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before his time, one that had broken up Andrezhuria's marriage to Ezkerra when
he complained that she cared more about the Starfarers en masse than about her
husband.
"As a loyal Starfarer, I can no longer stand aside and see this travesty of a
government go on until our tanks are empty of -water and our atmosphere is
poisoned by failing recyclers," Nueva went on. An abstract part of Markel's
mind was impressed by the way she harped on the issues that would immediately
excite any space-faring group, while the rest of him was beginning to panic.
Something terrible was going to happen. He knew about Nueva and the rest of
the Palomellese now; he had to tell Illart immediately, before whatever this
was went any further.
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The cabin door would not move under his hand. He tugged at the latch to no
avail; it wasn't stuck, it was electronically locked. Probably by a command
from Central Systems.
"At the eleventh hour we have found a way to salvage ourselves through the
work of a new Starfarer, Dr. Ngaen Xong Hoa," Nueva said from the screen.
"Proper application of his . research can give us the power to control the
weather and communications of any planet we visit. Rushima and many others
will pay well for the use of this technology, but the fainthearts who control
the Council will not permit it. They would rather see you suffocate in a dying
ship than take the risk of using new technology!"
Illart started forward. "No!" he shouted. "That's a lie, Nueva, and you know
it! Tell them what Hoa's system will actually do to a planet! Tell them that
you don't know the effects of using it, that nobody can predict-"
A Palomellese swung his phaser up into Illart's face. "No interrup' La
Fallona!"
Markel held his breath until Illart subsided. For a moment he'd thought he was
about to see his father murdered before his eyes.
"We, the loyal Starfarers, have been forced to take over from the Council in
this emergency," said Nueva. "Those who are with us stand here. Those who are
not with us may now leave the Haven."
Markel exhaled a long sigh of relief. The Palomellese might be criminals, but
they weren't homicidal maniacs. They meant to exile the Speakers to Rushima.
It was a crazy plan, but it wouldn't-it couldn't-last long. The Starfarers
would never stand for this . . . would they? For the first time he felt uneasy
about the sight of Gerezan and Sengrat, fully dressed and alert, standing
comfortably among all these armed Palomellese.
Andrezhuria spoke into the silence left by Nueva's last words. "I will happily
take a lifeboat to any system you name," she announced, "rather than lend my
countenance to your extortion schemes. But we'll be back when the Starfarers
realize what you're up to!"
Nueva's smile did not reach her eyes. "Back? Oh, no, I don't think so," she
said softly. "Whatever gave you the idea we meant to waste precious resources
like lifeboats and oxygen tanks on the fools who have already wasted so much
of the Haven's substance? If you won't earn the air you breathe, then you can
find your own-out there." She gestured with her phaser toward the door to air
locks at the end of the cargo bay.
"Now, just a minute, Nueva," Gerezan protested uneasily. "I never meant - "
"No? Then you, too, are a fool," Nueva said. "Perhaps in sentimental vids
people leave their enemies alive, to recover and strike at them again. On
Palomellawe learned better." She nodded at one of the other armed Palomellese.
"Esposito, the prisoners here are those who cannot be rehabilitated. You may
escort them to the air locks." She turned back to the screen. "Citizens, you
have been confined to quarters for your own security during this changeover.
As soon as the prisoners have been disposed of, members of the new Council
will come among you to release you from your quarters and take your oaths of
loyally."
Markel stood like an idiot, staring at the screen as he saw the men and women
in their sleeping clothes shuffle forward under the phasers of the Palomellese
guards. He recognized nearly all the faces in the group: Council members,
First-Generation Starfarers from Esperantza, the sort of people who would have
agreed with Illart that it was unthinkable to use Hoa's weather control as a
weapon against peaceful planets. How much of this had been planned? An
extended Council meeting, to make sure that all the dissenting members would
be sleeping on the next shift; easy then to surprise the CaN and Engineering
departments, and to round up unsuspecting, sleeping people for. . . .
"NO!" Markel hammered at the door, weeping tears of rage and fury. On the
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screen, the image of his father said, "Esposito, quit waving that thing
around, somebody's going to get hurt. If you're going to run this ship, you'd
better learn to think ahead."
Illart sounded so calm that Markel thought for a minute he had secret control
of the situation, that in a moment he would snap his fingers and the
Palomellese would discover themselves outmanned by a large force of armed
Starfarers.
But instead, Illart strolled toward the air lock as casually as if he were
going for a walk in the Garden. "Aiora, my love," he said to the slowly
opening door, "it has been too long." He looked directly toward the screen for
just a moment. "And we leave those behind who will remember and avenge this
treachery."
That was his farewell to Markel. Later Markel realized that Illart had not
mentioned his name because he did not wish to remind Nueva Fallona that he
left a son who would never forgive his execution. At the time he only watched,
eyes blinded by tears, as his father passed beyond the inner doors of the air
lock and out of his life forever.
Behind Illart, Andrezhuria shook off the Palomellese who had a hand on her
arm. "I go with the First Speaker," she said coldly. Her eyes glanced at the
group of Palomellese. "Gerezan, your honor goes with us. Will you not
accompany it?"
"I did try to get you to see reason, 'Zhuria," Gerezan mumbled.
Andrezhuria lifted her chin and tossed the tumble of blond nnglets back over
her shoulders. Without another word she stepped forward through the inner
doors of the air lock, hand in hand with her former husband Ezkerra. The other
prisoners followed her, one by one, some protesting, others accepting their
fate in benumbed silence.
When the inner doors closed behind them. Market went temporarily mad, beating
on the unyielding door and twisting at the walls until his hands were raw and
bruised. This could not be happening-it was some sort of nightmare!
"No nightmare," said a raw voice he hardly recognized as his own. "You knew
-what Nueva Fallona was. You knew, and you did not tell Illart." He had a debt
to pay for that failure, a task Illart had laid on him in those last words: to
remember and avenge.
And he could accomplish nothing by crying like a baby or wrestling with the
doors as if they could hear his desperation. Markel put his grief aside, and
with it the last of his childhood, because he did not have very long to decide
-what to do before the new guards came for him. They must know that he -would
never swear loyalty to the regime that had killed his father. Even if they
were blind enough to believe in any oath he took, wouldn't the words choke
him?
There was only one alternative: he must not be there when they came. It was a
good thing he knew the secret insides of the Haven so well. In the icy calm
that he had imposed on himself, Markel mentally went over at least three
separate ways to exit the cabin without using the locked doors, any one of
which would leave no trace. But just to confuse the issue, he would hack into
the central computer and see what trouble he could make before leaving. No
telling when he'd next get a chance at a data console.
Three
Labour, Unified\ Federation Date334.05.12
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