Freedom’s Choice (35 page)

“So much hooch that day I honestly don't remember what I did, or that I did,” he continued in a low voice. “He's a good baby for you?”

“Couldn't be better,” she said, looking fatuously down at the sleeping Zane. “Thank you.” And then she added, to keep him in his place, “I think.”

Pete Easley chuckled wryly at her amendment and
gave her shoulder a squeeze before he moved away. She would almost rather that he had stayed because the wait was a long one. She bet anything that Zainal was making sure the Eosi knew he'd been outside the Bubble, probably spinning the scout on its axis around the orbital as well as the geosynchronous satellite. Just like him! Although what she thought he could accomplish, she wasn't sure. She was certain, however, that he did have some sort of a new Phase Three plan. And cocking a snoot at the Eosi was part of it. Of course, that blew the painstaking false trail he had laid to get them to believe he was elsewhere in the galaxy. But wasn't he taking an awful risk for all of them? What if the Bubble would give way to the Eosi warship now?

In her arms, Zane sighed and snuggled closer to her. No, she thought, he would do nothing to jeopardize his son.

“Ah, he's back inside!” Bert let out another loud crow, which caused Zane to stir uneasily. “Heading home!”

Relieved that Zainal had succeeded, Kris decided that she could now leave discreetly. Zane would need to be fed when he woke this time, and changed, and she'd run out of fluff pods. She was tired, too, with all the excitement of meeting the Farmers, and then the rehash of who had heard what and where. Once she fed her son, she'd have time for a rest before Zainal touched down.

* * *

The orbital duly recorded the emergence of a small vehicle from the protective veil: its emergence, its brief run around the fixed satellite, and then its insertion. Nothing could be recorded past the obstacle, but this brief flight was enough of a phenomenon for the orbital to send an immediate message to its home base.

The report, when it was received, went immediately to the Ix Mentat, who was enraged. Very quickly the vehicle was identified as similar in design to the scout
ship in which Zainal was supposed to have exited the system.

“Removing the markings fools no one,” the Ix said. “And if a scout, with limited power, can penetrate that obstacle in both directions, so can we!”

The warship, the AAI, plus its sister ship which had just passed its test flights and been commissioned were supplied and crewed for the fastest possible return to the system in question. Twice the firepower of the previous visit would certainly punch a hole through whatever it was that had impeded their exit and then refused to readmit the AAI.

“This time Zainal will return for appropriate punishment,” the Ix Mentat said, turning over in its mind the sorts of physical abuse that would wreak the worst pain and humiliation on the chosen who had failed to present himself at Eosi command. It savored scenes of dismemberment, of flaying alive, of the application of noxious substances to the few tender portions of Catteni anatomy.

Meanwhile, the impetus to reach new heights of technological development extended to every single Eosi. They had been idle too long, complacent in their mastery of seven solar systems, their exploitation of the riches available to them, but with so many worlds still to be discovered and turned to Eosian advancement and enjoyment. They were on the threshold of a new era in Eosian domination! Let no one curtail their pleasure in achievement. The galaxy would eventually be theirs!

* * *

When attacked by the might of Eosian naval strength, the barrier remained impervious to any combination of the missiles, beams, and force available: the attack was useless against the barrier, and the bombardment of weapons of all kinds proved insufficient to pierce it. Only those on the planet remained unaware of the attempt.

Throughout the Eosian-dominated systems, captains and governors were apprised of this unexpected insult. Word filtered down to the suppressed on Rugarian, Deski, Ilginish, Tur, and Terran home worlds and on the compulsorily colonized planets. Hope was reborn! Reborn and thwarted by the savagery of Eosian frustration, which now focused on extracting some means of penetrating the barrier from whatever source that might come. The Eosi had been unpleasant at any time; now they turned vicious. All effort was aimed at combating the first real test of Eosian supremacy since the Mentats had sloughed off their corporeal forms to find a type of immortality by using the strong Catteni bodies.

And still the barrier remained impregnable.

So the Ix Mentat sent every available scout out, far beyond previously explored sectors, to find any trace of those whose advanced technology prevented it from achieving the revenge it now craved.

B
aby slipped through like an eel,” Marrucci said, grinning broadly as he wiggled his clasped hands in demonstration. “Mind you, Zainal had us at dead slow and that might be the trick. Come charging at it and it bounces you back as it did the first time we nosed around.”

“I think we were a little speedier reentering,” Beverly said on consideration.

“We could have blasted the Eosi orbital. Baby's armed. Blown it out of the skies as a warning,” Balenquah said, sullen as ever. “We should have, you know! Proven we can do something positive against their surveillance! And we didn't get so much as a whisker sensor stripped off.” He added a “Ha!” of satisfaction before he wandered off to grab some of the sandwiches set out on the table and left the office.

“Glad you were along, general,” Marrucci said softly. “That guy grosses me out.”

“He is a good pilot,” Beverly said, but without much enthusiasm.

Scott leaned across his desk, gesturing for the two to
do the same. “Is what Balenquah said accurate? You weren't beyond the Bubble long enough to be seen by the orbital?”

Beverly grinned. “Of course we were. Zainal even booted us past the geosynch sat. That was Zainal's main object in seeing if he could breach the Bubble, to get the exit, and reentry noticed.”

“Won't that just make the Eosi madder'n ever?”

“Frankly, I hope so. With Farmers protecting us…”

“Now, wait a minute,” Scott sat bolt upright. “What makes Zainal think they will if we pull damn fool stunts like that?”

“If you're on the top of the pile by many light-years, you don't need to do ‘species injury' to maintain the position—not with the technology the Farmers have. But the Eosi don't. That'll piss them off, according to Zainal, and I think he's right. If they keep trying to storm Botany, won't the Farmers object?”

“Damn Zainal. He's going to get that Phase Three of his started one way or another.” And there was a touch of admiration in Scott's tone. “But damnation, he should take us into his confidence on such decisions. We have to consider the good of the entire community. And where is Zainal? I need to do more than debrief him now.”

“Oh, he dropped us off and went on to check the Catteni valley, to see if the Farmers visited them. I thought you knew.”

“Me? I certainly didn't suggest it.” Scott's frown deepened. “That damned Cat!”

“Frankly, Ray, I'd like to know if the Farmers did appear to them. Mind you, I'm comfortable enough here on Botany, but there were a lot of things left undone on Earth and I'd expected to have a major part of their doing,” Beverly said, giving a final nod of emphasis.

“A soldier's first duty is to return to his unit if at all
possible?” Scott said with a slightly condescending smile.

“You got it. As far as I'm concerned,” and Beverly folded his hands together, “I'm not stopping until Earth is free of the Eosi. A lot of us here feel the same way. And I suspect more than you'd guess would back Zainal in an attempt to get active Farmer support.”

Scott considered that and sighed. “If we could…” Then, in an altogether different voice and with a rueful smile, he added, “Not that I haven't learned some very valuable lessons here on Botany.”

“We all have,” Beverly agreed with a wry expression, and he looked down at the calluses on his hands.

* * *

When Zainal returned, he immediately reported to Ray Scott that the Farmers had appeared to the Catteni and scared them so badly, two were still in shock. The others refused to believe that they had not been visited by Eosi and pleaded with him to take them to a safer place.

“I told them these were not Eosi but the true owners of the planet and if they tried to leave the valley, worse would happen to them.”

“What would be worse than Eosi?” Scott asked with a snort.

“What they do not know is always worse,” Zainal said with one of his shrugs. “They will never leave the valley.”

“Had they been trying to?”

Zainal gave another shrug. “No. The Drassi has authority over them only on the ship. They will do nothing.”

“You stayed long enough outside the Bubble to let both satellites have a good look at you?”

“As John told you,” Zainal said.

“Tell me, Zainal,” and Scott made himself lean back, as if totally at ease, “is it wise to aggravate the Eosi this way? How can we be sure the Farmers will protect us
if we taunt our enemy? We know very little of their philosophy and society, or their technology, except that it is superior to everything any of us have seen.”

Zainal grinned, and the look in his eyes was menacing. “Right now, the Eosi are very worried. Some other group is more advanced than they are. They will not stand for that. They will be doing two things: searching for the Farmers and trying to take as large a technological leap forward as they can.”

“Yes, but are they capable of it? I mean, matter transmission such as the Farmers used is a huge step forward, I would think,” Scott said.

“Wars have a habit of improving technology,” Beverly said. “We should know that better than most, Ray.”

“A lot of good our improved technology did us when the Catteni landed,” Scott said with a bitter laugh.

“Did they ever track down the subs?” Beverly asked.

Scott glared at him, tilting his head at Zainal.

“Whose side is he on, Ray?” Beverly said.

“My own,” Zainal said with a grin. “I go home now.”

* * *

Kris was asleep and she roused briefly when she felt him slide under the blankets beside her.

“You've planned Phase Three, haven't you?” she murmured, and before he could admit that he had, she was asleep again.

Zane woke them as night was falling, ready to eat and play awhile.

“Well, you have, haven't you?” she said, nursing the baby by the fire while Zainal sat in his big chair, watching the process as he idly stroked one chair arm.

“I have what?”

“Planned Phase Three.”

He grinned at her. “It is only logical to complete what Mitford started. To get the Farmers to notice us and come to see what we have done to their world. That
Eosi came is very good. We upset
their
plans and that has needed doing for many generations.”

“Don't tell me other Catteni have wanted to do away with the Eosi?” That surprised her.

“It has been talked of, privately,” he admitted, and the stroking turned to a drumming of his fingers. “I was on Barevi to speak to…a group about a plan.”

“You were? And I ruined all that for you?” Kris flushed with chagrin. “Did you mention that to Chuck? Or anyone?”

Zainal shrugged. “No reason, until now.”

“Is that why you wanted to be able to leave the planet?”

“I am thinking that to have a base for those who resist the Eosi would be a very good thing.”

“More Catteni here?” Kris could think of several hundred people who would object to that. Or maybe they wouldn't, now that it was pretty well established in people's heads that it was the Eosi who were masterminding Catteni activities. The problem with that was that so many Catteni
enjoyed
far too much what they did to subject races.

“That would cause trouble if it was known,” Zainal agreed, instantly following her thought. “There is that desert continent. No one goes there.”

“That's true. And if folks didn't know there were Catteni…but you can't keep something like this from the brass-heads, Zainal. They trust you now. They wouldn't—”

“Do not worry, I respect their trust. I will tell them if I think I can do what I wish now to do. I would need much assistance from Beverly, Scott, Easley, Yowell, Bert, Raisha. We must rescue more from Earth, too.”

“The transport ship?” She startled Zane and had to comfort him.

Zainal nodded. “On board the KDL is much we would need. The star maps, the codes…”

“Wouldn't the Eosi change codes? Just in case you get loose?”

Zainal shook his head, his yellow eyes dancing in the firelight.

“Drassi learn too slowly to do that quickly.”