Moving Mars (44 page)

Sir, we mean to get you out of here as well. Breaker means that each team will vector separately. Three arrows out of here, each acting as diversion for the other. He raised his hand, and again we were grabbed and pushed into the hall. From the auditorium came more screams and concerned voices.

Dont worry, maam, Breaker told me. No weapons fire and no assault signals.

Watch for peeling walls, another guard said. Nano poisons, rapid-assembly weapons and machines, anything might be possible.

Who? Ti Sandra asked, face flushed, large body suddenly very vulnerable and weak, a big slow target. We dont care right now, Madam President, another guard said.

I told Dandy, If you grab my ass again, you better mean it. He shot me a look of surprise, grinned, and said, Sorry, Maam.

We took back tunnels to the shuttle port, walking briskly with guards and arbeiters front and back. Christ, I dont want this Olson said before we split, his lone guard hustling him to the train tubes.

Madam Veep, you have another shuttle, Di Vorno said. Prez goes incom. Luck, Dandy.

Dandy, Jack, and an arbeiter guided me to the proper gate for the second shuttle. I knew the team always traveled with two shuttles, but I had not seen the second before. It did not look luxurious; spare, cut down, armored and fast.

Then Dandy did something that shocked me badly. He took a tiny package from his pocket, approached a decorative fountain in the terminal and broke the package over the main nozzle. The package quickly swelled in the water like a lump of rising dough. A tiny mechanical observer poked out of the mass and painted me quickly with a gridwork of red lines of light. The lump flopped in the pool around the fountain, popping arms and legs. The legs neglected to sprout toes, growing shoes instead.

It began to look like me, clothes and all, right down to the lumpy white armor. In a few seconds, it stood, squeaked, and with a convincing if inelegant gait, followed the arbeiter into the shuttle. The shuttle sealed the terminal bridge and its hatches, rolled away, and rose into the pink afternoon sky on flame-rooted feathers of white steam.

I shivered away the prickling hairs on my neck.

My call, maam, Dandy said. He and Jack each took an arm and guided me down the corridor. Maintenance trains go to old station tunnels from here. Well take one of those.

So I was back where it all began for me, the birthplace of my political consciousness. The pioneer tunnels behind the UMS train depot were still dark and narrow and filled with forgotten debris eventually awaiting the recyclers. The air was downright cold and smelled bad. My head swam as Dandy and Jack paused to consult their slates.

All coms out except for secure channels, and theyre not active, Jack said. He shook his head. Satcoms out. We might hook into a port and try internal optic.

No ports here, Dandy said. Why no com on the secure channels?

Jack thought for a moment. I doubt anybodys sending. Presidents crew is going to stay quiet and in the air until they hear from Point One.

Point One doesnt rely on thinker coordination Dandy mused. But they have links with thinkers, and computers route the com like anywhere else.

Evolvons? I asked.

Dandy waggled his head, not committing himself to any theories. Jack, however, reached up to the roof of the tunnel with long arms, scraped his fingers there, and said, Weve put Terrie thinkers back in authority after sweeps. UMS was running its day-to-day with thinkers.

Not life support, I said.

No, but everythings coordinated Computers talk with thinkers, thinkers give computers high-level instructions, even backup systems refer to the system boss and thats a thinker. We swept for them and we missed, thats all.

Earth evolvons, Dandy said. Why?

Jack dropped his hand to his side, wiping ice crystals on his pants, and said, Madam Vice President, where are the Olympians now?

Some of your people are protecting them, I said.

Of course, but do you know where they are?

I assume most of them are at Melas Dorsa. Franklins core group. Some may be at Tharsis Research University with Leander.

I need to know some things, Jack said. Will you brief me?

Ill try, I said.

Lets find a hidey hole with some insulation. Well settle in until Point One tells us what to do assuming they can. If we dont hear in several hours, well commandeer a train and move out of here.

In the dark, the three of us sat in a old branch still lined with foamed rock, marginally warmer than the long tunnels.

I wondered if I could still find my way to the trench dome where Id first spoken with Charles, where the students had gathered before going Up.

I have a theory, Jack began. But you should tell me some things first.

All right, I said.

Dont be hasty, Maam, Dandy said, half-joking. Check out his clearance.

Jack nodded sincerely. That should be first, hes right, he said.

I held my slate to his and checked his security clearance by comparison of coded signals. The signals found a locus of agreement. Jack and Dandy were both cleared for top secret, but only on a strict need-to-know basis.

I think Earth is fapping with our dataflow, Jack began. That isnt good. Were vulnerable as hell. Our contingency plans call for getting you to a safe location of our choosing. Well put together the government at that point by popping up a shielded satcom. Assuming they still have evolvons in most of our thinkers, and the evolvons have polluted the computers as well, Mars is going to be in bad shape. Stations will be cut off except for direct optic links and theyll be down for a while. Governors wont be able to report to Many Hills for several days. Techs will have to go in with certified Martian computers and start rearranging dataflow.

There will be more fapping, Dandy said. You can bet our certified computers will be polluted.

Comes from too much reliance on Earth, Jack said sourly, Maam, what I need to know is, why would Earth do this? Just to screw up our government?

No, I said. Theyd want to deal with a stable government.

Have we got something going that would scare them that bad? Jack asked.

Yes, I said, cutting through all my instinctive equivocation. My life probably depended on these two men.

The Olympians? Jack asked.

Yes.

Im just asking because they were put under top security protection a month ago, and I planned the pattern, Jack said. Unusual for industrial stuff.

Is there any chance this is just a local failure? I asked, the strain in my voice obvious. My last ray of hope was about to be extinguished.

No, Maam, Dandy said. Wed get Point One immediately.

Then Id like to be with the Olympians, and as soon as possible, I said.

Dandy and Jack considered this in silence. Maam, you undoubtedly have your reasons. But we have to make you available for talks with negotiators representing the aggressor. You will be exposed before the President, in case the aggressors are trying to decapitate Mars. Security for the Olympians assumes they will be killed if the aggressor knows their whereabouts. Theyll be removed from Melas Dorsa as soon as possible, and we dont know where theyll be.

I need to communicate with them, then.

Nobodys talking with anybody for the next few hours, perhaps longer, if we guess correctly.

If its that bad, then people are dying, I said.

Jack nodded. Yes, Maam. Power blackouts, tunnel collapses in the fancier stations, oxydep, recycler failures

My neck stiffened with rage beneath the armor. When will Ti Sandra and I be able to talk?

Dandy was about to answer when his slate chimed. Coded signals flashed onto the screen.

Thats Point One, he said. Someones popped up a mini satcom. Things are happening fast. Were to get you to a shuttle and take you to Many Hills immediately. Youre to meet with someone who has a message from Earth.

I hope you like adventure, Madam Vice President, Jack said.

Not this kind, I said.

Nor I, Maam.

Whats your last name, Jack?

Names Ivan Ivanovitch Vasilkovsky, Maam, from Yamaguchi BM in Australe.

Terror can only last so long before it subsides into numbness and a sour stomach.

A sleek black and red maintenance train engine had been sidelined in the depot roundhouse. We boarded through the engineers lock. Dandy checked the computer and found it had been completely deactivated. Together, Dandy and Jack pulled the computer offline so it would not start with powerup, switched the engine to emergency manual override, turned on safety sensors but left lights and beacons off, and took us out of the roundhouse. Dandy took the first watch in the drivers seat.

I did not want to go to Many Hills, but their arguments were irrefutable. Running unloaded, on a straight trace the engine could push up to four hundred kiphs. The trip would take at least fifteen hours.

Saddled with authority, away from Ti Sandra and out of touch possibly for days, I felt like a lost child. Mostly I stayed quiet in the tiny compartment, lying on a hard cot that belied the colloquial name from centuries past featherbedding.

Jack Vasilkovsky sat on a pulldown stool, face unreadable. He would give up his life for me if called upon. And he would kill.

I had thought these matters through before, but never with such intensity and urgency. I was no longer simply myself or even the Vice President. I was the face of the Republic until Ti Sandra could safely emerge.

In a few hours, I would examine all the contingency plans made by our defense and security staffs. And shortly after that, whether or not I had spoken with Ti Sandra, I would be facing someone representing Earthwho? And with what demands?

The compartments tiny port allowed small glimpses of pink sky darkening into dusk. The pink shaded into deep brown filled with stars. Came a quick flash of pale blue along the horizon, something I had never seen live before, and night black and cold.

The compartment smelled of stale nano and dust. The engine flew at speed, silent on straight trace. There might be other trains stranded on the tracks, their computers dithering from Earths merciless evolvons. Jack looked as if he was prepared to blast them out of our waybut then I thought more as he and Dandy were thinking, and realized they would simply commandeer the next engine, leaving the stranded passengers to fend for themselves.

Oddly, only now did I speck that these events were going to be historic. Whether we won or lost, the scattering of Marss leadersPresident, Vice President, and presumably the district governorswould become a Martian legend. Intrigue, decoys, shuttle flights and trains in the night.

Jacks slate chimed and another coded message came in. Another pop-up, he said dryly. Point One is still operating, but our satellites are brought down as soon as we put them up. They must want us really scared.

Whats the message? I asked, rising from the cot.

I have something from the President, your eyes only, and status on who were talking to at Many Hills. Cailetet seems to be functioning, and maybe a few small renegade BMs. Nothing else.

He transferred Ti Sandras message to my slate, simple text and one picture.

Dearest Casseia,

You are the negotiator now. Earth talks to us through sympathetic mouthsCailetet. Word is you will meet with a negotiator chosen by Crown Niger. Earth is afraid. Somebody in the know has talked. Zenger? Olympians are all in hiding. I have issued instructions to CF too sensitive to tell you now. Say whatever it takes to put Mars on track, but in the next few months, or even years, we have the aces. You will learn of my death upon your arrival. I love you and trust you with our child. We will not talk until we have begun to fight again. There are locusts in the soil.

The text was followed by a small picture of Ti Sandra, face smiling but haggard. I signaled the wiping of the message and the picture faded.

Locusts.

Jack leaned forward, touching my hand in concern. Are you all right? he asked.

What do you know about locusts? I asked.

Jack sat upright and rubbed his hands on his knees. Jesus, he said. Contravened by treaty throughout the Triple. What in Gods name could we do to Earth Have they?

The President says they have.

He looked as if he might cry, caught between anger and horror and helpless to act. Jesus, he repeated, and could say no more for a few seconds.

Locusts, I said, trying to bring him back.

He folded his arms and looked away, eyebrows drawn together. How do you control an entire planet from across the Solar System? Seed it with nano factories that can build a variety of automatic weapons, self-directing warbeiters. Marss soil is ideal. High silicate and aluminum, high ferrous content. Choose old mines or seemingly depleted sites, still rich with the basic minerals, open to deep exploration and concealment without triggering alarm. Sprinkle nano factory seeds from orbit. A single small ship could do it. We have no defense against such an atrocity.

I thought of Cailetets attempt to expand mining claims. As if Crown Niger had tried to warn us, one last signal flag of honor before handing himself to Earth on a platter, sole political survivor of conquered Mars.

I wondered now if Stan and Jane were even alive. We could fight the locusts, I offered.

We dont have anywhere near the means to destroy all the factories, he said. The locust concept is specifically forbidden by treaty signed by all nations and alliances.

And were too young and naive to have thought of a defense.

Theoretically, Jack said, in a year or two, all of our scientists could design a response. A nano-level disease. But if the locusts are Earth-designed, we He did not finish.

But we did have defenses, and they were in themselves so frightening as to have provoked the Earth Extremes bringing on extremes. The future seemed not just dangerous, not just bleak; it seemed incomprehensible.

Dandy left the controls briefly to tell us the track ahead was clear for five hundred klicks. Jack and I told him about the locust warning. His face went gray.

I told neither of them about Ti Sandras impending death.