by B. V. Larson
It was strange to gaze at a building full of people as it once was, knowing that is was rubble and everyone there was already dead.
May God have mercy on their souls, I thought…but I doubted that he would.
-35-
Several of Marvin’s previous long range strikes had gone badly, but he nailed this one. The building imploded.
As large and imposing as the Ministry of Truth was, it was positively dramatic as a grav-strike. It had been one of those tall, black-glass specials. Every major city seemed to have one. The architecture was interesting, with curving corners that corkscrewed at the top of the structure.
All of that vanished in a heartbeat. A gravitational force equivalent to that generated by a small star flared into existence for a split-second, yanking everything near it inward. The air collapsed, the glass was sucked together in a billion, hot jagged shards. The rebar and concrete folded up like paper.
Everything and anything living in the vicinity was immediately shredded and crushed into a single dripping mass. When the split second was over, it was as if the fist that had squeezed the building into a lump let go. The crushed remnants fell, but was still so compacted that it stayed together in a single, coherent mass.
We watched this with zoomed-in optics. It was a clear day over Brussels, and nothing was left to the imagination.
“That was awful,” Jasmine said.
“They had it coming,” Miklos said.
I didn’t say anything. Killing of this kind always weighed on me. We could have waited. We could have talked. But that might have caused me more ships and troops.
Maybe, maybe, maybe. It was the unknowns and lost opportunities that ate at a man’s soul. Who’d died and left me in charge? It was a question I never posed in front of others, but one that plagued me at times like this. I hadn’t asked for this responsibility, this power to decide who lived and who died. Usually, I knew the answer instinctively. But this time it had felt different. There had to be a few people in the Ministry who were innocent. What about the terrified convict in his cell? Or the janitor who had no choice, and had been told by his wife he was lucky to get the job?
I heaved a sigh.
“It’s done,” I said. “Let’s see if they’re willing to talk terms.”
We began sending signals down to Earth, trying to open channels with someone who was in charge. We didn’t have a lot of luck for a while. They seemed to be in a turmoil.
“There are riots everywhere,” Jasmine told me after working the com-link for two hours. “Word has gotten out about the Ministry. No one seems to want to talk to us, other than a few rebel independents. They think we’re coming to aid them. The Imperials seem to be running around, uncertain. For the most part, they’re busy putting riot police into the streets.”
“The United States had to drop two bombs to get the attention of the Japanese,” Miklos pointed out.
I gave him a dark look. “I’m hoping to do better,” I said.
Earth was much closer now. We were about a million miles out. I put Phobos into a wide, elliptical orbit about four times as far out as the Moon. We were too far to hit with effective laser fire, if that was their intention. They could shoot missiles at us, but we had plenty of time to stop them.
“Let’s use backchannels,” I said.
Many of our people had connections with Earth. They had old contacts we could talk to now, even if we had to break into their cell towers and make a simple phone call or send an email.
I tried to contact people I’d known, Star Force personnel I’d left behind. I even tried Senator Bager, who I hadn’t had dealings with in long years.
Our results weren’t good. Most people didn’t believe we were who we said we were. Those that did were terrified they would be arrested for aiding the enemy. Senator Begar had been imprisoned long ago. Most of the Star Force people we’d left behind had been executed.
The mood on the bridge grew increasingly grim. To see your home so mistreated, to see those you’d left behind had been living in terror or killed—it was hard to take.
“We should have come back sooner,” Miklos said.
“You did the right thing destroying the Ministry of Truth,” Jasmine told me. “I think we should destroy more of the Imperial government buildings.”
Gaines finally came to the bridge, and he watched what we were doing.
“I might be able to help,” he said.
I backed away from the console, waving him forward.
The others look surprised as Gaines dialed up some odd numbers. They clicked and beeped, but finally let him through. A strange voice came on the line.
“Code name.”
“Bjorn,” he said.
“Confirmation word.”
“Bjorn,” he said again.
There was a pause. “One moment please.”
We all stood there, looking impressed. I knew Gaines had told me a lot of stories about being a spook back on Earth, a government hit-man. But I’d heard other big-mouthed soldiers tell stories like that in bars. Those guys had only wanted to get laid. In Gaines case, I was beginning to think he’d been telling the truth.
A new voice came on the line. It was quiet, and unexcited.
“Who am I talking to?” the voice asked.
“Bjorn Gaines.”
“Bjorn Gaines was eliminated years back.”
“Then I’m a ghost, Sam,” Gaines said with a chuckle.
There was another silence. Gaines muted the channel for a second. “He’s trying to trace back the number. Can Marvin or someone bullshit me into New York or D. C.?”
“Certainly,” Marvin said. He went to work, and after a moment, the stranger came back on the line.
“What kind of tech do you have now, Gaines? Who are you working for?”
“That big new moon you see in the sky,” Gaines said.
“Goodbye.”
“Hold on, Sam! Hold on! I’m not going to get you into any trouble. I’m just trying to reach someone in charge down there. We need to talk to the Emperor, or one of his people.”
“I’m not authorized to do any of this, Gaines.”
“I know that. These are not normal times.”
“Keep talking.”
“Hook me up, Sam. Get me to the biggest name you can. Then vanish.”
“Vanish? You’re saying you’re going to screw me?”
“I’m saying you’re probably already screwed. But—”
“You fuck,” Sam said quietly.
“Just move me up the ladder and get out of this story.”
The mysterious man named Sam fell silent. We waited. I looked at Gaines, but he waved for me to be patient.
There was a strange tone, then the phone was ringing again. Miklos and I exchanged glances. We were impressed. Gaines seemed to be getting somewhere.
“General Kerr’s office,” a secretary answered.
I released a long breath, and waved Gaines back from the microphone. I leaned forward, taking over.
“Connect me to General Kerr, please,” I said.
“Who’s calling?”
“Colonel Kyle Riggs.”
There was a quiet moment, then: “This isn’t funny, Mike.”
“This call is being recorded. Alert the General or suffer the consequences.”
The secretary sighed. I don’t think she believed me, but she connected me anyway.
“Kerr here. I’m busy, so spit it out.”
“Hello General,” I said. “I’m busy too. I’m deciding my next target.”
There was a choking sound on the line. “Riggs? Is that you, you crazy son of a bitch?”
“Yes sir,” I said. “I’ve been working hard to get your government people on the line. Is this any way to run a railroad? Is no one interested in peace talks?”
“We don’t deal with terrorists or nut-jobs like you. You’re a rebel without a cause, and you should go back out into space where you belong. When the fleet gets here—I don’t know how
you slipped by them—they’ll pulverize your little force. You’ve got to know that.”
I frowned at the screen, which was rapidly flashing views of an earthly city. I realized Jasmine was working feverishly, tracing the call. At last, a blinking yellow circle appeared.
I smiled when I saw where General Kerr was hiding. He wasn’t in the Pentagon, NORAD, or even Geneva. He was in Paris just off the Champs-Élysées.
“How do you like the Louvre, General?” I asked.
“What?”
“Haven’t got a chance to go sightseeing yet? We’ve got you zeroed, sir.”
I gave him the name of his hotel and the street address. He was quiet for a few seconds after that.
“Don’t drop the line, General. I don’t want to have to level the entire block just to make sure.”
“You wouldn’t do that, Riggs. I know you. You’re soft.”
“Space changes a man, sir,” I said. “You should know that. Stay put and keep talking, or I’m taking you out right now.”
“All right, all right!” he shouted. “What the hell do you want?”
“I want to end this. Your fleet isn’t coming back, General. They’ve already come to terms with us. Now, we can do this the easy way or the hard way.”
“Describe these two approaches.”
I smiled. I had him. The yellow circle on my map was staying put. He wasn’t running, nor was he hanging up. He was doing exactly what I told him to do. The General was a vicious snake of a man, but he understood a gun to the head as well as the next guy.
“The hard way is rather familiar. We’ll destroy every government institution, and the people that run them. Then we’ll get down to the military installations. Last, we’ll take out your production facilities and infrastructure. Isn’t that the normal way one nation beats another into submission?”
“Why not just wipe a few cities off the face of the Earth?” Kerr snarled. “Wouldn’t that be faster?”
“Maybe,” I said, “but it’s not my style. Besides, we aren’t here to cripple Earth and make everyone hate us. We’re here to remove the Imperial government. They’ll cheer us in the streets when we’re done.”
“Everyone cheers a dictator when they have their balls in a vice.”
“You should know all about that, sir.”
Miklos signaled me, and I forced myself to calm down. I realized both Kerr and I had been raising our voices and getting angry. I wanted to kill Kerr personally for his part in assassination plots against me and those closest to me, but that wouldn’t get today’s job done.
“What’s the easy way?” he asked after a pause, during which we both exerted self-control.
“A coup,” I said. “You help us take out Crow and his cronies, and we’ll let you live when this is over.”
“It won’t be that simple. Crow has a legion of followers. A cult of personality. They won’t—”
“Where do the leaders of this political group hang out?” I asked.
“I can’t give you that information!”
“You don’t have any choice. I have plenty of other lackeys to call up and when I do I’ll make them the same offer. I’m giving you one minute to give me a target other than your hotel. Mark…now.”
“I’m not going to give you your target, Riggs. You can go to hell.”
“Fifty seconds left, General. Marvin, warm up the gravity cannon.”
Several cameras swung my way. I thought for a second Marvin was going to blow it and ask me what the hell a gravity cannon was, but he seemed to figure out the situation and waved a tentacle at me while he worked his console. He signaled me again a few seconds later, indicating he was ready to fire.
In the meantime, Kerr treated me to a litany of curses and unpleasant references to my heritage.
“Thirty seconds left, General. Really, I would start talking if I were you. I’m getting bored.”
“Geneva,” he said at last, “that’s where the big people hang out. The financial backers. You must know the address. Most of them are there now, holding an emergency meeting. But without them, who will surrender to you?”
I looked at Jasmine, who gave me a thumbs-up. She was panning the streets, and we soon had a new target onscreen. It looked like some kind of mansion.
“We’ve got the mansion on our screens now,” I said. “But you’re still under the gun. Where’s Crow? Is he there with his backers?”
“I don’t think so. He doesn’t announce his movements, especially at a time like this. He’s really just a figurehead, you’ve got to understand that, Kyle. He’s the chairman of the ruling politburo, but that’s all. It’s a purely—”
“Marvin, wipe out that address in Geneva when you have the target locked.”
The ship shuddered immediately. I felt only a tiny thread of guilt. These people were evil. If they were backing Crow’s empire, keeping the yoke on their own people’s necks, they had to be removed. Too often in history, the soldiers in the battlefield paid for the decisions of people like these.
“What did you do?” Kerr asked in alarm.
“Don’t worry about the rest of the rank and file on your little committee, General,” I said. “I just erased them. Now, are you going to connect me to Crow or not?”
There was a moment of silence. I began to wonder if he’d dropped the phone and run for it.
“General?”
“It’s on the news. You really did it. Paint my dick blue, you really pulled the trigger…”
“You know,” I said, “I think it’s getting easier each time I do it. Don’t make me pull it a third time, Kerr.”
“You have to understand, Kyle, I’m a dead man if I lead you to Crow. I won’t make it out of this building alive. I’m not a free agent. He keeps a leash on me as well.”
“Jack was always a wise man,” I said. “I should have kept you on a chain when I had the chance. But here’s the deal, General. Either you give me Crow, or I take you out—right now.”
“I’ve got an idea,” he said. “I think I can make this happen for you, Colonel Riggs, sir. But I need to have immunity. And you have to take me in. Can you transport me to your ship with this magic device of yours?”
Colonel Riggs sir? When had he last spoken to me with such deference? Never…
“It doesn’t work that way, General. I can crush things from range, but that’s about it.”
“That’s apparently good enough…” he said. “All right. I’m coming up to you. I’ll keep this channel open and I’ll talk now and then. I’m going to put you on mute though, okay? Would that be all right, sir?”
I almost laughed. General Kerr usually had balls, but he was also a man who knew when he was beaten. He didn’t want to end up looking like an empty beer can on the highway. I could imagine he’d spoken to Crow the same way when he’d declared himself ruler of Oz, working his way into the new Emperor’s confidence. I gave myself a stern warning: he wasn’t going to get a government post after this was over. Prison maybe, at best.
Kerr spent about an hour reaching a spaceport and fleeing the planet. The Imperials seemed to catch on right at the end. He led them on a merry chase. I had the feeling, while I watched his ship dodge patrol boats to reach orbit at the end, that he’d had something like this planned for years.
I occurred to me as well, when he arrived on Phobos hours later, that more than anyone I’d ever known he’d managed to switch sides whenever the switching looked good. He’d been pure U.S. government when I’d first met with him. He’d served as my go-between on many occasions when I ran Star Force, but then he’d tried to take us out. When we’d captured him, he’d turned again, serving us, or at least pretending to.
Most recently, he’d joined Crow’s organization and begun calling himself an Imperial. Unscrupulous, yes, but still alive after all these years of war and upheaval. The man was a cockroach that wore sunglasses.
He surrendered himself by climbing out of his tiny ship and waiting on the roof of Phobos. I let him bake o
ut there on the sunside of our rock for a time before ordering him retrieved. Sometimes letting a man contemplate his personal demise did wonders to encourage cooperation.
When they brought him down the shaft to the interior, wearing a suit of reflective smart cloth, he stood and looked around in wonder.
“Nice digs you have here, Colonel,” he said as I approached. “Where’d you get this crazy ship—or moon, or whatever it is?”
I didn’t say anything right away. I let my men move forward until the General was encircled by my marines. He looked at me and frowned.
“Oh, so it’s like that, is it?” he asked. “Why’d you bother to bring me all the way up in space if you were just going to wax my tail when I got here? Is the electric bill on your magic gun so high you wanted to save a few bucks?”
“No, General. Honestly, I’m wondering to myself how you can possibly help while you’re up here. You were a friendly voice on the inside down on Earth. But now, you’re just one more breather on my ship.”
“Ah, I understand. Here.”
He handed me a small object. It looked like a portable drive for a computer.
“You can still read those, can’t you? I mean, you have regular computers on this flying cave of yours?”
“We can read them.”
“On that chip is a complete list of government officials, their locations, hangouts mistresses—the works. If they have a nephew on food stamps, it’s in the database. Every party member is there—including Crow.”
“Intel,” I said, looking at the chip. “You’re offering me your intel?”
“Not just that. You can choose your time and place. You blast them all from orbit, or enough of them that they don’t want it to be their turn next.”
“Assassination from the skies,” I said thoughtfully. “It seems so dishonorable.”
“What? Would you rather line up farm boys with muskets and kill a million or two of them? That’s the old way we used to do it. Seems to me like the honorable thing to do is to kill the leaders who give the orders. You already started the process with the two buildings you took down. You watch how fast things change. Once they figure out what you’re doing, they’ll come begging to end the conflict.”