Another Word for Magic

by Mackey Chandler

  “How long until your local sundown?” Lee asked.

  “Another four hours. Call it four and a quarter Earth hours,” Werner said.

  “I can be on the ground talking to you with my personal security in under an hour, and have a squad of troopers there maybe a half-hour behind. I’ll help you, but I do not want to set up a detailed bureaucracy to govern. I want to install a limited number of Voices to keep local governments within limits, but allow towns to govern themselves. Are there any factions opposed to you in Providence City or can you claim to be the civil authority in control?”

  “I’ve got a couple of hundred people here volunteering to do what I say. We never had an election but that’s better than the dozen or so Glasser has in the administration building. There hasn’t been enough time for anybody to organize an opposition.”

  “Very well. I’m prepared to recognize you as the existing civil authority,” Lee said. “I will land and help you remove the previous, resisting administration if you agree to accept the future oversight of my appointed Voices with veto power over local rule. I intend to establish new contracts and leases to replace the previous ones with the Claims Commission. That will take some time to examine each and come to new agreements, but you can expect them to be on more favorable terms to you than the old ones.”

  “That sounds good,” Werner said suspiciously, “but it’s mighty short on detail. Pardon me if I don’t let myself get rushed into agreeing to something too fast. If you can get down here that fast you can take a few minutes to answer a couple of questions.”

  “Ask away,” Lee invited.

  “Take my circumstances,” Werner said. “I work for an Earth company based in North America. If you take over here, I don’t see things being normalized and them being allowed to continue on the same terms or even better. They aren’t going to be allowed to send funds here and the last I heard they don’t let Spacer banks send funds to Earth banks either. Nobody is suddenly going to get reasonable about that. What will you do? Are you going to nationalize all the companies and their land and equipment? Are you going to start paying people to do the same work for you they were doing before? Or will you bring your own people in from Derfhome or Central? I’d add, I have no ambition to permanently change my line of work to politician. My mother raised me better. I’d go back home to Earth before I’d do that.”

  “Very well. Tell me if I miss an important point,” Lee said. “I’m not interested in owning a portfolio of Providence companies. I want those operations back paying me just as they did the Commission. I have no mass of unemployed waiting to take your jobs.

  “Indeed, I’d be hard put to come up with a geologist such as yourself. Unemployment is very low on Derfhome and any geologists there are probably not only already employed but specialized in the local geology.

  “If Earth foolishly forces their firms to abandon their operations here, which I expect just as you seem to, I’d confiscate the physical assets and offer them to the operations managers or the employees as a whole for a dollar USNA, with the understanding they keep working them.

  “I can jump-start the process again by picking up your wages for a month or two. I can afford to spend several billion dollars Ceres to pay them. I’d expect I’ll earn that back in a decade or two easily. I’m not sure what the exchange is now. It might be easier to just switch away from USNA dollars right away. If your company needs new supplies and equipment brought in, that’s going to have to happen from Fargone or New Japan. Unless you persuade me personally to invest in that, with a return - not as a gift, you’d have to approach the banks there or on Derfhome or even other Earth nations besides the USNA to finance such expansion. They won’t want to work in USNA dollars either.”

  There was some dead air time as Werner tried to absorb all that.

  “I’m Jeffery Singh,” Jeff broke in. “If my Lady Lee is short to carry that out, I can pledge my fortune and I am Voice to the Sovereign of Central to pledge her assets to the task as well.”

  “Same,” April said. “I’m the other Voice, but I’m not poor either. We’re both going to get some real estate out of this deal so I’ll make out OK in the end, even if I have to invest a little. Neither of us has ever been too cheap to prime the pump.”

  “OK, if half of those promises are any good it’s better than the mess we have now. Call me Mr. Mayor or whatever, but I agree to serve very briefly to reestablish order. We are behind the big warehouse about two kilometers west of the administration building. We can meet there and talk. It will shelter you from any rifle fire. There’s a park another two kilometers west where you can land a shuttle. It’s completely out of range of their rifle fire.”

  “This is Gordon, Lee’s father, and fleet commander. “We noticed some fires in the city. Did you start those to limit visibility for their riflemen?”

  “I see the smoke too. We smell it now and then. I have no idea what crazy people decided to burn. I sure didn’t order it. I’d guess though, that at least one of them is Glasser’s residence. Folks are kind of fed up with him right now. What do you intend to do with him if you dig him out of his offices?” Werner asked. “People are going to be very unhappy if you haul him back off to Earth. They’ll figure he’ll never answer there for murder off on some distant planet where he has some influence. We’ve seen the like too many times.”

  “If you demand him to local justice, I’ll turn him over,” Lee promised. “You can convene a people’s court or let the relatives of the dead sit in judgment. I wouldn’t martyr him myself. Things like that create a stigma you may regret a hundred years from now. But I understand why passions would be running hot. I’d consider sending him back to the Slum Ball as a failure who lost an entire colony planet punishment enough.”

  “We’ll see,” Werner said. “I’m not going to fight my people to keep him out of their hands if they demand him.”

  “Our shuttle will land in the park,” Lee said. “I’ll drop my auxiliary near there, but it can travel along the surface to your location.”

  “Oh really? That will be interesting,” Werner said. “I’ll be here. We’ll continue our prep in case your guys can’t dig them out.”

  “I’ll see you in about a half-hour plus,” Lee said and didn’t address his doubts.

  * * *

  “I’m going down,” Lee said.

  “We heard,” Gordon said. “I had no doubt you would even before you talked to him.”

  “Some things you can’t do remotely,” Lee said.

  “I shall stay here as an obligation of command. Who are you taking? Who can you fit in the Twool?” Gordon asked.

  “My Human guards. The Derf will have to catch up. I’d like to take Jeff and April if they will leave their seconds in charge of their vessels.”

  “Yeah, sure,” April agreed.

  “Wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Jeff assured her.

  “I object. If anything happens to Jeff my Mothers may find me negligent,” Strangelove said. “This has happened repeatedly but this time I don’t see why he can’t come down this time on the shuttle from the Retribution with me and my soldiers.”

  Lee did some figures in her head quickly.

  “You can ride down in the lock if you want and get in on the action early,” Lee offered.

  When Strangelove looked unhappy and sullenly silent April spoke up.

  “Ride up front with Lee, and Eric can squeeze in with us in a Derf seat. He’s thin like Jeff and we can all three fit under a Derf belt. It’ll be cozy but it’s not for that long.”

  Strangelove looked at Lee and she nodded her assent.

  “I’ll collect you directly at your locks,” Lee said. “I’m not going to wear a suit and try to switch to armor on the ground,” she warned them.

  * * *

  “It looked worse in infrared,” Strangelove observed as they dropped on the city.

  There were only a few black plumes and one fire with visible bright flames.

  “I think
the ones with white smoke are just steam from buildings where the fire suppression system has put it out already,” Jeff speculated.

  “So, there are probably a few firebugs running around setting fresh ones?” Lee asked.

  “That’s my bet,” Jeff agreed. “There are always a few pyromaniacs in any Human community. They might not even be doing it for any political purpose. The unrest just gives them an excuse, and cover to do it for their gratification.”

  Strangelove turned his head and regarded Jeff like he was waiting for the punch line to a joke. It never happened, so he looked back forward and said nothing. That had to take remarkable control.

  The park was an easy to identify green rectangle. Lee waited late to brake to reduce their exposure. Nobody complained. She eased down the last few meters until they were under the old-fashioned, decorative street lights ringing the park, but above the roofs of the few ground cars parked in sight.

  “Oh good. They do have a GPS running,” Lee said. She didn’t have any local maps loaded but it showed her longitude and latitude although that was useless at the moment. What it did supply, and what she appreciated was a compass so she could turn west with confidence.

  * * *

  The warehouse was huge and obvious as they got closer. The streets here were deserted, only two pedestrians stopping to stare as they floated by. It just required switching one street to the north to be on the road that led straight to the truck docks and massive doors where a crowd of people was working on something outside. There was no perimeter fence, which said a lot about the state of crime on Providence. There was, however, a line of cars and small vans blocking off the entry to the freight yard.

  Lee floated past that barrier and sank to a half meter above the pavement. People stopped working and stared. A few jerked in surprise when they turned to see what the others were looking at. Shocked a machine could silently approach them so closely.

  One group was visibly different, all standing around one man without any tools or materials in front of them. If they were talking to him that ended when Lee stopped and left the car in a low hover, locked to the location. That easily they found Werner Brandt.

  Werner walked over as they piled out, limping a little. He had one trouser leg slit to above the knee and a bandage wrapped around one calf. Lee stepped ahead and offered her hand with April and Jeff behind on each side. She introduced them and Werner’s eyes went to the three Humans behind her. All her security were in civilian clothes with spex, though heavily armed and with lunar armor under the colorful outfits. Eric had baseball size bots floating over each shoulder turning and adjusting position continually. Strangelove could probably hear them, but they were silent to most Humans.

  “Private hired security,” Lee explained, not introducing them.

  “Mercenaries,” Werner said but without making it sound like a slur.

  “The best,” Jeff assured him. He hooked a finger in his armor and pulled it down from a slit showing his eyes to politely reveal his face for Werner. He gave him a grave nod before lifting it back over his nose. April left her face uncovered like Lee.

  “And him,” Werner said, tilting his head at Strangelove. “Is he a Derf?”

  “Indeed, he is,” Jeff said, surprised he had to ask.

  “He looks…. bigger in life than pictures would make you think.”

  “Like a mountain filling your view instead of the photograph,” Jeff agreed. “This is Specialist Strangelove. He is not paid security. The Mothers of Red Tree seem scared I’ll die in their service and someone will blame them.”

  “I am informed Jeffery is that sort of a deep thinker who goes off in introspective trances at the least opportune moments. I’m to guard against that,” Strangelove volunteered.

  “So, a security specialist?” Werner asked.

  “I command our nuclear forces,” Strangelove said, “but we strive to be flexible. If the Mothers have me sent me to the kitchens to chop vegetables it is my pleasure to do so.”

  “Strangelove reports directly to the Champion who leads all their military,” Jeff said.

  “Oh, you’re guarded by the equivalent of a four-star in charge of their nuke boomies. You do rate,” Werner told Jeff. “He looks like he might carry one for a hand grenade.”

  He looked at April.

  “And you are the only one without bodyguards,” he mused tilting his head.

  “There may be a spectacular lack-of-need there,” Strangelove suggested.

  Having appraised each of them to his satisfaction he returned to the elephant in the room and frowned at the impossible aircar.

  “You are probably tired of the obvious question,” Werner predicted.

  “Magic!” they all shouted in unison and broke up in hysterical laughter.

  It was so contagious Werner smiled too.

  “My squad has landed at the park,” Strangelove said, touching his spex to indicate the source of his information. “In a much more conventional shuttle,” he added for Werner’s benefit. “They should be here in just a few minutes. They could only fit six with full loads but that should be entirely sufficient if you wish them to end the siege of the administration building.”

  “That would be very much appreciated,” Werner said. He gestured at the work underway. “We were using well casing to make two direct fire, smoothbore guns to propel explosive charges through the windows. There are possibly a few innocent workers who did not fire upon us and are scared to leave. There are records and com gear and other equipment it would be a shame to destroy, and difficult to replace.”

  Looking behind them, Werner’s eyes got big suddenly and his mouth dropped open. Something not even the aircar had managed to do. They turned to look, too, amazed at the spectacle of Strangelove’s troops were arriving in a line on bicycles.

  * * *

  The drone was quiet and not much bigger than a hummingbird. Strangelove shared the screen with Werner and Lee, Jeff and April looking over their shoulders.

  “I can’t see into the dark room through that mirror window glass,” Strangelove said, “but the majority of your people remembered that area as a meeting room. There aren’t any thermal sources showing through the walls, and there aren’t any other hot spots showing in the other outer rooms. There are some diffuse sources seen through the roof in the middle of the building. I think they have retreated to the inner rooms.”

  “Makes sense,” Werner said. “The com room, records, armory, jail, and executive offices are all clustered in the center. They don’t have the numbers to cover every possible entry.”

  “I’d make an entry right between the two windows furthest from the entry doors,” Strangelove suggested.

  “Why not through one of the windows?” Werner asked him.

  “It’s easier, so more likely to be booby-trapped. You can’t realistically booby trap every meter of the outside walls. Once four troopers enter, one sharpshooter will cover the breach from behind a portable shield. The other will be held in reserve to do anything needed.

  “The trooper who breaches the wall will drop the tube and follow his mates in. Please wait until they confirm they have the building secure and two of them return to the breach to conduct your people in to seize records and secure equipment. After a second sweep of the building has been done, and opening all the closets and storage spaces, you can man the com desk. I suggest allowing us to open their armory to arm your guards so they can protect your people while you open the net back up and restore normal communications.”

  “I have two techs who volunteered to restore coms, and two who can guard them once armed,” Werner said. “All four are experienced.”

  “Ready then,” Strangelove said. He pointed at a trooper who unslung a tube launcher off his back.

  “How big of a hole do you want?” the fellow asked.

  “Big enough for you but not enough to make the roof cave in,” Strangelove requested.

  The soldier reached in the tube and twisted a dial on the front of
the projectile.

  “Stay out of my backblast,” he warned everyone loudly. He dropped his ballistic faceplate and stepped from behind the corner of the building that was sheltering them. It seemed like he was leisurely about aiming precisely and then the hot spark of the rocket exhaust flew towards the building across the street too fast for the eye to track.

  He stepped back in the shelter of the building and laid the expended tube out of the way where nobody would trip over it. They waited for the dust obscuring the target to clear. The wind helped a little and revealed a ragged hole. The roof was sagging a little over it but Strangelove decided not to be picky.

  “Go,” Strangelove said, and they set off at a trot. The remaining soldier stepped out and planted a folding shield on the ground, squatting behind it. He dropped his 20mm rifle into a notch in the shield and started watching for targets to service.

  The first trooper was still short of the breach when a sharp explosion went off strong enough to be felt through their feet. The windows blew out of the administration building and the roof in the center could be seen to lift briefly in a bulge. The line of troops reversed to trot back without needing to be told. The contingency of the building becoming unsafe to enter for any reason was covered in their orders.

  By the time they returned to shelter the center of the roof caved in and flames were visible. It wasn’t long until a ball of white-hot gas erupted.

  “There goes the power backup for coms and security,” Werner said. “What a mess.”

  The fire subsided to an orange glow with the occasional pop of small arms ammo cooking off.

  “Do you think they did that on purpose?” April finally asked.

  “I certainly don’t think it was our breaching the outer wall,” Strangelove said. “There was nothing that should have penetrated deep inside through several walls.”

  “I wouldn’t say they,” Werner said. “More likely he. But if his goons let Glasser set up a self-destruct thinking he might not use it, that was pretty stupid of them. You’d think they would save it as a last desperate measure to be used if they were overrun.”