He was naked, and he had a chest like a wall. He was muscled like a bull. His skin was sun-darkened and the sweat glistened on his body. He was a stallion. A bull. His eyes were bright-he had a very direct look on his face. He also had a startling erection, impossible to ignore.

  "Isn't that your missing scientist-?" I started to ask, but Fletcher pushed me aside quickly.

  She stepped forward, baring her teeth at the bull, and growled deep in her throat.

  He hesitated. She growled again. The bull began to lose his bullishness.

  Fletcher began to punctuate her growls with angry grunts. The bull backed away before her anger. She bared her teeth and shouted, "Na-na-na-na!" The bull turned and retreated hastily.

  I looked at her. I started to say, "That's very effective-" but her expression was ashen. "What's the matter?"

  "Nothing," she said.

  "Bullshit," I said. "You're a lousy liar."

  She tried to wave me away-but I grabbed her arm. "Hey- you're not fooling anybody."

  She yanked her arm free and turned away from me. She put her hands to her eyes and her shoulders shook for a moment. She fumbled for her handkerchief. She turned back to me, wiping at her eyes. "We used to be lovers," she admitted. "I uh-still have trouble seeing him like this. Especially... when he does that. I'm sorry."

  I didn't know what to say, so I didn't say anything. I took her hand and led her back to the jeep. We climbed in, but she didn't start the engine. "That's why you're so interested in the herd, aren't you?"

  She nodded. "I want to make sure that he's all right. I-owe him that."

  "And ... ?" I prompted.

  She let her breath out. "And ... I keep hoping that I'll figure it out. The herd. And that... I can have him back again." She rubbed her nose. Her eyes were very red.

  "He means a lot to you, doesn't he?"

  She nodded. "He was-is-very special. An incredibly gentle man." She looked out across the milling bodies. "Sometimes.. ." she said. She didn't finish the sentence.

  I followed her glance.

  "It's very tempting," she admitted. "They're at peace. And they have joy." She added, "Perhaps, they're the only ones on the planet who do."

  "I wonder. .." I said. "How long will they last when there's no one left to take care of them?" I looked at her. "Their joy is a very dangerous luxury. I don't think we can afford joy any more. At least, not like that."

  She didn't answer. She was looking off across the herd. The bull had found a mate for the afternoon. A teenage boy who looked up at him with adoring eyes. Evidently the bull wasn't too picky. I glanced at Fletcher. Her eyes were hard, so I didn't say anything. She started the jeep and we headed back toward Oakland.

  She didn't say anything until we were halfway across the bridge. "Do me a favor?" she asked.

  "Sure."

  "Don't say anything about this to anyone."

  "I wasn't even here."

  "Thanks." She smiled gratefully.

  I said, "Besides, I'd just as soon not have Duke know that I was-affected."

  She switched the jeep onto autopilot and pushed the wheel away from her. "He'll never hear it from me."

  "Thanks," I said.

  She reached over and patted my hand. We'd traded secrets. Everything was okay now.

  Fletcher dropped me back at the barracks with a wave and a promise to put me on the permanent pass list for the lab section. I watched her drive off thoughtfully. How many times a week did she cross the bridge into San Francisco?

  Well ... maybe it wasn't really my business.

  Duke wasn't in, but he'd left a message: go to bed early, we scramble at six.

  There was a new briefing book on my bed. I read it over dinner. A spotting mission? For this we were pulled out of Colorado?

  It didn't make sense.

  I went to bed still feeling troubled.

  My night was restless and full of voices. But they didn't tell me anything either.

  TEN

  MORNING CAME too soon.

  I put the body on automatic and got out of its way. I caught up with it again in the jeep; the noise woke me up. We were rolling across the cracked and oily tarmac of Oakland International Airport. There was a fully armed Banshee-6 waiting for us at the far end of the runway. Its engines were already screaming.

  Duke ran the jeep right up to the foot of the ramp. Holding my ears, I followed him tip the steps at a run. We climbed into the jet-chopper and the door slammed itself shut behind us. The pilot didn't even wait till we were seated; she reached up over her head, released a double-handled lever, and we were rolling. I tossed my bag at the back and scrambled for the seat opposite Duke. The lady punched us up into the air so fast I didn't even have time o finish fastening my safety harness.

  She was speaking to her microphone: ". . . Heading three five two. Enterprise, you can launch your birds now. We'll pick 'em up over San Pablo Bay."

  I knew that voice. Lizard Tirelli! I should have recognized her by that takeoff. I leaned across to Duke. "Remember when Ted and I left Alpha Bravo?" He nodded. I jerked a thumb forward. "That's the same pilot."

  She put the ship on autopilot, then swiveled her seat around to face us. She was as pretty as I remembered. I wished she weren't wearing that helmet. I liked looking at redheads. "I'm Colonel Tirelli," she said. "You're Captain Anderson?" Duke nodded. "And Lieutenant McCarthy, of course."

  I nodded. "Congratulations on your promotion, Colonel."

  She ignored it. She looked to Duke. "I know you're probably surprised at the suddenness of your transfers. I specifically asked for the two of you to be reassigned to me."

  "Eh?" That was Duke.

  Colonel Tirelli explained, "I like your statistics. You're effective. The Rocky Mountain District is controllable today because of the way you martialed your resources last year."

  "That job isn't even begun," said Duke. I could hear the stiffness in his voice. I didn't know if the Lizard could.

  "I know what shape that territory's in. I read your reports. But somebody else is going to have to take it over. You're needed here."

  Duke looked unhappy, but he didn't say what he was thinking. He didn't have to. Apparently, the Lizard could read minds as well as she could fly. She said quietly "I know, Captain-but this is one of Uncle Ira's jobs."

  "Oh," said Duke. The subject was closed.

  I'd met Colonel Ira Wallachstein-the day before he died. I'd brought down the worm that killed him. I hadn't exactly liked "Uncle Ira," but he'd been the Godfather of the Special Forces, so I respected his memory.

  The Lizard let herself drop into a friendlier tone. "You'll be acting as spotters for this mission. You've been briefed?"

  Duke said, "We got the mission book last night."

  "Did you read it?"

  Both Duke and I nodded.

  "Good. I'm sorry you didn't have more time with it. Be glad you got it at all. Communications are lousy-and they're going to stay that way until we secure the rest of our ground stations. God knows when we'll do that." She looked strained and frustrated, but not defeated. She continued without hesitation: "Okay, we've got what looks like a major infestation in the lumber regions of Northern California. We're going to take
them out-but we've got some anomalies. Second- and third-stage nesting-"

  "Third stage?" Duke said.

  Lizard looked annoyed at the interruption, but she nodded grimly.

  Duke and I exchanged a glance. It was that bad? We'd seen skyball pictures of second-stage nests: hexagonal dome clusters, six around one. Any child with a compass could draw the floor plan. But third stage? I couldn't imagine

  Lizard said, "You'll know when you see it. Captain, you take the left bubble; McCarthy, you take the right. You see anything red, fire a beacon. The cleanup crew will be thirty seconds behind us. They'll be dropping the appropriate detergents. Also short-life radioactive particles, taconite dust, poison vectors, selective Xagents, and degradable biocides. We are not using fire. We will use targeted explosives on medium- to large-scale dome clusters. These will be delivered by the second wave of ships, following sixty seconds after the first. Any questions?"

  Duke said, "How far north?"

  "An hour and a half "

  Duke looked surprised. "That close?"

  "It's worse than that. We also have renegade activity in the area."

  "Near a heavy infestation?" Duke raised an eyebrow.

  Lizard nodded. "It happens."

  Duke scratched his head. "If you say so, but I find it awfully hard to believe."

  "Most people do," said Lizard. "It started last year. We started finding Tribes in Oregon. Tribes with a capital T. There're pockets of survivors all over. We should have expected that some of them would bounce back at an odd angle. People do whatever they think they have to do to survive. But a couple of these groups were setting up their own governments.

  "This one in particular," Lizard said, "had nearly three hundred members. They declared themselves an independent entity. They said the United States was now an `invalid agreement."' There was scorn in her voice. "That's what they call a government, `an agreement of intention.' They said the intention of the United States was no longer valid, so it was their purpose to create the agreement for a new one."

  "Did they say what the intention was?" Duke asked.

  "It became obvious after a while," Lizard replied.

  "It sounds like they were succeeding at something," I said. "At least to the degree that three hundred of them agreed with it. That's a lot of agreement." I was interested in spite of myself.

  Lizard shrugged. "Yeah-well, that crap always sounds good to the simple-minded; but I don't buy that jargon. My uniform is still United States green-that's who signs my paycheck. I haven't seen any better offers."

  "So you had trouble, right?"

  "Both times." Lizard scowled. She rubbed her nose distastefully. "We asked them to move out of the area. For their own protection. They refused. We told them they didn't have any choice. They said that they refused to recognize the authority of the United States. Listen-" Lizard interrupted herself. "I don't care what people want to believe in. My parents were Shamists-Spiritual Harmony Among Mankind-so I've got `space' to accept just about anything. If people want to paint themselves blue and mate with dwarves and elephants, it's all the same to me. And I tell you truly, you wouldn't believe some of the things these Tribes were up to. The problem was they had 'liberated'-read `helped themselves'-to the United States property. `In the name of the people' they said. Naturally, they were `the people' they were referring to."

  "What kind of property?"

  "Military, of course. It was not a pretty operation. Somehow they'd gotten ahold of some very sophisticated ordnance. We had to call in a major air strike to take them out. I took in the first cleanup crews."

  Duke looked startled. "There was no alternative?"

  "They had ground-to-air missiles! And tanks! And they were moving toward a nuclear silo!"

  Right. No further explanation was necessary.

  "I'd heard the Tribes were gaining strength," I said, "I hadn't realized how bad it was getting. It must have been a difficult situation."

  "You should have been there," said Lizard. "They'd taught their children how to use machine guns. Have you ever seen the effect on a soldier when he realizes that his enemy is a twelve-year-old girl? It's devastating."

  Duke looked startled by that. He looked like he wanted to change the subject. He asked quickly, "Uh, why do they base themselves near Chtorran infestations-?"

  Lizard said, "We think it's possible they're using the worms for cover. "

  "You mean they've found a way to coexist?" I couldn't help myself, I had to ask.

  Duke snorted at me. "There's only one way to coexist with a worm: from the inside."

  Lizard said, "It's very simple. The infested areas are no-man's land, effectively beyond the jurisdiction of the United States government-at least for now, and probably for a long time to come. The Tribes know that if they come in out of the cold, the minute they step across the barriers and enter a Safe City they're accepting not only the protection, but the authority, of the United States government as well. And that means giving up their `independence,"' she finished.

  "But how do they defend themselves from the worms?" I asked.

  "That's one of the things we'd like to find out," she said.

  "Didn't you interrogate the survivors?" Duke looked puzzled.

  "There weren't any." She said it like a door slamming.

  Duke looked at her with new respect. She met his gaze coldly. It was obvious she didn't like talking about the subject; it made her hard. Duke dropped his eyes and studied the floor thoughtfully. He knew what she was going through. He'd been through it himself. But I knew he didn't know how to say it.

  Colonel Tirelli spoke first. She said, "We don't think it's the Tribes. We think it's the worms. There's something going on, some kind of shift in behavior. We're beginning to see a lower proportion of attacks on human beings. Some adaptation may be taking place.

  "One of the theories is that now that a lot more of the Chtorran plant life has established itself, the worms might prefer to feed on their own ecology rather than ours-so humans might not be number one on the menu any more. But so far that's just speculation. I wouldn't want to test it personally-"

  The radio beeped suddenly and she swiveled forward to answer it. "This is Tirelli."

  "Banshee-6, we have you on visual. We'll fall in behind like good little children."

  Lizard looked off to her left. "I see you." Then she frowned. "How many of you ducklings got into the air?" she asked.

  "The whole wing, Colonel."

  "How come I see only six?"

  "The second wave is going up now. We'll pick them up north of Santa Rosa."

  "Whose good idea was that?"

  "Cap'n Caswell's, Colonel."

  "I got it. All right, you boys ready to go to work?"

  "We're all bright and shiny, Colonel Ma'am, ready to spread death and destruction from here to Klamath."

  "Just the target area today, please."

  "Roger. Out. "

  I crossed to Duke's side and leaned down to look out the spotter bubble just behind his seat. I could see six dark gunships just dropping into line behind us. "Hey! Those are Scorpions!"

  "Aye-yep," said the Lizard. "They sure are." She swung around to face us again. "You have a question about that?"

  "Yes, I do." I looked to Duke, then back to Lizard. "I thought we had to give them up. It was part of the Moscow Treaties. We had to sink our gunships."

  "We did. Every last one of them."

  "But, how-?" I looked out the bubble again. Those were definitely Scorpions.

  Lizard looked very pleased with herself. "Oh, we sank 'em all right. But first we sealed them in acrylic. It kept them nice and dry until we needed them. We started pulling them up last year." She glanced out her side window. "They sure look good, don't they?" She was grinning.

  I couldn't deny it. They were big, they were black, and they were mean. With their red spotlights on, they would be terrifying. "All right," said Lizard. "Let me give you the background. This is deep background. Uncredite
d. But one hundred percent reliable. Denver is getting too vulnerable. The military is looking at moving the federal government again."

  "To where-?" I blurted. "Almost everwhere is vulnerable now." "Hawaii isn't," Lizard said. "So far, there's been no sign of infestation on any of the islands, and we expect it.to stay that way. To guarantee it, there won't even be any research labs allowed. Not even on the artificial islands or in the sea-domes."

  Duke shook his head. "It'll never sell. It'll look like a retreat."

  Lizard nodded. "If it happens, it will be a retreat."

  "Hawaii's too small," said Duke. "Who gets left behind?"

  "Hawaii's only Phase One. Phase Two is Australia and New Zealand. Neither of those land masses has been infested either. The negotiations are already underway. They'll actually be glad to have us-especially if we bring as much of our industrial capacity as we can crate and ship."

  She reached down into the cooler next to her seat and pulled out a Coke. She tossed one to Duke and one to me, then took one for herself "But the immediate goal right now is total centralization within eighteen months. The President will be announcing that before the end of the month. We're setting up a chain of Safe Cities, each one surrounded by a kilometer-wide defensive border. We think we can make each city self-sustaining within a year. We'll be using a lot of robot labor, of course. Each city can then function as a base for military operations in its surrounding district. "

  I said, "It sounds like you're abandoning the land."

  She shook her head. "No. We're saving the people first. We can't fight a war without a front line."

  Duke said, "So what does all this have to do with California?"

  "Highway 101," Lizard replied. "It's the backbone of the west coast. We need to keep it clear. Seattle and Oakland will both be Safe Cities. We're hoping San Francisco. Probably Portland too, but that decision isn't final yet. The question is whether it's defensible. We also want to put some fortresses on the route. We're opening up a major campaign here. We need to keep our access to the sea. The Hawaii and Australia options both depend on it. Got it?"