Revolution's Shore (32 page)

“Let's see the
Boukephalos
's movements, Bach,” she said.

Jehane's flagship, with seven escorting vessels, had swung a long arc out from Tollgate past Jenny's birthplace Unity and back in toward Cold Comfort, approaching the central region of Reft space from a different quadrant.

“There,” said Lily, pointing at a highlighted three-dimensional map of the central Reft. “From here we can move in either on Gravewood or Blessings, although I can't imagine that Central would give up Blessings without a fight. Is there any news of Arcadia?”

She shut her eyes, resting them, as Bach searched. The robot had transposed all of his pieces so that he could use the quiet hum of the ventilation system as a pedal point as he sang.

“—I urge you to restraint, citizens, for the promised day will come. And come soon.”

The voice, achingly familiar, caused her to start up before she recalled where she was. After glancing once, a little embarrassed, toward Medical—but no one was watching—she focused on the screen.

It was Pero.

An old tape, surely, but no less vivid for that. There were lines by his eyes that had not been there before, but the open, intent expression that marked him so clearly was unchanged.

“Our task now must be to give Central no leverage on which to break our backs. Walk quietly under their illegal laws, their illegal curfews, their illegal restrictions. Buy only what food you must from their dispensaries, but do not give them cause to arrest you for stealing. Do not use the illegal identification clips they have forced on us by boycotting the transportation they control, and the stores they police. Will this condemn us to a life of scarcity? Or hardship? Yes.” His face shone with the glory of such a burden. “But this crisis will pass, because Jehane is coming.”

The screen flickered and faded to static as the tape ended. Lily pressed her lips against her fingers and smiled, thinking of Robbie. How wonderful that he had not changed at all—that his beliefs, and his passion, remained constant.

Abruptly she thought of the Hierakis Formula. What would Robbie do if he knew of it? But the answer was self-evident—for Pero there could be only one action: the Formula belonged to the citizens of the Reft, all of them, impartially, and all should share it, without cost, without qualification. The only question he would have would be how to get it to them all.

It took her a moment to realize that there were still voices on the terminal—coming from the speakers, that is, although no image registered on the screen.

“—nevertheless, comrade, despite Pero's invigorating words, the fact remains that Arcadia continues well supplied while we are struggling to keep our fleet manned, fed, and repaired. The Mun House bankroll cannot keep us solvent alone. We no longer have the leeway to conduct our campaign on the fringes and slowly cut Arcadia off.”

“Hoy,” breathed Lily. “What have you found, Bach-o?”

Thou sayest, patroness, that thou desirest news of Arcadia. After indexing the computer's memory, I also accessed the ship's internal com-circuits and discovered this conversation underway in the tac room adjoining the bridge. Dost thou wish me to access a different channel, or return to the internal files?

“No, no,” Lily murmured. “Let's listen.” She lifted one hand, slightly, and Bach subsided into silence. A single red light gazed, a steady, brilliant eye, out from the surface of his attached keypad.

“—and your suggestion that we bring the fleet together and risk one total assault on Arcadia is absurd. Perhaps even treasonous.”
This
voice Lily recognized: the hard, brittle tones of Kuan-yin. “We'll never get in without sustaining impossible losses.”

“How many windows open onto Arcadia?” argued the first voice, defensive now. “Sixteen? Eighteen? How can Central garrison every point of possible entry?”

“Now, now, comrade Fon.” A third voice. “We can't possibly send the fleet in piecemeal like that.” After a moment, to her great surprise, Lily realized that the voice belonged to Finch's mother.

Kuan-yin said something undecipherable, but clearly uncomplimentary.

“And yet, comrade Kuan-yin,” continued Finch's mother, “comrade Fon's concern about our fleet being overextended is in my opinion quite legitimate.”

There was a pause, during which Lily imagined that Kuan-yin wanted to give her opinion of comrade Caenna's opinion, but was constrained by another presence.

“Then we are caught.” Even over the terminal, Jehane's voice had a compelling magnetism. “Between the necessity to strike now, and the still overwhelming advantage of force possessed by Central's military. Comrade Fon, brief me again on the situation at Blessings.”

“Why Blessings again?” asked Finch's mother.

“Blessings remains, comrade Caenna, the single largest agricultural resource in Reft space. A jewel worth risking much for. Comrade?”

“Yes. Yes.” Comrade Fon's heavy voice sounded the slightest touch nervous. “According to our most recent reports, Blessings is still wavering. A large Centralist party still controls their legislature. And there is a small but active core of rebels loyal to us. But”—he coughed—“evidently a new ‘Independence' movement is gaining strength—they wish to secede entirely from Central, and from our revolution, and declare Blessings's complete independence. They're the strongest faction right now.”

“And that, I submit,” said Jehane in a softly dangerous voice, “is the real threat to our cause. We need—we
must
have—unity in Reft space.”

There was a silence, made longer by the sound of people shifting uncomfortably in their chairs. Lily understood clearly for the first time that Jehane did not like or approve of Hawk: Hawk would always be, as Yi had said so many months ago, a wild card.

“Blessings,” said Jehane, “is the key. Give me Blessings, and I can take Arcadia. I must consider this.” A pause. “We'll meet here again in eight hours.”

The shuffling and movements and low chatter of people leaving scratched out over the speaker. The chime on the isolation unit door sang out, and Lily quickly punched to an innocuous text of Pero's most recently received speech as one of the assistants brought in her breakfast.

“Feeling better?” he asked reflexively.

“Yes. I expect I'll be back on duty any time now.”

Eight and one half hours later Lily was startled out of her continued perusal of the movements of the fleet by the sudden appearance of Kuan-yin outside the isolation unit. The doctor was arguing with her, but the dispute was settled in short order as Kuan-yin shoved past Duri and opened the isolation door. Without a suit.

The inner lock popped aside, and Kuan-yin stormed in, looking thunderous and on the edge of some great outburst.

“Get up, Heredes,” she ordered. “You and the 'bot are coming with me.”

Lily stood up, not liking to meet someone such as Kuan-yin sitting down. “What's going on?”

“I don't need your insolence. Jehane is gone. You're going out tracking. I've called in every available ship. Now let's go.”

Lily stood her ground. “What do you mean, Jehane's gone? Just hours ago he was—”

“Don't you think I know that?” If Kuan-yin could have sent out sparks, she would surely have kindled several fires by now. “But he was pushed into a corner by those damned idiots who don't understand him.”

“That's why he's gone?”

“You don't understand him either.” Clearly, to Kuan-yin's mind, this was an insult. “He'll have gone straight to the heart of the matter. He'll have gone to Blessings.”

T
HEY CAME SKATING INTO
Blessings ten days later to find armed revolt broken out across the beautiful blue-and-green jewel of the planet. The comm-signals emanating out from downside were rife with panic and exhortation.

No fleet met them, no one except a strengthened garrison, which was wiped out by the entrance, one after the next, of the large bulk of Jehane's fleet. No fleet, because Central had either not yet heard, or was not yet able to respond.

“They will,” said Kuan-yin ominously from her station on the bridge of the
Boukephalos
. “They will.”

Lily stood beside her, staring at the huge screen that showed the image of a planet as brilliant as Arcadia, suspended in the dark void of space. “But if Blessings is so valuable, why hasn't Central guarded it better? They doubled their space garrison, but—” She shrugged.

Kuan-yin glanced at her, at the two other soldiers who had been called up to the bridge with her; the three leaders of the tracking expeditions.

“Look,” she said harshly, pointing to her console, on which a map of the largest continent shone across the screen. “They didn't choose to strengthen their space defense by much. But according to comm-traffic, five centuries of Immortals were posted in the capital and outlying cities three months ago. That's one piece of information Central kept hidden from us.”

“Jehane is down there, somewhere.” Lily looked up from the map to the globe of Blessings, turning slowly on the screen. “Alone.”

“Not alone,” said Kuan-yin scornfully. “Jehane is never alone once he makes himself known.”

At comm, a woman turned in her chair to address Kuan-yin. “Comrade, we have confirmation that the former Blessings ‘Independence' movement has now allied itself totally with Jehane.”

“But there is still no sign of comrade Jehane himself?”

“No, comrade. He has not spoken over any medium that we can track, nor has any broadcaster referred to him as being with him.”

“I can't imagine,” said Lily, beginning to feel impatient with this fencing, “that he wants government troops, and certainly not the Immortals, to know where he is. Does he know we're here yet? He could very well be trapped in one of the cities and unable to move.”

“Precisely.” The intensity of Kuan-yin's regard made Lily uncomfortable. “That is why you three are to choose teams, find him, and get him back here.”

“What if he doesn't want to be found?”

Kuan-yin dismissed this possibility with a cutting gesture. “He has obviously accomplished his purpose by galvanizing the entire Blessings resistance into open revolt.”

“By galvanizing it under
his
name,” Lily murmured under her breath; then, louder: “I can't believe that Jehane—comrade Jehane—would act so impulsively and put himself in such danger.”

“Then you don't understand him. The unexpected feint wins the engagement. In any case, comrade”—Kuan-yin's stance seemed threatening as she stared at Lily, one hand resting on the immaculate tuck of her tunic's collar—“he knows that
I
can be counted on to safeguard his interests. And his person.”

Lily inclined her head, but refrained from comment.

“So?” Kuan-yin swept her scathing gaze over the three soldiers. “You have your orders.”

“Comrade.” The woman at comm turned again. “We have another ship coming in.” A pause while she listened. “The
Forlorn Hope
, attended by
Zima Station
and
Savedra
, has just entered Blessings system and awaits orders.”

“There,” said Lily quickly. “Let me get my team from the
Forlorn Hope
.”

Kuan-yin regarded her speculatively. “Weren't you just transferred from that boat?”

“Yes, and I've worked before with a team now assigned there. Twice. Successfully. Surely that's in Jehane's interest.”

Kuan-yin hesitated. Lily realized in that hesitation that Kuan-yin was reluctant to countermand Jehane's previous orders, but could think of no good reason, under the circumstances, not to.

“Very well,” she said. “Go on. Your team will put down near the capital. You others—”

Lily waited to hear the other team assignments and then left, Bach trailing after her, at a brisk walk from the shuttle bay.

“Wonderful,” said Jenny. “It sounds like we're headed for another disaster like Landfall.”

“No.” Lily rested her palms on the table in the tac room; Captain Machiko had let the team meet there while one of the shuttles in
Forlorn Hope
's bay was readied. “That plan was flawed from the start. Callioux was overconfident.”

“Are you sure you're not?” Jenny asked. She stretched her long legs out and rested one boot, the other crossed atop it, on the table. Her hands she slipped behind her head, elbows out.

Lily grinned, acknowledging this. “Jehane's no fool. And he's not impetuous, either. If anything, he calculates every move down to the finest detail.”

“Then what?” asked Yehoshua. He traced the curve of his dark hair around an ear with one finger of his artificial hand. “You're not suggesting that he wants
you
to get in trouble downside?”

“Jehane doesn't trust you, Lily, my love,” said Kyosti, drawling over the endearment. Since her sudden and hurried arrival on the
Forlorn Hope
, punctuated by enthusiastic, if brief, greetings from everyone else, he had maintained a studious distance from her. “You've been a bit too successful for him, I think.”

“What do you mean?” asked Yehoshua. “I'm not sure I like the tone of your voice, comrade.”

“Come now, comrade.” Kyosti waved a negligent hand. “Why else do you think he transferred our Lily from a post where she was clearly doing a great deal of good to one where she would inevitably be lost among an already established chain of command?”

Yehoshua frowned, but said nothing.

“Why else,” Kyosti continued, “send us into a series of engagements that was surely designed to rid him of a few people he had cause to believe might prove more loyal to her than to him?”

“Like yourself,” said Yehoshua, but he rubbed one lip absently as he said it, as if his thoughts were elsewhere.