The Jesus Incident

Lewis suddenly darted across the room, grabbed the arm of one of the newcomers and returned to Oakes with the man. Legata recognized him as a crew supervisor, a Natural named Marco.

"What the hell happened out there?" Oakes demanded.

"I don't know." The man blinked in confusion, stared up at the screen rather than at Oakes. "We took one of the new cutters, the long-range ones, and we hit within a meter of them."

"You missed them?" Oakes screamed it, his face red with rage.

"No! No, sir. A meter's good enough. That close will melt bedrock for ten meters all around. It's jus...."

"That's all right, Marco," Lewis said. "Just describe what you saw."

"It was that man up on the rocks." Marco pointed at the screen.

"He didn't do anything," Oakes said. "We were looking at the screen the whole time and h...."

"Let Marco tell what he saw," Lewis interrupted.

"It was almost too fast for the eye to see," the supervisor said. "Our beam hit less than a meter away. I saw the ground out there begin to glow. Then the bea.... bent. It bent right up toward that man on the rock. I thought I saw him glow, then the beam came right back at us!"

"Our cutter's gone?" Lewis asked.

"It went up so fast only a few of us escaped."

"Send out some clones," Oakes said.

An unmistakable press of bodies moved toward him as he spoke and, too late, he realized his danger. More than half the Command Center crew was composed of clones and most of the refugees who now crowded the room were clones.

"Sure!" someone shouted from the press of people. "You stay here while we take the risk!"

Another voice, gravelly and full of gutturals, took it up from another corner of the crowd: "Yes, send out some clones. More meat for the demons. A diversion while you Naturals tiptoe home to Colony and your wine!"

Oakes glanced at the ring of faces pressing toward him. Even the Naturals among them appeared angry. This was not the time to tell them that Colony no longer existed. They would know their power then. They would know how much he needed them.

"No!" Oakes waved a hand in the air. "All survival decisions belong to the Ceepee. I am Ship's envoy and voice here!"

"Ohhh, it's Ship now!" someone shouted.

"We will not run home to Colony," Oakes said. "We will stand here at your sid.... to the last man, if necessary."

The guttural voice responded: "You're damn right you're not leaving!"

The room took on an odd sense of quiet into which Lewis' voice came clearly: "We will not be beaten."

Oakes picked it up: "We have almost eliminated the kelp that kept us from gardening the sea. The hylighters will go next. A few rebels will not stand in the way of the good life we can make for ourselves here."

Oakes glanced at Lewis, surprised a flitting smile there.

"Tell us what to do," Lewis said.

One of Lewis' minions in the crowd responded on cue: "Yes, tell us."

How well early conditioning pays off, Oakes thought. And he said: "First, we have to take stock of our situation."

"I've been watching the screen," Lewis said. "I don't see any Ru

"No, not a one."

"Not one Ru

"Have you looked at the whole perimeter?" someone demanded.

"No, but look at those people near that break in our wall." Lewis pointed. "Not a one of them's in trouble. I'm going to open the hatches."

"No!" Oakes stepped forward. "Whoever asked that question is right. We have to be sure." He turned toward Legata. "Do you have enough sensors to scan the perimeter?"

"Not completel.... but Jesus is right. Nothing's attacking our people out there."

"Send some volunteers out with portable sensors, then," Lewis said. "We could use a few repair crews as well. I'll go with 'em, if you like."

Oakes stared at Lewis. Could the man really be that brave? Ru

Taking his silence for agreement, Lewis pressed his way through the crowd, selecting people as he moved. "Yo.... yo.... yo.... yo.... Come with me. Larius, you get a repair crew together, take the down-chart and get busy restoring our eyes and ears."

Lewis popped a hatch at the far side of the room, waved his volunteers through, and turned before joining them. "All right, Morgan, it's up to you."

What did he mean by that? Oakes watched the hatch seal behind Lewis. I have to do something!

"Everybody back to work," Oakes said. "Everybody but the Command Center crew outside in the passage." They were reluctant to move.

"Nothing came in the hatch when Jesus opened it," Oakes said. "Go on. We have work to do. So do you."

"Leave the hatch open if you want," Legata said. Oakes did not like that, but the suggestion moved them. People began leaving. Legata turned back to the control console for the big screen. Oakes moved to the side, becoming intensely aware of the musky smell which surrounded her.

"We're fighting the whole damned planet," he muttered. He watched while portable sensors and repairs began restoring the big screen's overview of the Redoubt's operation. As service returned, it became apparent that something had destroyed some seventy degrees of perimeter sensors below the ten-meter level. Burned-out relays had put other sensors out of service. The damage was far less than he had feared. He began to breathe more easily, realizing only then how tension had tightened his chest.

Lewis returned after a time, crossed to Oakes and Legata at the screen. "Did you want those people to stay in the passage?"

Oakes shook his head. "No." He continued to watch the screen.

"I sent them about their business," Lewis said. "Nothing seems to've changed outside. Why are they waiting?"

"War of nerves," Oakes said.

"Perhaps."

"We must devise a plan of attack," Oakes said. "The clones must be convinced that it's necessary to attack."

Lewis stared at the play of Legata's hands across the screen controls, glancing now and then up at the COA she produced. Rega was much higher in the sky now and Alki was begi

"How will you convince the clones?" Lewis asked.

"Get a few of them in here," Oakes said.

Lewis directed a questioning stare at Oakes, but turned and obeyed. He returned with twelve E-clones whose appearance had been held closer to the Natural standard except for the introduction of extra musculature in arms and legs. They were a type Oakes had always thought bulged in a repellant way, but he masked his dislike. Lewis stopped the group in an arc about three paces from Oakes.

Studying the faces, Oakes recognized some of the group which had fled into the Command Center earlier. There was no avoiding the distrust in their expressions. And Oakes noted that Lewis had seen fit to don a bolstered lasgun and that the Naturals around the edges of the room were alert and watchful.

"I will not go back to Colony," Oakes began. "Never. We are here t...."

"You might run back to Ship!" It was a clone standing just to the left of Lewis.

"Ship will not respond to us," Legata said. "We are on our own."

Damn her! Oakes went pale. Didn't she know how dangerous it was to betray your dependence on others?

"We are being tested, that's all," Oakes said. He glanced at Lewis, surprised another fleeting grin on the man's face.

"Maybe we're supposed to go outside and run for it," Legata said. Her fingers danced across the screen's controls. "Maybe it's just a game like the Scream Room or ru