Footfall

“How are things in Los Angeles?”

“Not good. Short of food, no electricity in spots… but mainly there’s a feel. I think the snouts are going to start bombing cities any minute now.”

“Why?”

“No reason. Anyway, I got out.”

“What are your plans?”

“Stay here, if you don’t mind a neighbor. I have fresh artichokes. And avocados and bay shrimp. Also fresh.” Fox looked doubtful. “A case of wine, too.” Fox stood up.

“Okay.”

28. THE PRISONERS

Thus in the highest position there is the least freedom of action.

It was exhausting work. Jeri hated it. Machines can do this. They have machines to do it. Why us? The why didn’t matter. She didn’t know what the fithp would do if she refused to work, but she didn’t want to find out.

Raztupisp-minz sent them out in groups, but no one objected if they separated. Jeri didn’t think the fithp would ever understand the human need for privacy, simply to be alone some of the time, but they were begi

“You are diligent.”

The voice from behind startled her. “Oh. Hello, Commander Rogachev.”

“Arvid. We have no rank here.” He laughed cynically. “We have achieved an equality that Marx would have admired, although perhaps not in quite the way he envisioned.”

“I thought you were a good communist.”

He shrugged. “I am a good Russian. You work too hard. Take a short rest.”

“But they—”

He lowered his voice. “Dmitri says, and I agree, that we must not show them our true strength. If you work hard, they will expect hard work always. You harm the others if you do too much work.”

“Sounds like a good excuse — all right. Lord knows I’m tired.” She stretched out in midair, letting the weak gravity slowly take her to the air-shaft walls. “Feels good to relax. I would kill for a cigarette.”

Arvid snorted. “There is nothing to kill. There is nothing to smoke, either.” It wasn’t that fu

Shut up.

“So. You are here with your daughter. Where is your husband?”

“Drowned.”

“I am sorry.”

“So am I. We hadn’t lived together for a year, but — I was going to meet him, and the snouts blew up a dam, the first night, I guess the same time they captured you. His house was below it.”

Arvid pointedly looked away.

He’s nice. Or trying to be. “Are you married?”

“I do not know. I was. Like you, we had not lived together for some months, but that was not estrangement. I was in space. Now … so many have died. My wife was Russian; the base was in the Ukraine. John Woodward tells me he heard tales of revolt in the Soviet Union. The Moslem republics would see this invasion as the punishment of Allah. The Ukraine was never satisfied to be part of Russia either. Perhaps …” He shrugged. “So many have died.”

“Doesn’t it upset you? Not knowing?”

“Of course. We Russians are great sentimentalists. What should I do, mourn? To her I am dead, even if she lives. I am not likely to see her again in any case.”

Jeri gasped. “I … I guess I never thought about it that way. We’re none of us going to get back alive, are we?”

Arvid shrugged again. “The only way we will be taken to Earth is as part of their herd. That implies victory for them. I do not believe Russia will surrender easily. Or the United States. Americans are stubborn.”

“Stubborn. Maybe that’s it. We like to say we love freedom.”

“Did you hear much of Russia?” Arvid asked seriously.

“No. There was a little on the radio, about how Russia was being attacked just like we were. I didn’t see much of what they did to us. The dam, I saw that. And Harry told me about other dams and bridges. And they made a big crater on a main highway, right where two highways crossed. But I didn’t see much until they landed.”

“And that was the first attack,” Arvid said. “The next time will be more serious.”

“What will they do?”

“The ship is ‘mated to a foot.’ I do not think it will be long mated. Nikolai has seen it.” He told her of Nikolai’s report.

“So you think they’ll throw the asteroid at Earth?”

“Why should they not?” Arvid asked seriously.

“No, of course it makes sense.” She shuddered. “And we thought it was bad when they attacked the bridges and dams! Now’s when it gets really bad.”

“Yes. I must say it is pleasant not having to explain these things to you.”

She made an irritated gesture. “Women aren’t stupid, you know.”

He shrugged. “Some are, some are not. As with men. Perhaps it is time to begin work again. Come, we can stay together. If you do not mind?”

“It’s all right.”

Fog lay across the Bellingham harbor, and rain drizzled from the skies. From the harbor area distant sounds of work drifted up to the Enclave: hammers, trucks, barge motors… something that buzzed…

“They’re sure building a hell of a greenhouse,” Isadore said. He laughed.

George Tate-Evans looked at their own efforts and joined the laughter. “Well, I guess it’s more than we did.” They went back into the house.

Kevin Shakes watched them go, then went back to work. “I thought we’d done pretty well,” he said.

“Sure,” Miranda answered. “Enough to send Mom up the walls.” In fact they had done a lot. Where picture windows had surrounded the X-shaped house, now there were steel shutters. Where the te

George Tate-Evans and Isadore Leiber came out carrying half a dozen sheets of glass, laughing as they came. Kevin heard: “-still isn’t talking to you?”

“Vicki is ominously silent. Iz, I thought it was over once we got the shutters up. You know, ‘The house feels like a prison! I never thought we’d be living in a prison …’ And then she settled down. And then there was the President saying everyone should build greenhouses, and two days later you and Jack were saying that for once the fuzzy-headed liberal son of a bitch was probably right… Kevin, Miranda, how’re you doing?”

“So far so good,” Kevin said. “Maybe another two days. You could start planting now.”

“Let’s look it over, Iz.”

The older men set the glass on a pair of sawhorses. Isadore followed George around the corner and into the greenhouse. They walked the imaginary aisles, avoiding the white chalk markings put down to show where the plants would go. There was no glass to diminish their voices.

George was saying, “Iz, by the time we got serious about the greenhouse, all the glass in Bellingham and most of the plastic was bought up. Where else were we going to get glass?”

“You can see their point, though.”

“Clara too?”

“Damn straight.”

“All right, so it’s ugly. Why do we have to have all the women on our backs?”

“It’s not just ugly. We took out the windows. That means we’ll have these damn shutters till we can take down the greenhouse. If ever. Maybe we can put the windows back after the government job gets going.”

From above their heads Kevin said, “What?”

Isadore looked up in surprise. George didn’t bother. “Iz, you’re nuts. Depend on the government for food? God knows what the government’s going to do with the stuff it grows, but you can be sure we don’t get any of it.”

“Sure,” Kevin said. “Why else would they build greenhouses at the harbor unless they were going to ship it all out? We’ll never get any.”