Article 23 (18 page)

Justin stood up and grabbed hold of Matt.

"Look, buddy, this isn't going to happen."

"Yeah, sure, Justin."

"I mean it."

"Look, Justin. You're the first real friend I've ever had. I wanted you to know that. It means a lot to me."

Justin grabbed Matt by the shoulders and hugged him.

"My stuff.
Whatever you want, it's yours."

"I don't want anything of yours except you."

"Look. At least hang on to that picture your mom took of us canoeing on Sugar Creek. Make sure the rest gets back to my Uncle Dan." Matt smiled sadly. "Old Dan will take it hard. Down deep I know he didn't want me to go.
Funny.
My '
bot
, my robot friend I think he'll miss me too. He was a great chess player. When you get a chance, would you visit them? Tell Dan I took it like a real sailor, no whining or pleading. Walked the plank and spat in their eye, I did, before they popped the door."

With that, Matt started to break down.

The chaos around them swelled again with
Madison shouting that they should rush the guard.

"Get out of here before you get locked in with us," Matt shouted. "Go on, Justin, do me the favor. I don't want you getting hurt too."

Matt pushed Justin away. Justin started to move back, wanting to spend the last hours with Matt, but his friend drew back into the group.

"See you in the morning," Matt said and he smiled through his tears.

Time seemed to drag out. Justin stared at Matt as if really seeing him for the first time. He remembered as well so much of what
Thorsson
had said about loyalty, loyalty to the Service and, by extension, loyalty to those who served in it.

Matt had exemplified all those virtues to anyone who extended a friendly hand to him. He remembered how in the first days at the Academy it was Matt who had befriended him, and then helped to pull him into the circle of their platoon. He realized so clearly now that without Matt he would have undoubtedly washed out of the Service. If there was anyone aboard who truly showed what the Service was about it was Cadet Matthew Everett and not the man who claimed to be Captain and was now about to kill him. In that instant Justin fully realized what he had to do.

Without another word Justin stepped out of the room, watching without comment as the guard slammed the door shut and snapped the padlock closed. She looked over at him.

"You OK, kid?"

Justin nodded.

"I heard about your buddy," she whispered.
"Tough break.
Real tough break.
I'm sorry."

"Do you think
it's
right?"

"It's the law," she replied slowly.

"What law?"

"Listen kid. There are two kinds of law out here.
Fleet law and the Captain's law.
And what the Captain says is the higher law, at least aboard this ship."

"So you're only following orders," Justin said in a voice edged with sarcasm.

She hesitated. "Go on, get
outta
here, or I'll place you on report."

"Would you?"

"Just get out of here."

Justin stepped back and looked down the corridor heading aft. He studied it for several seconds, then turned and went forward and upstairs. Stepping into the corridor topside he passed the flight deck and reached the doorway to the lounge. He heard loud arguing coming from the Captain's cabin, and stepping past the door he went and looked down the corridor leading forward. The guard by the doorway into the Captain's cabin was leaning against the bulkhead and obviously eavesdropping. At the sight of Justin looking at him he shook his head.

Justin hesitated, realizing he was standing next to Lieutenant
Hemenez's
door. He knocked on the door, ignoring the guard who stirred but then did nothing to stop him. ;

"Enter."

Justin stepped into the tiny room.
Hemenez
was sitting at her terminal, studying the screen. She looked up as Justin came in.

"How are you,
Bell?"

"Not good, sir.
And you?"

"Oh, just checking the transmit systems," she said, nodding at the screen. "Kind of hoping the storm was dying down. No such luck, we're cut off.
Occasional bursts of traffic from high-gain transmitters, but nothing coming our way and most definitely nothing going out."

She turned around to face Justin.

"Guess you heard the verdict?"

Justin nodded.
"Also heard about you.
I'm sorry."

"Don't feel sorry for me,
Bell. Maybe I'll get cleared. If not, there are always the commercial transports."

"Is that what you want?"

She shook her head sadly.
"Never thought I'd see something like this.
I just graduated last year and nothing like this ever happened at the Academy or aboard my off base postings."

"Care for some coffee? We have to talk about things."

She started to shake her head.

"Galley in ten minutes," Justin whispered.

She hesitated. "OK."

Justin left the room and headed aft, hoping that
Hemenez
could bluff her way past the guards.

He slowed as he approached the galley and was grateful to hear O'Brian banging some pots inside. Looking through the door he saw the cook loading food containers into the cleaner. Justin turned to go in.

"Hey, you.
Bell."

Justin looked back and saw
Petronovich
approaching.

"Sir?"

"Into your room."

"O'Brian just called for me and
Leonov
," Justin said loudly.
"Said he wanted us to help."

"Into your room."

"But, sir."

"Don't 'but, sir' me!"

While Justin hesitated a beefy hand reached out, grabbing him by the shoulder.

"That's what I said, sonny," O'Brian announced while dragging Justin into the galley. "I need a couple of rats to help me scrub things. You
wanna
join us?"

Petronovich
hesitated. "Even though I'm a cadet, I am a senior cadet holding the rank of ensign and should be addressed as 'sir.'"

"Yeah, sure, sir.
Now either he helps me or you help me, what's it
gonna
be?"

"I've heard nothing from the Captain granting approval for cadets to leave their rooms tonight."

"Well, sonny why don't you just call him on that
commlink
of yours. And by heavens he'll tell you that at this end of the ship it's O'Brian who runs things and if I want a couple of rats to help me, by God I have them. Now are you coming in to help or are you going back to pacing your beat?"

"I'll remember this,"
Petronovich
snapped. "When things calm down here you'll be on report too."

O'Brian snickered.
"Sure, sure.
Lose my stripes again.
Won't be the first time.
Now let us get to work."

Petronovich
backed away, trying to maintain his dignity.

"
Bell, once things are over with this morning, report to me. We're going to see the Captain about this, and you, too, O'Brian."

"Yes, sir, I'm sorry, sir," O'Brian replied in a wheedling tone.

The cook reached across the corridor and slid the door open into Tanya's room. "Hey, you lazy Russian, get your butt
outta
the net and in here. I need you."

O'Brian pushed Justin into the galley. Justin went over to the coffee dispenser, filled a container and took a gulp of the scalding brew. The caffeine, lack of sleep and nerves started him shaking. O'Brian went back to work. A minute later
Leonov
, obviously in a bad mood, came in.

"Close the door," O'Brian snapped, "and get to work."

"Look, O'Brian,"
Leonov
began. "No one calls me a lazy Russian and
Her
voice trailed off as she looked at Justin.

"You look like hell, Justin, what happened?"

Justin told them the news and the two looked at him, stunned.

"I knew he'd flip some day," O'Brian snarled. "Damn all. It's going to be straight into the fan once we dock."

"What do you think will happen then?"
Leonov
asked.

"What if this separatist thing on
Gustavus
goes bad? What if personnel from the Service got killed? I think there might be some who will back
MacKenzie
up.
At least in public.
Say that it was an
emergency,
Everett was talking sedition and mutiny.
MacKenzie
is shrewd. None of the personal stuff will come out he'll act remorseful, claim that he was reluctantly forced to act to save his ship and he'll be exonerated. Besides, notice how he claims to have compromised by sparing the other eight. That'll make it look like he tried to be fair. And there's one thing that separates
Everett from the others. "

"What's that?"
Leonov
asked."

"That Matt supposedly hit
MacKenzie
," Justin said.

"So
there's
two counts against him and your friend gets spaced."

"
Thorsson
would never sit for that,"
Leonov
replied. "He'd bust his own career to get
MacKenzie
for killing one of his cadets."

"Would he? Look young lady. There are some who think
Thorsson's
off his nut with all this talk about the brotherhood of the service and our destiny to go for the stars; the emergence of the new generation of humanity. Chances are
Thorsson
will fall too because of this."

"
Thorsson
fall?" Justin cried. "That's impossible."

"There are some folks who think your Academy is nothing but a billion-dollar toy. They'd turn around and say that
Thorsson
was soft and
Everett was the result. The truth of it all will get buried in a lot of mudslinging. And I tell you this, even if
MacKenzie
never goes a step farther in the Service, he'll have won what he wanted. He showed everyone that he was tough."

"By killing a sixteen-year-old cadet?"
Leonov
cried.

That will be forgotten. He'll be branded a traitor. What will be worse, though, this will drive a wedge between the two
sides.
In the Fleet the small core of hard-liners will rally around
MacKenzie
. But on the broader side of things the separatists will have a martyr and proof for their argument that the Service is an iron fist ready to smash them if they resist. This could take the simmering pot and make it boil over. And that, as well, is exactly what
MacKenzie
wants."

Justin listened to O'Brian, fascinated by how clear his logic suddenly was. The act of the simple, rough cook was, Justin realized, a facade. There was a depth of understanding to the man he'd never quite seen before. O'Brian looked at Justin and winked as if he knew what the cadet was thinking.

The door slid open and
Hemenez
stepped into the room.

"Lieutenant, sorry, I just heard the news," O'Brian said.

"Don't worry about me now,
that's
the least of my concerns."

O'Brian drew a cup of coffee and pressed it into her hand.

"All right,
Bell, what gives?"
Hemenez
asked.

And as Justin began to talk the three looked at him with wide-eyed astonishment.

Alone in his room, Captain Ian
MacKenzie
stared out the forward view port. Mars was to one side, shining with a brilliant intensity in the center of Gemini.

It was quiet at last, the arguing finished, the task all but accomplished. Finally it will be clear, out in the open, he thought. He could sense what would happen when they finally docked. But it would be beyond recall. They she would portray
Everett as a hero. Just like them to take such deceit, such arrogance and turn it about, wrapping it in a shimmering mantle of glory. Let them, he mused. It will drive them further in their madness and then it will be out in the open.

Then it will be revealed, all the poison, the lies and the corruption, and in the end I will be seen for the strength I alone had, to stand against the darkness. There will be a war and when it comes there will be need for such as me. Gone will be the men and women like
Thorsson
, unmasked as the builders of traitors. It will be a time of action, and command will be in the hands of men like me who will remember my courage.