Greg Bear: Anvil of Stars

“I’m off to help Giacomo in a few minutes,” Anna said pointedly. “You two should be alone, compare notes.”

Ariel’s color was good, and she did not appear much thinner than he. “No hurry,” she said.

“We’re having a wake at day’s end,” Donna said. She swallowed a last bite of something green from the air and gathered her crumbs with a small field.

None of this seemed apropos of anything to Martin. “Do I make you uncomfortable?” he asked Ariel. This was the first time he had seen her since they had been removed from their escape craft. The awkwardness disturbed him.

“Park here,” Ariel said. Donna moved over, and Martin drifted between them. “I’m glad you were with me,” Ariel said. “You helped me stay sane.”

Martin nodded, the tension not yet diminished.

“But we need to know where you stand. You know that Hans has put together a political squad.”

“I’ve heard about it,” he said.

“Nobody’s enthusiastic, but they’re still keeping track of us.”

“Right.”

“So we’re talking right here in the open,” Donna said. “We’ll call his bluff.”

“We need to know which side you’re on,” Ariel said.

“No sides,” Martin said.

“You can’t be neutral,” Anna said, righteous anger in her voice. “Hans has gone way beyond his charter.”

“He’ll call it martial law,” Donna said. “The crew went along with him during the war. But we want him to resign as Pan.”

“Why?” Martin asked. “He got the Job done.”

Ariel searched his face for a sign of what he actually meant, but he was stubbornly blank. “Maybe,” she said. “I doubt we’ll ever really know.”

“I’ve told him there should be an investigation of Rosa’s death and Rex’s suicide.”

Ariel shook her head. “I sympathize, but that’s kind of trivial now, Martin.”

“It should be done,” Anna said.

“Compared to what happened here, it’s damned near meaningless, a gnat in a hurricane.”

“She was crew,” Martin said.

“Come on,” Anna said. “It’s still necessary. Martin’s right.”

“What will it accomplish?” Ariel said. “It’s just part of a larger crime. First, he doesn’t let us vote on this particular case. Twenty of us go down to Sleep to play ambassadors, and he knocks us out of the circuit, doesn’t even bother to keep us informed—”

“He says that was because we could have been spied upon,” Martin said. “Or even controlled.”

Ariel brushed that aside. “And he executes without having a proven case. Have you seen the destruction, Martin? Can you even begin to absorb it?”

“I’ve seen it,” Martin said, “and no, I can’t.”

David Aurora approached their group on a ladder field. “I’d keep it down, folks,” he said in a low voice. “Patrick keeps his ears open.”

“Patrick’s replaced Rex,” Anna said. “There are others.”

“What we want to do,” Ariel said, “is get Hans out one way or another, elect a new Pan, and try to convince the Brothers to stay with us, to combine ships. We think we’d have a better chance to find a home that way.”

David, having issued his warning, shook his head and pulled himself to another group on the far side of the cafeteria.

“You think Hans has really gone off the deep?” Martin asked. “You think he’s going to squash dissent?”

“You want to investigate Rosa’s death, but you ask a question like that?” Anna asked.

“Pardon me, but I’m very confused,” Martin said.

“It’s pretty clear,” Ariel said. Her coldness toward him was like a slap. She’s reversed course again. Who can ever know her ?

“It’s the new order,” Donna said, thin hands rubbing her thin forearms. “He cut us loose on the Trojan Horse . He used us. I don’t care, I don’t trust him, and we need a Pan we can trust, and we need the rest of our crew. We can’t just split and go in two directions. It isn’t right. We need the Brothers, too.”

“You mean, we need their resources,” Martin said.

“Actually, that’s not strictly true,” Anna said. “We’ll be able to mine enough stuff around Leviathan to take us anywhere we want to go. Even add to the ship if we want.”

“Psychologically, we need the Brothers,” Ariel agreed. Martin was about to ask her to explain that when Patrick Angelfish came into the cafeteria, doing a bad job of looking as if he had some purpose there. Martin waved his hand to catch Patrick’s eye; Patrick looked away with too much effort. Martin spread his arms and waved them in semaphore for him to join them. Ariel’s face went pale and even colder.

Patrick approached cautiously, not expecting the open invitation.

“Are you spying for Hans?” Martin asked him.

“I wouldn’t call it spying,” Patrick said. “A Pan needs to know what’s going on.”

“Tell Hans I’m putting together a committee to investigate Rosa’s death,” Martin said. “I’m asking for volunteers now. He gave permission, and I’m acting on that permission.”

“He hasn’t told me he gave permission,” Patrick said, clearly out of his depth.

Martin’s sudden deep anger took him by surprise. “That’s because you’re a lackey,” he said with a grim smile. “Like Rex. Tell him if he wants to challenge me, do it in the open, himself, and not just send you to keep an eye on me.”

Patrick left with a shake of his head and a grim, sidelong smile.

Donna and Anna’s faces had gone pale and stiff. “You don’t understand what he’s capable of,” Anna said.

“Maybe not,” Martin said.

“Don’t be a martyr,” Ariel said.

“Why not?” Martin asked.

“Then don’t be a fool,” she added, but her chilly tone had passed.

“I’m flying on instinct,” Martin said. “So is Hans. The question is, who has the better instincts?”

The roll call of the new dead. The human crew in the small schoolroom. Brothers elsewhere, preparing to transfer to Shrike . The defectors attended, breaking their isolation in the Brothers’ section to honor those who had not survived.

Perhaps it was the last time they would be together.

Hans came into the schoolroom with face ashen, hair unkempt, eyes large and hungry. He seemed to look in every face, ask everyone a question: Are you happy now? Is this enough, or do you want more ?

Without using his wand, Hans recited the names of the dead. Some of the crew wept. Martin closed his eyes and tried to remember Hakim’s face, the calmness and deliberation, his precise way with words. Erin Eire… intense green eyes and noble balance of defiance and sense. He wished they were here now to help him.

Jeanette Snap Dragon lifted her arm in a clenched fist, and the defectors followed her example.

Hans did not look at Martin after, though he passed close on his way out. Patrick glanced in his direction, face troubled.

The delegation came to Martin’s quarters in the middle of his sleep. His wand woke him, chiming insistently. He opened the door and Patrick stepped in, Thorkild Lax behind him, then David Aurora, Carl Phoenix, and last—making Martin’s heart ache, for he knew what was happening—Harpal Timechaser. None of them met his eyes but Patrick, who said, “It’s time to put everything behind us.”

Patrick in front, Carl on one side, David on another, Harpal slightly above him, Thorkild below; a cage of men. Martin smelled their tension.

“Everything?” he said.

“It’s history,” Patrick said. “Besides, you’ll get no support. Nobody wants to dig any more. We need to forget and get on with our lives.”

“Forget what?” Martin asked mildly, but his heart pumped strong and fast. His body was very frightened, but the fear hadn’t yet reached his head.