Spear of Light (48 page)

Gunnar drifted to her side.

Hiram, the Futurist, was the last to talk. “Satyana Adams has demonstrated sufficient grasp of the complexities of our world to lead us into a fearless future. I see no better candidate. We would be remiss to give it to anyone else.”

What he didn't say was that none of the other Councilors had wanted it. Satyana managed not to show her unease as she was called up onto the stage to accept the accolades of her possible new subordinates. The station would vote in a week, and she would know for sure then.

People clapped for her, and she allowed them to, and then she made it through her speech. To her surprise, she stumbled over words twice. She never did that.

Her finale came off perfectly, however. “We have always been a shining light. We will continue to be a light, a place where people can come and find new ways to thrive, where they can be and believe whatever they want. We will remain strong, and we will increase our investment in strength. The Diamond Deep is the oldest station in the system and the biggest and the strongest. We will be the forever station.”

When she finished, the room erupted in applause and whistles, in toasts and murmurs. She tried to gaze directly at every individual. There were too many for her to manage it, but she would be able to remember most of the people who had come here. Most were powerful, and many fearless, but still none of them had wanted the job Satyana had agreed to take if she won.

After she climbed down from the podium, she found Leesha and gave her a brief hug and a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks so much.”

“Don't thank me yet.”

“We'll win,” Gunnar said from directly behind her.

“That,” Leesha said, “is exactly what I'm most afraid of.” She looked around to be sure they had relative privacy, and then turned to Satyana. “Tell me more about this attack. Nayli and Vadim, I presume, but to attack Lym is bold.”

“It's stupid,” Satyana replied. “It won't solve anything. There are a lot of Next on Lym, but there are even more out here. Besides, I'm pretty sure the Next will defend Lym. It appears the reason they came in here at all has something to do with the planet.”

“A planet's an easy thing to live on,” Gunnar said.

“No,” Leesha said. “Not for them. They had to take it. Unless there's something of great value to them, it makes no economic sense.”

“Maybe Neil will tell us what he learns.”

A brief look of pity crossed Leesha's face. She covered it quickly with her signature broad smile and waved. As she walked off, she glided on her floaty high heels, red hair swinging along the line of her waist.

They were near a door, but Satyana stood there for a few long breaths, watching her supporters, before she slid out of the room. Once the door shut behind them, Gunnar took her in his arms. “You did well.”

“I'm shaking.”

“That's why you should have the job.”

“It's a big thing, a big change.”

“So you had best catch up on your sleep in advance.”

She smiled. He probably didn't mean sleep at all. There were a few things she might do with the blue sash of his, although first, she needed to see if there was any news of Lym. “I'll race you home.”

He laughed and picked her up instead, carrying her down the corridor.

CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE

CHARLIE

Manny had declared the Spacer's Rest as on-ground command and set himself up in the bar in spite of the hour, which was entirely too early for anything except stim. At the moment, Charlie had a cup in each hand, although, to be fair, one was intended for Manny. But Manny was so surrounded by worried business owners Charlie wasn't likely to get to him soon, and besides, he'd just seen a service person in that general area with a pot of the stuff. So Charlie decided to stand outside and watch the sunrise before he made another attempt at Manny.

To his surprise, he found Yi standing on the balcony as if waiting for him. “Good morning,” he said. “I thought you left.”

The soulbot smiled. “I'm Yi Two. Yi sent me to tell you to meet him at the caves when you can. He took Nona and the Historian with him. There's a Colorima as well. Yi thinks you'd want to be there.”

It sounded like an invitation to a party. “Thanks, but we have a town to evacuate.”

“After will be fine. They're probably only arriving now, and Yi actually doesn't know what they'll find. But he has some theories.”

Charlie always felt a little unsettled around the soulbots he didn't know, at least the ones like this who looked and moved and talked like ones he did know. “Are you willing to share these theories?”

Yi Two looked out over the spaceport. “I can share one. You'd be safer there.”

Charlie finished the first cup of stim. “I'm glad you have Nona.”

The Yi asked, “Can I help with the evacuation?”

Charlie laughed. “You don't have any secret soulbot stuff to do?”

“I do not.”

Charlie felt a little cruel for teasing. The Yis were so damned earnest. “Yes, I can use your help. But first, I need to finish my stim. We aren't going to be ready for half an hour anyway.”

“All right.”

In the silence that followed, Charlie watched the sunrise color the clouds, and then fade as they covered the rising sun. “What's it like to share so much? Yi told me once that you two have each other's memories.”

“When you have a lover—particularly a new one—do you feel like you are blending into something bigger?”

“Yes.” The cloud moved off of the sun and bright orange spilled up and across the bottoms of clouds, even firing the ones just above their heads. “That good, huh?”

“I like it better than I liked sex.”

“But Jason doesn't.”

The Yi nodded slowly. “That's true.” He looked up at the sky rather than at Charlie, and in spite of the fact that he wasn't human he seemed a little lost. He turned face on to Charlie and asked, “What can I do to help? Where are you sending people?”

“Wait,” Charlie said. “The new Chrystal. She doesn't know anything about the old one, does she? Like they bifurcated at the point where the Next took you all away from the High Sweet Home.”

The Yi looked down for a moment and smiled softly. “From the moment they made us drink the juice that starts the process. They kind of get you stoned before they lead you away. That's the last memory they share.”

“So they don't back you up? If you die right here, Yi One won't know we had this talk?”

“That's true for us. The Jhailings seem to have a better deal.”

Charlie was almost done with his second stim. He turned the cup up. “Will you be like them?”

“Maybe one day. If we survive.”

“That's good,” Charlie said. “That's good.” He thought about the Historian. He hadn't met him, but Nona had been disturbed when she heard he was coming.

Charlie could imagine how a historian might like eternal life. It might not be bad for a ranger either, since he could watch over his herds forever. Not that it truly attracted him, but he was less than halfway through his life. Maybe a lot later he would feel differently. He finished his cup. He glanced at the robot beside him. He wouldn't have thought it possible for him in any circumstances a year ago. He shivered at the seduction. What would happen if they all turned one day? His voice came out brusque. “Come with me.”

Charlie led the Yi inside. The crowd by Manny had more than half dispersed, and Charlie was able to push up to the edge of the table. “Yi's here to help, too. I'll keep him with me. Do you want us to handle the north end of town?”

Manny looked like he was completely in his element, the town headman handing out assignments in an emergency, the middleman for every question. He smiled at the Yi. “Good to see you again. Thanks for the offer, and be careful. There are still people in town that don't like soulbots.”

“I know.” Neither he nor Charlie revealed that he wasn't the Yi Manny had met multiple times before, and Manny didn't seem to notice at all. Manny handed Charlie two pieces of paper. One was a list of the people he was supposed to evacuate and the other the names of two skimmers to send them out in. “It'll take two trips,” Manny said. “Get the first group off as fast as you can, and then you can gather the others. Decide based on who's actually ready.”

“Okay.”

“What are you doing with Cricket?”

“Taking her with me.”

“Don't let her scare the children.”

Charlie laughed. Manny had been telling him this ever since he adopted the injured predator. Five years, now.

The last family climbed the steep ramp into the second skimmer. A tall thin scientist named Lai held her three-year-old daughter on her hip and used her free hand to grip the rail. She turned and looked down at Charlie, her eyes wide with fear and gratitude. “Are you leaving, too?”

“Not yet.”

“Be careful.”

“I will, Lai; I will.”

Lai turned and ducked into the doorway. Shortly after, the pilot pulled the ramp in and closed the door.

While the machines warmed up and people inside finished settling, he liberated Cricket.

They stood beside Yi Two and watched the two machines take off slowly, fully laden, engines struggling to lift them above the closest houses before they sped up and shot away. Their departure left him more relieved than he had expected.

Cricket leaned against Charlie's leg, her weight almost enough to unbalance him. She only leaned this hard on him when she felt he needed her; the tongat read his emotions more clearly than he did. Once in a while she seemed to feel obligated to point them out to him.

It was almost noon, but a light wind had kept the day from warming much. Even though Charlie knew better, he felt like Yi should be shivering in his short-sleeved black shirt. He envied the soulbots their easy way with the environment. Surely they would freeze if it got cold enough, but so far he'd never seen the soulbots react to temperature.

A dog crossed the street, glancing sideways at them and scuttling away, probably because of the tongat. “Let's take Cricket for a short walk before we scare up the rest of the people. It will be a few hours before the skimmers are back anyway.”

“Okay.”

“We can go through the area we just cleared and make sure we didn't miss anybody.”

They moved cautiously through nearly empty streets.

From time to time they passed bicycles left out beside houses. Yi closed open doors and windows and picked up a few bicycles, which made Charlie smile. People who grew up in space were almost always offended by clutter.

Cricket whined from time to time, but he couldn't spot whatever was upsetting her. Perhaps she just found the empty town as eerie as he did.

“How do you intend to fight Nayli?” Yi asked between houses.

“Carefully.”

“You're kidding.”

“We don't know. We heard the Shining Revolution might be planning to take over the town. Manny sweet-talked the Port Authority into closing the spaceport for the day. They did it, but mostly because the Next allowed it. We're keeping some fighters in case they're useful, but we'll house them near the edge of town, just in case that's safer.”

They knocked on a door and got no answer. Yi listened until he appeared satisfied that the house was empty and then looked at Charlie. “You're being careful.”

“Yes,” Charlie said.

“They'll destroy you if they believe they have to. You should know that.”

“I do,” Charlie said. “Anything to live forever, damn them. Even though they will anyway, mostly. Even if Nayli does destroy Nexity, many of them will have enough backup copies or backup bodies or whatever. They'll just live on.”

It galled Charlie. Lym was transitory, and so were he and Nona and Manny and Amfi and everyone else. The Next would live forever, and they were willing to destroy ephemeral humans in service to whatever they were here for. It didn't make him mad at the soulbots, but beyond them there was a nameless, faceless power that wore a variety of bodies and only called itself by a few names that he knew. Jhailing Jim. Colorima Kelm.

“Whatever they want, they're risking destroying something so precious I have no words for it.” Charlie found himself staring at Yi. “We hardly have any weapons here. After the last wars, Lym was declared a safe space, and we promised not to make weapons. Not real ones. We have hand weapons.” He touched the stunner at his side. “And a few small guns on a few of the skimmers. Nothing that could matter in an interplanetary war.”

Yi narrowed his eyes. “You're angry, aren't you?”

“Yes.”

“With us?”

“Not you. But with what you are becoming. What do you want anyway? Or the Next for that matter? Is there anything bigger than we know about? Does someone tell the Jhailings what to do?”

Yi laughed. “I would be angry, too, if I were you.”