Sarah Zettel - Fool's War

Yerusha sat still and silent for a long time. Her face was an absolute blank. Dobbs’ heart beat heavily against her ribcage and she tried to think what else she could say, what else she could do to make Yerusha understand what was happening.

Without a word, Yerusha swivelled the chair around to face the desk. She took out her pen and wrote a series of commands across the memory board. Dobbs watched, unable to move. She saw Yerusha mouth something and tap her pen against the edge of the board. After another long moment, the view screen lit up to show a slim young man with red hair and amber skin. He wore the uniform of the Freer Senior Guards.

“Fracture and damn, Yerusha!” he snapped. “You’re going to get me expelled! What are you doing?”

“Good to see you too, Wheeler,” replied Yerusha calmly. “I need help.”

“You need a balance check!”

“Shut it down and listen.” Yerusha leaned forward. “You’ve got Commander Hwang’s ear, and I need it. I’ve got an independent AI out here. Do you hear that? A real, live, independent AI, and it’s asking for our help.”

Wheeler stared at her. “Yerusha, if you’re going to lie, you could at least make it believable.”

“If it was a lie, I would.”

“You want to tell me how this miracle occurred?” Wheeler shifted his weight uneasily.

Yerusha shook her head. “Not on an open line. Can you get over to Port Oberon?”

“Yerusha, I’m not even supposed to be talking to you!”

“Wheeler, I’m telling you that I’ve made contact with a living AI. I’m telling you that something we’ve taken on faith all our lives is true, and you’re worried about a sentence you know was the result of a set up?”

“Yes,” said Wheeler. “I am. Because if anybody finds out you broke exile you are never going to be allowed back on the Free Home. So don’t call back, all right? See you in two years.” The screen went blank.

Livid anger showed so plainly on Yerusha’s face that, for a moment, Dobbs thought she was going to launch a punch at the view screen. She didn’t though. She just sat there and Dobbs watched anger melt away into sadness.

Finally, Yerusha turned to face her. “I’m sorry,” she spread her hands. “Wheeler and I went through training together. He’s got his own foster. I thought if anybody’d listen, he would.”

Dobbs fought to keep her shoulders from sagging. “It’s all right. He was trying to protect you. He’s a good friend.”

“Yeah.” Yerusha glanced at the view screen. Then, she bowed her head. “Dobbs, I hate to say this, but,” she took a deep breath, “that was my one hope. If Wheeler won’t listen to me, no one will. If you want help…” she stopped. “If you want help I think you’re going to have to talk to Al Shei. She’s the only person on board this ship with any kind of influence outside her profession, and she’s the one who wants going to drag you into court.”

Dobbs felt her hands begin to tremble. She forced them to be still. “You’re right. I wish you weren’t, but you are.”

Yerusha got to her feet. “I’ll come with you.”

“No.” Dobbs held up one hand. “There’s going to be a storm, and I don’t want you in the middle of this.”

Yerusha drew herself up to her full height. “Too late. Intercom to Al Shei. I need to talk to you.”

After a heartbeat, the engineer’s voice came back. “All right. I’m in the conference room.”

“Thank you.” Yerusha opened the hatch and stood aside. “After you.”

Dobbs swallowed and walked past her. Uncertainty warred with gratitude inside her. Yerusha was willing to help as much as she could, but did she really understand what was going on? Could she really understand? She wanted to take comfort from Yerusha’s presence behind her, but she found she couldn’t quite do it.

Dobbs tried not to plan as she made her way down the stairway. Plans depended on being able to reasonably guess what someone’s reaction would be. Al Shei was in the middle of a disaster, but Al Shei was calm and rational at heart. Dobbs knew that. Al Shei’d seen disasters and handled them by herself before this. Al Shei would see what could be done, and what should be done next. She would understand why Dobbs couldn’t speak out in court. There were too many lives involved for her to speak. Al Shei would help Dobbs work out how to best contact Cohen and help Dobbs hang on until they could root out Curran and the corrupted Guild Masters.

Dobbs opened the hatchway to the conference room. Al Shei sat alone inside, bent over the active tabletop.

Al Shei looked up as Dobbs walked in and her eyebrows arched. Her gaze shifted towards Yerusha, but she didn’t say anything, she just waved them toward a pair of chairs. “I was going to call you down in just a few minutes,” she said to Dobbs. “We’ve got some decisions to make.”

Dobbs didn’t sit. She was too keyed up. She just rested her hands on the back of the nearest chair and tried to compose herself. “I’ve got some new news about the fraud charges.” Her words felt clumsy. She was used to knowing exactly what she was going to say, and how people were likely to react. Maybe that was the real reason she hadn’t wanted to come out of her cabin. She didn’t know how anyone was going to react toward her anymore.

Al Shei’s eyes were blank. For a split second, Dobbs hated the hijab that hid Al Shei’s expression from her. “What kind of news?” asked Al Shei.

Dobbs dropped her gaze to the seat of the chair in front of her. She began to speak and for the second time in less than an hour she broke the code of silence that had ruled her existence. She told Al Shei about Curran, about the Guild, about who and what she really was. Saying it was getting no easier with practice.

When Dobbs was finished, Al Shei was staring at her. Her eyes were nearly round. “ Allahumma inna nasta’inuka, ” she murmured. Oh Allah, we seek Your help, translated Dobbs after a moment.

Al Shei’s gaze darted around the room, as if she were looking for answers in the corners. “This cannot be. It cannot.”

“Would you believe me if I said I know how you feel?” inquired Yerusha softly.

Al Shei jumped like she’d been bit. “How long have you known about this?”

Yerusha gave a small chuckle. “About fifteen minutes. Dobbs came to me first. I couldn’t help her, so I suggested she should come to you.”

Dobbs sat silently for a moment, watching Al Shei’s bewilderment. At last, the wrinkles in Al Shei’s forehead smoothed out, except for the one vertical line between her eyebrows. “Why are you bringing this out now?”

“Because its the only thing I can do,” she said. “It’s the only way you’ll understand what’s really going on around you and figure out what we can do next.”

Al She pressed her palms together and rested her forehead against her finger tips.

“All right. All right. Resit will need your statement about what you know, and…”

Dobbs shrank back. “Al Shei, I can’t make a public statement about this. I can’t expose the Guild.”

Al Shei stared at her, as if trying to understand what she’d just said. “You won’t speak in court?”

Dobbs spread her hands. “You can’t take the Guild into court. I’ve told you who, what we are. If you take us to court…it’ll be over. Everything. There are thousands of lives bound up in this.”

Al Shei’s breathing grew harsh and ragged. “My husband is under arrest, falsely accused by your…confederates. You know this. You will make a statement attesting to this fact.”

“Al Shei,” began Yerusha. The engineer shot her a look full of such venom that Yerusha shut her mouth without finishing.