Venus of Shadows (82 page)

No one was to contact anyone outside. This was a temporary prohibition until they could think of what to say, but it had brought a chorus of protests. Their families would want to know they were safe; others would have to be told their loved ones were gone. Dyami had calmly pointed out what none of them had considered — that their families could also be used as hostages against them, once recent events in Turing became known. Soon, of course, they would have to contact someone, but he wanted to learn if he would be pleading a cause that would win widespread sympathy or if the settlers had come to believe any lies Ishtar might have spread about the people in Turing.

Oddly enough, he had not noticed that any calls or messages were coming in for the patrol. Jonah had apparently not alerted anyone outside before moving against his rebellious prisoners, perhaps in an effort to protect his position; he would have had a reprimand at best for not being able to keep control. He had not retreated and asked for help from outside. Jonah had paid with his life for that decision.

A call or message would come in eventually, however, and it would have to be answered. If they needed to buy time, one of their captives might be compelled to respond; Dyami would have to study any message before making a decision.

He had viewed a few of the messages waiting for him, gazing at the images abstractedly on a confiscated pocket screen in the room where he now lived. He had chosen a room in the other dormitory next to the one where the patrol and pilots were being held. Suleiman had suggested that they share one of the houses, but Dyami had refused. He could not enter a house without thinking of Maxim Paz; he could not ponder Suleiman's tentative advances without remembering what his tormentor had done to him.

The messages he viewed evoked no love or longing for the people who had sent them. There was Risa, murmuring of events in Oberg while hinting darkly of conspiracies and plots. Here was Sef, shielding his fear and concern with heartiness and false cheer. Irina told him of her friends in ibn-Qurrah who were curious or worried about events in Turing; Patrick asked why Dyami had not responded to his last message. Teo, who had made his compromises but still mimicked his old recklessness, related the latest jokes about the Guide and hinted at his recent sexual exploits. They were only images, imitating people he had once known. All of the messages were old; it seemed that the guards had erased more recent ones.

His world had shrunk still more. Now it was no more than a node of consciousness embedded in a mind that could no longer feel.

*  *  *

Dyami looked around at the others who had remained in the dining hall. Some were watching him; others stared at the large screen they had placed near one wall. They had brought the screen there three days earlier, but it had remained blank since then.

A message had come in two days ago; another had been sent that morning. The people who had seemed so anxious to contact the outside before were now afraid of what the messages might mean.

"Well?" Dyami said. "It's been ten days since anyone outside's heard anything from Turing. We'd better see what's on their minds. Are you all ready?" Those not in the hall would be watching on other screens at their posts.

"Go ahead," Fatima Snow replied, sounding more forceful than she had in a while. "It'll be better than imagining the worst."

Dyami went to the screen, sat down by the console, and called up the first message. An image of Matthew Innes appeared; several people caught their breath.

"Jonah?" Matthew said. "Haven't heard anything from you." The blond man's face was covered with stubble; his thick blond hair looked uncombed. "I couldn't get through to you before, but I assume you've looked at the public channels and know what's going on. We've got mobs against us, thanks to that speech of Chimene's. Most of the Council and our friends on the patrol are under detention, and because of that cursed Eva, we've got the Habbers to worry about now. Two of their ships are on the way here, and they've apparently sent a message to Mukhtar Kaseko. A source on Island Two tells me that they've threatened to disable Anwara if one of their ships isn't allowed to dock there. We may still have a little time — just a little."

Someone screamed behind Matthew. A man holding a wand leaned over Matthew, whispered to him, then disappeared.

"A few of us managed to hide in one house," Matthew went on, "and then we made it to this school. The teachers were keeping the youngest children here until things quieted down. They're our way out, and you've got one, too, if you're ready to use it. Just listen. We've told them that unless we're allowed to get to the Platform and onto a shuttle for Anwara, the children are finished. It's our only chance. I'll risk the justice of the Mukhtar before I give myself up to those people outside."

The blond man panted for breath. "You've got hostages, too, ones the Habbers might still care about. You'd better get a message out to Anwara about what will happen to them if you aren't allowed to follow me. It isn't much of a chance, but it's all you've got. You can't come back here. The pilots are holding most of the bays. There's still some fighting going on in Lyata and Galileo, but I think we're losing there. I don't know where Boaz is — probably being held. Get a message ready and put it out on a public channel. If you don't get a response in a couple of days, show what you're willing to do. Maybe you can begin with that brother of Chimene's — that'd pay her back. Let me know —" His image faded.

"What's going on?" Fatima asked.

Dyami called up the next message. Matthew reappeared, looking even more haggard than before. "Why haven't I heard anything from you? They're going to let us out. They'll take us to the bay, and we'll keep a few kids with us. Listen, don't think you can wait this out — we've even got patrol volunteers against us. Get your message out, and make an example if you have to — we just did, with a teacher here. I —"

Dyami heard shouts, and then the screen suddenly went blank. People were crowding around him. "We'd better bring in a public channel," Fatima said.

Dyami's fingers danced over the console. "— imagined they could give our world to Earth," a familiar voice was saying. He looked up at the face of his sister. "But we shall never bow to the Mukhtars. Those who betrayed us will be called to account."

He bowed his head, bewildered, as he listened to Chimene's forceful, demanding voice.

Thirty-Three

Risa sat with Noella outside the house, holding the other woman as she wept on Risa's shoulder. The crowd had stormed the west dome's school before the patrol volunteers stationed outside could stop them. The attack had succeeded; all of the children had been saved, and their parents had been given the satisfaction of seeing Matthew Innes's mutilated body thrown outside the door. But the assault was too late for Theron, whose death at the hands of those holding the school had precipitated the crowd's vengeance. Risa shuddered again with the shock she had felt when Theron's body was dumped outside, and the fear that had swept over her when the crowd suddenly surged forward.

The Council members, except for Boaz, had been detained without incident; patrol volunteers had managed to subdue most of Boaz's allies. Risa had told herself then that they might be able to win without violence, since those who weren't joining the struggle seemed content to wait it out behind the walls of their homes. But a few of Boaz's allies, here and in other settlements, had decided not to give in so easily. Pilots had died in reckless attacks on the bays; households had been threatened by people trying to hide from the patrols who were searching for them. Passive, frightened people had become avenging mobs. They had not been fighting for justice then, or for freedom from Earth, or against those who were allied with the ones who had wanted to impose Earth's rule. They had only been creatures avenging themselves on those who dared to threaten their neighbors or their children.

She did not know how many had died; she had news of only a few. Josefa Huong was dead, after she and a few others had successfully defended the Guide's house against three of Boaz's loyalists. Gupta Benares was gone, trampled by a crowd as he hastened to the side of an injured woman. Theron, trying to protect his pupils, was gone.

Now the orgy of violence was past, and she did not yet know what the dead had purchased with their lives. She had been in the Administrative Center, monitoring several channels on the screens, when a message came from an Administrator on Island Two. Alim ibn-Sharif, according to this woman, was indisposed, and in his place, she had advised the Mukhtar's delegation on Anwara to meet with the Habbers when their ships arrived. The Mukhtar had apparently agreed, swayed by the knowledge that one of the Habber ships would remain in an orbit near Anwara's, ready to disable the satellite.

The Habbers wanted to help resolve the crisis. Risa did not know if Mukhtar Kaseko would listen or if he would decide to fight after all. She did not know if the Habbers were acting out of sympathy for the Cytherians or only because they might view any victory of Earth's as a defeat for themselves. She did not know how fervent her people's wish for autonomy would remain if Venus became a battleground for Earth and the Habitats.

Even if the Habbers succeeded in interceding for the people of Venus, what then? The Cytherians' freedom would mean little without the aid the Project still needed from outside to help the settlements survive. Would Earth continue to aid Venus in return for nothing except the possibility of closer ties and friendship in the future? Would the Habbers want more influence in return for their help?

She feared what still lay ahead of them — recriminations, blame, demands that many be called to account for their deeds.

Noella had stopped crying; she drew away from Risa and wiped her eyes with a sleeve of her shirt. "My children want me to stay with them for a while," she said. "That might be best."

"You have a home here whenever you want to come back," Risa murmured.

"I know. I'll have to see."

The door opened; Nikolai hurried outside. "Risa, you'd better come in. A call came from Turing — Sef's talking to Dyami."

Risa got to her feet. Nikolai went to Noella as she hurried inside. Dyami's face was on the screen — thin and almost as marked by age as his father's. His flared cheekbones were sharper, and his skin was much too pale. Risa halted near the screen and raised a hand to her mouth.

"Sef told me a little of what's been going on," Dyami said. "We had something of a battle of our own, but I'll tell you about that another time. We're safe here — the patrol, what's left of it, is under restraint. Judging by what the screen's been showing us, we may have acted just in time."

"Dyami." She lifted a hand and touched the image.

"We can get along for now. We don't want any airships coming here until we're sure of who's aboard — we're not taking any risks until matters outside are more settled. There are a great many things we want to discuss with the other settlements. My comrades will demand hearings for the people we're holding."

He sounded so cold. Much of her son was still hidden from her, as it had always been. "Theron's dead," she heard herself say. "The rest of us are all right, but he died at the school when —" Her voice caught in her throat.

"I know. Sef told me. I'm sorry." His voice was still steady. "Sigurd Kristens-Vitos is gone, too."

She bowed her head. "I'm afraid I can't talk anymore," Dyami continued. "I'll send a message, when there's more time."

The image flickered out. He might almost have been talking to strangers. Sef reached for her hand; she clung to him for a moment, then let her tears come.

*  *  *

Yakov summoned Risa to the main dome; it seemed that Chimene wanted to speak to both of them. She met him at the Administrative Center, where Andrew Dinel and a few other volunteers were watching over those being held there. Risa smiled sourly at Andrew as she and Yakov passed, thinking of all the business Ishtar had once brought his way. Andrew was not wearing his sash now.

"Your daughter confirmed one rumor for me," Yakov said as they walked. "I heard that Boaz Huerta had been taken to her house three days ago, during the last of the disturbances. He'd been hiding in the house of a friend, but when the friend saw how things were going, she informed Chimene, who had him brought there by a couple of people on the patrol. She says he's there now."

Risa pressed her lips together. Chimene's speech had been useful, but the Guide, except for her recording, had not been much in evidence lately. Hiding in her house, she supposed, anxious to protect all the things she did not own, waiting for the struggle to pass until she could emerge to claim the love of her people. "I wonder if Chimene knows what some are saying about her," Risa muttered.

"I don't know. We've got people seeing her as a heroine, and others who wonder exactly how much she knew about the deeds of some close to her. I've listened to some fairly disturbing stories about events in Turing just today. I don't know how we're going to maneuver between those who admire her and those who think she allowed a great many evils to happen. We'll have to hold hearings, and some of those defending themselves will be quick to point a finger at her. She may have to face a hearing herself, and then —"

"Don't think of that now," Risa responded. "Worry about that after we know the Mukhtar's intentions."

They were silent until they crossed the bridge near Chimene's house. Lang Eberschild and Yusef Deniz were outside with a few of the patrol. "My daughter wishes to see me," she said to Lang as he moved in front of the door. "I trust I'll be allowed to enter."

"I didn't know," the gray-haired man replied.

"Didn't she tell you?"

"She hasn't allowed anyone to enter since Boaz was brought here. Yusef and I have been staying with friends when we're not on watch."

"And you left her in there with that man?" Risa said.

"It was her request." Lang lowered his eyes. "She is our Guide. Two men are inside, to keep Boaz restrained, and Galina and young Lakshmi are with her. Have some pity for your daughter, Risa. When Boaz was brought to her, she didn't curse at him for his betrayal — she wept and spoke of how much she had loved him."