Children of Hope
Authors: David Feintuch
The Seafort Saga, Book Seven
David Feintuch
PRAISE FOR THE NOVELS OF DAVID FEINTUCH
THE SEAFORT SAGA
“A delightful book, intelligent and carefully written. Discerning SF readers will devour it and wait impatiently for its other volumes to appear. Feintuch’s book, depicting a stellar navy of exacting brutality and devotion to duty, possesses much the same flavor as C. S. Forester’s Hornblower novels. Hornblower fans will probably toast Feintuch in their wardrooms.”
—The Washington Post Book World
on
Midshipman’s Hope
“Science fiction fans who love exciting action and adventure shouldn’t miss [it].”
—Lansing State Journal
“An excellent entertainment.”
—Analog Science Fiction and Fact
“Wonderful reading and nonstop enjoyment.”—Raymond E. Feist, author of the Riftwar Cycle
“An excellent job of transferring Hornblower to interstellar space. Plot, characters, and action make this a thoroughly enjoyable read.”—David Drake, author of the Hammer’s Slammers series
THE RODRIGO OF CALEDON SERIES
“This complex, unconventional fantasy is a strong recommendation for Feintuch’s skill as a novelist. Readers who may have let a distaste for military SF prevent them from checking out Feintuch’s work should reconsider; this is an interesting writer who isn’t afraid to take risks.”
—Asimov’s Science Fiction
“Popular SF author Feintuch (The Seafort Saga) makes his fantasy debut with this adept tale of sword and sorcery . . . Compelling and charged with plenty of action.”
—Publishers Weekly
To Don, who knew where I was going,
even when I didn’t.
PART I: September, in the Year of our Lord 2246
PART II: December, in the Year of our Lord 2246
PART III: January, in the Year of our Lord 2247
“T
HE WITNESS WILL STAND
.”
Wearily, I got to my feet, looked about the vaulting Cathedral.
Within my dark blue shirt, my shoulder throbbed unbearably. I was grateful; it gave me focus.
The three elderly judges wore black cassocks, not uniforms, else theirs might have been a military court. Or a civilian one, for that matter. It made little difference in a society owned lock, stock, and barrel by the frazzing Church.
“State your name.”
I said nothing.
“Young man, your situation is grave. Unless you cooperate …”
I shrugged, forgetting. Clenching my teeth, I rode a wave of pain.
The Lord’s Advocate rose from behind his ornate carved table before the dais. “Your Reverence, may I?” He took the Bishop’s silence as permission. “Sirs, he’s stubborn and sullen, but no need to badger him over trifles. We know his identity; what we want is his account of the night of November 19, 2246. An account of murder, apostasy, treason.” He turned to me. “Randolph, I charge you, speak!”
I pressed my lips tight.
“You try to protect him?”
They could ask ’til the Second Coming. I’d say not a word.
“Of course you do,” he answered himself, “and you imagine silence is your servant. If Their Reverences order you to testify, will you? Surely you can tell us that.”
“No. I won’t.” My defiance brought infinite relief.
“You’ll be subjected to polygraph and drugs. The truth will out, joey.”
“You can’t use my P and D to convict others. Just me.”
“Under canon law, we can. Higher edicts apply.”
Perhaps this time I could thwart the drugs and polygraph. Or find a way to die. In my current state, it ought not be hard.
The Advocate’s tone was gentle. “P and D is a misery, and for naught. We’ll learn what we must; in trial for heresy we can allow no bar. Tell us.”
I cherished the fever that ate at my bones. I took a deep breath, to speak words that would transport me beyond deliverance. “Stick your trial up—”
His hand shot forth, palm raised. “If not for us, for Lord God. Speak.”
The somber Cathedral was a haze of red. I managed to shake my head.
“Very well. If Your Reverences permit?” He slipped a chip into his holovid, swung it to face me.
I squinted, punched in my private code, waited for the screen to clear.
“Randolph, I know what you face. What I face. I beg and order you, tell them what they would know. Tell them freely.”
I stared at the unmistakable signature.
My voice was hoarse. “Where did you get this?”
“It came today.” The Advocate permitted himself a rueful grin. “By net.” He studied my eyes. “If not for us, if not for God Himself … then, for him?”
My cheeks were damp. I cared not. “Very well.” I would obey, of course. What choice had I, after all we’d endured?
“That Tuesday in November, when you—”
“No.” I sought to make my voice firm. “From the beginning. It will take a while.” With a fumbling hand, I poured ice water from the beaded pitcher.
September, in the Year of our Lord 2246
1
U
NS
PARAGON
BECKONED AT
the end of the corridor, its gaping lock mated to that of Orbit Station.
The Stadholder of the Commonweal of Hope Nation paused at the hatchway. He gave me a fierce hug, same as always. “Take care, son. Be good and I’ll bring you home an elephant.”
I broke into a silly grin. Even at nine, I knew it was impossible. Behind me, Mom laughed softly.
The smile faded from Derek Carr’s eyes. “You’ll be … Lord help us, almost eleven when I’m home.” His eyes glistened. “Nearly grown.”
I swallowed, made a manful effort so he’d be proud. “Bye, Dad.” I stood tall.
“Always remember I love you, son.”
In another realm, a voice said, “Randy?” Insistent fingers prodded at my forearm. “They’ll be leaving soon.”
“Go ’way.” I buried my head in the pillow, desperate to lose myself again in my dream.
“The ceremony won’t wait—”
I launched myself flailing from my bed.
Kevin Dakko fell back from my onslaught. “Easy, joey!”
I caught him a hard one in the temple. He squealed with pain, took a deep breath, charged full at me. In a moment we were rolling on the floor.
“Get
off!
” I bucked and heaved to dislodge Kevin’s weight from my chest, but he was fourteen, a year older than I, and outweighed me by ten kilos.
“Not ’til you calm down.”
“Prong yourself, you frazzing—”
He raised a fist, but after a moment shook his head. “Nah. I like you, actually.”
“Then get off!”
“Lie still.”
Fuming, I did as he ordered.
Only when I was supine and passive did he roll off me. “What was
that
about?”
I mumbled, “I was dreaming.”
He smirked. “Judy Winthrop?”
“No, you goddamn—” I swallowed. I was furious, but there were limits. I really ought to curb my foul language, but some recess of my mind enjoyed the discomfort it caused. Though, if Anthony or any of the plantation staff heard me …”
“What, then?”
I studied the thick, scarred planking. “Dad.”
“Aww, Randy.” For a moment, Kevin’s hand fell on my shoulder. Sullenly, I shrugged it off, but felt better for it.
The dream came often, bittersweet and awful.
Mom and I had gone aloft to the Station, to see Dad off. The fastship
Paragon
would Fuse the nineteen light-years to Earth in a mere nine months. Dad hated to go, but his personal touch was needed for trade negotiations. Earth was Hope Nation’s principal grain market, and we’d been battling for decades to reduce shipping rates in the teeth of the U.N. Navy’s monopoly.
And so, with a cheery wave, Derek Carr strode into the starship, and from my life. A year later, when
Galactic
foundered, he’d been aboard, at the behest of his frazball friend Nick Seafort. They say Dad died of decompression. Sometimes, when I couldn’t help myself, I imagined what he’d looked like, afterward.
I flopped on my bed, pulled on my socks. “Sorry.”
“So am I.”
“You didn’t do anything.” And I shouldn’t have attacked him. But in my dream Dad’s smile had been so close, his voice so warm …”
“I’m sorry he died,” said Kevin.
“You never knew him.”
“I didn’t have to. I know you.”
I took a long breath, and another, at last truly ashamed. “Did I hurt you?”
“A bit.” He rubbed a red mark on his temple. A fist-sized mark.
I stared glumly at the new day. “Three more weeks.”
“The summer went fast.” Kev, a city joey from Centraltown, was a summer intern, sent to the Plantation Zone on a government program I’d thought nonsense, until I’d met him. He’d taken to life on Carr Plantation like a fish to water, though I’d had to teach him nearly everything.
I gathered my courage. “I’ll really miss you.”
“Jeez, thanks.” He glanced at his watch. “I’ll tell Anthony you’re on your way.”
“Fast as I can.”
Kev’s footsteps faded down the stairs.
I climbed into my pants. The Balden Reservoir would be dedicated today, and the massive force-field damming Balden River switched on. Water would soon accumulate behind it, freeing our plantations forever from dependence on rain or irrigation pumps. I sighed. I supposed I ought to be interested. Hell, I
was
interested. If only Kev hadn’t interrupted my dream.
I’d have to wash, or face Anth’s reproof. Gradually, in the last year, my grown nephew had taken charge, as Mom slipped more and more into her religious zeal and Sublime-induced chemdreams. In her better weeks, she was active in the Sisters of Faith Cathedral Auxiliary, to Anth’s discomfort.
I ducked into the bathroom, studied my face, yearning for the first signs of fuzz. Damn it, I was already thirteen. What was my body waiting for?
Staring sullenly at the sluggish stream, I shrugged off Anthony’s consoling hand.
“Because I give waters in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.”
Why must old Henrod Andori go on so? The Plantation Zone had no desert, and the Balden Valley was hardly a wilderness. Hell, our manse itself sat at the lower end of the valley, and look at the green of our lawns. All right, the valley had no power grids, and its only road was a rough trail, but …
“These people have I formed for myself; they shall shew forth my praise.”
The gaunt Archbishop eyed us, bent anew to his text. I rolled my eyes.
The reservoir would be quite something, despite old Andori’s blather. It had been Dad’s idea, originally. Hope Nation had water to spare, but the plantations that were our mainstay—like Carr, our home—were slaves to rainfall and the water table. We had three choices: atmospheric diversion via shifting solar shields, desalinization, or a dam.
Andori scrolled his holovid to a new chapter. I nudged Anthony. “No more! Make him stop.”
“I can’t.” Anth’s lips barely moved.
“What’s the point of being Stadholder if you can’t—”
“Shush. Scanlen’s watching.”
“So?” But I subsided nonetheless. The Bishop of Centraltown was a powerful figure in his own right, and Andori’s deputy in the hierarchy of the Reunification Church. Mother Church ran Centraltown, and to all intents and purposes, Hope Nation.