TNE 02 To Dream of Chaos Read online

  That sounds very important," Anthony exclaimed, shaking their hands.

  "They're from the same world as Zero," Tom said, with a wry smirk, "but they're a little better behaved."

  Having yet to hear the story of Zero's stolen relics, the Junior technarchs were puzzled at the priesfs wary regard.

  "1*1! explain later, "Coeur told them. "Now let's go forward so you can see our commo setup. Newton, after you."

  "Certainly, Captain," Newton said, padding forward to its station In the cockpit with Coeur and the junior technarchs In train. "You will observe that I have all outgoing frequencies from Soledad monitored, including the UHF frequency Homer's drone monitored at 03S0 hours, so we are reasonably certain that Emperor Brak has not made any more statements regarding the prisoners."

  "Can we reach Brak from here?" Masaryk asked.

  "And more to the point," An-Wing added, "can we reach him without his knowing we're here?"

  "I believe so. Since our maser uplink to the geosynchronous drone Is unlikely to be intercepted, we will use that as an origin point for a return signal to Brak on his own radio frequency."

  "Who knows," Vink said, from behind them in the passenger hold, where he was soldering an electronic component, "they might even diink the origin point is an orbiting starship—if their main sensors really are just local radar and direction finders."

  That's a hopeful thought," Coeur said, retiring with the junior technarch; 10 the passenger section so they would have a chance to collect their thoughts before going on the air. An-Wing was eager to get started, though, and soon sat down at the comm panel with Newton at her side and Coeur and Masaryk at her back.

  "Co," Newton said. "You have the frequency."

  "Attention," An-WIng said, authoritatively, "Emperor Brak of Soledad, this Is the Starship Technarch, in orbit above your world...."

  Amused, Coeur smiled at the improvised ship name.

  "We have received your signal concerning our crewmembers, and await word of your terms for their release."

  An-Wing then shutoff the transmltterand glanced at Newton, who was studying Its monitors for evidence of a return signal.

  "Anything?" Coeur asked.

  "Negative."

  "All right, then. Continue monitoring, and cycle Liu's message every five minutes."

  "Hm," An-Wing mumbled, nodding, "'//hat?" Coeur asked.

  'That's the first time you called me Liu," An-Wing replied, looking over her shoulder.

  Too familiar?"

  "No. Just wondering If I can stop calling you Captain D' Esprit and call you Red?"

  "Sure." Coeur said. "Get our people back, and you can call me anything you like."

  * * •

  Two and a half hours later, An-Wlng's message had yet to receive an answer, and many of the spacers—cooped up together in the G-carrier for protection from the harsh noonday sun—were beginning to doubt that an answer ever would come.

  Outside, the dry air had reached 35° C—not quite the Inferno of Orif lamme's equatorat noon, but still Intense under a harsh sun shining through a thin atmosphere. Sitting In the G-carrier's cockpit, Coeur could only imagine how unpleasant It would be for Bonzo—presently sitting in a camouflaged nest 200 meters above the spacer camp—if he had to stand his watch without the benefit of battle dress, "How's It look out there7" Coeur asked Bonzo, speaking through a headset microphone.

  "Very quiet," the corporal answered, his voice carried crisply over the laser link they were using. "I can't see anybody moving around in the city."

  "Very quiet's good. But stay sharp. If Brak's got something up his sleeve, you'll be the first to see it."

  "Yes, sir."

  "Red Sun out."

  Coeur turned to study a computer map of Soledad, hoping to put someot her time to good use planning the nights broomstick recon flights. Moments later, the leads in Newton's radio crackled, and all the spacers came to attention as the Hiver pulled in a special broadcast from the Federal District "Personnel of the starship Technorzh, this Is Emperor Brak speaking. Your message has been received, but you must understand that the terms of you' personnel's release may not be discussed in this manner. Your captain must come to a place of my choosing, alone, prepared to discuss the mission of your last starship. Crazy Jane. If you value the lives of your crewmembers, you will respond immediately."

  Lest an attack should come at the camp, Coeur had distributed her personnel among the vehicles, so Mercy was aboard the tank, and the other Marines—Drop Kick, Gaffer and Bonzo—were aboard the ship's boat, which they took over as their base of operations. All heard the message, though, and dropped their other work to hear An-Wing's response.

  "Your message ts received," An-Wing said. "However, tie advised Chat we will not make any arrangements while the safety of our personnel Is In question."

  "Thatwouldseemtobelnthenatureofademand, Technarth."

  "Merely a statement Of position, Soledad. Our minimal requirement is the assurance that our personnel are safe and well."

  Abruptly, Brak's signal cut off.

  And an urgent message from Bonzo sounded in Coeur's headset.

  "Skipper, trouble. I see a missile launching over the horizon, bearing 044 degrees."

  "Typtealt* Coeur fumed. "A RDM?"

  "Affirmative. Ifs big and fast, on a high ballistic trajectory."

  "Understood, stand by."

  "What is it?" Tom asKed, In the brief time it took Coeur to switch her comm channel from Bonzo's to the one Homer was monitoring.

  "APDM launching," Coeur ex plained. "Hornet, tills Is Red Sun. Do you copy?"

  "Roger, Captain," Deep Six said, after a brief lag while the signal was processed through Snapshot's satellite. "Co ahead,"

  "Sixer, it looks like a defense missile's been launched from the surface, possibly at the satellite."

  "That's affirmative," the Schalll answered. The satellite's picked up the signature. We are moving it to a higher orbit"

  "Very good, Homer. Advise if successful,"

  Behind An-Wing, Vink, Physic, Anthony and Masaryk exchanged troubled looks.

  "Was It something I said?" An-Wing asked.

  The answer came several minutes later, when the various passive fcMS sensors of the camp detected a nuclear detonation 200 kilometers overhead.

  "That bastard was trying to shoot down your probei" Tom exclaimed.

  "Well, let's hope he didn't," Coeur said, noting that hercomm panel was blinking with a message from Homer. Thh time, Coeur switched the traffic to the G-carrier's speakers so everyone could hear.

  "HometXo Red Sun," Deep Six said, "are you receiving? Over,"

  "Roger, Homer, go ahead."

  "Skipper, since you're receiving this, you'll have surmised that Snapshot's drone Is Intact. The PDM appears to have been boosted by a conventional rocket and was unable to climb to the satellite's orbit It detonated well short of the target"

  "Good work, guys. Advise of any change In the sate I frte's status." "Understood. Home! out."

  "A conventional rocket?" Tom said. "But that means—*

  "That means his best weapons aren't that Impressive," Coeur finished. "Which might not be entirely good."

  "How can that not be good?" Physic asked, "Because we've been thinking he got his relic gear out of the depot. But if he doesn't have advanced missiles, or sensors, he might not control the depot at all."

  "Then.,.who does?" Tom asked.

  "I don't know. But I'll bet Zero knew, before he died."

  A long silence followed, broken by the beeping of Newton's comm panel announcing Brak's follow-up message.

  "I trust, starship Technarch, that you are still there."

  "Yes. We maneuvered Out of the way."

  "I'm so glad. You may consider that a statement of our position."

  "We,..understand,"

  "Excellent. Then understand this: Your captain will appear at the corner of Coronado and Enea streets tomorrow noon, before the Defense Ministry, or one of the pri
soners will be killed In as painful a manner as can be relayed over the radio."

  "Understood. We will consider your offer."

  "Soledad out"

  An-Wing shut off the frequency.

  "Talk about a guy who needs his ticket punched," Tom said. "Brother Anthony, how long has Brak ruled this place?"

  "Just a few years, I believe," the priest said, thoughtfully. "Of course, the emperor he killed to take over wasn't that much better,"

  "I don't know if we need to overreact," An-WJngsaid, turning away from the comm panel, "just because he talks toughdoesn't mean he can't be reasoned with,"

  "Uu," Masaryk said, "the man shot a nuclear missile at you."

  "No, he shot a missile at an orbillng satellite."

  "I rather doubt he appreciated the distinction," Newton pointed out Just then, Drop Kick hailed the G-carrier from the ship's boat.

  "We heard the conversation. Red Sun. You ask me, I think tonight's a good time for a decap raid."

  "It may come to tha^" Coeur admitted, "but not yet. This evening, I want a couple of broomsticks taken out for recon patrols with recording equipment. When the time comes for a raid, we'll need the position of all their command and control centers zeroed."

  "Understood. Drop Kick out." "Asfor you," Coeursaid toAn-Wing, "you may be right about Brak. Someone ought to go out to that meeting, if Just to buy us time,"

  "Quite reasonable," An-Wing agreed. "I've flown a grav bike before, so I should be able to handle one of your broomsticks."

  "I meant me," Coeur said.

  Physic's reaction was almost as strong and Immediate as An-Wing's. "Are you out of your mind?" she said. "The man's Insane I"

  "Captain," An-Wing exclaimed, "I must protest! You brought us down—I"

  "Cut it," Coeur ordered sharply.

  Both women stifled their comments.

  "Uu," Coeur went on, *l brought you down tD negotiate with Brak if it was reasonably safe, but it certainly isn't that, given his behavior. As for you, doctor, you should know that I don't have a death wish. The Marines'!! keep an eye on me from a distance, and I'll arrange to have Hornet overhead first"

  "Ballsy," Tom said.

  "Hardly. If I'm grabbed, Homer will take out Brak's fire control sensor* and drop the Marines for a rescue."

  "May the Defender preserve you," Anthony said, "but I fear the doctor is right The Emperor Brak Is not a rational man."

  "Yeah," Tom said, "plus there's the meson guns.We don't know where they are, and they could really fuck up any rescue plan."

  Coeur nodded her head. "I understand that, Vega, but even If those guns are still intact, I don't think Brak controls them. If he did, I'm sure he would have used them on the rebels by now, and a meson gun would have done a much better job of bringing down our satellite than a T16 rocket would.

  "And besides, we don't have time to cover every angle with human lives at stake. If Brak's as much of a nut as everyone says, there's no telling how long the boat crew—or the rebel prisoners—might have before they're killed."

  "Theycould already be dead," Masarykpoinledout "Wouldn't it really be better to send Uu and me?"

  "Negative."

  "Well, In fairness, those are my people being held," Tom said. "Mayoe it would be oetser If I went..."

  "Hey," Coeurwarned, "don'tyou start"

  "Sorry," Tom said. "You go."

  I t f Not far from the spacer camp, In a cleft In the rock of another hill, a watcher hid and surveyed the city of Soledad.

  Humans, it knew, would te asleep In the city, In battered brick apartment blocks and sheet-metal lean-tos. But the creature In the rocks did not hide from the sun and was not subject to the weaknesses of human flesh, among them the need to rest.

  Instead, it lay baking unconcerned among the rocks of its hillside, perfect in camouflage as it waited for the night. At night the humans would emerge from their shelter and become its prey. Human vision—so reliable in daylight—would not penetrate the night, and the human nose would not sense what Stalked In the darkness.

  Yet the humans had a certaincourage, and, in numbers, could resist the watcher. It was better, then/to stalk the foolish human who travelled alone in the night. He would raise no alarm, and his comrades would not risk their lives to investigate his loss.

  Wig/if of last, it thought, when the sun finally began to set beyond the hills at its back.

  Time to hunt.

  And so it did, rising from its perch and gliding silently across the rocks. The farmers would be climbing up the slopes of the hills soon, to reach their fields, and perhaps one or two would prove foolish this night, dawdling too tar from the protecting fold of his mates. The watcher had not preyed on these particular farmers for some weeks now, and their priests perhaps wouid have told them the demons had been driven away.

  If so, that judgment would soon prove In error.

  »» *

  Accustomed as they were to longer day cycles, the spacers at the Lomarica camp lound the 20-hour day of Mexit startlingly short. Only six hours after noon, the evening twilight had fallen into darkness, and the four Marines launched on their evening recon sorties of the federal District.

  For the sake of the camp's protection, its best gunner-—Whiz Bang—remained behindin the intrepid, leaving Mercy and Bonzo to form one recon team, and Drop Kick and Gatfer to form the other. Putting pride aside, Drop Kick gave himself the auxiliary task of delivering a laser uplink to the Imponsero Phalanx, knowing that neither he nor Gatler was quite as good with sensors as Bonzo.

  The hilltop lookout nest was occupied at night by the watch Coeur believed to have the best eyes—herself, Tom and Newton. Since they took their watches in four-hour shifts beginning at sundown, it was Tom who manned the post at midnight—when a variety of things happened.

  First was the nightjack-

  Shortly alter the sun went down, hundreds of farmers Irorn Soledad came shuffling outol the city with their escort of tractor bosses—the latter few In number but key to the nighttime operation. Light from the tractors—blazing in the otherwise pitch black beyond the city—both illuminated the fields to let them be worked and Dominated the peasants to make sure they didn't wander away or slack otf.

  Plus, Tom observed, peering through her PRIS binoculars at the peasants 200 meters below her, they make it a lot easier for me to see whot's going on down there Vet watching peasants till the fields wasn't the most compelling activity in the world, and Tom was positively bored by the time something finally happened two hours later. Although she couldn't be certain why, a young peasant boy, perhaps 10 or 11, among the hiliside harvesters wandered away from the tights of the escorting tractors and into a ravine 100 meters betow Tom's position. This prompted alarm in Tom, who was frankly disgusted that such young children were being taken out into the night. But then she spotted an adult male peasant going after the boy and secretly wished him luck.

  T/wfs it, friend, Tom thought, watchingas the man put his hoe over his shoulder and closed on the child, just a little farther.

  The chiid did not appear rntent on cooperating, however, and dashed deeper into the ravine, behind a barrier blocking Tom's wide wavelength vision. Apparently frightened of the ravine, the man paused at its edge before following, but then summoned his strength and went in.

  Cood mar..

  Seeing nothing happen, Tom resisted the impulse to wave her binoculars around looking for The pair. Instead, she calmly lowered the zoom to a wider angle. And registered a strangled scream, fuck!

  Dropping the PRIS, Tom pulled up her laser rifle and trained its high-powered sight on the ravine instead. Still nothing happened for several seconds. Then the child emerged, frightened senseless as he ran into the arms of the startled adults nearby.

  The man, however, did not emerge.

  Clearly terrified, the peasants did not move to Investigate, leaving that task instead to the men who drove the tractors. Two, armed with Dump-action shotguns, eventually advanced slowly on the ravine with
powerful flashlights, talking over hand-held radios to the other tractor crews. Some moments later they emerged, carrying the peasant man's hoe—snapped In two— and a scrap of clothing.

  Clad the child was safe, Tom glanced at the pocket computer she'd brought with her, studying a topographical map of the Lomarica region rendered from ihedrone'sorbrtal images. A stealthy creature, she noted, could have escaped to the rear of the hill unseen.

  so she wheeled about and trained her PRIS In that direction.

  Nothing, Realizing that what she'd seen conformed—at least outwardly— to Brother Anthony's description of anightjack, Tomdecided this was a potentially dangerous situation and activated her maser link with Newton in the dark G-carrier behind and below her.

  "Newton, this is Tom. Come in."

  "Newton here, Captain. Go ahead."

  "Is Red there?"

  "Affirmative, The captain Is resting in the passenger section. Shall f awaken her?"

  "Maybe you should."

  "Stand by."

  A few seconds later, Coeur came to the maser link, "Red Sun here. Go ahead."

  "Just thought you'd like to know something I saw. Red. Seems something grabbed one of the peasants a few minutes ago and disappeared without anyone seeing It—including me."

  "Oh, hell."

  "Of course, it doesn't look like it stopped the farming. The tractor bosses have got the peasants moving again."

  "Real considerate," Coeur said. "Hey, hold on a moment ..."

  Hearing the line go dead, Tom expected the delay would be momentary. But when It ran to several seconds, she began to suspect that something was up, "Tom, I'm back. There's trouble."

  "What?"

  "We can't find the technarchs. I asked Brother Anthony and Vink, but they were asleep, too."

  "Oh crap. What about Physic?"

  "She's over In the ship's boat—she didn't see anything."

  "All right. Hold on a minute, and I'll look around your camp."

  It took less than a minute tor Tom to find the technarchs- Just as she turned toward the camp, a silent shape flashed past behind her—causing herto fall back around and train her PRIS on it. It was a broomstick, and both of the junior technarchs were aboard.