33 Quad 2471 R.E.
For a good quarter of an hour, the armored trucks remained motionless while the Ruche surface-effect vessel moved in a tight circle in the middle of the canal.
"Why are they waiting?" asked Rhyana.
"They?re probably calibrating a weapon on the SEV," replied Eltyn. "Or they?re waiting for another kind of attack."
Calibrating…[incompetence], pulsed Faelyna.
"Not too bright. They didn?t even notice the RF wheeler," added Rhyana.
"It is covered in sand," Eltyn pointed out.
Seeing only what they want to…or can, suggested Faelyna.
Several more minutes passed before a reddish gold point of light struck the north side of the station, barely caught by the monitors, then vanished. Another followed from the SEV in the middle of the canal. It was equally without effect.
Lasers ineffective 4. Idiots, pulsed Eltyn.
Ignorant. No one left from TechOversight or MetCom who knows the MCC parameters.
One of the armored trucks rolled up alongside the south wall of the station. The cab opened, and a woman in gray drab scrambled out and pressed her hands beside where the stone door was. The small miniturret atop the cab swiveled and a single-barreled weapon focused on the door. The door did not respond to the woman?s touch.
Locks holding. Eltyn knew the comment was redundant. Faelyna was accessing the monitors as well. But he felt he had to acknowledge her success.
The woman kept holding her hands against the wall. The truck turned and headed back to join the other four, leaving the woman alone. Finally, she lifted her hands from the station wall and ran back toward the five vehicles. Eltyn continued to watch her, the trucks, and the SEV. After several minutes beside the lead truck, the woman trudged back westward, this time in the narrower space between the raised seawall and the north wall of the station. When she reached the point where the canal-side door was located, she again pressed her hands against the stone, to no avail.
Eltyn did his best to focus the monitor on her more closely. From what he could tell, her face was fixed in concentration, yet her eyes seemed…off. He projected the image.
Brain-scrub and conditioning, suggested Faelyna.
"They don?t care if she gets killed," said Rhyana. "Poor thing."
"Just so long as she serves The Twenty." Eltyn didn?t bother to mute the raw sarcasm.
Yet…he certainly hadn?t questioned the The Fifty or any of the higher officials of the Ruche before the coup…or had he? He and Faelyna had embarked on a secret project for TechOversight, one that certainly wouldn?t have been considered favorably by The Fifty-and hadn?t been. But The Fifty hadn?t been brain-scrubbing anyone who disagreed. They just hadn?t approved their projects.
Where was the line between ethical disagreement and being a traitor? Was it killing? If so, he was now a traitor. But…there was a difference between killing to avoid being killed and killing others because they didn?t agree…wasn?t there? Eltyn didn?t have time to ponder that point and what led to and from it. The emergency signal flashed.
They want to communicate.
You talk, pulsed Eltyn. Might say what I think. [wryness]
I won't?
You always think before you speak.
I'll remind you of that later. Faelyna pressed the stud to acknowledge the emergency transmission, using the manual override, rather than admitting that the station still had full internal communication systems. "Yes?"
"Regional Inspector Welkyr here. You have not opened this installation to inspection as required by The Twenty. Why have you not complied?"
"When your inspectors arrived, they came bearing arms," replied Faelyna. "They also followed reports that they had brain-scrubbed almost everyone at the Apialor station. The one inspector we captured threatened us with the same. Under those circumstances, would you have opened the station to anyone?"
"The Twenty are fair and just."
Faelyna did not reply to Welkyr. How can I answer that without lying or infuriating him?
"He?s lying," muttered Rhyana.
You can't, pulsed Eltyn.
For several minutes, the three in the station waited.
Finally, Welkyr spoke again, his voice smooth coming from the comm speaker. "Despite your actions in failing to comply with the law of the Ruche, Ruche Research is prepared to offer you leniency if you leave MCC (W) with all equipment intact. There is no need to prolong this…inconvenience. Just be reasonable, and all will be well."
"Exactly what do you mean by leniency?" replied Faelyna.
Ask about whether The Twenty will abide by whatever agreement Ruche Researchreaches, pulsed Eltyn.
Not yet, she pulsed back.
"You will be treated as any other nonviolent member of the Ruche who has not yet seen the way of The Twenty."
"That doesn?t sound lenient after what we?ve seen so far." Faelyna?s voice was totally matter-of-fact.
"It is most lenient for those who have defied the very principles of the Ruche."
"It?s not lenient enough for us. We?d like to keep both our minds and bodies intact."
"The Ruche will not harm you. You will have long and productive lives."
As little more than barely sentient vegetables, suggested Eltyn.
"We?re looking for long, productive, and thoughtful lives," pointed out Faelyna.
"We can offer no more," stated Welkyr.
"Then we must reluctantly decline your most kind offer," replied Faelyna.
"Then you must deal with the consequences that befall all who refuse the mercy of The Twenty."
Mercy? If that's mercy, we don't need to hear what they believe is justice or retribution, pulsed Eltyn.
"No mercy there," said Rhyana.
The emergency comm went dead. Shortly, all five armored trucks turned, one after the other, and drove eastward from the canal, raising a faint haze of sand and dust.
Eltyn increased the size of the image, so that Rhyana could see it clearly as well. Retractand shield. Report status.
Retracted and shielded.
The projected image vanished.
"What happened?" asked Rhyana.
"As soon as they?re out of range, the SEV will start firing, either lasers or projectiles, or both," suggested Eltyn. "The lasers won?t do anything, unless they hit an antenna or a scanner, and from where they?re situated, they can only take out the scanner and the antenna on the north. Missiles or projectiles could take out the other scanners and even the power cables-although those would take lucky shots. There?s no point in leaving anything unnecessarily exposed."
"The tidal generator is underwater," added Faelyna. "It?s not the primary power source anyway. The solar grid is spread over kays to the south, and most of the cabling is buried deeply."
"Some of the sensors are shielded anyway, and we can get an idea of what they?re doing."
A spike in temperature on the north side of the station confirmed that the SEV had focused at least one laser on the station. Several other beam strikes registered. Then, for several minutes, nothing happened.
"Projectiles are likely on the way," Eltyn said dryly.
Seismic sensors began to register impacts, more than a few.
Shelling us in earnest, Eltyn pulsed to Faelyna.
Nothing like a believer scorned.
Eltyn tried to get an image through the local antenna on the south side of the station, but all it revealed was sand and dust swirling around the station, with an occasional gout of dirt and sand, mostly sand, geysering into the sky south of the canal stone.
Then one warning indicator came up, and another.
The main antenna is out again…we've lost seventeen percent of the solar grid.
Eltyn waited as the impacts continued, but the system did not indicate any more warnings.
A good hour passed before the shelling stopped.
The emergency comm flashed again.
Faelyna looked at Eltyn.
He shrugged.
"Yes?"
"Are you ready to reconsider and accept the mercy of The Twenty?"
"Not unless you guarantee long, prosperous, and intelligent life," replied Faelyna.
"We have promised that."
"Then you?re lying, and that?s even more despicable."
"We only want you to embrace the Ruche so that you will not be lost to the Meld."
"We?ll remain lost, thank you."
In less than five minutes, the shelling resumed, and continued for another half hour. Then the SEV began to move eastward, slowly at first, before gaining full speed, from what Eltyn could determine from the east-facing local antenna/scanner.
"How bad we hurting?" asked Rhyana.
"We?ve lost twenty-three percent of the solar grid and the main scanning antenna. We don?t have another spare. Even if we did, being outside any time soon wouldn?t be good."
Not at all, pulsed Faelyna.
"Now what?"
Eltyn shrugged again. "Their pride is hurt. They?ll try something even more powerful."
"They wouldn?t be stupid enough to use a nuclear device, would they?"
"Unless they?ve got more scientific expertise than we know, they couldn?t have built one since they took over, but they?ll come up with something."
Eltyn was afraid he knew exactly what that was…but they?d have to evacuate the area on the north side of the canal before they did, not that there were all that many people there.
You really think they would? Faelyna looked to him.
You think they wouldn't?
She shook her head.
"Is there any of that casserole left?" asked Eltyn, offering a smile he didn?t feel.