[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

"Are you protecting me from whoever destroyed Guemes?" he prompted.
The two Mermen exchanged an unreadable glance. Hastings looked back at Keel.
"I would like to be more candid with you, but I can't."
"I already know the structure of what's happening," Keel said. "Very powerful
political forces are on a collision course among the Mermen."
"And topside!" Hastings snapped.
"Oh, yes. The two wild cards -- my Committee and the Faith. Wiping out
Guemes was a blow at the Faith. But liquidating me would not deter the
Committee; they would simply replace me. It's more effective to keep me
incommunicado. Or, if
I were liquidated, Islanders would be distracted enough while selecting a new
Chief Justice that Mermen could take advantage of the confusion. I no longer
think I can stay down here. I am returning topside."
Hastings and his companion stiffened.
"I am afraid that is impossible just now," Hastings said.
Keel smiled. "Carolyn Bluelove will be the next Chief Justice," he said.
"You won't have any better luck with her than you have with me."
Impasse, Keel thought.
A loaded silence fell over the room while Hastings and Lonfinn studied him.
Keel could see Hastings composing new arguments and discarding them. He
needed the Chief Justice's cooperation for something -- blind cooperation. He
needed agreement without revealing the thing to which Keel must agree. Did
Hastings think an old political infighter could not see through this dilemma?
Where they stood just inside the room, Scudi and Brett had listened carefully
to this argument. Scudi now leaned close to Brett's ear and whispered. "The
guest head is that hatch over to the right. Go in there now and open the
sealed switch plate by the hatch. Throw a glass of water into the switch.
That will short out all the lights in this section. I will unlock the
emergency hatch.
Can you find it in the dark?"
He nodded.
"We can be out before they even know we're running," she whispered.
"The passageway lights will shine in through the emergency hatch when you open
it."
"We have to be quick," she said. "They will try to use the main controls. It
will be a blink before they realize they'll have to use the manual system."
He nodded again.
"Follow me and run fast," she said.
Where he stood confronting Keel, Hastings had decided to expose part of his
knowledge.
"Justice Keel, you are wrong about the next Chief Justice," he said. "It'll
be
Simone Rocksack."
"GeLaar Gallow's choice?" Keel asked, working from the knowledge he had gained
at the late Ryan Wang's comconsole.
Hastings blinked in surprise.
"If so, he's in for another surprise," Keel said. "C/Ps are notoriously
incorruptible."
"Your history's slipping," Hastings said. "Without the first Pandoran C/P,
Morgan Oakes, Jesus Lewis would've been just another lab technician."
Page 117
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
A solemn expression settled over Keel's face. Petitioners before him on the
high bench had seen this look and trembled but Hastings only stared at him,
waiting.
"You work for Gallow," Keel said. "Of course you want total political and
economic control of Pandora and you're going to work through the Faith. Did
the
C/P know you were going to destroy her family on Guemes to do it?"
"You're wrong! It's not like that!"
"Then how is it?" Keel asked.
"Please, Mr. Justice! You --"
"Someone has latched on to a basic truth," Keel said. "Control the food
supply, control the people."
"We're running out of time for argument," Hastings said.
"When we actually run out, will I then become one of the Guemes casualties?"
Keel asked.
"The future of Pandora is at stake," Hastings said. "Right-thinking people
will steer a safe course through these hard times."
"And for this, you will kill anyone who opposes you," Keel said.
"We did not destroy Guemes!" Hastings said, spacing out his words in a low,
cold voice.
"Then how do you know that whoever did it will not turn on you?" Keel
demanded.
"Who are you to talk about killing?" Hastings asked. "How many thousands
have you destroyed under the authority of your Committee? Hundreds of
thousands?
You've been at it a long time, Mr. Justice."
Keel was momentarily stunned by this attack. "But the Committee --"
"Does what you tell it to do! The almighty Ward Keel points his finger and
death follows. Everybody knows that! What's life to someone like you? How
can
I expect a mind that alien to understand our Merman dilemma?"
Keel was at a loss how to meet this attack. The accusation stung him.
Reverence for life guided his every decision. Lethal deviants had to be
weeded out of the gene pool!
As Keel stood silently, wondering what might happen next, Brett stepped toward
the hatch to the head. Lonfinn moved to stand between the hatch and the exit.
Brett ignored the man and went into the head, closing the hatch behind him.
Brett studied the small room for a moment. The switch plate was a gasketed
cover beside the hatch. It had two exposed sealing screws. Brett found the
tool Scudi had told him about in the drawer under the sink: a fingernail
file.
He removed the cover, revealing a paired junction, shiny green and blue
conducting plastics. The n and p circuits lay exposed to his view beneath the
shielded depressions that changed polarity and activated the switch.
Glass of water, Scudi had said.
There was a glass beside the sink. He filled it and, putting one hand on the
hatch dog, flung the water at the exposed switch. A blue-green spark flashed
up the wall and all the lights went out. In the same moment he opened the
hatch and slipped out into darkness. Hastings was shouting, "Get Keel! Hold
him!"
Brett slipped to his right along the wall and bumped into Scudi at the hatch.
She touched his face, then pulled his shoulder close. Abruptly, the little
hatch opened and she was through it, rolling to one side. Brett dove through
behind her and Scudi dogged the little hatch. Leaping to her feet, she darted [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]