Scavenger Alliance

by Janet Edwards

  He paused. “If Cage approaches you directly again, try to give him the idea I’m pressuring you to accept his offer. You’re reluctant but will eventually give way.”

  “I’ll try, but I don’t think I’ll be very convincing.”

  Donnell laughed. “I didn’t think I was very convincing when I hinted I was agreeing to his plan, but Cage believes the universe exists for his personal benefit. If things appear to be working out how he wants, then he won’t question it.”

  He was silent for a moment as if thinking something through. “The only person I’ve ever told about my arrangement with Cage was Kasim. I don’t think it’s necessary to start involving my other officers now. Apart from anything else, it would be disastrous if the truth slipped out.”

  Donnell stared down into his cup. “Everything is so much more difficult without Kasim. It’s hard to believe he’s really gone. I still half expect to walk into Reception and find him standing on a table, telling a whole mob of people one of his ridiculous stories about the long ago days when he was working undercover as a Military Security agent.”

  I forced a smile. “Back when I was eleven, I actually believed the story Kasim told about him having cosmetic surgery so he could go undercover as a horse.”

  Donnell gave a bellow of laughter and raised his paper cup in a toast. “To you, Kasim! You ran things in the Americas for the seven years I was in London, you were my right-hand man through all the chaos when the citizens abandoned New York, and for the next eighteen years you were always there guarding my back. You were my best friend and one of the finest men on this planet. Life will never be the same without you.”

  He gulped down the last of his drink, crushed the cup between his hands, and hurled it towards the waste bin. I looked at the raw emotion in his face, and didn’t dare to say anything, just waited in silence until he finally started speaking again. This time he was talking to me rather than a dead man.

  “Kasim is gone. I have to come to terms with that and promote one of my officers to the deputy position, but I’m not sure who to choose.”

  I stared at him. “Everyone’s been assuming that Machico will be deputy now.”

  “Then everyone’s wrong,” said Donnell. “Back in 2375, I put Machico in command of our attempt to occupy the United Earth Parliament complex in Asia. Mac wasn’t just a technical expert, but my tactical advisor as well. I thought he’d rise to the occasion, but he panicked when the shooting started. The only reason his party got away without being slaughtered was because Vijay took over command himself.”

  I frowned. “I knew the attempt in Asia failed, but not that it was Machico’s fault.”

  “Only a few people knew about it, and I asked them to keep it quiet. I’m sure you understand you mustn’t repeat that story, or talk about any other things you’re told in confidence.”

  “I understand.”

  “Machico lost all faith in his own leadership abilities after that,” Donnell continued. “He’ll give me plenty of advice, especially when I don’t want to hear it, but he barely trusts himself to lead a hunting party and absolutely refuses to let me make him deputy alliance leader. Machico says that I need to choose a much younger deputy anyway. Someone who’ll succeed me as leader one day, so people know the future is secure.”

  “That’s a good point.”

  “I’ve been thinking about the succession for years. Originally, I had this naive idea that your brother would come to join me when he was eighteen, take his place beside me and Kasim, and …”

  Donnell shook his head. “That plan went up in flames when London burned. Over the last seven years, I’ve appointed three young men as officers. Aaron, Julien and Luther. What do you think of them? Do you see any of them as a possible future alliance leader?”

  I was stunned. “Why are you asking me?”

  “I get plenty of comments on my officers from the men in the other divisions, but I’d like to know what the women are thinking as well. You all go fishing together, so you must hear a few comments.”

  “Surely you should be asking Natsumi about this. The women of the other divisions go to her with their concerns. Not because she’s Machico’s wife, but because they know she’d be an officer herself if the other divisions allowed you to have female officers.”

  “That’s why I’m asking you instead of Natsumi. The women are careful what they say to her, because they know it will be passed on to me. They won’t have been so guarded about what they say in front of you.”

  That was perfectly true, I thought with an edge of bitterness. There’d been no reason for anyone to worry about me repeating things to Donnell in the last six years, since we’d hardly spoken.

  “What do the women think of Julien?” asked Donnell.

  I hesitated. Julien was a fair-haired, stocky man in his early twenties. He’d been an officer for almost two years now. His authority was accepted, but he wasn’t popular, and the women felt he wasn’t in control of his drinking. I wasn’t sure how to say that given Donnell wasn’t exactly in control of his drinking either. “They have concerns about Julien.”

  “Aaron?”

  I was on much safer ground here. Slim, dark-haired Aaron was quiet but popular. “Aaron’s been an officer for seven years, and built up a reputation for being fair and dependable. Everyone has confidence in him.”

  “Aaron is fair and dependable, but seems to have no desire to be my successor as alliance leader. I tried dropping a few hints to him last week and got nothing in response.”

  “Remember that Aaron’s wife died of winter fever only three weeks ago. He loved her very much, so he’s still deep in mourning, and focused on caring for his baby daughter.”

  “That’s true. What about Luther?”

  I hesitated again. I’d heard a lot of withering comments about Donnell favouring Kasim’s son too much. I couldn’t say that to Donnell though, because it would sound as if I was jealous of his affection for Luther. Chaos, of course I was jealous of his affection for Luther.

  “The women mostly comment on Luther’s good looks.”

  Donnell seemed to be studying me closely. “He’s a handsome boy. I had the impression you found him attractive yourself.”

  I felt myself flush with embarrassment. “I had a childish crush on Luther for a while when I was younger. I didn’t realize you’d noticed that.”

  Donnell shrugged. “Well, if you hear anything else about my junior officers or the deputy leadership, then come and tell me. You’ll have plenty of opportunities to talk to me now, because I’m putting you in charge of the off-worlders.”

  I blinked. “What? Why?”

  “I included you and Luther in the meeting with the off-worlders because I didn’t dare to leave either of you in Reception. The situation was volatile enough already without the division men tormenting Luther, and I didn’t want Cage approaching you again.”

  Donnell grinned. “Including you turned out to be surprisingly useful. If you hadn’t been in the meeting, I might have been fooled by Tad’s tale of being on a routine museum retrieval mission. I want you guarding him so you can keep doing exactly what you did in the meeting.”

  I didn’t understand this. “What am I supposed to keep doing? I didn’t do anything in the meeting.”

  “Yes, you did. You laughed at Tad. You wounded his pride. The boy was so desperate to convince you he wasn’t a total fool, that he gave away the fact the museum retrieval story was a lie.”

  “It was a lie?”

  “Oh, yes. Those three must be from Adonis, they speak Language with its unmistakable accent, but there was nothing routine about them coming here. The fact they had to be vaccinated against Earth diseases tells us that none of them have been to Earth before, and they didn’t come to do a random sweep of old paintings or historic artefacts. When I asked if they’d found what they were looking for, Tad said the word ‘it’.”

  Donnell shook his head. “Think about what that implies. One item. Adonis sent a team to Ea
rth to retrieve a specific single item. More than that even, they sent their last precious working aircraft with detachable wings as well. What can possibly be that important?”

  I thought of all the things I’d ever found in abandoned buildings. Jewellery, clothes, pictures, toys, the discarded trivia of millions of lives, were scattered everywhere in New York. All of it had once been special to someone, but I couldn’t think of anything vitally important to off-worlders.

  “I’ve no idea.”

  “Nor do I,” said Donnell. “Whatever it is, it’s very small, and Tad’s got it in his pocket right now. When I asked about it, his hand unconsciously moved to check it was safe, but he wasn’t worried when I mentioned the possibility of us searching him. That means we could see the item, hold it in our hands, and still not know what it was.”

  He shook his head again. “There’s no point in trying to force answers out of people when you don’t even know what questions to ask. We’re in no hurry, those three can’t go anywhere without our help, so we’ll try the alternative approach of being friendly. If we talk to them as much as possible about random subjects, then they’ll be pushed into talking too. In the end, they’ll either give away their secret by accident, or decide they trust us enough to tell us about it.”

  I thought that through. “Isn’t there a risk that we’ll give away secrets as well?”

  “If the off-worlders stay with us for months, they’ll learn most things about us anyway. Besides, Seamus gave away the only secrets that really mattered years ago.”

  That was true. “Shouldn’t we at least keep the off-worlders locked up?”

  “Certainly not. Those three are civilized people from Adonis, conditioned from birth to obey the proper social rules of behaviour. If we lock them up, then we become the enemy, and they’ll feel perfectly justified in telling lies, stealing, even attacking us. Instead, we turn their social conditioning against them. Treating them as our welcome guests means they’ll feel obligated to behave well towards their hosts. They’re already off guard, seeing us as civilized like them, and feeling grateful to us for protecting them from the mob downstairs.”

  “I understand,” I said, not really understanding at all.

  “We’ll give them jobs that split them up, and regularly pair each of them with one of us. I can spend time with Braden, and Natsumi with Phoenix, but I’m sure Tad is the real key to this. He can’t be more than nineteen years old, but he’s the leader of those three, and my guess is he’s very, very important. He’s totally defenceless here, his life literally in my hands, but he still kept interrupting me when I was talking. That makes him either incredibly brave, ridiculously stupid, or someone used to always being the highest status person in any group. He’s oddly well informed as well. Did you notice that?”

  “Yes,” I said eagerly, because this time I knew exactly what Donnell meant. “When Tad heard your name, he started talking about the formation of the Earth Resistance. His voice was different then, as if he was reciting something he’d learned by heart.”

  “I could believe Tad had done some research before coming to New York,” said Donnell, “and learned about the Earth Resistance occupying this building, but why would he have studied enough details about me to know I’d never been in the Military? Young Tad is a mystery, Blaze, and you’re the perfect choice for getting information out of him. Make friends with the boy so he lets down his defences. Get him to talk to you. Keep laughing at him, because that stings his pride. Take note of anything he says that seems strange.”

  I didn’t want to pretend to be friends with my enemy, but I did want to please Donnell. I gave a reluctant nod of acceptance.

  “You can start by taking the off-worlders down to dinner this evening,” said Donnell. “I’ll send some of my officers to sit at your table. I’m afraid it’s likely to be a difficult situation.”

  We’d be eating at a table in the middle of Reception, while surrounded by people who’d like to murder the off-worlders. Yes, I thought that could definitely be described as a difficult situation.

  Chapter Six

  When I went to collect the three off-worlders from their rooms and take them down to dinner, I found them standing together in corridor B6. They were wearing the same sort of scavenged winter clothing as the rest of us now, but the mere fact they were strangers would still make them painfully conspicuous in Reception.

  I had every intention of being friendly to Tad, but his first words seemed carefully chosen to anger me. “Can’t we eat up here instead of going back downstairs with the looters?”

  “Donnell told you not to use that word!” I snapped at him.

  Tad frowned. “I thought it wouldn’t matter when I was talking to you.”

  “You thought wrong! I don’t like you using that word, or that sneering tone of voice, to describe people like me and my mother.”

  He gave me a startled look. “But you belong to the Resistance, not …”

  “My mother belonged to London division,” I said coldly. “She had convictions for looting and arson, but don’t you dare criticize her for that. My mother didn’t belong to a privileged Adonis family like you. She was born on an Earth that was falling apart, and being in the wrong place at the wrong time was enough to make her a criminal.”

  Tad tried to speak. “I’m sorry that …”

  I hadn’t finished what I wanted to say, so I raised my voice and talked over him. “I lived in London with my mother for the first eleven years of my life, so you can count me as a looter too. I only came to New York, and joined the Resistance, because of the London firestorm. I was lucky and escaped through the portal to New York, but my mother was trapped in a burning building and …” My voice was betraying far too much emotion, so I let my sentence trail off into nothing.

  “I’m deeply sorry for making ignorant assumptions,” said Tad.

  “We’re all very sorry,” added Phoenix.

  Braden nodded hastily.

  There was an awkward silence for a minute. I finally forced myself to speak in a calmer voice. “Nobody is allowed to bring food upstairs. When the rationing started, some people were giving their own rations to their children.”

  “That’s understandable,” said Phoenix.

  “It’s totally understandable,” I said, “but it stopped those people from making a proper recovery from winter fever, and we need everyone in a fit state to hunt for food. There were cases where people had their food stolen from them as well. Donnell had to make a strict rule that everyone eats downstairs where he can supervise things.”

  We started moving down the stairs after that. Tad kept his mouth shut until we reached the second floor, but then the strain was too much for him and he started yapping again. “Donnell said that the authorities had shut down the city power and water supplies, but I noticed you still have power to run the security system.”

  “For political reasons, the United Earth Regional Parliament complexes were designed to be leading examples of environmental efficiency,” I said. “The building walls, windows and roof all absorb solar power, and there are some other special features intended to save water. Not all the new ideas worked out well – we had to dig a whole new drainage system five years ago because the old one kept clogging up – but Machico has managed to keep most of the systems functioning.”

  “It’s chilly in here,” said Tad, “but it would be even colder if the only heat source was the fire downstairs. I suppose you’re using the solar power to heat the building. You haven’t got working lights though, and the water in the bathroom was freezing.”

  Donnell wanted me to get Tad to talk, which was obviously going to be the easiest job in the world. The boy was positively addicted to the sound of his own voice.

  “We only put the lights on when it’s fully dark outside,” I said. “We can’t afford to waste either power or water. Rainwater is collected in tanks on the roof, and if those run dry then we have to carry water up to refill them.”

  We’d reache
d the ground floor now. I pulled aside the curtain and led the way into the dimly lit Reception. The sound of voices abruptly stopped, and a mass of shadowy figures turned to stare at us in silent menace.

  I instinctively looked round for Donnell, spotted him standing nearby with Machico, and was reassured enough to keep walking forward. As I joined the end of the queue by the cooking fire, Aaron arrived to stand next to me. I glanced over my shoulder and saw Tad, Phoenix, and Braden were behind us, while Julien and Luther had appeared to act as rearguards.

  I faced forward again, trying to look calm and confident. Most people were already sitting at tables and eating, so I only had to endure a short wait in the queue by the cooking fire before I was handed a generous plate of food. I wondered why we were eating so well tonight. Had the hunting been particularly successful, did Donnell feel we all desperately needed a decent meal, or did he think there’d be less trouble about the off-worlders if everyone had full stomachs? I decided it was probably a combination of all three reasons.

  I moved aside, glad to put more distance between me and the flames of the cooking fire, but still aware of the ominously silent crowd that was watching us. Aaron got his plate, and came to stand with me as the off-worlders were given their food. The portions handed to them were smaller than other people were getting, but I wasn’t going to argue about that.

  Tad, Phoenix and Braden joined us, there was another short delay while Julien and Luther got their food, and then I led our group to an empty table in the Resistance area.

  As we sat down, the ceiling lights flickered on. Despite the fact they were on a low setting, the room instantly seemed much brighter. Whispers of conversation started up, gradually building to normal volumes, and people finally stopped staring at us and went back to eating. I noticed one person still had her eyes on us though. Hannah was sitting alone at our regular table. I pulled a face of apology at her, and she gave a resigned shrug in return.