April 4: A Different Perspective (48 page)

His mind was racing however. If blowing Home out of the sky was just a gesture, they could abandon, what really mattered? Was
anything
he was still doing a matter of principle if destroying Home could be set aside so easily? Did any of it matter now, or was it all just a grab for power?

"That's water under the bridge, but we need to move forward with the situation we have now. You are doing well, but you need some subtlety," The General admonished him mildly, unaware of the conflicts he'd planted in the man's mind. "Let me explain how to shut down a TV station, without needlessly inflaming the public."

* * *

Lindsey drew in quick sure strokes, leaving the details of the seating and improvised stage to be filled in later. She concentrated on the faces, Robert Lewis, Eduardo Muños and Jon Davis to start, all taking seats on the raised platform as their right. The gravity of their expression precluded any humor about the humble setting. Neither did any of them need a suit or necktie to establish their status. They sat their plastic chairs like thrones, with unconscious authority.

To one side Jeff Singh sat, with Heather anderson and April Lewis on either side. They didn't seek a place on the stage, though there was room, but she noticed they sat back to the wall looking over the crowd rather than part of it. Those who owned ships, especially more than one, sat around them and apart from the crowd.

On the other side of the stage captains of the militia, the medical community and the owners of significant businesses, set themselves apart facing the crowd too. The head of the Private Bank, manufacturers and several shipbuilders clustered around Dave. Nobody assigned seats, they self-sorted into their perceived social order.

Her brother Eric leaned over and spoke softly to her. Everybody was speaking in hushed tones. "There's a couple empty seats in front of Jeff's crowd. April laid her hand comp on the one and there's something else on the other, saving it. When somebody stopped and asked about the seat, April shook her head no and chased them off. Do you have any idea who isn't here, important enough to have their seats saved?"

"No, I'll have to draw them in if they show up."

Mr. Muños started keying the full sized computer he had open in front of him. Every comp and pad in the room gave a tone, or more commonly silent-vibrated. It was eerie, the entire room buzzed with discordant tones until you could feel it in the deck under your feet. Eric looked at his pad and it announced: System Message – The Fourteenth Assembly of Home is being convened in session this ninth day of May, 2086.

When Eric looked up, Mr. Muños was standing up, but a couple were also entering from the corridor at the very last moment. April was standing too, retrieving the items off the seats in front of her and made sure the new arrivals saw where to go, before sitting back down.

If Mr. Muños delayed a few seconds to let them get seated it was impossible to say. He didn't look their way and he was never one to rush his speech anyway. Sometimes in session he pondered a question at some length, before making a reply. He didn't seem to have any sense of urgency some might, having a couple thousand people quietly awaiting his reply.

"That's the President," Lindley breathed in his ear.

"Home doesn't have a President," Eric objected.

"But
North America
does," she reminded him, exasperated.

"Oh," he looked them over again. "She looks older than she does in the videos," he said. If he meant that as an excuse for not recognizing her, Lindsey couldn't tell.

"As is our custom, we shall skip any formal reading of the previous Assemblies. Records of them in their entirety, are available on station net. We beg your patience, this session, to hold off on introducing the usual day to day business and consideration of petitions, to examine the attack recently suffered upon Home, with loss of life and much damage. I yield to Jon Davis to relate what has been determined to have happened," he said, sitting back down.

Jon spoke from his seat, comfortable with that small informality. His deep theatrical voice didn't need the advantage of his standing to project. "The attack on our habitat was launched from a satellite previously only noted as another item in traffic control's objects-in-orbit roster. It doesn't have any shuttle docking and exit notices in the traffic history, but that may be because such notices were actively suppressed, to hide its nature. It's a very small sat for a manned station and careful examination of radar images shows there are two more, with identical radar cross sections and similar orbital elements. The millimeter targeting radar, which the Rock partnership had deployed on its trailing property as a public service, was designed to warn of the usual large warheads and missiles, employed by most governments. It did not paint a return off the cloud of pellets which damaged Home, until they were literally milliseconds from impact. It did however, read sufficient of their terminal trajectory to pinpoint the satellite mentioned as the source, especially since there was no other nearby object competing with this craft as a source." He scowled, which was not a pleasant thing to see.

"The militia immediately asked for volunteers to intercept this sat and determine who had fired on us and why. The private vessels
Silly Willy
and
Begger's Ride,
already off Home, responded, Captain Lu of the
Silly Willy
standing off, commanding the operation and acting as a relay at a distance that should preserve the data stream if the object was booby trapped.
Begger's Ride
closely matched orbit, in complete disregard for their own safety, to allow us to know the who and why of this, rather than destroy it from a distance. There should eventually be some recognition made by the Assembly for their valor."

"The satellite at close range had the open frame of a railgun visible. It tried to bring this to bear on the
Begger's Ride.
They used a gyroscopic attitude system, which is very precise for aiming, but does not transverse rapidly, so the militiamen were able to avoid being targeted and poured laser fire into the railgun until even the primary injection system was ruined. Rather than expose their people to a fight to gain entry, they elected to stand off and overload the vessel's cooling system with laser fire, until they forced a surrender. This worked."

"After the internal temperature became inhospitable, a suited man came to their airlock and indicated a surrender with open empty hands. Albert Johnson, an experienced rigger, expert in zero G work, volunteered to recover the person surrendering and make an inspection of the craft, to recover whatever information was available. I particularly commend his service," Jon paused, to make a point of it.

"The Satellite was USNA Space Forces, it carried their insignia and the fellow who surrendered was a USNA lieutenant in uniform. He indicated his superior was getting ready to blow the satellite and suicide, to prevent capture, but he shot him in the back of the head to prevent him carrying out this plan. Mr. Johnson carried the lieutenant to the
Begger's Ride
and returned to gather various manuals and disks, he also cut the sat computer out whole and brought it back for analysis."

"Look at Wiggen," Lindsey whispered. Her face was a mask of horror.

"The satellite was destroyed by missile fire after they backed off." Jon stopped and looked uncomfortable. "As head of Security, I need specific arrest powers. I appreciate those were made clear in the fourth Assembly. However, as head of the militia I have no explicit arrest powers. We are not at declared war, to take prisoners of war, neither if we were, are we signatories to the various conventions that define civilized warfare. However, I asked the militia crews to bring back any prisoners they could take. I'll own to that."

"The only thing recovered, which I find critical to our understanding of the attack is this." He reached in his pocket and pulled out a bright bit of jewelry. "I doubt you can see this in the rear. It's a little silver plus sign pin. The dead Captain in the satellite had it in his pocket rather than on his collar. It was the only item in his personal effects that gave any hint he was associated with the Patriot Party. We have the lieutenant available for interview and perhaps the Assembly would see fit to make a determination what to do with him. Until then, let me suggest you give your attention to Robert Lewis. He can best describe his thinking and his official response to the attack."

April's dad did stand up. "As resident manager for Mitsubishi I have a great deal of discretion. If I do not preserve the physical habitat, then all the other picky questions are moot. We have experienced aggression before. President Hadley of the USNA directed two nuclear weapons against us, in the closing days of his administration. The Chinese and Americans both sent warships into orbit near us and it was likely that only because they eliminated each other, we did not suffer another attack from one or both. The Shuttle
Cincinnati
of course, shortly thereafter landed an invading force."

"Given this history and that we saw two similar satellites remaining in orbit, I felt it was far too great a risk to stay in LEO. Especially when our shield, the Rock was reduced to passive blocking with the radar wiped out. There was a contingency plan discussed to move M3 to a safer location, so I immediately authorized that as resident manager. I'm happy to say my bosses have been supportive with that decision. The residents not universally so." That got a round of laughter from those who knew how much flack he'd been catching.

"It will take a month, at considerable expense, to move M3 to a halo orbit circling between L2 and the moon. The owners of the Rock also feel insecure and wish to move, however they favor the Earth side area of stability around L1. If no Earth powers interfere it will be moved there, but it will take them closer to three months to do so. They will draw mass from the Rock itself to move it." Robert was antsy and got up paced to the corner of the platform, clasping his hands behind him.

"This does mean we will be paying more for Earth goods, because there is about a ten percent energy premium to move things to our new location. On the other hand we will be closer to lunar resources. When in position, the Rock partnership has agreed to mount a relay point for us to communicate with the Earth side of the moon." He turned and paced back to his seat, standing.

"Since North America seems to be in chaos politically, I'm even more certain this move is the correct thing. You might have noticed President Wiggen of the USNA came in and was seated at the beginning," he said, waving a hand in her direction.

"The gentleman with her is her Security Chief, Mel Wainwright. She's not here on a secret vacation," he said, smiling. "She came here, because it was one of a short list of places to run from the latest and very nearly successful, assassination attempt. I say this not to seek any favor  with her, or influence you on her behalf, but as simple fact. She was easier to deal with than any of the other parties seeking to replace her. We have no idea how we shall deal with any of the other factions, the Patriot Party in particular, all of who seek our destruction." He stood looking at them, like he was reviewing it all mentally, or making sure he'd covered everything.

"These are the facts, as well as we know them and what response we felt necessary. Where that takes us now politically and what changes or responses you collectively wish to make we throw open to the Assembly. We each have some ideas, having dealt with this, but do not wish to voice them ahead of everyone else, as if we were an administration." He sat down.

"The floor is open to questions and comments," Mr. Muños invited. "Mr. Coleman," he recognized a gentleman who stood.

"I'd like to address Ms. Wiggen first, if she has no objection."

"You may address me. I may or may not answer, if the question is too much to my disadvantage," she said quite clearly without a mic.

"Fair enough. Does the fact you are here, indicate that you have been unable to retain control of North America? Are you in fact still President or not? I ask to know who we are going to have to deal with."

"I am
not
in control of the USNA," Wiggen admitted. "I'm not even sure the USNA exists at this moment. The Congress has scattered in cowardly fashion. The military is deeply split. The courts seem to be in hiding. We are in a sort of cold civil-war, from what I can see in the news feeds. I have not informed anyone of my location, until I showed myself here. If this Assembly is fed to Earth news agencies."

"I suffered a long series of attempted assassinations, most unknown to the public, culminating in the burning of the White House you saw reported on the video channels. If I had any hope to avoid another more successful attempt I would have stayed. From a legalistic view, I have not resigned my office. Whatever authority the Patriot Party holds is strictly by force. They have made no move to call elections, or presented a military government, composed of whatever officers are directing them, to lend themselves any legitimacy. Something they will eventually have to do to govern," she predicted.

"I do not however, wish to hold office like Lincoln, over a country divided and preserve my office at the cost of the death of thousands, or even millions, if it comes to a full bore civil war. If the people reject the Patriot Party, I believe they will do so, with, or without me. I was given the office unelected, out of necessity and have never been a strong symbol of the Union."

 "You notice the public indignation is over the burning of the White House. The House itself is a more powerful emblem than my office. If people wish to oppose the Patriot Party I am ready to let them take up the cause. I will say this about Home. Removing yourselves from their sky, will have a negative effect on the Patriot Party. They
need
an external enemy to rally the people against. Otherwise they simply look like any other selfish power grubber, if they have no external opponent."

"I'm curious then, why have you not resigned your office?" Coleman asked. "Is it not likely that shedding the office, will remove the incentive to assassinate you? and if you don't wish other to die for you, doesn't retaining the office encourage those who might assume you will regroup and come out of hiding to continue fighting the Patriots?"