Нэнси Кресс - Terran Tomorrow

He looked at Colin’s non-childish face and said, “It’s done, Colin. It was a choice between the ecology and the population dying of RSA.”

“But out in the—”

“You have no right to—”

“No idea of—”

“No authority for—”

Half the crowd glared at him; the other half asked bewildered questions of their neighbors. Here and there were a few understanding faces, chief among them Jane’s. She was translating for her father and cousin, but her eyes were on him.

He’d expected this. But he didn’t expect Colin’s next shout, or the sudden pain it gave him. Colin said, “So how are you any different from the Gaiists, taking the fate of the Earth into their own hands?”

Relative silence. Now—he would have to finish this now. He called loudly, “There is more.”

The murmuring and questioning quieted but didn’t stop, and Jason kept his voice raised to just below a shout. Everyone needed to hear this.

“There’s another reason I released the birds. Listen , everyone, this is the larger of my two announcements, and it affects all of you. Our scientists will no longer be able to work on the gene drive, or to create a version that stops RSA without eliminating sparrows. They won’t be able to do that because we will no longer be here. And neither will the domes.”

The crowd stilled as if shot.

This was it. He needed to make it simple enough for the teenage Settlers to understand, convincing enough for the scientists, strong enough to command his army.

“The people coming out of v-comas have increased intelligence. Most of you already know that. They fell into v-comas in the first place because they possess a certain gene. I’m sure most of you have already heard that, too. This gene doesn’t only exist among people at Monterey Base. It’s a human gene, found in both Terrans and those from World. About four and a half percent of all humans possess it—possibly more, because Monterey Base is a small sample size to generalize from. Four and a half percent of all humans, including the New America enemy.”

On some faces, growing comprehension.

“All of us were infected with the virophage from World. Everybody. However, most of us didn’t even notice, or had just a slight headache, and then we got over it, like you do a cold. But those with a special gene who are exposed to the virophage go into comas and come out changed. The virophage activates the gene. After the v-coma, those people are still carriers and can infect others who have the special gene. And after the v-coma, when you awaken, your brain is different. Rewired. More intelligent. And so what you will infect others with is increased intelligence.

“I want to say that again—every single one of the Awakened can infect anyone else who carries the right gene, and the result will be that that person, too, becomes much smarter.

“People, intelligence is a weapon. It is the most formidable weapon there is. Intelligence lets us create ever more effective weapons, ever more effective strategies to perceive and exploit our enemies’ weaknesses. Intelligence—in both uses of the words, information and smartness—is what wins wars.

“We can’t let New America win the United States. We can’t let those among the enemy who possess that special gene become more intelligent. That means we can’t let them be exposed to those among us who are v-coma carriers.”

Dead silence.

Jason continued, “This means we can’t ever, ever allow any of the Awakened to be exposed to anyone in New America. Nor can we allow anyone from New America access to the domes of Monterey Base. Because although we know that those of you who never went into v-comas are free of virophage by now, there are still dormant spores of the virophage in the domes. They’re apparently just as tough as R. sporii .

“I repeat, enhanced intelligence is a weapon . We can’t leave that weapon to New America. What we can leave, what we are leaving, is a planet that somewhere down the road will be free of RSA. But neither the Awakened nor the domes must remain where New America can get at them.”

Someone in the crowd yelled, “Kill all the Awakened!”

Jason did not see who yelled, but the shout was taken up by a few others. J Squad drew their weapons. Jason shouted, “There will be no killing!”

He saw Colin jerk his chair to shield Jane. Marianne continued to gaze directly at Jason. Hillson, with the agility of a much younger man, had climbed to the roof the FiVee cab, directly behind his commander, assault rifle on his shoulder.

Jason said, “Here is what we will do. Listen carefully, because most of you will have a choice to make. Three days from now, the Return , the World spaceship, will go back to World, who owns it. Every single Awakened will be on it. No exceptions. The rest of you may also choose to travel to World, or you may choose to stay here. However, the domes will be destroyed.”

Gasps. There was only one known way to destroy an alien dome.

“If you choose to stay on Earth, you must leave Monterey Base tomorrow. Civilians will be provided with FiVees, supplies, tech, some weapons. You can return to the Settlement dome if you choose, although I don’t recommend it because New America will attack there again and you will be vulnerable to siege.

“Army troops have four choices. You may come on the spaceship to World, under my continuing command. You may separate from the army and accompany civilians. You may stay with this battalion, which will now be commanded by Major Mainwaring, and will move into the mountains. Or you may join a convoy now on its way here from Fort Hood, although I should tell you that I believe Fort Hood to be under an unstable military dictatorship. All of those choices are more physically dangerous than accompanying us to World, but the decision is yours, except for the Awakened.”

It was Ryan, his usually meek and depression-prone father, who called out loudly, “‘Us’? Are you going on the ship to World?”

“Yes,” Jason said. “I am. So is Major Duncan, Captain Goldman, Lieutenant Li, and others.” All his coconspirators. “I urge you all to come with me to World, but I will not issue orders even to the soldiers among you. The decision is yours.”

Someone called, “You’re going to nuke the domes?”

Chaos erupted. Before anyone in the crowd was hurt—Jason hoped—a single shot was fired, echoing in the enclosed area. I’m hit, Jason thought a nanosecond before the pain started. A second shot, close on the first. Jason toppled forward off the hood of the FiVee. What son a bitch got a gun in here to—

Then he landed on the heads and shoulders and arms of people below, and knew no more.

Zack thrust Caitlin into Susan’s arms and pushed himself forward to shield them both. But there were no more gunshots. Caitlin screamed; everyone screamed, it sounded like. The McKays stood near the open internal airlock, and Zack shoved Susan into the stream of panicked people. “Go! Go!”

“Zack—”

“I’ll be all right! Go! Take her to…” The lab might be attacked. Anywhere might be attacked if there was some sort of insane riot against the Awakened. But all at once one of Jenner’s J Squad was there, strong arms opening a passage for Susan.

“I’ve got her, Doctor.”

For one terrible moment, Zack thought: And what if you’re with the gunman? But, no, this was J Squad, Jenner’s personal Praetorian Guard, as Toni called them. Toni—

“Go!” Susan shouted, and he didn’t have to tell her where he needed to go. She knew. Susan always knew him. He let the soldier usher his wife and child to safety as he turned to fight against the crowd, toward the FiVee.