Spear of Light (41 page)

He froze. “Where?”

Amanda's voice shook. “I don't know. Right when Richard started talking. I tried to go with them, but they wouldn't let me.”

Five minutes ago? Seven? Nona was a perfect hostage; he wouldn't start an insurrection with her missing. But who here would have known that?

Maybe she was just being questioned. Maybe it was okay. The three people that had pulled out of line had been returned just after the rest of the group arrived in the hangar. Charlie hadn't been able to talk to them, so he didn't know what they'd learned, if anything.

People already streamed through the open doors, following Richard's plan to walk toward Next's Reach.

He couldn't leave without Nona.

What were they doing anyway, going out to attack the Next? Maybe everyone had gone stark raving mad, pushed away from clarity of thought by urgency and deep, desperate fear. That's what it felt like. Shifting alliances. Manna Springs returned to Manny. That was the news he still hadn't given Amanda. He and Kyle on the same side again.

Nona had reported the same kind of chaotic changes throughout the Glittering.

She wasn't by any of the doors.

Amanda tugged on his arm, and he followed. Maybe she had gone outside.

People milled in a tight clot outside of the hangar doors. He walked the perimeter with Amanda. No Nona.

He spotted Amy and pointed her out to Amanda. “There she is.”

“I know.”

“She hasn't seen you yet?”

Amanda looked worried and a little ill. “I don't want to spook her.” She took a deep breath, keeping her face turned away from her daughter. “She knows me. She knows I'm not here to attack anyone.”

“Didn't you attack Manna Springs?”

“Jules is the bloodthirsty one. I just follow him. She knows that.”

Like mother, like daughter? Amanda had followed Jules and now Amy was following Richard?

Was this the moment to tell Amanda that she and her brother had been kicked out of power? Probably not. He owed her the information, but also a place she could hear it with dignity.

Where was Nona?

He felt a hand on his shoulder and turned around to see Nona, looking fine, even a little excited. He closed his eyes briefly, grateful and a little dizzy over her safety. When he opened them again, she was still there, looking oddly stronger. “Are you all right?”

She whispered, “I had to convince a few people of my good intentions.”

He touched her shoulder, and as they started off he said, “I had to do the same when Kyle and I were out earlier. That's part of what took so long.”

She whispered again, close to his ear. “They're not official. They're doing what they think the Shining Revolution would do.”

“How do you know?”

A triumphant little grin touched her lips for a moment. “They came right out and told me.”

“Did you find out if Gunnar is the one helping them?”

“No.”

Amanda was near them, but so were a few others. “We'll talk when we have more space.”

“Okay.”

They were still far behind Amy, who trailed just behind Richard. Her demeanor supported his earlier assessment. She looked for all the world like someone yearning to be part of an inner circle she was still outside of.

Regardless of how official the revolutionaries might or might not be, the group appeared trained. The off-worlders stayed at the edges and behind, essentially forcing most of the people from Lym casually into the middle of the long column. Even though there was no attempt at total silence, conversations were low and disciplined. The pace was medium-fast, and it picked up as the sun fell to halfway down the sky and a light breeze made the heat more bearable.

Desert tharps began to show up as the rocks threw longer shadows, the colors in their lean bodies matching the ground and rocks so well that even he only noticed them when they moved.

After about an hour, they stopped as a group for a water and rest break near a dry stream that was shaded with metalloid trees, their long thin yellow leaves nearly touching the ground.

He and Nona found a flattish, warm rock a little distance from anybody else. She looked tired and tense, and a light dust coated her face and hands. He spoke quietly so as not to be overheard. “Manny's back in charge in Manna Springs.”

She glanced toward Amanda, who had gone past them, apparently still trying to stay out of Amy's sight.

Above them, raptors were beginning to emerge for their early evening hunt. He counted three different species, and maybe a fourth. One had the broad, spread-finger wings of a dancing wind kestrel but it flew too far away for him to be sure. “They were both deposed. Amanda probably doesn't know it yet.”

Nona's mouth drew into a thin line, and she crossed her arms and looked uncomfortable. “I'll tell her.”

“Maybe we should just tell her there's trouble. Remember Manny—who's back in charge now—is my family.”

“Jules was a horrid leader.” For a moment she seemed to lose the tension, but then her jaw tightened again. “Is he safe?”

“Yes. He's just not in town anymore.”

“All right. Let me think about how to tell Amanda. She hasn't even connected up with Amy yet.” She glanced around at the group, which had devolved from orderly into a relaxed lump of people. “I gather we're getting close to someplace where we'll wait to ambush the new Next. Richard and the others apparently think they won't fight back very hard, or won't be able to. I think they're being stupidly naive.”

“Watch carefully at the ambush point. If there's any opening at all, we'll take it. I want to stop this before we get killed by robots.”

“Okay.” She didn't touch him, but he felt that she wanted to. He certainly wanted to fold her into his arms. But this wasn't the time or place. “Stay safe,” she said. “I'll be watchful.” She stood up and drifted toward Amanda.

He started walking around, checking on people he recognized. He should have put some kind of token on everyone they'd brought with them. There was no easy way to tell who was on their side.

An hour later, the sun kissed the horizon and the sky blazed orange and pink above them. A beautiful sunset, a magic only the desert could make. Charlie had missed these sunsets. He kept looking up as he followed close behind Richard, who had proven to be physically quite strong. Even going up hills, the man hadn't slowed down or displayed much change in his breathing. They must have been here for at least a few months to be so fit, especially with this heat.

Charlie had always heard that physical health was a thing for the Shining Revolution.

Richard finally called a halt at the top of a low, rocky ridge. Just downslope from them, a road had been cut into the desert. A hallmark of the Next, the road was made from a material Charlie had never seen, laid down as if it had always been there and yet spanking new as well. The rocky uneven surface had been flattened and then the road applied.

Instead of giving any particular instructions, Richard, Samil, Hiroma, and two others spread throughout the line of marchers and peeled off groups of people. Charlie stuck with Richard. Amy, Jean Paul, and Nona were with him as well. He spotted the back of Kyle's head as he walked away with Samil. Good. Kyle would recognize him as augmented and be wary.

Amanda must be with a different group.

They stayed while the other groups walked off to both sides. Charlie frowned. How would he signal people in five groups at once? Nothing to do for that, so he tried to assess the people he was with. It was the largest group with almost thirty people; he tried to count them into sides. He could identify four others who had flown in with them, although there could be more he wouldn't recognize. Amy and three teens clustered together. A man named Paul who had once been a driver for Charlie's aunt's farm stood next to people he knew were spacers. He gave it up, figuring at best they had a two-thirds of the group to overcome.

Richard stood up on a rock and people gathered around him. Charlie came close, a little to the side. This time, Richard spoke almost conversationally. “We wait. Hide in the rocks. They run along this road just after full dark.” He pointed down at the road. “We don't attack until our air cover arrives.”

Charlie raised a hand. “Don't they know we're here?” he asked. “Surely they have cameras.”

The question seemed to irritate Richard. Nevertheless, he answered it. “They surely do. We've done this three times, now. We watch them, and we've spread rumors that we watch them because we want to be them. That's the whole reason they leave the old ranger station alone. They see us as spectators.”

“Thanks.” Maybe the Next who ran things here were far enough away from real human behavior to buy that kind of story. He didn't like it.

Richard turned his attention back toward the whole group. “Our job is to pick off any of the bots that get away. Remember that they look human. Every one of them. But you are
not
killing people. They are no longer people.”

“All right,” one woman said. “I'm ready.”

Charlie considered. He needed to stop hesitating. It wasn't like he was going to get any more help, and even if the broad distribution caused a problem, having a small group was a blessing. Everyone was close.

Richard stood on a flat rock with room behind him for at least two people. He was focused on his message and on his people.

Charlie signaled Jean Paul, took a deep breath, and vaulted onto the rock beside Richard. He braced his feet, grabbed one arm, and twisted Richard toward him. Richard managed a step that allowed him to keep his balance and raised his right arm.

“Stop them!” someone yelled.

Jean Paul grabbed Richard's raised arm from behind, unbalancing the bigger man.

CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO

NONA

Nona faded back into the suddenly dismayed and chaotic crowd, trying to take the whole scene in at once. She hadn't expected Charlie to act quite so . . . precipitously. Stupid of her. He had told her that they would do it this way.

Richard's followers seemed to be splitting, some toward the action, some stepping away, assessing.

Most attention focused on the rock where Charlie and Jean Paul struggled to hold the far bigger and more muscular Richard.

Two men flanked them in front, armed.

Charlie had his stunner buried in Richard's side. He yelled. “Stand down. We'll kill him.”

They backed away, but not far. Waiting for a moment.

The same woman who had yelled for action earlier had been stopped by two of the women who came with them from the farms. Even though she was smaller, she was spitting and scratching, snarling at her captors, “Let me go!” The women held on.

Jean Paul forced Richard into a sitting position. A man and a woman she recognized from the
Storm
came in and took Charlie's place; between the three of them, they kept Richard contained.

He stopped struggling, glaring at Charlie. “You're making a mistake.”

Charlie ignored him, speaking to the larger group. “We came to stop this fight.”

Richard managed to spit on him, hitting him in the cheek.

Charlie didn't flinch. “Murdering the most innocent of the Next won't help anything.”

Nona would have said something different. She started edging toward the rocky rise behind Charlie, Jean Paul, and the others.

Richard struggled to a stand, still held, but almost looking like he was still in charge. The force of his personality shone more clearly than she had seen before; she understood why so many people had followed him here. He spoke calmly. “It doesn't matter. Save your energy.”

An off-worlder woman sidled to the edge of the ridge, maybe hoping to come behind the three men. She wore holstered weapons, and one hand was on the biggest, preparing to draw it.

Nona moved up between her and the men and said, “No.”

The woman stopped, an infuriated look on her face. “Traitor.”

“To what?” Nona hissed back. Even just the few steps upslope that Nona had taken to stop the woman gave her a much better view. She was above the action, and she could make out each and every face. Amy was completely focused on Richard, looking like she might jump up and try to free him.

One man turned and ran away.

No one followed him. Nona didn't recognize him, but that didn't mean much. He could alert the other groups.

She couldn't think of anything to do about it.

Richard remained calm, even though Charlie and Jean Paul still held him. His body language proclaimed he was still in control. “It's okay,” he said. “The attack will happen anyway. We're the cleanup crew.” Richard straightened and smiled in open defiance.

Charlie risked a glance in the direction Richard was looking.

Hiroma walked toward them with Amanda just in front of her.

Richard tried to twist free again, and Charlie pulled harder on his arm. “It'll break,” Charlie whispered, barely loud enough for Nona to hear him.