Oath of Fealty

by Larry Niven

  Rand looked helpless. "Colonel Cross is the expert, not me. I'll go along with whatever you two decide."

  Putting it square on me as usual, Bonner thought. So be it.

  "Art! MILLIE answered me! Art!"

  "Thank God. I'm here, babe. Are you all right?"

  "Not too bad. They're a little rough, but I can take it now. But I don't know where we are-"

  "We almost have you located. That's how you hear us, we have a relay unit near you. Soon as I get a couple more cars there we'll triangulate and locate you. One question. Should we call LAPD SWAT or take care of it ourselves?"

  "Just us. Please. I've stayed sane thinking what I can do to those – uh --O God-"

  "Barbara!"

  "Whew. They do get -- I'll try to control that. You need me to keep transmitting so you can locate me, don't you? I'll try. One. Two.

  Three. Four. .

  "Colonel, get our troops ready. That's a bad situation there."

  "What's happening?" Rand demanded. "Did you hear something? Is Djinn all right?"

  "Don't know, Tony," Bonner said. He held up his hand, palm outward. "Don't distract me. Colonel, let me know when your people are in position. They'll have to go in fast ... "

  "Lie down, bitch."

  0 God, not again. "You hurt me last time. I-"

  "Shut up, or I'll give you to Leona."

  Could that be worse? MILLIE. Have you located me? Uh. Thank God it's not my fertile time. Do they all do this? They raped Patty Hearst. Maybe they think it will convert me. Oh Lord that hurts- "It's the revolution. It's coming, and nothing you can do about it. We'll end the Corporate State. It'll just die, when people find out they don't have to knuckle under, they don't have to put up with big companies to get enough to eat ... " The lecture dissolved as his arms went around her and he squeezed her, his hips moved faster and faster-

  "Where are they now? Can you locate all of them?"

  "There are four men and one female. One of the men is in the closet with me. I don't think there are any weapons in here with us. I can take care of him if the others won't interfere. I don't know where they have Genevieve."

  "You're sure Genevieve is not one of them."

  "Yes. Very sure. They-they hurt her. And I don't know where she is, or where the others are. I-"

  "What is he doing in a closet with you?"

  "Art, what in hell do you think?"

  "I'm sorry. Stand by. We're about ready-"

  Think of something else. Anything else. She remembered her friend Jeanine who studied Zen. You handle pain by accepting it, attending to it, thinking about it, make it a part of yourself until it's commonplace and nothing special and then it isn't pain at all, only it's not working-

  "Ha, you get interested too, don't you, honey? We can do this a lot-"

  There was a splintering sound from the next room.

  "What in hell was that?"

  "HOLD IT RIGHT THERE. MOVE ONE INCH AND I'LL BLOW YOUR BALLS OFF."

  "Shit-what is this?" He tried to scramble up.

  Barbara reached up and seized his testicles. She clenched her fist hard, pulled, twisted. He shrieked and flailed helplessly in the dark. It was his screaming that brought the guards.

  XXI. DILEMMAS

  No one is fit to be trusted with power. ... No one. ... Any man who has lived at all knows the follies and wickedness he's capable of. ... And if he does know it, he knows also that neither he nor any man ought to be allowed to decide a single human fate.

  -C. P. Snow, The Light and the Dark

  "Are you all right?"

  "Yes. No. I've got a broken tooth, and a cut on my face. But mostly I feel dirty. Sticky-dirty ... Art, I HATE them-Dr. Finder wants to give me a shot. I think I'll let him."

  "She says she's all right," Bonner said.

  "Is Djinn all right?" Tony demanded.

  Bonner looked helpless. "Barbara hasn't said. Damn it, Colonel, why can't you talk to your people-"

  "I'm getting through now," Cross said. He spoke into the telephone. "All right, Captain, I've got you on the speaker. You're talking to Mr. Bonner, Mr. Rand, and myself. Report."

  "Yes, sir. We are in complete control of the house. Mrs. Rand is hysterical but otherwise physically unharmed. She may have been sexually abused, but that isn't certain. Miss Churchward had a nosebleed and has a cut on her left cheek which will require medical attention. She was-a man was in the-" The guard stammered for a moment, then resumed in a dry professional voice.

  "Can you hear the policeman reporting to us?"

  "Yes."

  "We have four prisoners, three male and one female. One male prisoner was apprehended while committing rape. Miss Churchward greatly assisted in his apprehension."

  "You needn't put any of that in your report," Bonner said. "We'll edit that considerably."

  "Thank you. I'm going to sleep now, Dr. Finder gave me a shot - .I love you."

  "Love you."

  "That's about all, sir. We broke in clean. The Los Angeles police have not been called and no one is likely to call them. We're waiting for instructions."

  Cross looked expectantly at Art Bonner.

  "Bring them all here. And the fewer people who know about this, the better."

  "Right. What are you going to do with them?"

  "That, Colonel, is one hell of a good question."

  Genevieve Rand found the situation thoroughly ambiguous. On the one hand, the Todos Santos guards had rescued her, and they couldn't have been more polite. On the other-she didn't know where she was, and the polite guards wouldn't let her leave.

  She was in a comfortable room, the living room to a large apartment somewhere in Todos Santos. She had use of a bathroom. All the other doors were locked, and there were no windows. They'd left her a box that looked like a radio; someone always answered if she talked into it. They'd had a physician talk to her. And now they ignored her-but they wouldn't let her go.

  At least I'm safe, she thought, and shuddered. She'd always been a little afraid of Ron Wolfe, even when he'd been an aboveground member of the movement. He was one of the intense ones, ready to sacrifice everything-and everyone!-to the Cause. Including himself, except that his objective assessment was that he was far too valuable to be sacrificed lightly.

  That had been her first thought, once she knew that they intended to kidnap Churchward: Ron Wolfe thinks he's too valuable to be sacrificed, and I'm going to see him commit a capital crime.

  She'd even tried to play along with them, pretend to join them, but they weren't having any. Arnold Renn had told them all about her attitudes and wants and wishes and desires, and they weren't about to trust her; and when they'd taken her as well as Churchward she'd felt relieved that they hadn't killed her on the spot, but she didn't think she had very long to live. She remembered her terror when Wolfe blindfolded Churchward-and didn't bother doing it to her.

  So. Thanks to the Todos Santos people, I'm safe; but now what? I'm still a witness, she thought. I wonder what that means?

  The door opened and Tony came in.

  Her first impulse was to run to him, but she was seated in a deep, soft chair and she couldn't get up easily; by the time she could stand, that moment had been lost.

  But he looks worried, and relieved, and glad to see me, so maybe it's right after all -"Hello, Tony. I thought you'd be out of the country by now, what with the police after you and everything." And wow do I sound calm and cool and collected, and is that the right way to handle this? Competent. He likes competence. Not having to worry about people. So yes, it is the right way if I can just keep it up.

  "I was just leaving when they told me," Tony said. "Are you all right?"

  She tried to shrug, and flinched; it felt like she'd been kicked under the shoulder blade. She'd hit a corner of something when the big woman threw her across a room. "Some interesting bruises. Nothing permanent."

  "Good." He was looking into her eyes, as if he really thought you could read minds that way. "I – uh - Miss C
hurchward was going to talk to you. Did she tell you what-I mean, did she explain what she wanted to see you about?"

  "Some. We got interrupted."

  He waved his hands around nervously. "Hell, I used to be able to talk to you, why can't I now? Djinn, do you want to come to Canada with me? It'll mean starting over, on a new arcology, one I can build right-"

  "Ah. She never got that far. Oh, sure, I should have realized; you've got to leave, don't you?"

  "Yeah. But Sir George Reedy has me signed up for another ten years of inspired drudgery, thank God. Do you want in, you and Zach?"

  Genevieve almost laughed. What she wanted was out. Out of Los Angeles, out of the Fromates, away from anyone who knew her. She pictured a snowy wilderness, and a gigantic, formless building with thousands of glowing windows, isolated on the ice. All her mistakes left behind.

  She wanted that. Now how best to bargain with Tony?

  "Uh-Djinn, I want to be honest with you. This is a big job. My contract looks like they've reinvented slavery! And it isn't something I can do by rote, either. This one won't be anything like Todos Santos. I need a different design, it's a colder climate, there are new materials I'd like to ... Djinn, what I'm trying to say is, I won't have a lot of time for family life, not at first-"

  "I'll come." Jesus, he was about to talk himself out of it! "We'll come. It's all right, Tony. I'm a big girl, and I'm used to taking care of myself. I'll find plenty to do." Out of here, in a place where nobody knows me.

  "Then it's settled? You'll come with me?"

  She remembered that TV documentary. Safety. You're safe in Todos Santos. We can do that again, Tony and I. She nodded, and hugged him, carefully. Feeling fragile.

  There were five people at the conference table. They had just taken their seats when Tony Rand brought Genevieve in. Art Bonner half stood and bowed perfunctorily. "Art Bonner," he said. "And Frank Mead, our comptroller. Colonel Cross of Security. John Shapiro, corporate counsel. Preston Sanders, formerly my deputy. You already know Barbara Churchward. I presume Tony told you why we're all here?"

  "No." Genevieve seemed calm enough.

  "Well, it's simple enough, and we thought you ought to have a voice in the discussion. We're trying to decide what to do with the kidnappers."

  "But-" Genevieve looked puzzled. "But surely you'll turn them over to the police ... "

  "If we do that, you and I will both spend months in a courtroom," Barbara said. Her voice was slurred, and a thick bandage covered the left side of her face. "Which would mean that you could not go to Canada with Tony, and I certainly have better things to do than watch trials."

  "Yes, but what can we do with them?" Genevieve demanded. "I mean, you can't just kill them-"

  "I could," Barbara said. "Two of them, anyway. Except that I'd want to do it slowly."

  "If you really mean that, I'll arrange it."

  "I don't know. It just popped out."

  "So what do we do with them?"

  "Don't know. I don't want to sit in courtrooms. But I'm damned if I'll just let them go!"

  Genevieve Rand looked shocked, then thoughtful; then she looked disgusted with herself.

  "Barbara, be serious," Preston Sanders said. "You don't want blood on your hands. Believe me you don't!"

  "Pres, I understand how you meant that-but I am serious," Barbara said.

  "Then there's Professor Renn," Bonner said. "Mrs. Rand, are you certain he arranged this kidnapping?"

  "I'm certain he tapped my telephone," Genevieve said. "I saw him doing it-he said he'd dropped the phone and took it apart to check it. And Ron Wolfe and those other people are Arnold's friends, and they knew when Miss Churchward was coming."

  "I'd say that's pretty certain," Barbara said.

  "Certain enough for us. Not certain at all for the D.A." Shapiro said. "For that matter, the way we've violated their rights, we couldn't get any of them convicted now. Be more likely that we'd go to jail."

  "Another good reason to put them out the airlock," Tony Rand said.

  "No." Sanders's voice was low and determined. "Tony, think how hard you tried not to kill anyone in the last break-in. How hard I tried the first time. Did no good. We were forced to it. But this time, this time we have them alive, we haven't had to kill anyone, and dammit, we can't do it in cold blood. They're human beings too, just like us, and nobody appointed us judge and jury."

  "I point out that the cost of putting them before a proper judge and jury is unreasonably high for the victims," Bonner said. "And we don't have jails and prisons here. But I just don't know what to do." He looked around helplessly. "I suppose I should start by asking the victims. Genevieve?"

  "There's got to be a better way than murder."

  "Barbara?"

  She shrugged. "Three hours ago, I'd have cut their throats myself. Now, I'm not so sure." She shook her head. "I pass."

  "Tony?"

  "Put them out the airlock."

  Bonner was surprised at how vicious Rand sounded. So were several others, judging from their expressions. "I mean, what are the alternatives?" Rand asked. "If we let them go, they can get us in plenty of trouble-"

  "Could any of them prove that we've held them?" Art asked.

  "What do you mean by proof?" Shapiro said. "They might or might not recognize the guards who captured them. Otherwise - what proof could there be?"

  "And we can see that our guards have a hundred witnesses each to swear blind they were on duty here," Bonner said. "So. They can't complain to the LA cops ... not that they'd dare anyway, since they'd have to say what they were doing when our guards grabbed them."

  "So. You've proved that we can turn them loose," Frank Mead said. "I'm not sure I care much for that. They'd be right back again, costing us-"

  "With your permission," Amos Cross said. "With your consent, I'll talk to each of them. I think I can get it across that if we ever see or hear of any one of them again, we will declare open season on them-and that if we have the slightest doubt about our own ability to finish them, we can afford high-priced open contracts ... "

  "Is that your recommendation, Colonel?" Bonner asked. "That we turn them loose with a warning?"

  Cross shook his head. "I pass on giving an opinion, Mr. Bonner. When the police become judges, your society is in real trouble."

  "All right," Bonner said. 'We've got three muggers we apprehended in the subway, and four kidnappers. We may as well take the easy case first. I gather everyone is for letting the muggers loose?"

  No one said anything.

  "We've kept them fairly heavily drugged," Amos Cross said. "And one of them babbled a lot. Enough to convince our guards that he's a murderer."

  "And you're going to turn them loose on Los Angeles?" Genevieve Rand asked.

  Frank Mead shrugged. "Who the hell cares about Angelinos, as long as we're not bothered by them again?"

  "Angelino laws left them loose to hurt our people," Rand said. "If the Angelinos don't like the situation, let them change it. We did."

  "So. We've got three muggers, four kidnappers-and Professor Renn."

  "We don't have Renn."

  "We can acquire him," Bonner said. "And the question before the house is a simple one. What do we do with them?"

  "Think of it as evolution in action," Barbara Churchward said. There was no humor in her voice at all.

  XXII. LAWS AND PROPHETS

  Injustice is relatively easy to bear; what stings is justice.

  -H. L. Mencken

  Professor Arnold Renn threw clothes into an Air Force B-4 bag. He worked clumsily, with almost frantic haste. From time to time he glanced at the ornately engraved card that lay on his bedroom table. "THINK OF IT AS EVOLUTION IN ACTION."

  Get out. Get away. It'll blow over. They can't really hurt me. But- There had been a dozen of those cards. In his box at UCLA. At the faculty club. Under the windshield wiper of his car, and another on the car seat although there was no sign that the lock had been forced. In the refrigerator, and
now in the bedroom, and Tina had no idea how they had got into the house.

  The threat seemed unmistakable. Best not ignore it, not with the headlines about the jailbreak following the unsuccessful attack. And worse. There wasn't anything in the papers, or on TV, about a Todos Santos official being kidnapped, and there wasn't any answer at Genevieve's apartment, or at the Fromate headquarters, or- Best get out of town. Take a leave of absence until things blow over. Let a graduate assistant meet the classes for a while. Get away. Let Tina follow later, if she wanted to. But get away, get out, go now.