Lucifer's Hammer

More people were coming, some downhill from the fields, others up the drive. The word must have spread fast. Rick looked for Joh

“I was sure you were dead,” Baker said. “I just… I never even asked Deke. I was afraid to. I’m glad you lived.”

“I’m glad you lived, too,” she said. Odd, Rick thought: From the sorrow on their faces, you would have thought they were attending each other’s funeral. It was obvious to Rick, and to everyone else: They had been lovers.

And some of the men didn’t like that at all! Trouble building there… Rick again had no time to reflect on. it. The crowd was pressing around, everyone speaking at once. One of the big men turned from watching Joh

“No,” Rick said. “What’s left of Russia and what’s left of the United States are allies. Against China. But you can forget about all that, the war’s long over. Between the Hammer and the Soviet missiles, and we think maybe some of our own, there won’t be anything left of China that can fight back.”

“Allies.” The big man was bewildered. “Okay. I guess.”

Rick gri

The man scowled and walked away, exactly as if Rick had been putting him on.

Rick Delanty fell into the old routine. He was used to speaking at gatherings, keeping the words simple and the imagery vivid, explaining without condescending. There were plenty of questions. They wanted to know what it was like in space. How long did it take to get used to free fall? Rick was surprised at how many had watched their TV broadcasts from Hammerlab and remembered Rick’s impromptu zero-G ballet performance. How did they move? Eat? Drink? Patch a meteor strike? Couldn’t that raw sunlight burn your eyes out? Did they wear dark glasses all the time?

He learned the names. The young girl was Alice Cox, the woman with the tray of hot coffee — real coffee! — was her mother, the burly men with the challenging stance were both Christophers, and so was the one who’d wanted to know about the war, only that one had gone inside with Deke Wilson and Joh

“The Senator says we can spare some light,” Mrs. Cox a

There were murmurs of agreement, and goodbyes, and the crowd melted away. Mrs. Cox took them inside, and brought more coffee into the living room. The perfect hostess, and Rick found himself relaxing for the first time since they had landed. At Deke Wilson’s there had been coffee, but not much, and it was consumed hurriedly by men about to go on guard duty. No one sat relaxed in a parlor, and the coffee certainly wasn’t served in china cups.

“I’m sorry there’s nobody around to keep you company,” Mrs. Cox said. “Everyone’s got work to do. They’ll be back tonight, and then they’ll talk your head off.”

“It is not important,” Pieter said. “We thank you for the welcome.” He and Leonilla sat together, apart from Rick. “I hope we are not keeping you from your duties.”

“Well, I’ve got di

“Thank you,” Leonilla said. “You are all so kind to us…”

“No more than you deserve, I’m sure,” Mrs. Cox answered, and then she was gone.

“So. We have found a government,” Pieter said. “Where is General Baker?”

Rick shrugged. “Back there somewhere with Deke and the Senator and some of the others. Big conference.”

“To which we were not invited,” Jakov said. “I understand why Leonilla and I are not needed, but why are you out here?”

“I thought about that,” Rick said. “But they all left pretty quick. You know what Deke’s got to tell them. And somebody had to stay out there and talk to the crowd. I took it as a compliment.”

“I hope you are right,” Jakov said.

Leonilla nodded agreement. “This is the first time I have felt safe since we landed. I think they like us. Surely they do not care that Rick is black?”

“I can usually tell,” Rick said. “No. But there was something strange. Did you notice? After they found out about the war, all they wanted to know about was space. Nobody, nobody at all, asked about what was happening to the Earth.”

“Yes. But soon we will have to tell them,” Pieter said.

“I wish we could avoid that,” Leonilla said. “But yes, we will have to.”

They fell silent. Rick got up and poured the last of the coffee. From back in the kitchen there were sounds of activity, and outside they could see men carrying rocks, others plowing fields. Hard work, and it was certain that there’d be plenty for all of them, even Leonilla. Rick hoped so. He realized that he had been silently praying that there would be work, something to do, something to make him feel useful again, and to forget Houston and El Lago and the tsunami…

But for the moment he’d been given a hero’s welcome, and so had Leonilla and Pieter, and they were safe, surrounded by armed men who didn’t want to kill them.

He heard a low buzz of voices from somewhere at the back of the house. That would be the Senator and Joh

It struck Rick that the Senator might like it fine. Joh

“How many men here?” Pieter said. The question startled Rick from his reverie. “I estimate several hundred,” Pieter was saying. “And many weapons. Do you think that is enough?”

Rick shrugged. He’d been thinking of the far future, weeks, months ahead, and had almost managed to forget why they had come to the Senator’s Stronghold just now. “It’s got to be,” Rick said, and now he felt it too, the tension that Pieter and Leonilla had brought with them. It had never occurred to Rick that the Senator wouldn’t have enough strength. He’d been so sure that somewhere there were civilized men and women, real safety and civilization and order… .

And maybe there wasn’t any. Anywhere. Rick shuddered slightly, but he kept his smile in place, and the three of them sat in the paneled room, waiting and hoping.

“They call themselves the New Brotherhood Army,” said Deke. He looked around him — at Harvey Randall and Al Hardy and General Joh

“By what authority?” Al Hardy demanded.

“Well, their proclamation was signed by the Lieutenant Governor. ‘Acting Governor,’ he calls himself now.”