“No,” said Councillor Lock. “No. With all due respect, Manager al-Ibrahimi, this is absurd. When the citizens understand what’s involved, they’ll refuse to go, and they’ll be right to refuse. The fact that a half dozen diseased aliens wandered toward the ship—it needn’t have been an attack, you know—”
“It was an attack,” Farrell said. “I know an attack.”
His voice was a harsh buzz, more like a bee’s wings than human speech. He stood, then turned away from the gathering. His muscles were trembling.
“Sit down, Major Farrell,” al-Ibrahimi said.
“Yessir, sorry,” Farrell whispered. He nodded an apology to Councillor Lock, though the civilian didn’t understand what had almost happened.
Christ, they should have redlined me. If I’m going to come that close to killing a civilian who can’t be expected to know what’s going on, what am I going to do the next time I hear a rear-echelon colonel spouting bullshit?
“Councillor Lock,” the manager said in a tone with no more anger than the blade of a guillotine, “you are not a stupid man. Do not permit your concern for your wife’s neurotic behavior to cause you to say stupid things. Our margin for survival is very slight.”
Lock nodded. “Major Farrell,” he said, “I apologize for intruding on an area outside my competence. It won’t happen again.”
Indeed, he wasn’t stupid. It’d only taken Lock thirty seconds to put the pieces together.
“I’m wound too tight,” Farrell said. He forced a smile to make a joke of what was the truth if it had ever been spoken. “Sorry.”
“Apart from the probability that 10-1442 will fall over within the next thirty days, sooner if the rain we experienced is a daily occurrence,” Lundie said, looking at Lock, “the danger from the Kalendru is incalculable. We have to assume that whatever forces they have in the area will be drawn to the ship.”
“I’m also concerned about the natural environment,” al-Ibrahimi added. “While BZ 459 was clearly going to be a difficult location for a colony, the biota we’ve encountered in this crater is far more dangerous than survey data suggested for the planet as a whole. I believe the risk of waiting here until a rescue vessel arrives is greater than the risk of cutting our way out of the crater as quickly as possible.”
“Better to stay a moving target,” Farrell said before he remembered that he wasn’t talking to other strikers. He cleared his throat and went on, “My lead scout says the whole jungle’s alive and gunning for us.”
“Of course it’s—” Reitz said. “Oh. Consciously alive.”
Farrell shrugged, wishing that he’d kept his mouth shut. “Blohm’s been pretty close to the edge since the last operation. He’s, I mean, I trust him, but I don’t say his head’s in a good place.”
“There are twenty-seven colonists who refuse to leave the ship,” Lundie said, looking unblinkingly at Lock.
“I’m going to talk to Margaret,” Lock said abruptly. He stood and walked away from the group. “This is my problem to solve.”
“Sir?” Farrell said to the project manager. “Do you have any idea what the Spooks are doing here? I never heard of them planting a base this far inside the human sphere.”
There were a lot of things the Unity command didn’t tell strikers. Spook soldiers in places the Unity couldn’t afford Spooks to be, though—that was something the Strike Force was going to hear about pretty damn quick.
Lundie and al-Ibrahimi exchanged glances. “That isn’t information which would be available to the Population Authority,” the aide said. “I don’t believe that the highest levels of the Unity administration would have authorized this colony had there been any knowledge of Kalendru penetration of this region.”
Manager al-Ibrahimi nodded. “President Reitz,” he said. “Councillor Lock is right that there will be objections to leaving. Please gather your deck monitors tonight and emphasize to them that no one will be permitted to remain behind. Our only chance of survival is to march to safety.”
“I’ll tell them,” Reitz said. “We understand this isn’t a democracy. But there’ll be a lot of anger. And perhaps some rebellion.”
“Rebellion will be ended by force if necessary,” Lundie said. “They must understand that.”