Jack McDevitt - Ancient Shores

Max picked up his phone. It was Lasker. “Listen, Max,” he said, “there’s something you ought to know.”

“You sold the boat,” Max said.

“Yeah. Listen, they offered a lot of money, Max. More than I’ll ever need.”

“It’s okay, Tom.”

“I don’t know if it’s going to have any kind of impact up there. I was afraid—”

“Where’s the boat now?”

“They’re outside loading it onto a trailer.”

“Wells?”

“No. It’s government money. These guys are from the Treasury.”

Deputy U.S. Marshal Elizabeth Silvera served the court order on Adam Sky. She was in her late forties, tall, rangy, impersonal. Her black hair was just beginning to show streaks of gray.

She was accompanied by Chief Doutable.

Adam’s office in the security station was small and cramped. Its walls, which until yesterday had been bare save for a tribal drum and a framed picture of his wife, were now covered with weapons. Bows, antique rifles, Adam’s old service revolver, whatever he’d been able to find had been put on display.

Silvera extracted a document from her jacket. “Mr. Sky,” she said, “A federal court order requiring that this premises, the Roundhouse, and everything in it, save personal property, be remanded into the custody of the federal government.

“The action is necessitated,” she continued, “because the area has been determined to be a public hazard.”

When the security chief made no move to accept the court order, she laid it on his desk. “You have until midnight tonight to comply.” Her tone changed, as if she were offering friendly advice: “The sooner you clear the site, Mr. Sky, the better it will be for all concerned.”

“We won’t be leaving,” Adam said coolly.

She met his eyes. “You don’t have that option. You can’t defy the court.”

“This is our property. If you come back to take it from us, come armed.”

Silvera’s eyes hardened. “I am sorry,” she said. “You have until midnight.” She turned, walked to the door, and paused. “Under the circumstances I should remind you that resisting a federal court order is a felony. I have no discretion here, Mr. Sky. I have no choice but to enforce the order. By whatever means necessary.”

Walker had been waiting for the call from Adam. When it came, he listened intently to the security chief’s narrative. When he asked for instructions, the chairman hesitated. “Adam,” he said, “how far are you prepared to go?”

“I do not wish to accept this.”

“Are you prepared to defend the ridge?”

“Yes. I’d prefer not to. But I don’t think we have a choice.”

“But,” said Walker, “armed resistance will not produce a victory.”

“Then what do you suggest? That we give in again?”

“The real question is whether we can find a way to keep our hold on the wilderness world.”

“If the federals are prepared to come against us in force, I think not.”

“So,” said Walker, “we can take our money and end it here. Or we can fight with no hope of victory.”

“Yes,” said Adam. “Those seem to be our choices.”

The chairman glanced around his office. The walls, the battered windows, even the fireplace seemed somehow mementos of captivity. “I agree. We must fight.”

“Will you send us help?”

“I will come,” he said. “But the police will not be so stupid as to allow your brothers and sisters to join you. Talk with those who are with you. Find out who will stay.”

“I will talk to them now,” said Adam.

“Good. I’m on my way.” He hung up and stared at the phone.

It rang again.

He picked it up. “Hello?”

An unfamiliar voice asked to speak with James Walker.

“That’s my name.”

“James, I’m Walter Asquith. I’ve heard what’s been happening.”

“I don’t think I know you.”

“No matter. I know you . Listen, not everybody in this country’s getting stampeded. I thought maybe you could use some help.”

As Asquith talked, Walker recalled one of Jason Fleury’s remarks. You have more friends than you know .

“And you are all going to stay?” demanded April.

“Yes,” Adam said. “We will defend the ridge.”

Max was shocked. “Does the Chairman know about this?”

“The Chairman ordered it.”

“My God, Adam,” he said, “you’re talking about shooting it out with United States marshals ?”

“That’s crazy,” said April. “You’ll all wind up dead. What we need to do is talk to a lawyer.”

“I don’t believe,” said Adam, “that talking to a lawyer would accomplish anything. Anyway, it’s not my decision.”

Her eyes got very wide. “Adam,” she said, “the Chairman would not ask you to do any such thing. There’s a misunderstanding here somewhere.”

Adam showed no emotion. “You can ask him when he comes,” he said.

Max could not believe he was listening to this conversation. “What do you think this is,” he demanded, “some sort of kids’ game? You can’t tell the federal government to take a hike.”

“We’ve had some experience doing just that,” said Adam.

“Like hell. Your grandfather, maybe. Not you.” He looked through the window at Dale Tree, who was talking with a group of visitors. “Or anybody else here, for that matter.”

Adam looked directly at Max. “We are now at a point where we have to ask ourselves what we really stand for. Everything is about to happen again, Max. We’re not going to allow that. If we have to stand our ground and make them kill us, then that is what we will do.”

“Testing, one, two,” said Andrea.

“That’s good.” Keith sounded excited. “Listen, we aren’t going to lose you up there tonight, are we?”

“I hope not.” Andrea thought she sounded confident. Completely in charge.

“Okay,” said Keith. “We’re doing a special lead-in, and we’ll be cutting away to the network before we actually go over to you. So you’ll be on right from the top.”

“Good.”

“As far as we can tell, you’ll be the entire media show. No one’s being allowed up the road.”

“Well, I guess this is my night to become famous.”

“I hope so. And listen, Hawk, take care of—” Static erupted.

Andrea switched to her alternate frequency. Same problem. The sons of bitches were jamming her. Unbelievable.

She picked up a telephone. And waited for a dial tone that never came.

Joe Rescouli had been driving for almost twelve hours when he and Amy and his sister-in-law Teresa turned north onto Route 32 to travel the last few miles to the Roundhouse. They had come from Sacramento and had covered the ground in three days. Teresa was a particle physicist. Although Joe wasn’t sure precisely what that meant, he knew she had a good job and did not have to work hard. He admired that. “She gets paid for what she knows ,” he’d told his friends down at the bottling plant. Joe, on the other hand, had never seen a day when he did not have to slave for every nickel.

Teresa had talked for months about nothing but the Roundhouse, and her enthusiasm had so overwhelmed Joe and Amy that when she started thinking about flying up here to visit the site, they’d all wanted to come, and it was a lot cheaper to drive.

So they were here, and Teresa was saying how she thought they should stay on the ridge until it got dark so they could see the structure glow. Amy was all for it. Amy was always in favor of anything her sister wanted to do. Joe understood that his wife entertained more than a few regrets about her marriage. She never said anything, but he could see it in her eyes. Had she not married Joe, she might also have been working at a place like Triangle Labs, with her own office and a doctorate and a sense of really going somewhere in the world.