Children No More-ARC Page 22

  The three boys vanished around the corner of the next dorm over, their laughter trailing after them.

  If only we could have shown the Tumani people these before and after images, they'd surely understand how much good Lim and Schmidt and Long and all the others were doing.

  Or perhaps not. Perhaps a civilian population that lives far from the combat zones will always be willing to sacrifice a small percentage of its young to ensure its lifestyles. The people of Tumani certainly had reason to fear what the rebels would do to them; the trail of slaughtered jungle villages stood as an easy explanation to any who didn't understand. Someone had to fight; the question for the leaders and the people alike boiled down to age limits.

  I shook my head and breathed deeply. No, I couldn't accept that. There were acts no group should commit. Sending children into combat was one of them. One day, each kid would reach his or her majority, and at that point the obligations of adulthood would become theirs, but not until then. Not until then.

  I was getting nowhere. Lim had brought me into this mess. It couldn't be the only one like it. I'd never tried to help child soldiers before, but others must have. I'd jumped from planet to planet never even checking to see if the problem existed. Others, though, must have confronted it before. Even if the people of Tumani were willing to turn a blind eye to this practice, surely others on other worlds must have dealt with it.

  It hit me.

  "Lobo," I said, smiling as I picked up my pace and headed back to him.

  "Yes," he said, drawing out the word.

  "I need to record a message for you to get to Maggie."

  "Go," Lobo said.

  I stared at the image of Maggie on the wall in front of me, a still Lobo had captured when she and I had met inside him. Back in my con artist days, I'd learned that most people communicate more naturally when they're looking at their mark, or at a picture if the person wasn't available. I wasn't exactly trying to con Maggie, but I did need to be very convincing, because the plan I was developing depended on her help. I took a slow breath and spoke to the image as if the real woman was standing in front of me.

  "Hi, Maggie. I didn't expect to need to reach you. I didn't even expect to still be here on Tumani, though I now realize that you believed I would be." I smiled and chuckled. "You had me figured right. Now, though, there's a problem, a big one, and if I'm going to have any chance of fixing it, I'll need your help. More to the point, these boys need your help. The first thing I need you to do is find Jack and bring him here so the three of us can meet. The rest, well, I'll explain that when I see the two of you. It's safest that way." I thought about Lim's request that I keep her informed, but I couldn't take the risk of honoring it. "When you reach Tumani, don't come here. Leave a message with Lobo. We'll send you the location of a safe house in Ventura. I'll meet you there." I paused, unsure how much to risk scaring her away before I could explain. No, not warning her wouldn't help, and given our background, if I didn't tell her, she'd have every right to smell a con. She might as well understand in advance what the price tag would be. "Maggie, this is going to cost you or your people a lot of money, as well as a fair amount of time assisting Jack. If you don't want in, or if your people won't back you, just let me know. But whatever you do, do it soon. We don't have much time, and we need every day we have."

  I waited a few seconds, but I couldn't think of anything else I needed to say. "That's it. Get this on its way to her."

  "Before I do," Lobo said, "I have to ask: Jack? Really?"

  "I need his particular skills. There's no better con man."

  "That's debatable," Lobo said, "given that you were able to con him. Why don't you do this yourself?"

  I shook my head. "I can't. I can't leave here. If I go now, Lim will be on her own."

  "Not true," Lobo said. "She has plenty of people helping her. She assigns you only the worst jobs, so she's clearly not depending on you for much. She can afford to be without you."

  "That was true," I said, "until Wylak decided it was time to move on her and this place. Now, whether she appreciates it or not, she needs my help."

  "And the data I gather."

  "And that," I said. "Most definitely that."

  "Is there no alternative to Jack?"

  "What have you got against him?"

  "Other than the fact that he drugged you, stole from you, kidnapped the boy he asked you to help him protect, and left you unconscious on the floor near my front hatch, not much." Lobo paused, but clearly only for dramatic effect—and perhaps to use all of his vast computing resources to determine precisely how much sarcasm he could add to his voice when he continued. "Oh, yeah: I had to spend multiple days trapped under a heap of rubble with him walking around inside me, talking, constantly trying to work me, needling me as if I were some cheap washing machine he could easily persuade to share local gossip."

  "You never told me he pumped you for information," I said. "What did you tell him?" Lobo knew a lot that I'd rather Jack never learn.

  "Oh, please," Lobo said, annoyance now trampling the sarcasm. "As if he—or anyone—could get me to give them any data I didn't want to share."

  "Sorry," I said. "Just being cautious."

  "Cautious?"

  "Okay, okay: paranoid. Sorry."

  "So it has to be Jack?"

  "He's the only person I know who can do what I need on the timetable I need it."

  "How are you going to motivate him? Need I remind you that Mr. Altruistic was ready to sell Manu?"

  "Jack was trying to make money off the boy," I said. "We have no proof he would have actually sold him. In any case, though, I understand the concern, and I plan to entice Jack into this project with the same two incentives that have worked with him for as long as we've known each other: It's a fun and interesting challenge, and he'll get a lot of money when it's over."

  "So we're going even more into the hole on this one?" Lobo said. "Lovely. You know, fuel and weapons don't grow freely on the ground."

  "No, no," I said. "If I even hinted that I was paying, Jack would never sign on. He'd never trust one con man to pay another. That's why I told Maggie it was going to cost her and her people: They're going to compensate Jack."

  "I can't picture her or her organization being thrilled at the prospect of putting a lot of money into Jack's pockets, particularly not after the way he treated Manu."

  I took a deep breath. "That is the weak link in the plan. I have to hope she'll be true to her word and persuade them to do it."

  "And if she doesn't," Lobo said, "or she can't?"

  "I don't know," I said. "This is my only idea."

  "Well, don't worry too much," Lobo said. "I figure Maggie will do it, but not for the boys or for Lim or for Jack. She'll do it for you. You're counting on that, aren't you? You're taking advantage of her feelings for you, though admittedly in a good cause."

  "I don't know," I said. "I don't like to think of it that way, but maybe so. Maybe so."

  "And you called Jack the best con man."

  Chapter 43

  Dump Island, planet Pinkelponker - 139 years earlier

  "Jon, Jon! Wake up!"

  I rolled over in response to the noise and the pushing on my shoulder and stared up into Han's face. Shards of light sliced yellow and white lines into the gray sky. We didn't have morning training today, so I had been counting on sleeping well past sun-up. "What?" I said, clinging to the last edge of sleep.

  "Do you hear that?"

  I propped myself on my elbows, my brain still foggy. "Obviously not, or whatever woke you would have made me wake up, too."

  "Listen!" he said, the ess sound a hiss. I finally realized he was whispering.

  I closed my eyes and tried to take in all the sounds. A breeze fluttered the leaves on the branches covering our heads. Waves washed back and forth on the beach. A few insects flew nearby.

  Then I heard it, a very low rumble that the ocean's rhythms almost covered.

  "Everybody up!" I shouted
as I stood.

  Han smiled and crawled over to Bob, who as usual was deep asleep. He could sleep through thunderstorms that left the rest of us wide-eyed and nervous.

  Benny and Alex sputtered awake.

  "What?" Benny said.

  "Huh?" Alex added.

  "I'm not positive," I said, "but Han might have heard the shuttle approaching."

  "So why isn't it here?" Benny said, his eyes now clear. "That thing can move, really move. It could fly toward us faster than the sound of its approach."

  "What did it do when it brought me?" I asked. I'd never really listened to the ships landing on Pinecone, and now I regretted not doing so.

  "It circled a few times," Benny said, "probably to make sure the landing area was clear, and then it landed."

  "So maybe it's doing that again," I said.

  "No," Benny said, "because if it was that close, we'd hear it clearly." He paused for a few seconds and stared at the rock wall in front of him. "More likely, its pilot is being cautious and hovering offshore for a few minutes to see if anyone's going to appear at its destination." He fell silent again for a bit. We all listened and stayed quiet. The deep background noise didn't change. "No, that doesn't make sense, as I'd have realized if I were fully awake. If they were worried about this spot, they'd land somewhere else. No, this is probably just another approach route. No two shuttles have come in exactly the same way. It must be their standard protocol to vary their landing pattern each time." Benny stared at me before adding, "Or maybe it's some other ship heading some other place, and it has nothing to do with us."

  "When have we heard another shuttle?" I said. "Not once since I've been here."

  Benny nodded. "Best to assume it's ours."

  "So how long do we have?" I said.

  "No way to tell," Benny said. "Maybe several minutes, maybe less—but not long."

  I picked up my knife, two of the small bags we'd made of scraps of fabric and filled with sand, and two of the larger, thicker bags full of rocks. I stuffed the two with sand in the waistband of my pants, the tied parts hanging out, and the other pair in my pants pockets.

  No one else moved.

  "What are you waiting for?" I yelled. "Grab your weapons, and take your positions. This is it."

  Han's head bobbed up and down in agreement. "This is it," he said. "This is it."

  I grabbed his shoulders and shook him. "Look at me," I said. "Look into my eyes."

  Han's head stopped moving, and he stared at me, but I couldn't tell if he was fully aware of me or looking somewhere else, someplace I couldn't see.

  "If we go, we go full force, all of us, holding back nothing. If you're not ready, we can wait for another shuttle, but you have to decide now. Right now."

  Han focused fully on me and nodded his head once. "Now," he said. "No more waiting."

  "Bob?" I said. "Alex?"

  They stepped next to Han, their knives in their hands, their hands shaking slightly but their faces set.

  "We go," Alex said.

  "Yes we do," Bob said.

  I checked each of their eyes once more. They were scared, but they were as ready as they could be.

  The low rumble we'd been barely able to detect washed over us in a loud roar.

  They all stared at me, waiting.

  I didn't know what to say. I didn't know if any or all of us would survive. I wanted to tell them something, give them some hope, thank them, come up with words that would somehow make it all a little better, but in all the times I'd imagined the attack, I'd never fully understood that of course it would come to this: Three other kids ready to risk their lives and looking to me to lead them.

  I forced a smile. "Let's go get a ride off this dump!"

  They smiled in return.

  We crept to our positions.

  The roaring grew louder. Dust blew down the path from the landing area.

  The shadow of the shuttle darkened the ground. For the first time, we could see it hovering far overhead.

  We flattened ourselves against the rock walls, hoping no one in it was looking at us.

  It began its descent.

  Chapter 44

  In the former rebel complex, planet Tumani

  "Bad news," Lobo said over the comm.

  At almost the same time, I heard the shouting. I stood a hundred meters from the entrance Lim's ordnance disposal team used to leave and re-enter the complex as they slowly cleared the minefield outside. That door stood open; they were headed out to work today. The many devices buried in the cleared area that surrounded us varied so widely in technology that none of the gear Lim had been able to smuggle into the system could locate everything that lurked under the ground. Gustafson and I had suggested the ages-old method of letting a great many large animals wander the areas, but she'd immediately vetoed the notion. She was right to do so: Frequent, nearby explosions and animal deaths would not help the boys. For the same basic reason, she was committed to not triggering any of the mines, so the removal process unavoidably involved both people and machines. Those people also functioned as counselors, so they worked on the mines as time permitted, and progress was slow. They'd cleared the full width of the complex on this side, but only outward for a total of twenty meters. Past that, to support ground transport they'd worked on just one road leading away to the forest.

  "What is it?" I asked Lobo, "and does it have anything to do with all this shouting?"

  "To answer your second question first," Lobo said, "yes. What you're hearing is an artifact of actions Wylak has taken."

  "What actions?"

  "In advance of his visit tomorrow, Wylak has forbidden anyone from exiting the complex on foot. Only supply ships are allowed in and out. His message to Lim claimed these rules were for the protection of all the boys, but he's really just buttoning up the place."

  "He's stopping the clean-up crew?"

  "Not only them," Lobo said. "He's given orders to the soldiers in the forest that they are to keep everyone inside, regardless of their reasons for leaving. So, the moment the external door opened, Tumani troops stormed up the ten-meter-wide cleared road. Now, Lim and four of her people are standing outside and arguing with the sergeant in charge of that squad."

  "Why is Wylak bothering?"

  "He's run a set of low-cost scenarios for keeping us all here. They figure that a single military fighter can destroy any of Lim's shuttles that tried to launch, the supply ships can't carry many people, and the troops already in place can blockade the only safe ground route out of here."

  "So as long as we don't clear any more mines," I said, "they think they can control us cheaply and easily, because they have to guard just that road."

  "That appears to be the case."

  "Could their fighter stop you?"

  "Please," Lobo said, "there's no need to be insulting. I'd obviously have to use my weapons and thus break cover, but assuming I did, no, of course not."

  "So you and I and anyone we could carry could leave here easily enough."

  "Yes," he said, "not that it matters. You know you won't go, not with hundreds of boys and all of Lim's team stuck here."

  I stopped fifteen meters away from the open doorway and leaned against the external wall. The guards who policed the area had drifted outside, no doubt wanting to support Lim. The faces of boys crammed the windows of the nearest barracks, Bony's and Nagy's home. Our routine rarely changed, so I could imagine how exciting it must be to see a confrontation between adults—particularly adults who had steadfastly refused to fight. The kids had to be very curious to learn how Lim's people would deal with the soldiers in front of them. I scanned the line of windows and saw Bony, then Nagy, both of them staring intently at the action I could hear but not see.

  I closed my eyes and considered the situation. Wylak's move was annoying, but it didn't pose any significant new threat, nor did it provide any new information; we'd known he was going to start squeezing us. How, though, was he explaining these changes to his people and t
o the troops?

  "Can you hear the details of what's going on outside?"

  "Are you just determined to annoy me today?" he said. "Of course. I've told you before: I have enough sensors in and around this place that I hear and see everything. It's a small enough area that it's no problem to cover."

  "Sorry," I said. I didn't want to encourage a rant. "So what reason are these troops giving Lim for interfering with the mine-removal team?"

  "One of the oldest and most annoying justifications of any government: They've told her that they're doing it for her protection. The sergeant in charge is claiming that the Tumani troops stationed in the surrounding forest have spotted rebel troops in the area and that a few of those troops have used secret paths through the mines to break into the complex and communicate with some of the boys. Consequently, the only way they can keep everyone safe is to make sure no one enters or leaves the compound."

  "Because anyone going in could be a rebel spy, and anyone leaving could have been recruited by the rebels."

  "Exactly."

  "And they expect her to believe that?" I said. "That's a weak story."

  "Yes, it is," Lobo said, "and I can't tell whether the sergeant thinks Lim will buy it, but I doubt he or Wylak cares. They know that what she believes simply doesn't matter. So far as they—and Lim—know, no one has sensors monitoring all of the external walls. The rebels didn't, and Lim didn't install any, either. She didn't think she needed them. So, she can't prove the rebels didn't enter here. Without proof, she's an off-worlder, they're the government, and so she loses."

  "Lim has to accept their orders to stay in the complex," I said, "but that's only a small loss in the short term. The important work is what she's doing inside with the boys. Wylak's tightening his control on the area, but we knew that was coming."

  "So we let it go?" Lobo said.

  "Absolutely. The only way to fight it would be to expose what you're capable of doing, and that could create far greater problems for us."