TNE 02 To Dream of Chaos Page 17

  "We can't be certain of that,1' the Schalll replied. "Only that winter temperatures beyond 30" of latitude are consistently below -30" C, and wind speeds routinely exceed 300 kph."

  "Nasty."

  "Yes, and uncongenial for settlement at TL6. My estimation is that only remnant facilities could survive in the nonequatorial zones."

  "Hm," Mercy grunted, keeping her dark eyes focused on the flight Instruments. Crossing into the night side of Mexit, Mercy lost sight of the northern storms 300 km below and kept especially alertfor thelightsofSoledad. Given the calmer weather over the equator, she expected that vast field of lights would give the first evidence that they were approaching the drop zone, "Any sign we're being tracked?" Mercy asked.

  "Negative—not with active sensors."

  "How about satellites?"

  "None detected. The civilizations appeared uninterested In a return to space,"

  "Good for them. Ah, there it is."

  Soledad. Once, the luminescence of a city of 5 billion would have illuminated the horizon well before the city ttsell became visible, but even today it was not unspectacular, if only because of its sheer size. Soon Homer would have to dive Into the atmosphere and lose its panoramic view of the entire city, but for a brief instant Mercy could clearly identify the four surviving sectors of the city—eastern Marina Dislhd beside the ocean. Senega District to the north, the federal District In the center and Albegar District to the south—areas separated by stretches of wasteland 30 kilometers wide and therefore appearing to be less a single City than four cities linked by a single power grid.

  What made it clear they were a single city, however, were spots of IR radiatton Snapshot's probe detected in the wasteland-telltale traces of human beings eking out a living in the ruins.

  "Beginning descent."

  "Affirmative. Approach track is green."

  "I see something on the RDF—what's that?"

  "Nothing serious," Deep Six said, studying the radar direction finder as Hornet shuddered Into Mexifs upper atmosphere. "Stray radiation from radar over the Federal District. I doubt very much their useful range extends ihh far."

  "Oh, good."

  A moment later the shuddering stopped as Homer's flight computer took over management of her atmospheric control flaps. Plummeting like a 1900-tonne rock. Hornet could not get good aerodynamic lift from the planet's thin atmosphere until she was just five kilometers above thesurface, but with her contra-grav negating the ship's gravitational vector, this was not a problem. Me"cyh3d no fear shecouId eject the skipper's G-carrier safely.

  "Nice entry," Deep Six said. The Lomarica DZ is one minute downrange."

  "Any contacts?"

  "Affirmative—two helicopters bearing 320, range 60 km."

  "I see 'em. Not headed our direction, though."

  "Negative. They seem to be patrolling over Albegar."

  "Well, let's hope V-Max got back to the ship's boat," Mercy said, flipping on the comm channel to Coeur with her thumb. "Captain, we're approaching the DZ. Are you ready?"

  "Roger, bridge. We're go."

  "Stand by."

  Mercy powered Hornet back from 10C0 kph to just under 200—slow enough for the G-carrier to power out through Hornets forward cargo ramp. A backward-pointing ramp would have allowed her to dump Thegrav vehicle at muchhigher speed, but Crowbar hadn't received enough lundlng for everything he wanted.

  "Skipper, you are go for launch."

  "G-carrier away." Deep Six reported, as The dark shape of the craft flasned past Mercy's seat, between the homs of Homet'ssptit bow.

  A moment later, Mercy angled Hornets nose at the sky and pulled back her throttle levers, rocketing the ship back toward space. Still five kilometers above the surface, she would be no more than a fleeting rumble of thunder to anyone directly below—if she was heard at all.

  "Remember to hail us if you require assistance," Deep Six sent to the G-carrier by laser.

  "Roger that," Coeur sent back. "You'll be hearing from us."

  • * •

  Although Coeur wanted her party to look civilian (with the exception of the Marines In battle dress, Intended to offer-protection from afar), she recommended that her people continue to wear their body sleeves under their disguises. They covered themselvesln loose robes and hooded capes intended to make them resemble a crew of free traders, complemented by W5V goggles that would let them see deep night as day. Primarily, this was to retain the defense Inherent In the body sleeves' ballistic material, but the C-bladders In their legs also came In handy when Coeur threw the boxy Carrier Into a howling dive from its Initial altitude of five kilometers.

  If the TL11 G-carrier weren't such a basic design (some would say cheap and nasty), it might have had inertial compensation, but it didn't, so the passengers were obliged to grit their teeth as their seat belts dug into their flesh, straining against the vehicle's negative-gee acceleration. Even Newton, who had neither teeth nor discernible emotion, wrapped its six legs tightly around its seat frame to augment the protection offered by a sturdy torso harness.

  "Everybody all right back there?" Coeur asked, over her shoulder.

  "Oh, yeah," Physic answered, through her teeth.

  "Glad we didn't eat first," Vink added, hoping they would soon level out so his stomach could get out of his chest.

  "Hell," Physic said, "after this ride, I don't think I'll want to eat anything for a while."

  Up on the bridge, meanwhile, Coeur smiled. Although Physic had nothing but disdain for Tom, that feeling didn't seem to extend to Tom’s crew, and Coeur believed that the conflict-hating doctor would avoid open scrapping with the pirate captain. Indeed, all the ground personnel sat together peaceably in the two rows of four seats closest to the bridge, and Coeur felt vindication in her decision to fold down the two rearmost rows for extra cargo space.

  H wasn't as if anyone In the passenger section would have any mind for personal sparring, though, after the rocketing descent. Even Drop Kick, Gaffer and Bonzo— behind Physic, Newton, Vink and Tom—were compelled to keep Their minds on their guts as Coeur leveled out of her 500 kph dive at 500 meters and gently coasted to landfall In a desolate valley of the Lomarica hills, her flight path only slightly thrown off by swirling cross winds. Following the plot laid in by Deep Six put them within 100 meters of The nigh-invisible ship's boat, hidden under a rift shroud with camouflage netting.

  "See anything?" Coeurasked Whiz Bang, manning the topside plasma gun's remote controls from the cockpit seat beside hers.

  "No," the beefy Marine answered, swinging the gun and Its passive EMS sight all the way around, "just the ship's boat, and a hell of a breeze blowing the trees around."

  "Yeah, I see that," Coeur said, watching the wind whip nearby scrub trees back and forth through the agency of her low-light goggles, "but keep your eyes open all the same, I'm going to try to reach the ship's boat,"

  Behind them, at length, came the sounds of the nonarmored party rising from its seats to assemble its equipment: weapons, sensors, med kits and communicators. from the cargo area astride the aft hatch, meanwhile, the Marines pulled out two 200 kg crates to begin assembling the ultralight grav vehicles inside. Informally called broomsticks, they were driven by ducted fans instead of plasma thrust and were therefore as quiet as anything in the air.

  "V-Max," Coeur said, aiming her romm laser at the ship's boat, "this is Red Sun. Do you copy?"

  "Roger, Red Sun, this is V-Max. Did you bring Captain Tom?"

  "That's affirmative," Tom answered, bending over the back of Coeur's seat. "I'm right here."

  "Come on over, then. I've got a guest in the boat and a pot of coffee brewing."

  Coeur and Tom exchanged curious looks, "Confirm, V-Max," Coeur said. "Did you say 'a guest'?"

  "Affirmative; Brother Anthony of the CCL. He can't wait to meet you two."

  "Understood, V-Max. We'll be over momentarily."

  Coeur then shut off the laser.

  "What do you make of th
at?" Coeur asked Tom.

  "I don't know. V didn't mention bringing anybody along last time we talked."

  "It could be a trap," Coeur mused. "Brak might have captured V and forced him to lure us here,"

  "As hostages?"

  "Teddies have done it before," Coeur said. "And Brak does know about the Coalition, if he captured Crazy Jane."

  "All the same, I know V, and he doesn't sound like he's under duress."

  "True, but there's no reason to take a risk. We'll send Gaffer in first."

  Far from being offended by his position as point, Gaffer took i! as a due acknowledgment of his special position as proiectorof the group. While It was true that Drop Kick's vehicle crews also wore armor, the defensive value of their 200 kg suits paled beside that of Gaffer's 100 kg heavy battle dress—stout enough to deflect a 30 mm arm or-piercing shell. Very few types of handheld weapon could faze a trooper in heavy battle dress at all, save a well-aimed anti-tank grenade, or a bolt from a high-energy plasma or fusion rifle.

  That in mind, Gaffer walked up to the starboard forward hatch of V-Max*s ship's boat with his own 1.2 Mj fusion rifle—a fearsome weapon that coukl quickly immolate everything in the vehicle if necessary. Drop Kick, meanwhile, covered his rear with a gauss rifle and affixed RAM grenade—the latter more than powerful enough to blow a substantial hole In the hull of the ship's boat if necessary.

  "Hey, V-Maxl"Cafler said, knocking on the hatch, "open up!"

  "Give the code word," a man's voice came, from the control panel speaker beside the hatch.

  "Sir semper tyronnis," Gaffer returned, quoting the motto of Aurora Obligingly, the hatch's double iris valve opened.

  "Fuck!" V-Max said, reeling back from the barrel Gaffer pointed at him "Get out," Gaffer said, "and you, too."

  "It's all right, V," Drop Kick said, raising his barrel to a nonthreatening angle as Gaffer pushed V-Max and Brother Anthony into the biting, whipping chill of the midnight wind. "He's with me."

  "Drop Kick?" V-Max asked, pulling his windbreaker close against the chill.

  "Affirmative," the sergeant major responded, "I hope you don't mind, but Red and Tom insisted we go over your boat to make sure it's safe."

  "Good thinking, actually," Brother Anthony said. "You never can be too safe where Brak's concerned."

  Brother Anthony, Drop Kick noted through the low-light capacity of his synthetic vision, was a rather tall man, easily a head taller than the stocky pirate V-Max Yet what was even more striking was the beatific expression on his long and youthful face, quite opposite the aspect of V-Max, whose bushy-browed black eyes drilled Into Drop Kick witli irritated impatience as he bundled himself against the cold. Notably, Brother Anthony's hooded priestly robes seemed far better lnsulati'g than v-Max's jacket and jumpsuit, since he weathered the wind with only minor shivering.

  "Well, I'm gladyoucan be philosophical about it," V-Max said. "I'm ftkkln freezing!"

  Gaffer, however, emerged from the aft hatrh a moment later, signing "all clear."

  "Roger," Drop Kick signed back, before switching to audible speech. "Now frisk "em."

  Before he had lime to be oulraged, V-Max found himself being patted down by Gaffer's armored hands—an initially frightening prospect given the power of battle dress's casual strength to break bones and bruise flesh. But Gaffer was dexterous in battle dress—another reason Drop Kickchose him for this mission—and he didn't appear to hurt either man. When the search was over, the first sergeant found nothing more lethal on Anthony's person than a triangular amulet and a vial of water, and only a 9 mm pistolinV-Max'scoat. The vial and thegun Gaffer took for further study, though not before first inquiring into the nature of the amulet.

  "What's that supposed to be?" Gaffer asked, pointing at the symbolic fire in the middle of the charm.

  'The spirit of the Holy Defender," Anthony said.

  "Hm," Gaffe r acknowledged, next examinicvg Anthcfi/iviai, The colorless liquid inside elicited no response when Gaffer removed the lid and pissed it over his suit's integral chemical warfare sniffer.

  "How about this? Some kind of holy water?"

  "Yes, It has been blessed."

  Gaffer looked at Drop Kick.

  "Ah, give it back to him," Drop Kick said.

  "Thank you, "Anthony said politely, taking back his vial. Gaffer then focused his attention on the pistol of V Max, popping out the clip and examining the ammunition.

  "Looks like 9 mm ball," he said, handing the pistol and ammunition to Drop Kick.

  "Right, nothing exotic," Drop Kick agreed, taking the pistol and magazine to examine them himself. He then popped the maga2ine back into the pistol and returned It to Tom's navigator.

  "Here, you can have this back."

  'Thanks," V-Max said, sarcastically.

  By now, though. Drop Kick could see the tension receding in the pirate's body. from his time aboard Vi Et Armis, Drop Kick knew the navigator was fiercely loyal to his captain, and he seemed to relax as he realized that the activities of the Marines were partly for her protection.

  "All clear," Drop Kick finally signed to the G-carrier. "Come on over."

  As soon as Drop Kick and Caffer escorted Coeur and Tom safely to the ship's boat, Coeur returned them to their original assignment, which Whiz Bang andBonzo began executing when the wind died down enough to tet them fly their broomsticks safely—a thorough patrol of the Lomarlca Hills.

  "Strict radio silence?" Drop Kick asked-

  "Absolutely, You see anything strange, you (ly back to Physic and report it."

  "Understood." Whereupon the two sergeants took to the air, and the two captains accepted the hospitality of V-Max in the Ship's boat.

  "Coed coffee," Tom said, helping herself to a second mug from the pot in the bridge of the ship's boat.

  "Thanks," V-Max said, retiring back toward the passenger section with three more mugs, one for himself and the others for Brother Anthony and Coeur.

  Though a craft of 30 tons displacement, a ship's boat Still seemed small since its volume was stretched out through a IOmeter cylinder just five meters in diameter. But for the volume of the cargo hold visible through the aft hatch, the cockpit and six-seat passenger section seemed scarcely larger than that of theC-ranier.

  "I hope the troops didn't shako you up too much, "Coeur said, accepting her mug and turning her chair to face V-Max as he sat down.

  "Oh, that's all right. Believe me, I've seen people treated worse on this planet."

  "Your peopie?"

  "No," V-Max answered, "we've kept out of trouble. Right now, Cari and Katzel are down in Brother Anthony's chapel, about 20 kticks across the river."

  "Another priest of our church. Sister Anna, is with them," Brother Anthony reported, anticipating Tom's logical next question.

  "I see your broomstick there in the hold," Tom said to the cleric, coming back to take a seat of her own. "Is that howyougot up here?"

  "Sure is. The peasants do their harvesting at night, right around these hills, with bright spotlights, so It's hard to move around undetected."

  "Most people find broomsticks alittle frightening," Coeur said to Anthony, "at least the first time. How was it for you?"

  "Rather peaceful, actually," the priest answered. "As if I were flying with the angels."

  "Tell us about your religion," Tom said. "Is It some sort of Terran faith—some denomination of Christianity or Islam or something?"

  "Quite the contrary," Anthony said, his placid bine eyes betraying no insult taken. "The Church of Grace and Light arose on Mexit many thousands of years ago. While we respect our brothers and sisters of other faiths, it is our belief that we were selected by Cod for a special mission."

  "Which is?"

  "To await the return of our Savior, the Lord Defender."

  "I hope this isn't an insulting question," Coeur said, pursuing the discussion, "but is your Lord Defender human or divine 7"

  Brother Anthony chuckled good-naturedly.

  "Neither,"
he said, "and both. It is a difficult thing to explain. It isourbeliet that the Lord Defender is resurrected, or reborn, in limes of great crisis. The first crisis occurred 3,000 years ago, when the early colonists were threatened with extinction, until the Prime Cardinal gave his rife in sacrifice for our sins andquieted the winds of destruction. Since then, he has come again in many forms, whenever a great catastrophe has threatened our people."

  "I see," Tom said, "We realize it may seem a quaint belief," Anthony said, "but our faith has sustained us through the centuries. Today, it is our firm belief that Saint Kilalt will rise again to herald the birth of the Defender and deliver us from the evils of this world."

  Both Coeur and Tom frowned at this, thinking the same thing. IT themembersof the CGI believed that a holy savior was coming to rescue them, they might not provide much worldly help to their mission.

  On the other hand, Coeur thought, a religion doesn't survive centuries just by silting on its dull, and these people have gotten Brak's goat. Maybe V-Max did link up with the right people "Actually," V-Max said, "it's not all pie-in-ihe-sky-and-wait-for-the-apocalypse. The CGL is involved in a lot of work Emperor Brak doesn't appreciate."

  "Like what?" Tom asked.

  "Like teachingthepeasantchildren how to read. Brak frowns on that, since it gets people worked up about freedom of thought,"

  "Really."

  "And then there's the rebels. I doubt they could operate very well in the city if it weren't for the church."

  Good, Coeur thought, trying to hide to satisfied n look. V-Mo* did link up with the right people.

  "Our only concern rs justice," Brother Anthony said. "That Cod's will be done." "Well, Brother Anthony," Coeur said, "I don't know much about Cod's will, but I can tell you I represent a government that respects human dignity and freedom. If you can help us, my government might be of a mind to help you."

  Anthony spread his hands, inviting Coeur to go on.

  "How much do you know about the Coalition, Brother Anthony?"

  "Very little, save what V-Max has told me. He gave me to understand that the prisoners executed six months ago were probably from that state."