Lucifer's Hammer

“And who would that be?”

She giggled. “After yesterday you’re a leader. You’re an important man.” She slid across to him and put her arm around him. Then she laughed aloud. “What’s got you so tense? Am I that terrifying?”

“Certainly.” She was.

She laughed again. “Poor Harvey. I know exactly what you’re thinking. Obligation. You’ve seduced the girl, and you ought to marry her, and you know damn well you can’t resist if I really work at it… see?” Her hands moved to intimate places.

Living with Loretta hadn’t readied him for this kind of warfare. He kissed her hard (she couldn’t bluff Harvey Randall!) and maintained the kiss (because it felt so good, and hell, Maureen had her winged man) until she drew back.

“That wasn’t very nice of me,” she said. “Don’t worry, Harv, I’m really not after you. It wouldn’t work. You know me too well. No matter what we did, even if we really did learn to love each other, you’d always wonder about it. You’d wonder if it was all an act, wonder when I’d decide to drop it. And we’d fight, and play head games, and dominance games…”

“I was thinking something like that.”

“Don’t talk yourself into anything,” Marie said. “I don’t need that. I would like to be your friend.”

“Sure. I’d like that. Who’s your real target?’

“Oh, I’m going to marry George Christopher.”

Harvey was startled. “What? Does he know?”

“Of course not. He still thinks he’s got a chance with Maureen. He tells me about her every chance he gets. And I listen, too.”

“I just bet you do. What makes you think he won’t get Maureen?”

“Don’t be silly. With you and Joh

“And me?”

“You got a chance. Baker has a better one.”

“Yeah. I suppose it would be silly to ask if you’re in love with George,” Harvey said.

Marie shrugged. He could feel that in the dark. “He’ll be sure I am,” she said. “And it won’t be anybody else’s business. There won’t be any repetitions of tonight, Harvey. This was… something special. The right man at the right time. I’ve always… Tell me, all those years we lived next door, weren’t you ever tempted to come over some afternoon when Loretta was out and Gordie was at the bank?”

“Yes. But I didn’t.”

“Good. Nothing would have happened, but it always worried me that you didn’t try. Good. Now let’s get some sleep.” She turned away and curled up in the blanket.

Poor George, Harvey thought. No. That’s not right. Lucky George. If I didn’t know her so damned well… Dammit, I’m still tempted. George, you don’t know it, but you’re about to be a happy man.

If you live long enough.

If Marie lives!

Dawn: a red smear in the Sierra. The winds blew fitfully, light airs. Mist rose from the San Joaquin Sea.

When the sun was high, they saw them: A hundred or more of the New Brotherhood had crossed during the night. They were concentrated near the old Lake Success bed, and they moved back toward the ruined bridge, sweeping aside the screen of Stronghold defenders. The Brotherhood’s mortars began to fire, forcing the defenders back up the valley and onto the ridges.

The withdrawal was orderly, but steady. “By noon they’ll have cleared the valley,” Harvey told Marie. “I thought — I hoped — they’d hold longer. At least they aren’t ru

She nodded, but went on reporting the enemy positions on the CB. There wasn’t anything else to do.

Alice sounded terrified whenever she spoke, but she demanded their reports anyway.

Useless, Harvey thought. It’s no good. He looked at the map, wondering if he could find a way into the Sierra that didn’t go back down and through the enemy — or where the New Brotherhood would be soon.

“They’re repairing the bridge,” Marie reported. “They’ve got big trees, and hundreds to carry them.”

“How long until they can get trucks across?” Alice asked.

“No more than an hour.”

“Stand by, I have to report that to Mr. Hardy,” Alice said. The radio went silent.

“It’s no good,” Harvey said. He tried to smile. “Looks like it’s you and me after all. Maybe we can get up there and find the boys. I don’t suppose I’ll have to fight Gordie for you—”

“Shut up and watch,” Marie said. She sounded scared, and Harvey couldn’t blame her.

The bridge took a little more than an hour; then a stream of trucks, led by the pickups with the machine guns, moved over them. They swept on up the valley roads. Other trucks brought the New Brotherhood mortars forward, while crews dug in emplacements for them. The Brotherhood army swarmed into the valley below, probed toward the ridges, fell back wherever opposed. They had plenty of time — and night would be on their side now. They could infiltrate men through the rocks, over the ridges, into the Stronghold itself.

The day became warmer, but not for Harvey and Marie. The rising air from the San Joaquin Sea drew a cold wind down from the Sierra. The enemy moved on forward in the cloudy bright day. Noon came, and they had reached the far end, were begi

“Stand by,” Alice said. She sounded excited now. Not afraid.

“Stand by for what?” Harvey demanded.

“To watch, and report,” Alice said. “That’s why you’re there. I can’t see…”

Something was happening on the ridge far below. Men had pushed something big, it looked like a wagon, to the brow of the ridge. They shoved, and it went over, tumbling down the ridge, rolling down until it came to rest a hundred yards from the repaired bridge. It sat, did nothing for thirty seconds… and exploded. A huge cloud burst from it and was carried downwind toward the bridge, across it, through the traffic jam at the bridgehead.

And everywhere along the ridge, objects came lobbing over, falling slowly. Men pushed heavy framework forward, boxes with long arms that spewed tiny black dots in an arcing trajectory.

“Catapults!” Harvey yelled.

They were. He didn’t know what powered them. Nylon cords, probably. Carthaginian women donated their hair; maybe…

The catapults didn’t have much range, but they didn’t need it. They threw jars that burst into yellow fog on impact. The wind carried the fog down through the valley, across the advancing enemy…

The New Brotherhood screamed in panic. They threw away weapons, ran in pain, tearing at their clothes, threw themselves into the river to be carried away by the rushing water. They fought to get across the bridge, and from the ridges rifles fired again and again, cutting the ru

Harvey’s voice broke as he screamed into the microphone. “They’re ru

“What is happening to those who didn’t cross the river?” The voice was Alice Cox, but the question had to be Al Hardy.

“They’re loading up the trucks.”

“What about their weapons? Are they getting those out?”

Harvey sca

“There were two of their machine guns on that truck,” Harvey reported. “Looks like they got away.”

The gas didn’t cover the entire valley, and some of the New Brotherhood were able to escape. Many ran screaming without weapons, but Harvey saw others pause, look for a route, and leave carrying heavy weapons. Two of the mortars were carried away before the catapults closed off that escape route. Harvey grimly reported clear areas, and watched as minutes later the gas canisters dropped into them.