Spear of Light (44 page)

Charlie smiled. He supposed he was dirty, too. “We should get these people out of here before more problems show up. Why don't you take this group, and I'll wait for the others?”

“You go. I know who we're waiting for.”

Charlie didn't like that idea, but he had no reason to turn him down. “Be careful,” he said.

Jean Paul smiled and said, “Always.”

Charlie spoke in his command voice. “Let's go! Jog down to the
Storm
. Follow me, now.”

No one protested. He got the last people inside the ship as quickly as possible. He watched faces as they climbed in. Amanda and Amy were here. Most of the farmers, although not all. A few people he either hadn't seen closely enough on the way in to recognize or people they'd rescued. He was getting a little too tired to be sure of much.

He went forward to find Farro. “How are you?”

She grinned. “Better than you look. I hear you had a walking tour while I slept.”

“Ready? There's one more group coming.”

“They're on their way.”

He handed her the box. “Have some crackers.”

She gave him a funny look, but took one.

He went back to the door. Jean Paul and three others. He'd expected more. “Where's Kyle?”

“He stayed. He told me you'd understand.”

Charlie wasn't actually sure what to make of that. Either Kyle had stayed to fight the Next after all, or he'd stayed to gather information. It didn't matter in this moment.

Farro's voice crackled over the loudspeaker. “One minute to take off. Seat belts on.”

Charlie made his way forward again. People slumped in seats or looked at him, their faces hungry for something. He was able to offer tired smiles and a handclasp here and there, although he barely slowed down for either. He sank down gratefully beside Nona. She touched his cheek, her hand a comfort. “Are we going back to town?”

“Yes,” he said. “Soon.”

“I counted. There's fewer going back than we brought. Ten of the people who came with us decided to stay and fight, and seven of the forty or so we came for came back with us.”

“So we failed,” he said.

“No. We have Amy. And we also have a lot of information.”

At least they were going home now. He could set foot in Manna Springs and share some stim with Manny and the two of them could talk.

He'd save what he'd overheard for that talk. Ambassador or not, Nona didn't need to worry about anything she couldn't change until she could. Besides, Manny really should know first.

The
Storm
shuddered lightly and started off slowly. He held his breath until Farro goosed the engine. He stayed awake, worrying, until they were far out over the ocean.

PART FOUR

THE BATTLE OF THE HUMANS

CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR

YI

Yi stood on the porch of the Spacer's Rest watching the dawn light brighten the low clouds that hung over the town. The air registered three degrees colder than the previous days. A few dried leaves skittered lightly across the steps and then blew across the street.

It was only the start of the second day after Manny's return to Manna Springs. Josie, the hotelier, had let him have the best suite in the Spacer's Rest, and they hadn't gotten any closer to town than that yet.

The door behind him banged shut, and Yi turned around to find Manny standing beside him with a worn coat in his hand. “Borrowed this for you. You'll stick out in that light shirt.”

Yi took the coat and shrugged it on. A decent fit. Better to look like a human than not. He suspected the town's reinstatement of Manny didn't signify a sudden acceptance of Next. “Are you ready?”

A long sigh escaped Manny's lips. “As ready as I'm going to be.”

“Just us?”

“I want to be alone, although I promised Josie I'd take a guard. Are you up for that?”

Yi tugged on the coat. “Sure. I'm almost indestructible anyway.”

“But not completely.”

“True.” As if he could ever forget watching Nayli cut his wife to pieces. He had always been a pacifist, but in that moment he had wanted to rend Nayli limb from limb, to get revenge for Chrystal. And that had been Yi the robot, with a lower burn on his emotions. If he had still been Yi the man, he might still burn with hatred. “Let's get it over with. It's quiet, and I can probably keep you safe as long as we don't hit any big crowds of Jules's supporters.”

Manny smiled for the briefest second and started off. Yi followed. It was early enough that they didn't pass many people. A woman out walking a dog came up and hugged Manny, which drew a second smile from the big man. The smile stuck until they arrived at the end of his old street. Once there, Manny slowed down. A few steps later, he stopped.

Yi stood still beside him, measuring the wind speed against his skin (five kilometers an hour) and feeling the temperature rise a full degree while Manny did whatever he had stopped to do.

A cat crossed the street in front of them, and a flock of birds flew overhead in a V-shaped formation, calling back and forth to each other.

Manny started walking again, wrapped deeply inside himself. Yi followed him, keeping a few steps behind.

They passed a boarded up house, its yellow exterior charred black on one side. “This was my neighbor's house,” Manny said without turning around or looking at Yi. “So it wasn't just me they hurt. Kristin lived here. She had cats. Sometimes I'd feed her cats and sometimes she watched the kids. I heard she's okay, although I haven't seen her. But two of her cats died. I can't imagine how that hurt her.

“We had it good here, before. Before the Next landed. All of my family lived here. My family is like yours was—except we had kids, too. I have a husband, Pi, and two wives. We have two kids. They're all hidden away. Every day I think about how lucky I am that they're safe.”

Again, memories of Chrystal's murder tried to surface. “You must miss them.”

“I do.” They passed the yellow house, and Manny stopped to look at it. “I don't know who did this. Maybe I don't ever want to know. There's video. I refused to watch it. Do you understand that?”

Yi nodded. “After Chrystal, I tried to avoid the news about what happened to her. It's easy enough to escape now, but right after, it was everywhere. Closing my eyes wasn't enough. Even now that her death isn't current news, it still pops up sometimes. It will be in history books, and classes about the Next Apocalypse, or whatever they end up calling this. I've never
tried
to see her die again, not on purpose. But it's happened. Every time that memory becomes stronger. It makes me hurt all over again. It makes me angry, too.”

Manny turned around and looked at Yi. “I never heard you say so many words at once. I guess I never really believed Charlie about you. That you are still a person. But you sound like one.”

“I am a person.” Surely
Manny
should have known that. He watched Manny watch him. He was neater than usual this morning, his red hair combed and his beard trimmed. In spite of that, he looked tired.

Yi smiled, hoping to soothe him.

After a while, Manny returned the smile. Even though he didn't say anything, Yi felt a shift in how Manny thought of him. He couldn't have explained it if he had to, except maybe to say that Manny seemed more relaxed about Yi's presence, as if some small stress had faded away, or perhaps a faint distrust had dissipated.

Yi followed Manny until they stopped in front of a blackened yard. Beyond the yard, he spotted two standing walls, also black. Lighter paths showed where people had dragged things over and through the charred ground. Footsteps had disturbed it. A few tree trunks stood, stick-like and black. The air smelled of char and soot, and faintly of rot. Smells unique to a planet.

Yi had never been to Manny's compound, but he'd seen pictures. Half the land had been a neat garden, with flowering trees in the back and an abundance of multicolored roses. Below the rows of roses, yellow and orange flowers on long stalks had bobbed above ground-hugging plants with green, white, and yellow leaves. There had been two small outbuildings, a barn, and a huge house with many windows.

Roses and trees and barn and house had all been destroyed. Here and there, twisted bits of wreckage stuck awkwardly from blasted earth and lawn.

Manny's back was to Yi. His shoulders shook ever so slightly and soft sobs came from deep in his throat.

Yi turned around, facing away from Manny and from the total destruction of his family home, watching to make sure that no one came upon them unexpectedly.

He stood there a long time.

Two hours later, Yi waited near the doorway while Manny sat at lunch with two influential people from town. Josie, who owned the Spacer's Rest, and Frill, who ran a business transporting food to town and handmade crafts to and from the farms. They had greeted each other and made small talk while they waited for lunch to be served. Now, over tomato soup, Manny leaned forward. “Have we heard anything about the attack at Entare?”

“It didn't happen,” Frill said. “Charlie called in an hour ago. He's on one of the farms, getting his pet tongat and dropping Amanda off. Apparently someone was supposed to help the revolution out from above. They didn't show.”

Manny sat still for a minute, his brow furrowed. He even stopped eating. “Is Charlie on his way back?”

Frill's spoon scraped the bottom of his bowl. “Not yet. Soon.”

“Would you ask him to bring any fighters he has with him?”

Josie hardly ate at all. She leaned toward him, “Are you worried?”

Manny started back on his soup with a vengeance, finishing it before he answered. “Instinct. First, if we do need fighters, it's not going to be on the farms. It's going to be here.”

The others both nodded.

“And if we want people here to feel safe, we need a defensive force. What about people in town?”

Josie pushed her mostly-full bowl away. “Jules had a thing where he drilled people every night as if he could create a military force out of scientists and shopkeepers and students. He made us all march in a line through town and chant stuff. They hated it. I hated it.”

Manny sat back and smiled. “Some news made it through to me. No one seemed to like it.” He grinned even wider. “So maybe I should have them work out in the mornings?”

That drew laughter around the table. Yi noticed movement outside and said, “Someone is coming.”

Frill stood up. “I'll call Charlie. Get him before he leaves.”

Josie went to the door and opened it to find two women on the doorstep. Yi glimpsed other people outside on the street, a few on bikes and a few on foot.

One of the women asked Josie, “Is Manny in there? Will he come out and talk to us?”

Josie glanced a question at Manny. A brief look of consternation crossed Manny's face before he schooled his expression into something more statesmanlike and neutral and stood up. By the time he got to the door, he had a smile, and his voice was warm and sweet. “I'll be out in just a minute. Is there anything is particular you want to talk about?”

The woman said, “We want to apologize.”

Manny cocked his head. “For what?”

“For not trusting you. But more, we want to know what you think. What should we do now?”

Manny took Yi's arm. “Come out with me?”

Once more, Yi tugged his coat close. He followed Manny out onto the porch and stood just behind him. There were about twenty people on the street, and a few more walking in from various areas, some with pets. Quite a few of them glanced at Yi from time to time. Some of the children actually stared. Apparently the coat couldn't hide what he was in the face of a small town full of rumors.

Josie came out and stood on Manny's other side. It amounted to an endorsement of Yi, which made him feel slightly safer.

Manny started talking. “Thank you for inviting me back. It feels good to be here.”

People nodded, and a few drew closer.

“So to get the hard stuff out of the way right away, I already heard a few apologies. Everyone can consider themselves forgiven. For anything. I've been to my old house, and someday I'll rebuild it. But it's gone for now, and that's okay. There are other things to focus on. We don't need to worry about the past. Do you all understand that?”

There were nods and murmurs of assent. A few people looked confused, a few grateful, and others anticipatory. The edges of the crowd swelled slowly.

A few people raised their hands, but Manny said, “Wait a minute. I'll get to your questions in a few moments. But first, I want to address something that you all might be thinking. I see you looking at my friend Yi, here. Yes, he's a soulbot.” Manny stopped and glanced at Yi.

Yi stepped forward, feeling vulnerable.

“The Next created Yi after the High Sweet Home, just like Chrystal, who was murdered by the Shining Revolution. I never met Chrystal, but while I was in exile, I met a number of soulbots. I don't know if I would call them human, or post-human, or more than human, and I don't know if they're what we may be becoming. I don't intend to become one—I'm perfectly content to be flesh and blood and die someday. But they don't deserve to be destroyed for what they are. We allow the gleaners, who choose to die more quickly than we do. The soulbots are, if anything, the opposite of the gleaners.” He stopped as if to let his words sink in, and then continued. “We can afford to tolerate them.”