Venus of Dreams (75 page)

Amir covered Iris's hand. "No," she said, feeling defeated. "I don't mind."

The voices coming over the comm had told Chen that the prisoners would be returning in the ship that had brought Iris. There would be no freedom yet for either of them. He tugged at his bonds.

Teofila was running a check on the ship. "A sensor's out," she muttered. "Pumps are still jammed too."

"I could help you," Chen said, "if you untied me." Teofila did not reply. "I won't make trouble, and I can't get to the other ship without a suit. I know a little about a ship's systems. It'd give me something to do."

She stood up and walked over to him. "I suppose you could help." She cut off the bonds around his wrists. "There's tools and spare components in the back. Ever worked with pumps?"

"A few times. I tried to learn as many trades as I could. That made me worth more to the Project, the way I looked at it. I'm guessing your problem isn't the pumps, but the components controlling them. I don't think you could have done enough to the pumps to damage them."

He got up; his feet prickled with pain. As he walked toward the back of the cabin, it occurred to him that he could overcome the pilot. One swift blow on the back of her head with the toolbox would do it. He could put on her suit and make his way to the other ship; the other pilot could conceal him before the hostages and their captors arrived.

None of that, however, would help Iris, and too many things could go wrong. He couldn't risk it. Eleanor would get suspicious if she called to Teofila and heard no answer; Iris would be in even more danger.

He picked up a toolbox and walked back down the aisle.

Getting the twenty remaining captives to the airship bay had taken hours. Eleanor had insisted on bringing them out in groups of two or three; a few of her confederates had then taken each group to the bay in turn. Eleanor was taking no chances; each group of hostages had been forced to surrender their helmets again as soon as they were inside the ship's lock. There had been no chance for the prisoners to overcome their captors or to wrest the control box from Eleanor. Such a possibility had been Iris's last faint hope.

A few people had taken off their suits and had stretched out on the cots; the room was beginning to smell of sweat and unwashed bodies. Iris's head swam; the pill she had taken before was wearing off, and she longed for sleep.

A muscle in one of Eleanor's round cheeks was beginning to twitch. "Why haven't they said anything yet?" Eleanor asked. She was pacing the floor again, still in her suit; she crossed to the table and sat down, then drew the control box closer to her.

"They will," Amir said; he was sitting next to Iris. His eyes were on the box. "They're probably just waiting until the prisoners are safely on the Islands."

"Turn on the amplifier," Eleanor said to Olivia. The red-haired woman pressed a panel. The silence seemed to fill the room.

"Maybe they're thinking up some way to attack," a young woman said, "and we're just sitting here."

"They can't attack," Iris said wearily. "There's no way. They'd have to come through the bay. Your pilot would have time to warn you even if she couldn't override the bay circuits." But she was thinking of Fawzia Habeeb, who might by now be convincing Pavel that there was no reason not to try an attack. Pavel might come up with a pretext for sending another ship here.

The young woman who had spoken rested her hands on the table; her fingers danced nervously over the tabletop. Iris wiped at her face with one gloved hand. The longer they waited, the more likely it was that people would become irrational. Her suit felt heavy. She longed to take it off, but somehow felt safer in it, as if it were armor.

"I have another communication from Earth," Pavel said over the comm suddenly. The people on the cots quickly roused themselves; Amir reached for Iris's hand. "Earth is willing to grant you a public agreement. Earth will be bound by it, as you know, once it is sent out over public channels. But there is still a problem."

The relief on the faces of the plotters was fading.

"The agreement," Pavel continued, "can't be made public as long as that dome is still threatened. It's partly a matter of pride, making it public under such circumstances, but there's a legal matter involved as well. An agreement made under duress may not be seen as binding. Earth could make it public now and then claim that it's void later. This is for your own protection as well as Earth's. You must remove that threat so that the Mukhtars can enter into the agreement freely."

"Words!" Eleanor screamed. "Earth is good with words. Why can't they put in another clause to cover that?" She twisted in her seat. "Olivia, you said you knew about contracts. Why didn't you see this coming?"

Olivia's face was white, making her freckles seem even darker. "I didn't think—" She waved her hands helplessly.

Amir leaned forward. "If the Nomarchies make an agreement with you now, they'll be admitting publicly that they can be threatened into such agreements. It's not a good precedent. You can see that."

"You must have known this could happen," Eleanor said, "when you came here." She pulled the box toward her chest. "Can't they put in a clause to cover this?"

"They could," Olivia replied, "but they could claim that clause had been put in under duress, and therefore—"

"Words!" Eleanor screamed. She clutched at the box. "It's all a trick. If we give up before we have the agreement, there won't be anything to stop them from acting against us."

Iris had to calm the woman. "Eleanor," she said as gently as she could, "they'll make an agreement with you. Pavel said so, and Amir and I are witnesses to that. We could argue that this makes what he told you public in a sense. If Earth tried to punish you, which I doubt, you'd still have the right to an appeal, and we'd tell everyone what we heard at your hearing."

"You've won," Amir said. "Earth has always kept to the letter of all agreements. The Mukhtars know all too well what happened in the past when they weren't kept. Their power rests on such trust. Make this concession."

"Concessions." Eleanor's voice was roughened by fatigue. "They nibble away at us with concessions."

"Earth will concede this much," Pavel said over the screen comm. "If you dismantle your controls and disarm those charges, you can stay there until the agreement is read over all public channels. If anything displeases you, you'll still be able to arm your charges again. That ought to reassure you."

Iris's head jerked up. She saw what Pavel was trying to do. Once the charges were disarmed, and the controls disassembled, there would be nothing to stop an attack on the dome by Guardians. She was sure that the Guardians had the means to force their ship into the bay if necessary. By the time the conspirators knew they were under attack, they were unlikely, in their present state, to be able to reassemble their charges. Pavel would win. She, Chen, and Amir stood a good chance of losing their lives one way or another during an assault, as did the conspirators; Fawzia and Pavel would sacrifice them to take the dome.

"We should do what he says," Fei-lin said. He sat on the edge of a cot; he was in his suit and held a helmet on his lap. "If Pavel's telling the truth, we've won. If he isn't, we can still appeal."

"You idiot," Eleanor cried.

"I don't want to die down here," Fei-lin responded.

Eleanor had lost them, Iris saw. Most of the people in the room were already checking their suits and searching for helmets; they were too weary to resist much longer.

Eleanor slumped in her chair, looking defeated. "The charges should be brought back here when they're disarmed," Amir said. Eleanor did not reply. "You should look happier. You've won."

"Have I?" The blond woman looked around the room. "None of you want to refuse this demand?" No one answered. "Very well. Go get the charges then, all of you. We'll take them apart here."

Antonio stood up. "After we bring the charges back, I think we should go to the ship." Eleanor did not look at him. "We can listen to the public announcement there, and be ready to leave."

Iris kept her face still. If the others went to the ship, she and Amir might be able to disarm Eleanor easily; if she then told the other conspirators that they would be attacked if they did not give up, they might be willing to surrender. She waited as the others put on their helmets and walked toward the lock. In a few moments, she and Amir were alone with Eleanor and an armed man who was sitting near the screen.

The man stood up. "I can take the controls apart," he said as he gestured at Eleanor's box. "I put them together, after all."

"The Mukhtars have won," Eleanor said.

"No," Amir said to her. "You have."

"They've won. Just a few words from Pavel, not even a public promise, and the others are ready to give up. They're weak. We needed that public promise."

"But you'll have it," Iris said. "Pavel said—"

"Earth can make it seem that it's beaten us, that no one can force them into anything. You two came here to wear us down. Pavel Gvishiani will find a way to hang on now, and you two will be showered in glory for helping him."

The other man was walking toward the table. "No," Eleanor said. Her hands moved swiftly over the box, pressing a sequence of buttons and levers.

Iris leaped toward Eleanor, too late. Eleanor jumped up as Iris fell across the table and knocked the control box to the floor. Eleanor backed away, laughing.

"Can you do anything?" Amir shouted at the man.

He shook his head. "She's already armed them. They'll go off in five minutes."

Iris struggled to her feet. There was no time to reach the bay; even a cart would not get there in time. She darted toward the screen and saw that its channels were still open. "Listen, all of you," she cried. "You've got to get to those charges fast. They're armed now. You've got to take them apart out there." She took a breath. "Teofila. You've got to get your ship out of the bay now. We can't reach you in time. Get away as fast as you can. If we disarm the charges, another ship can come for us." She prayed that the pilot would listen. "I'm closing this channel now. Farewell, Chen." She closed the channel to the ship. Chen might be trying to speak to her. She did not want him occupied with that; she wanted him to get away.

Eleanor's fellow conspirator was staring at her in horror. "You bitch," he burst out. "You know they can't stop this."

Eleanor lifted her head. "I was prepared to act. Earth will lose after all. They'll lose this dome and they'll lose any chance of building in this region again. You heard what she said before."

"It was a lie," Iris answered. Eleanor's eyes widened. "You'll destroy one dome and lose your life for nothing. The Habbers are safe, and the Project will go on. You've lost everything."

Eleanor screamed as she aimed her wand; the other man knocked it out of her hand. Iris picked up her helmet as Amir hurried toward her; she touched his face before he put on his helmet.

They entered the lock together. In a few moments, the outer door opened and they stepped out under the dome. Two carts were still rolling toward the wall at the edge of the dome; a third suddenly swerved and moved toward the direction of the entrance. Iris did not open her suit comm; she would only hear despairing cries and curses. One cart bounced over a ridge and fell on its side. They would never reach the charges in time.

Amir leaned over and touched her helmet with his own. "I'm sorry," she said.

"We might have saved the Project." His voice sounded hollow.

It came to Iris then that she had always known she would die here. She had escaped from Venus once; the planet would claim her now.

She clung to these last moments of life; no prayers came to her. Amir embraced her with one arm. Against the dome's distant wall, a bright bloom appeared. The last sight she saw was a blinding white light.

"Farewell, Chen," Iris's voice said.

"Iris!" he cried. Teofila slapped a panel; on the screen, he saw that the wall was already being lowered.

"Get in your seat!" Teofila screamed. He stared at the screen numbly as he sank back against his seat.

"Iris," he said more softly. His heart hammered against his chest as the moments passed. "We have to wait. We have to wait for her."

"You heard what she said. Those pumps had better work now." The floor below was dropping away slowly as the cradle holding the ship began to rise. The devices might fail, he told himself; they might be disarmed in time. Iris was only being cautious for his sake. He cursed himself for falling into Eleanor's hands.

The comm was silent. Any moment now, Iris would call out again to tell him she was safe. He looked at the lights of the ship's panels; the roof above them was opening. The bay fell away as the ship, released by its cradle, began to float up. The dome was a large red blister veiled by the smoggy atmosphere; it suddenly blazed with a bright white light. For a moment, he thought it would hold, that the light would fade.

The dome shook. It seemed to rise a little, as if it were about to follow the ship, then fell in on itself; it continued to glow as it sank. The airship cabin shook violently as a shock wave struck it; Chen was thrown against his harness. The ship veered; Teofila's face was grim as she watched the panels and small screens. The ship continued to rise as clouds hid the destroyed dome.

Chen was numb. He couldn't have lost Iris, not now. He would turn and see her in a seat behind him. She would laugh and tell him that he should have known she would find some way to save herself.

The ship shook again. He could not care whether he lived or not. His mind was coiled inside him. He was dimly surprised at how little he felt, at how the shock had driven away pain. Iris couldn't be dead. Any moment now, a message would come over the comm and he would know that she was alive.

"We'll make it," he heard Teofila say. He turned his head toward her; she had put on her band. Something inside him snapped. He was suddenly standing next to the pilot; he did not recall releasing his harness. His hands reached for her neck. She struck him with her quick, strong hands, knocking him to the floor.