The Far Side (81 page)

“She’s got a stiff upper lip all right,” Andie agreed.  “And then she just goes berserk.”

“Well, this was a cold, deliberate shot from ambush.  It’s incredible.  Come to the infirmary and they’ll look at your hand, and you can listen to a tape of what Kris said while they work.”

Hank and Dick tagged along, curious as to just what Linda was talking about.  Neither of them had seen anything but pictures of Kris Boyle, but she didn’t look particularly mean and nasty, and the word berserk, they agreed, they had trouble imagining applying to her.

“Kris evidently agreed to an interview by a local Chicago TV station.  Somehow she got them to play it live, without tape delay.”

“Oh?  She was being lady-like today?” Andie said with a laugh.

“She must have fooled them at first, but not so you’d notice at the end.  Listen.”

She cranked up a
laptop, playing input from a Tivo through it.

The woman interviewer was in the process of introducing Kris and giving a brief summary of the morning’s events when a man in a suit appeared on the interview set.  He flipped out a leather wallet, with an ID card and badge.  “Terrance Creighton, supervisory US Marshal.  You’re Kristina Boyle?”

Kris allowed that she was Kristine Boyle.  He handed her a piece of paper.  “Miss Boyle, you are served.  That’s a writ from the Supreme Court of the United States enjoining you from taking part in any future actions involving fusors or traveling off-world, or consulting about such things.”

Hank saw the young woman stare at the man for a moment and then turn to the interviewer.  “I apologize for the interruption.  I’m sorry to say that the President and I don’t seem to hit it off; we rub each other the wrong way.

“However, he is the President, and it’s not for me to judge his actions.  Now, where were we?”

Andie frowned.  “I’d have thought Kris would explode,” she said.

“Patience,” Linda told her.  “This was beautifully played, just brilliantly.”

Andie raised an eyebrow, while Hank was wondering what was beautiful about caving in like a weak reed.

The discussion turned to the events of the morning, and Kris explained her thinking and the events.  At the end, the interviewer went where Kris had evidently been hoping and waiting for.  “And do you think, Miss Boyle, that the bombing was justified?”

Kris nodded thoughtfully.  “I’d already been thinking of asking the military advisor they’d sent us if something like that could be set up, but events got out of hand very quickly at the end.  I have only one quibble, but that’s just me.”

“Excuse me?”

“Yes, the plan the President used called for the detonation of what I understand were two fuel-air bombs, called MOABs -- the Mother of all Bombs, and then a final weapon, which I believe was an enhanced radiation weapon.  I believe that the dust and debris kicked up by the first detonations probably prevented any of the radiation from the nuclear explosion reaching the ground.”

“The Air Force said that three fuel-air weapons were employed.”

“Well, yes.  Me, I’d have used the enhanced radiation weapon first, and then the MOABs, but that’s just me.”

“The Air Force says there were three fuel-air weapons,” the interviewer repeated, a little nervously.

Kris smiled slightly.  “I imagine they say that because the President would have a tough time explaining to his hometown constituents why he nuked their city.”

Abruptly the screen went black.  “They finally wised up that she was playing them,” Linda told them.  “It’s been almost two hours since that ran.  Amongst other things, the National Council of Governors and the National Council of Mayors have both sent letters requesting information on the weapons actually used.  Not to mention that the acting President of the Senate has called the Senate into emergency session tomorrow, and the Speaker of the House has called them back, as well.”

“It must not have been a very big nuke,” Andie mused.

“No, and Kris made it clear that she was thinking of the same thing, herself.  Her disagreement was with the sequence.  Of course, she wasn’t the person who ordered the strike.  Helen says that Oliver’s lawyers will be at the Supreme Court tomorrow asking the government to show cause why the injunction against Kris shouldn’t be voided.”

“She really cold-cocked him, didn’t she?” Andie said with a laugh.  “Tough shit, the fucker had it coming.”

“It did seem a little extreme,” Hank said, carefully.

Andie laughed.  “You see Linda and me standing together?”

“Yes,” he said warily.

“Imagine me as King Zod, telling my faithful button man at my side to rub you out; the button man standing about where Linda is.  The button man drew a knife and stepped forward towards Kris.  The instant the fucker moved, Kris lifted her hand and put a 9 mil slug right through his forehead!  Made a hell of mess!  It spattered the King and his generals.  The King lost it then, demanding that his generals attack Kris.  One of them slid his sword right through the King’s gut, saying that no proper King orders his army to attack women.”

“Shit.”

“Yeah, shit.

“One day we’ll get up to Arvala.  You’ll meet Chaba, the slave that Kris freed.  She was running from her master and fell into a ravine a few feet from Kris.  Her master came to the edge, saw her, and lifted his musket to kill her.  I could see him, and I was fucking frozen, I was so terrified.  Kris shot that fucker dead too; she nearly took his head off.”

“Remind me not to make her angry,” Hank said.

Andie laughed.  “Oh, keep me happy, and you’ll keep Kris happy.  Not to worry!  Build me a railroad!  Yesterday would have been nice.  Today would be okay, even though I know I have to settle for tomorrow.”

* * *

The news for Andie about her hand wasn’t good.  She’d cracked a couple of knuckles and had stress fractures on some of her finger and wrist bones.  It was frustrating, because they put a cast on her right hand that immobilized her wrist and prevented all but the smallest movement of her fingers.

In spite of the injury, Andie insisted on going north to Arvala as soon as possible, which meant a three day delay for things to be sorted out.  Linda talked with a couple of people back on Earth, and three bronzed, buff young men, their hair bleached blonde by the sun, appeared through the Far Side door.  Instead of taking ATV’s north, they rode in the catamaran that Andie was going to give to the King of Arvala.

On the second day, Hank Martindale turned to Dick Paine.  “I keep expecting to be seasick.”

“Like this doesn’t remind you of a loco?”

“Well... a little.”

“You’re immune now,” Dick told his friend.

“What do you think, Dick?” Hank asked.

“Buddy, I saw three of those dralka things the other day, flying high.  Big buggers!  I keep expecting the movie to end, or least an intermission so I can go get some more popcorn and a coke.  It’s tough to realize it’s not going to happen.”

“Is it just me, or has that girl got the same sort of stones we had when we were her age?”

Dick laughed.  “I never had the kind of balls she has.  She breaks her hand, gets it wrapped, hustles to change the plan, and now we’re off in a freaking sailboat that skips over the waves.  When I was her age, I got a kick back on a drill that broke my wrist.  I spent three days in the hospital before they’d let me go.  It hurt like the devil for a month.  I know what her friend Linda Walsh went through.  I’m not that brave, Hank.  I was never that brave.”

“Yeah, it’s tough to admit that maybe women really are tougher than we are.”

“Well, that city daughter-in-law of yours was a purely useless sack of shit.”

Hank nodded.  “Dick, we could get killed out here.  But... I don’t care what you do, buddy.  This is something I’m going to do.”

“I’ve seen too much,” Dick told him.  “Too much war, too much dyin’, too much cryin’.  Yet, you know, one thing I hate liberals saying is ‘this is for the children.’  Damn it, Hank, this is for all the children!  I have to!  This is their future.”

“And we worry about our part while Andie Schulz and Kris Boyle worry about keeping it for the kids,” Hank told him.  “A few weeks ago I’d have laughed and chugged another beer.  I’m not laughing, and last night I had to force myself to drink even one damn beer.

“The fact is, Dick, I think they are more likely to succeed than we will.”

“We will.  I haven’t told her yet, but we’re only going to do one fifteen inch line.  Then we’ll do a full gauge.  I’ve seen those plans you’re working on for the Mark One steam engine.”

Hank laughed.  “The absolutely no frills version of a steam engine!”  He stopped and looked at Dick.  “That’s a lot of rail they’ll have to make.”

“I’ve got a friend in Colorado.  They got about two hundred miles of full gauge track that they’ll part with at steel salvage prices.  I can get some more if Andie’s willing to part with a little copper.”

The two men laughed.

* * *

The catamaran pulled into the Arvala harbor, having easily outrun the two Sea Fighter ships that had tried to catch them.  Andie climbed down on the dock and nodded at Collum.  She lifted her hand, still wrapped in a cast.  “Sorry, I busted my hand.  Greetings, King Collum!”

“That is what your doctor calls a cast, yes?” Collum asked.  “We never thought of something like that until the one you sent us showed us.  It works very well.”

“Yes, but it itches.”

“So, I’ve heard.”  The King of Arvala waved at the ship.  “What is this, Lady Andie?”

“That is your present, King.  You and your people are free to copy it.  It is very fast before the wind, and quite good tacking into it.  Making a larger version will be difficult, but I’m sure your shipwrights will wish to try.”

“Can we go out in it?”

Andie waved at the two Sea Fighter ships, now anchored between the catamaran and open water.  “You’ll probably have to call them off.”

King Collum smiled.  “Many of the older fighting orders have been given a new spirit, Chain Breakers and Sea Fighters first among them.  They have become very diligent, and they are practicing very hard.”

“You understand that as this ship is now, it’s light and it doesn’t carry much in the terms of passengers or cargo.  As I said, making a larger version won’t be easy.  But it will spur your people to new ideas.”

“That it will -- you have already taught us much, Lady Andie!”

Andie waved to two men that neither Collum nor Melek recognized and introduced them.  “These gentlemen are going to build you something like you can’t imagine.  Well, actually you will be able to imagine it, because I’m going to demonstrate to you.  Let’s go up to the palace.”

She led the way at a brisk pace, carrying what Hank recognized as a full pillowcase in her left hand.

There was no doubt that the city was spectacularly beautiful.  Hank turned to Dick.  “Buddy, did you ever think you’d be doing like those guys on SG-1?  Walking through an alien city, Sam Carter leading?”

Dick laughed.  “Can’t say as I ever thought I would.  But yeah, Tapping could have taken lessons from Andie!”

The King said something to Andie and she replied in the language neither of the visitors understood.  Andie smiled at them.  “They heard my name and wanted to know what you were saying.  I’m afraid fiction isn’t a concept these people have.  The very thought of telling a direct lie would give them the creeps.  They are masters, however, of logic and exact turn of phrase.  Be really sure you understand what they are saying, if they start getting vague.

“So I slightly modified what you said.  I told them that you were reminded of another great Earth scientist, and were honored that you’d been given a chance to help out.”

They arrived at what was clearly a palace, and Andie took her pillowcase bag and put it down on a large table.  She grinned at Hank and Dick.  “You don’t want to know how long one of Linda’s people spent getting this experiment repeatable.”

She reached into the bag, felt around and pulled out something that Hank recognized as a toy train engine, one that was powered by winding it up.  Then there were cars, then pieces of track.

The track caught his interest.  The rails were inset into rough finished wood.

Andie assembled the track into a circle about three feet across, and then picked up the engine.  “This is called an engine, originally short for ‘steam engine.’  I’ve talked to you before about steam.”

The King and his councilor nodded.  Andie lifted the engine, twisted, and the wheel trucks, one by one, came off, until it was an engine without wheels.

Andie put the wheelless engine on the rough finished track and then quickly tied a piece of thread between it, and a toy winch.

“This isn’t supposed to work at first, you understand?” then she said it in the local language.  She twisted the little crank and the engine didn’t budge and the thread broke.

One after another she tried threads, holding them, explaining that each thread was thicker than the last.  On the sixth thread, the engine moved a bit, and then the thread broke.  The seventh thread survived almost two inches and the eighth was sturdy enough to tug the engine across the rough surface.