Spear of Light (38 page)

This was a place where the boundary between spaceport and city was clear . . . the surfaces even changed colors. The dark, chargeable tarmac of the spaceport contrasted with the lighter and more porous surfaces of roads and walkways in Manna Springs. The skimmer landed on the port side, near where a Colorima stood, quietly watching the crowd of people.
Good to see you
, she said to the Jhailing and Yi.

And you
. He recognized the woman who ran the Spacer's Rest hotel, a man who sold flowers, a woman who ran a tea shop, and a couple who specialized in tours for the academic tourists.

Jules stood a little apart from the others, on the side as far from the Colorima as he could get. He glared at Manny.

The skimmer stopped in front of the group, on the spaceport tarmac rather than in the city proper. As far as Yi knew, there was no legal division, but the color-change line worked out as a symbol.

The hotelier said, “Jules will leave now. If he steps foot in Manna Springs for the next three months, he may be jailed for contempt of our leadership. After that, he may come back in the role that he has always played, as a citizen of Lym. Amanda will be expected to share the same restrictions.”

A bloodless exchange. Yi approved.

Jules walked slowly across the line and stood close to the skimmer, glaring silently at Manny. He looked roughly like a three-year-old who had just broken his favorite toy, or perhaps a young man after the first time a girl dumped him.

Well, what are you waiting for?
the Colorima asked
. Get out.

Yi opened the door and climbed down, leading Manny by the hand.

Manny didn't even look at Jules. He stopped, still on the darker spaceport tarmac, looking at the townspeople. Yi didn't quite understand the details of what was happening, so he stood beside Manny.

Jules climbed into the skimmer. The Colorima followed him. The two Next and Jules flew off, the eerie silence of the skimmer still unsettling.

Now Yi was the only Next in sight.

Manny looked at the group, and the hotelier gave the slightest nod, and then Manny stepped across the line and both groups of people were laughing and shaking hands. They turned and walked down the street all together in a bunch.

Yi followed silently behind them, watching for dangers.

This had been far simpler than he had expected. He found that unsettling. Either the fight out in Next's Reach had drawn all of the rebels out of Manna Springs, or they were hiding and waiting. And here he was, walking down the street by himself behind a gaggle of humans.

He hurried to catch up.

CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT

CHARLIE

Hunger pangs woke Charlie up halfway to Entare. He pulled an energy bar out of his pocket and ate slowly, centering himself before he opened his slate to prepare for the speech he would have to give shortly. He found two messages waiting for him. Both were from Gerry, who had been collecting information about Entare from Desert Bow Station. Before he opened the PA system, he took a deep breath, squeezed Nona's hand once, and glanced at Amanda, who looked back at him placidly and nodded.

Gerry had sent him news for Amanda as well, although he wouldn't give it to her in public.

He stood up and faced the cabin. “I've learned more about the situation on the ground at Iron's Reach. First, let's have a geography lesson. Entare is huge, and over half of it is desert. A long spine of mountains runs down the center, and everything east of the mountain is dry. West is wet, deeply forested, and mostly re-wilded.

“We will be going to the desert, specifically to the desert coast.

“Most of you don't know what that means. I spend two ranger tours there, one of them at Desert Bow Station, where we're going. Days are hot and nights are cold. Some plants and animals are poisonous. There's little cover and a lot of difficult, dry ground. To stay there, you need water.

“Entare used to be wetter, and there are a number of old cities left from that time. Most are crumbling and a few, like Palat, have been partially deconstructed. Near Palat, there are beautiful beaches with breathtaking reefs, and low hills where some freshwater can be found. The . . . attackers are using the small port at the Desert Bow ranger station, which we recently abandoned.

“Iron's Reach is the wide peninsula that the Next are building their city on. They're naming their city after the peninsula and calling it Next's Reach. It's not like Nexity—it's low and sized to humans. Reportedly, the Next are taking the people they've recently turned into robots there. The theory is that a human-sized city is easier for them to live in while they adjust to . . . the consequences of their choice.

“I just got word from Wilding Station that the attack is probably planned for tonight. The attackers are calling themselves Shining Revolution, although we don't have any way to tell if they are really affiliated.”

A few hands went up, but he didn't call on anyone. “I'll take a few questions once I'm finished. We'll have time on the ground for discussion as well.

“The Next have been building on Iron's Reach for a few weeks. That doesn't seem long, but remember that the Wall around Nexity grew too high for us to see over in just two days. Obviously we have satellites, and we have a general idea of what the town they are building is like.” He stopped and fiddled with the controls on his slate. “Everyone should be able to see that picture.” He looked around in the cabin, verifying that the screens were showing the satellite shot. “Next's Reach is also walled, but the wall is low. Ships that have come here have not been turned into raw materials.” He pointed at his slate, producing an arrow on the visuals that everyone else had. “There is a spaceport outside, to the south. The wall does not include Palat proper, but Next have been seen in the ruined city.

“Our plan is to land at the old ranger station where people are gathering and pretend we want to join the attack. Instead, we will try to gather up our people, put them into the
Storm
, and take them home. This plan is not only subject to change, but likely to change. Even with good knowledge of a situation, plans change. We don't have that. We know very little about the people we'll be meeting who are not from Lym. We don't know how many off-worlders are here. We'll have to be careful.” He stopped and took a deep breath. “Now, I'll take a few questions.”

A few hands went up. Charlie called on DeLong Fetcher, a man he'd once taken college classes from. “Why did the Next choose to locate their cities near historic places?”

“An interesting question.” It was, and something he hadn't realized. The Jhailing he had negotiated with had asked for many places that they hadn't been allowed to take at the end of the negotiations. How many of those were old cities? All of them, maybe? It was months ago now, and he couldn't remember the details of what had been asked for, only of what had been given in the end. He mused out loud, “Palat and Neville are both ancient. I recall that they asked to settle near Hay's Market and Lake Loop as well, and those are also very old.” He remembered where he'd seen his first Next, in the ruins of Neville, on Nona's first visit, right around the time the High Sweet Home was destroyed. “That's a really good question,” he repeated. “We don't have time to dig too deep into it, but you are a history teacher. Can you describe the two cities?”

DeLong stood up. He was a tall rangy man with deceptive strengths, and Charlie remembered him and Charlie's father sharing drinks by the fire after harvest days. His voice was gravelly. “Neville was once beautiful, and our histories and the histories of the Glittering alike hold it in high esteem as a place of power and elegance. It was largely destroyed in the war. Palat was industrial, and while it wasn't attacked during any of the last few wars, it emptied as we moved out into space. Once, both had great universities, and each had more population than we allow on all of Lym today. As far as why the Next might be interested, I don't know. I'll think about it.”

“Thank you,” Charlie said.

A woman in the back stood up. “Maybe they like history. More importantly, what can we do to help?”

“A few of us will go in first. We can be sure it's at least moderately safe before we put all of you at risk.”

“We want to go in,” one of the men said.

“Yes,” said another.

Kyle watched him closely.

It felt like they wanted to slide free of his control. “There are too many unknowns. We're almost sure to need you, but we don't want to waste you.”

Perhaps it was the blunt terms he used, but they settled some.

He watched as they neared Desert Bow Station. A flat, rocky plain sloped gently up a low point between two hills. Buildings huddled at the foot of the hills, barely visible. The sun—now almost directly overhead—beat down on the rocky ground, and here and there it found scraps of minerals or metals in the rocks to add a touch of fire to. He had to squint.

Farro held the skimmer low and slow, rocking slightly.

He pointed. “There it is.”

She turned hard right, and they glided onto a long runway. The flat, empty surface ended at a concrete pad sufficient to land space-based vehicles on. They had landed a fifteen-minute walk or so away from the station, which was a small campus of buildings created to look like a pile of desert stones. Early in the restoration it had been a fad to try to camouflage every human thing, although eventually their successors had decided to make them obviously human like Manna Springs instead, choosing understated and friendly architecture.

This was from the earlier period though, and it was as if the people who built it had created another small hill in a field of natural hills and then surrounded it with a combination of natural and fake rock. Bushes grew from cracks in the walls and lined a rock garden on the roof. Bits of green startled the eye, colors that would have been home in the farm country they came from.

Farro turned the skimmer so it pointed back the way they'd flown in. She opened the door with a button and a great gush of heat filled the vehicle. The ramp squeaked as it extended out and clanged on the hard surface. Charlie grabbed the microphone. “Please stay here for a moment.”

As he walked through the ship, he spotted Kyle in an aisle seat next to his two rangers. He waved. “Come with me?”

Kyle looked surprised, but he followed. The two men walked side by side down the ramp and toward the ranger station. “Quite a speech,” Kyle said.

“Thanks.” He glanced at Kyle, searching his face, looking for any signs that he might betray them. He found it unreadable.

Kyle held up his cane. “Sorry I can't walk as fast as you.”

Charlie gave him a level look. “I know.” When Kyle simply stared back, Charlie said, “Maybe someday things will slow down enough you can get it healed.”

“A doctor told me it would take surgery and twelve weeks when I can't walk at all. I'll do that after the damned Next are gone.”

The desert air sucked moisture from every inch of skin, desiccating him from the inside out. It must be even harder on Kyle. “I don't mind walking slow,” Charlie said. “It's good to have you here.”

Kyle gestured toward the buildings and the invasively green potted plants they were now close enough to make out more clearly. “Where do they get the water to live?”

“There's a hell of an aquifer under here. We could turn all of Entare into an oasis for about a hundred years.”

“How many people are in there?”

“We don't know. They wouldn't be recruiting farm kids and the like if they had enough people to beat the Next. But there's some—we've seen ships go up and down, maybe ten of them. None big. A few ships have come from the spaceport, too. And gone back. There's maybe thirty or more people recruited? So we guess there's that many Shining Revolution that came down.”

Kyle frowned. “There's more like fifty recruited. Maybe sixty. Almost all of one whole farm. The harvest was early, and so they left a week ago.”

“You're just telling me that now?”

“I didn't know you didn't know.”

“Assume I don't know anything. It's worse if you fail to tell me something than if I learn the same thing twice.”

“Sir. Yes, sir.” Kyle stared directly at Charlie, a tiny bit of defiance clear in his eyes.

Charlie shook his head. “Don't do this. I told you it was my show. I'm glad to have you along. I need you to be our face here, as well. When it comes to attacking Next's Reach, people will believe you more than me.”

Kyle stared at him. “I know.”

Three people had come out of the station and were walking toward them. Two men and a woman. As they came closer, Charlie spotted Shining Revolution symbols painted on their clothes. They lacked the pristine dress of the leaders, but they looked just as serious as the videos Charlie had seen of Nayli and Vadim.