A Rising Thunder-ARC (26 page)

Samantha and Nimitz keened softly, and Honor inhaled sharply.

“I didn’t know any of them had survived,” she said, voice soft, when Arif paused. “I thought the entire clan had been killed.”

“As far as Sorrow Singer knows, she’s not just Black Rock’s surviving singer,” Arif said a few seconds later. “She’s the only survivor, period. And the only reason she’s alive is that she was visiting Moonlight Dancing Clan. One of her litter brothers had married into Moonlight Dancing, and their central range was just far enough away to be outside the blast area and firestorm.” The linguist shook her head slowly. “Moonlight Dancing was close enough its memory singers
felt
Black Rock die…and so did she.”

Honor felt her hand press her lips, felt Hamish’s arm encircle her, felt Nimitz pressing against the back of her neck, and all she could think of was the horror of a telempath—a
memory singer
—actually
experiencing
the deaths of everyone she’d ever known and loved.

“I don’t know how they kept her from suiciding,” Arif’s voice was softer than Honor’s had been. “I…have the impression it wasn’t easy.”

Her eyes met Honor’s from the display, and Honor nodded. Treecats who’d adopted almost never survived the deaths of their human partners. Before prolong, that had been
the
great tragedy of the bonds, for treecats normally lived over two hundred T-years, and their humans’ deaths had deprived them of all those additional years. Honor could think of only two ’cats in her own lifetime who’d survived their humans’ deaths: Prince Consort Justin’s companion Monroe and Samantha, herself. What it must have been like when every single person in Sorrow Singer’s Clan was ripped away from her in one brutal instant…

“It must have been terrible for all the clans in range,” Arif went on starkly, “and Moonlight Dancing was closest of all. The SFC says they’ve lost over a dozen ’cats since the strike, and others don’t look good. Which made me wonder why in God’s name the clan’s two senior memory singers were traipsing off to visit me at a time like this.”

Stillness hovered. Then, finally, Honor cleared her throat.

“Why—” She paused, her soprano husky, and cleared her throat again. “Why
had
they come, Adelina?”

“I know Nimitz and Samantha were off-world when it happened,” Arif said a bit obliquely, “but from what Song Shadow and the others say, every ’cat who
wasn’t
off-world felt it. The more distant clans felt it less strongly, thank God, but even our crew here at Green Bottom got hammered. Trust me, it was…bad.
Really
bad.

“I don’t know if they understand exactly how it happened even now, but they know it was the result of a human attack. Personally, I wouldn’t have blamed them for turning their backs on all humans, but that’s not the way treecats’ heads work. Apparently they’ve been passing around Nimitz’s experiences with you, and especially what happened with Lieutenant Mears, for some time now. And, according to Song Shadow, they’ve overheard at least part of the newscasts about President Pritchart and Dr. Simões; some of the SFC rangers were viewing the news channels during a medical visit to Moonlight Dancing. They’ve figured out Nimitz and Samantha must’ve actually met Simões, and the clans want them to come home for the memory singers to get their first-hand experience with his mind-glow, but I think that’s just a formality. They figure that if he were lying, or if he were crazy, Nimitz would already’ve told you. For that matter, they know
you
can sense emotions. So there’s not much question in their minds that Simões is telling the truth…or that Mesa is behind everything that’s happened.”

“I’m glad they don’t blame
us
for it, although God knows
I
sometimes do,” Honor said somberly. “I still don’t understand why they wanted to come see you in person, though. For that matter, I don’t see how Song Shadow got the word all the way from Bright Water that they did! Nothing I’ve ever seen has suggested they’ve got enough range to reach halfway around a planet.”

“I’m pretty sure they relayed from clan to clan,” Arif said. “And the reason they wanted to see me is that Sorrow Singer has a proposal.”

“A ‘proposal’?” Honor’s eyes narrowed. “What sort of ‘proposal’?”

“She wants to tell you herself,” Arif replied, and a slender, dappled brown and white form jumped into her lap and into her com’s field of view. The treecat sat up on her rearmost limbs, facing the com, her eyes and body language somber. She looked so
small
, so fragile, Honor thought, feeling the tears at the back of her own eyes.

“Sorrow Singer?” she asked softly, and the treecat nodded.

Honor wanted to reach out and hug that distant ’cat. To share with her the depth of her own grief for what had happened to Sorrow Singer’s clan. Her sense of guilt that humans—
any
humans—could have caused such an atrocity. But she couldn’t, and so she simply bent her head in a small half bow of acknowledgment.

Sorrow Singer inclined her own head in response. Then her hands rose, and she began to sign with a flowing grace that somehow communicated a bottomless sea of sadness.

those graceful fingers said. know
your clan.>

Her hands emphasized the verb, and as Honor looked into those bottomless green eyes, she realized what Sorrow Singer meant. That for the treecats, the mind-glows of all who’d gone before were still available, still
there
, as long as the chain of singers was unbroken. In a very real sense, Sorrow Singer had actually
met
Stephanie Harrington, Honor’s own ancestor, the very first human ever adopted by a treecat, and Honor felt a strange, powerful envy.

“I wish I could share those memories with you,” she heard herself say. “I’ve always wished I could have known her.”

Sorrow Singer signed. you
have done for us. And now, it is time for us to protect
you
.>

For a moment, Honor was certain she must have misread those flowing fingers. Protect her? Protect
her
, when humans had destroyed Sorrow Singer’s entire clan?

“Nimitz has already protected me many times,” she said. “And I’ve done my best to protect him. That’s what you do when you love someone.”

Sorrow Singer replied, and her tail flirted as if in a sad laugh.

“Then, forgive me, but what
do
you mean?”

Now Sorrow Singer’s fingers moved with a flat, somehow terrible emphasis. I
know, from your mind-glow—that you will die to prevent that. That your friends among the two-legs, even those we have never met or tasted, will do the same. That you will
stop
their evil, whatever the cost, however long it may take. And we know from the stories we have heard over the “HD”>—she signed the obviously unfamiliar term carefully—

She paused again, and Honor nodded.

“I’m afraid you’re right,” she said soberly. “And we don’t know how they’re doing it. How to stop them.”

Sorrow Singer said. other
two-legs, at least—the People can taste mind-glows. We do not know how the evildoers make others do their bidding, but we
can
recognize the moment when it happens. From Laughs Brightly’s memories, we know now what to look for. I believe we could taste it even sooner with that knowledge…and give other two-legs at least some warning.>

Honor inhaled sharply. She looked at Sorrow Singer for several seconds, then spoke very carefully.

“We’ve thought—
I’ve
thought—about that possibility,” she admitted. “As you say, Nimitz recognized the same fear, the same desperation, I saw in Tim that day. And from the security footage of the attempt to assassinate Berry Zilwicki, Judson Van Hale and Genghis recognized those same things in the killer they sent after her. So, yes, I’ve thought about it. But Genghis was bonded to Van Hale just like Nimitz is bonded to me. They tried to protect each other because they loved each other, just like Nimitz and I love each other. And Genghis
died
, Sorrow Singer, just like Nimitz could have died trying to stop Timothy.” She shook her head. “Like I said, you protect the ones you love.”

not
love,> Sorrow Singer signed, and gave a slow, human-style nod. —she nodded again, this time in Arif’s direction—

The small, dappled creature gazed into Honor’s eyes once more.

her implacable fingers said with iron determination. died
for the other. Now it is our turn, and we wish you to go to Soul of Steel and Truth Seeker. Tell them the People—
all
the People of this entire world—know who would protect them and who would slay them. We know how you and your clan have always loved and protected and shielded us from harm, Dances on Clouds. But the time has come for that to change, and we do not choose to be kittens forever. If you would guard us, then
we
will guard
you
, and if we die as Far Climber did, as Climbs Quickly almost did, as Laughs Brightly has almost died for you and you for him, then we will die. But we will not hide. We will not be children. If you will fight for all this world, for all of us, then
we
will fight for
you
.>

Chapter Fourteen

Innokentiy Kolokoltsov considered the message on his display.

Well, it’s hardly a surprise,
he thought.
And I thought I was ready for it. But I don’t suppose anyone could
really
be ready for something like this. And the Manties are capitalizing on it, damn them
.

He didn’t know how the newsies had first gotten wind of “Operation Raging Justice,” but any secret had a limited shelf life. Sooner or later, somebody always “outed” it, either for some advantage they might gain or simply for the ego stroking newsies gave those “unnamed sources.” And it didn’t matter what the secret was. It could be that some political or bureaucratic rival was maintaining a clandestine love nest on the taxpayer’s credit, or it could be a literally life or death operation like Raging Justice. It was all grist for the mill, as far as the leakers were concerned.

So however much he’d hated the thought of telling the Manties what was coming, it had scarcely been a surprise. And neither had their response.

By this time, he had a sizable file of messages from Sir Lyman Carmichael, Manticore’s ambassador to the Solarian League. The first dozen or so had maintained the diplomatic fiction that the League and the Star Empire weren’t yet actually at war and simply requested “clarification” of “unconfirmed news reports” of SLN fleet movements. Over the next week or so, though, as Kolokoltsov systematically ignored them, they’d segued from “requests” into forthright demands.

By now, Carmichael wasn’t even pretending Manticore didn’t know what was headed its way, and his communications had become increasingly blunt. Like the present one.

Kolokoltsov pressed the button, starting Carmichael in mid-sentence.

“—done our best to convince you and your colleagues to see reason, Mr. Permanent Senior Undersecretary,” the Manticoran said flatly, pointedly jettisoning the fiction that he was actually addressing Foreign Minister Roelas y Valiente. “You, however, have steadfastly ignored our warnings, rejected any attempt to reach a diplomatic resolution of the crisis provoked entirely by your military’s actions, and continued to prepare additional military operations against the Star Empire. We’ve endeavored through nonmilitary responses to indicate at least some of the potential costs of your actions. Obviously, the interruptions and damage your interstellar commerce is already suffering as a consequence of your intransigence have failed to get through to you. Now, with all the hyena-like ‘courage’ we’ve come to associate with Admiral Rajampet and his navy of gallant murderers, you’re clearly preparing to take advantage of the catastrophic damage inflicted upon the Old Star Kingdom in February.

“I’ve warned you repeatedly, on behalf of my Empress and my Government, of the extraordinary risks you run in pursuing such a policy. I warn you again, now, formally, that your obvious belief that our defenses have been crippled by what’s become known as the Yawata Strike is in error. If Fleet Admiral Filareta attacks the Manticore Binary System, he won’t simply be defeated as Admiral Crandall was in her attack on Spindle. He will be
destroyed
, and if the reported number of superdreadnoughts assigned to him is accurate, the loss of life among Solarian naval personnel will be unconscionable. We have no desire to kill hundreds of thousands of men and women whose only ‘crime’ will be obedience to the lawful orders of superiors too arrogant to recognize reality when they see it. It would appear, however, that you and your colleagues intend to leave us no choice.