Venus of Dreams (74 page)

"She might be right." One of the armed men in the back of the room was speaking. The door behind him opened as Amir and Antonio entered the room again. "We could let them go. We still have—"

"Be quiet!" Eleanor cried.

Amir came to Iris. "They're all right," he said. He faced Eleanor. "May we sit down?"

"There's the floor," Eleanor replied.

Iris and Amir sat down awkwardly; the bulkiness of their suits made it difficult to squat and bend. Iris glanced at the screen. A tall, red-haired woman was sitting there, listening to the low murmur of voices over the speaker.

"You shouldn't have come." Eleanor's voice had grown more hoarse. "You won't change anything. We made our demands clear."

Amir said, "We came to ask—"

"I know. Iris says she wants us to release the people we're holding. Well, we're all going to stay until we have our agreement."

"Please listen to us anyway," Amir said. "What do you have to lose by listening? You've won, you know—the rest is only detail, things to be sorted out. You've got most of the Islanders at least partly on your side, however reckless some might have thought your action was." His voice was warm and soothing; Iris could almost believe Amir herself. "I assume that you've already planted your charges."

Eleanor tapped the tabletop with one finger. "We set the charges near three of the rods. Once they're set off, the dome will collapse, ripped apart, and the outside atmosphere will flow in." Eleanor said the words as though she had memorized them. She waved at a small box on the table in front of her. "There's the controls. Once they're triggered, the charges can't be disarmed."

Iris gazed at the box; her mouth was dry. "I see," Amir said. "Well. There is another matter I'd like to bring up, if I may."

Eleanor nodded.

"You have five young people among you. I can well understand that they often are influenced greatly by adults, especially loved and respected parents." Amir turned toward one corner of the room, where Eleanor's son Wilhelm was standing with a young girl. The blond boy's eyes shifted nervously; Iris wondered if Wilhelm had come here out of conviction or only because he feared his mother. "My Link informs me that the oldest is no more than fifteen. Couldn't you let them go back to the Islands?"

Eleanor clenched her hands. "They joined us willingly. They'll return safely later, if what you've told me is true. Why should they go back now?"

"As a gesture," Amir answered, "so that Earth will see that it's dealing with reasonable people who are concerned for the lives of their children."

"As if Earth cared for children."

Iris looked up into Eleanor's eyes. "You are a mother," Iris said softly. "Your son has already proved his courage. Let him and the other young ones return. You lose nothing by granting that, and others will be more sympathetic to you." She held out a hand. "Wouldn't you remove a possible source of strain by knowing they were safe? I was a mother myself, Eleanor. I would find it hard to maintain my resolve if I thought my actions might endanger my child."

Eleanor's smile was bitter. "Your son broke his bond, and preferred the Habs to you."

"We could let them go, couldn't we?" Fei-lin said.

"Be quiet!" Eleanor burst out.

"What harm can it do?" another man asked.

"Why don't you ask your son what he thinks?" Amir said.

Eleanor's hands fluttered. "I'll stay," Wilhelm said, but his statement lacked force.

"They could return in the ship that brought you here," Amir said. "There's no need for your pilot to stay, with two other ships here. You could let Liang Chen go as well. He—"

Eleanor jumped to her feet. "No!" She tapped her foot. "The young ones can go. I'll go that far. But not Chen." She gazed down at Iris. "You came here for him. Oh, yes, I see why you two want to save him. You didn't want his ghost haunting your bed."

"There's no reason to keep Chen," Fei-lin said.

"Shut up!" Eleanor cried out. "You've caused enough trouble." She turned back to Iris. "Why should you be concerned for Chen if Earth's going to give in? Have you been lying to us?"

Iris was afraid that Eleanor might become uncontrollable. "We're here, aren't we?" Amir responded. "We wouldn't have come if we weren't sure everything would be settled. We're just trying to remove a few complicating factors." His words had a sarcastic edge.

"The children can go. Chen stays." Eleanor spun around. "Gabriel, bring that pilot we're holding out. She can take the young ones back in her ship. We can afford to let her go, just as a gesture."

Iris bit her lip. The children would be safe, but Chen was still a hostage.

Eleanor had embraced her son before he left with the other young people; the affectionate gesture had made Iris feel even more bitter. Eleanor did not deserve to have her son live. Iris pushed that savage thought aside. Wilhelm had not deserved such a mother.

A few people were fetching food from the dispenser. The mood in the room had eased, now that the young people were safely gone. Iris started as a man at the table jostled the control box with his cup. She tried to stay calm. The box could probably be knocked to the floor without triggering the controls; arming the charges would require a precise procedure, for safety's sake.

She was thirsty. She bent her head and pushed her chin against a small button inside her suit collar. A tube slid up from the collar to her lips; she tasted water and then soup. The tube retracted.

Someone moved in front of her. She looked up into Fei-lin's face. "Here," he said as he handed her a fruit bar and a cup of water.

"Thanks."

"Did you see Tonie before you left?"

"Yes."

"Was she all right?"

"She was, no thanks to you."

Fei-lin covered his eyes for a moment. "I can't believe I struck her. I'll make it up to her when this is over. We'll have our child. It might already be started inside her—we were going to have our implants put back in after Earth decided to move against us because we didn't know what might happen, but we never got around to it, so she might be pregnant by now."

A lump rose in Iris's throat; she could hardly breathe. She thought of the daughter she and Chen had been planning. "Get away from me," she managed to say. Fei-lin retreated toward the cots; too late, she saw that she might have rebuffed a possible ally.

Iris leaned toward Amir. "How much time do we have left?" she asked him in Arabic.

He was silent for a moment as he listened to his Link. "Thirty-three hours," he replied. Her hand rose to her lips; she had not realized so much time had passed.

"Speak in Anglaic," Eleanor said. "I don't want any tricks." She stood up. "Olivia, isn't anything coming in over our channel?"

The red-haired woman next to the screen shook her head. "I told you. They said before that they had to take matters under advisement and consult with—"

"That was at least two hours ago." Eleanor tapped her booted foot impatiently. "What's taking them so long?"

"Any contract takes time," Amir replied, "especially one as important as this."

"You've got a Link," Eleanor said. "Can you hear anything?"

Amir shook his head. "The Mukhtars are probably consulting with one another about the public announcement."

Iris stood up clumsily; Amir gripped her hand as he got to his feet. "Just where do you think you're going?" Eleanor asked.

"Just stretching my muscles," Iris said. She held on to Amir as they walked around the room. Her eyelids felt gritty from lack of sleep. The people perched on the cots were growing restless again; she wondered if some of the plotters were having second thoughts. Her bones ached; she was exhausted from waiting. Even though the tubes inside her suit could take care of her wastes, she felt soiled and dirty. "I'd give anything for a shower right now," she said to Amir.

He drew her into a corner, away from the people nearby. "It is time to plead with our antagonists once more," he whispered rapidly in Arabic. "The Guardian commander once again has Pavel's ear. If we do not find means to alter the situation here, the Administrator may be forced to unleash her upon us."

Iris clutched at his arm. "Get over here!" Eleanor suddenly barked at them. "Say your little endearments out loud in a tongue we can all understand."

Iris and Amir walked back toward the table. "I must speak to you again," Iris said to the blond woman. "May I?"

"Very well."

There were a couple of empty chairs at the table. Iris sat down directly across from Eleanor while Amir seated himself at Iris's left.

"I have been mistaken about you, Eleanor," Iris said. "You have qualities of leadership I had not suspected. It occurs to me now that we have not made proper use of them. I shall be sure to point this out when we are all back on the Islands."

A smile played about Eleanor's lips.

"You're going to win," Iris continued. "The problem is that you must allow Earth to grant your demands without shaming itself too much. A wise leader knows when it's time to give in a little. You must consider the Project's future now. We'll need the Habbers. They may not help us unless you let the Habbers you're holding go."

"You're telling me nothing new," Eleanor said.

"Yes, I know. I also know that only your concern for Venus's future has brought you to this action, so I ask you to consider that future now. Earth will grant all of your demands, and will be bound by its public agreement. You'll return to the Islands unpunished. But if the Habbers leave because you refused to release their people and used them as pawns against Earth, we'll be unlikely to see settlements in our lifetime. You've seen al-Anwar here, you've seen what the Habbers have been able to do for us. People could live under this dome in little more than a decade or so, and there will be other domes, enough for all of us who want to settle, but we need the Habbers to make that possible."

"You specialists are schooled," Eleanor said. "Haven't you picked up what the Habbers know by now?"

"Some of it, but we need their resources as well. They came to us when we asked, we owe them more than a threat against some of their people. Eleanor, I have no love for the people who stole my son from me. I've cursed them a thousand times for that. But we must show mercy now."

Iris looked around the room. She could see that her words had touched some of the conspirators, but it was Eleanor she had to convince. She focused on Eleanor again.

"They're too useful to let go," Eleanor said. "Maybe their people will act if we keep them."

Eleanor, Iris saw, did not care about the Project. She should have seen that from the beginning. Perhaps Eleanor had once shared that dream; now, she was lashing out at the Nomarchies and the Islanders who had frustrated her own petty ambitions.

Iris would have to try another approach. "You have won," she said. "The Habbers do not have to stand against Earth for you to win. You can hold them until you have your agreement. Even those who feel your action was mad will have to admit that you were right. You'll win some honor for yourself and your companions here—you may even be appointed to a Committee and given some power."

Eleanor was smiling a little.

"But if the Habbers leave us, and the Project is again set back, the Islanders will remember that you and those here brought that about as well. Earth may promise not to punish you, but many Islanders may not feel bound by such a promise."

Eleanor's eyes widened. "Let them go," one man said.

"If I do," Eleanor said, "then what do I bargain with?"

"You have me," Iris said, "and you have Amir. We're here as Pavel's representatives. If we can help bring this matter to a happy conclusion, it strengthens Pavel. If we don't, he'll lose. He's in a very bad position. He has every reason to settle this, not because he cares for two lives, but because, through us, he sees a way to save himself as well as the Project." This was a line of reasoning Eleanor could understand.

"We can let them go," Antonio said.

Eleanor did not move. More would be needed to convince her. "There's something we were told not to tell you," Iris said, "but I see I must now. A few seismologists ran some new projections after your pilot sent her message. If you destroy this dome, you may set off quakes that could persist for decades." This was a lie, but Iris knew that none of the conspirators was likely to know enough to detect that.

Amir started; Eleanor glanced at him suspiciously. Iris caught only a glimpse of Amir's puzzled, surprised look before he recovered himself. "You shouldn't have said that," he murmured.

"The other domes could be damaged," Iris continued. "At best, there would be a constant threat of a breach with so much seismic activity." She had just piled another lie on top of the first. "It wouldn't be possible to build here for a long time, and these mountains are the best possible site for settlements now, for several reasons." That, at least, was the truth. "You see, Eleanor, your position is even stronger than you realize. Pavel didn't want you to know it, because he feared you might demand even more. You can afford to let your prisoners go."

Eleanor swung around in her seat. "Is this true, Olivia?" she shouted to the red-haired woman by the screen. "You're a specialist."

The woman shrugged. "I'm not a seismologist." She leaned toward the screen's speaker. "Pavel's been listening to us. He says that now that we're aware of our true situation, the Mukhtars are prepared to draw up an agreement as soon as our prisoners are safely aloft. He says that they must have that concession first, to make it seem that Earth hasn't given in under duress, even though he's well aware that we could still ruin the possibility of having settlements in this region."

Pavel was playing along with the lie; Iris repressed a sigh of relief.

"Let them go," another woman said. "We don't need them now."

"All right," Eleanor said. "Fetch their suits. We'll let them go."

"You can send them back with your pilot," Amir said. "Liang Chen could go along. There's no reason to hold him now."

"No." Eleanor's eyes narrowed as she turned toward Iris. "They'll go back with your pilot. Since you know we've won, you won't mind."