Exodus from the Long Sun

“Just so. I do not cheat, not even these soldiers. So I must know. Do we have the holy man Incus? Violet, my darling, read the names. How many now, Colonel?”

“Eighty-two, sir. There were some other holy men besides the calde, and I suppose this might be one of them.” Abanja leafed through papers below the field of her glass.

Leaning over Violet’s shoulder, Hammerstone pointed with a finger thrice the size of hers.

“I don’t really read so good,” she whispered. “What’s that second word? It can’t — Sweetheart, there’s a Chenille in here. Is that the Chen we know?”

Abanja looked up. “The paramour of the Vironese who was plotting to steal our airship, sir. She was seated across the table from me at that di

Hammerstone said, “It says, ‘Maytera Marble a holy woman,’ on here, sir. That’s my wife, Moly. Patera’s here, too. You got them all right.”

“Then you must give me your information,” Siyuf told Sand. “If it is worth their freedom, I will free them as soon as I can. I do not say at once. At once may not be possible. But as soon as is possible. You do not betray your city when you do this?”

Sand shook his head. “Help it, is what we figure. See, if you’re smart you’ll let the calde go when we tell you. And with us, it’s him. He’s the top of the chain of command, and we know you got him.”

“Sir, the airship…” Abanja’s face was agitated.

Siyuf motioned her to silence. “We speak of that later, Colonel. First I must learn what this soldier knows.”

She turned back to Sand. “I will release your calde, you say. I do not say this. With regard to Calde Silk, I give no promise. You do not bargain for him; I notice this.”

“Because we know you wouldn’t, sir. You’d say you were going to keep him, and dismissed. But you’ll let him go if you’re smart. It’ll be better for us and better for you, too. You’re going to, is what we think. Only we want to see to it Hammerstone’s wife and his buddy get loose too.”

Sand hesitated, glancing at Abanja’s face in the glass, then back to Siyuf. “The insurrection’s over. That’s what we’re here to tell you, sir. Give us your word on Moly and Patera What’shisnarne—”

“Incus,” Hammerstone prompted.

“And Patera Incus, and we’ll give you the details. Have we got it?”

“I will release both as soon as I am able. Have I not said? Bring to me the image of the sole great goddess, and I swear on it. There is not one here, I think.”

“Your word’s good enough for us, sir.” Sand glanced at Harnmerstone, who nodded.

“All right. You want me to tell you, or you want to ask questions, sir?”

“First I ask one question. Then you tell, and after I ask more if I wish. When I am satisfied, I give the order, and if there is a place to which you wish them brought, we will do it. But not more than a day’s travel.

Hammerstone said, “The Calde’s Palace. That’s where me and Moly have been living.” Shale asked, “You got any problem with that, sir?”

“No. This is within reason. My question. You say I will let go your calde, the head of your government. I do not think so, so I am curious. Why do you say this?”

“Cause out of all the people you got to deal with here, he’s the one that likes you the most,” Hammerstone told her. “I know him pretty well. Me and Sarge picked him up one time on patrol, and I shot the bull with him before he gave me the slip. Then too, I been living in his palace like I said, and I heard a lot from Moly.”

“I helped Councillor Potto interrogate him the next time we got him,” Sand said, “so I know him pretty well too. He’s big for peace. He was trying to stop the insurrection before you got here.”

For a second or more, Siyuf studied Sand as if she hoped to find a clue to his thoughts in his blank metal face. “You have kill this man Potto. After, I suppose? This Mint tells. But you have not kill him well. He is now back.”

“I been dead too,” Sand told her, and Violet gasped. “I could give you the scoop on that, but it’d take a while.”

“Rather I would hear of the end of the insurrection. This you proposed.”

“Good here. Last night there was a confab at the Calde’s place. None of us were there, but we heard from General Mint. Your people tried to grab everybody, only four made it out, and Councillor Loris is K. The ones that gave you the slip was her and Colonel Bison, and the Generalissimo and Councillor Potto.”

“I know of this.” Siyuf delivered a withering glance to Abanja’s image in the glass.

Schist said, “Tell her about surrendering, Sarge. That’s pretty important.”

“Yeah, he did. The calde did. Maybe you don’t know that, sir. It was before your people came in.”

Siyuf nodded. “Colonel Abanja have report this. She has had an informant in your calde’s household, a most praiseworthy accomplishment.”

Abanja said, “Thank you, Generalissimo.”

“So the four that got clear put their heads together, see? Our generalissimo, he’d come in a Guard floater, and they piled in and took off, Councillor Potto too. Naturally he said, well, your calde’s called quits so we’re in charge again. Councillor Loris’s dead so I’m the new presiding officer. You’re working for me, and if you do what I say maybe I won’t shoot you.”

Schist interjected, “He figured they all had it coming, I guess. What we figure is, not just them. He’ll probably stop Sarge’s works real good.”

Violet said, “Ah!” and Siyuf laughed. “Shadeup, after so long a night. Potto is not friend to this soldier who not one month past shoot him. Potto has the… What is this word?”

“He’ll have it in for him.”

Sand nodded. “But he can’t hand out anything that I can’t take. I been dead already, just like I said. You want to talk about me, or you want to hear the rest?”

Hammerstone said, “They went around quite a bit, to hear Colonel Bison tell it. Only there was one thing they didn’t have any trouble with. Tell ’em, Sarge.”

“You foreigners, sir.” Sand leveled his huge forefinger at Siyuf. “Councillor Potto’s mean as a bad wrench, and he hates you worse’n dirt in his pump. General Mint, she hates Councillor Potto, but you’re number two on her list.”

“She is the central, to be sure. The sole woman.” Siyuf looked thoughtful. “Colonel, what is it you say of this?”

In the glass, Abanja’s image shrugged. “It doesn’t run counter to any information I have, Generalissimo.”

“You have leave off two, Sergeant. What of those?”

“I didn’t leave ’em out, sir,” Sand protested, “I hadn’t got to ’em yet. Colonel Bison’s General Mint’s man. If she says spit oil, he says how far?”

“I grasp this. Proceed.”

“We haven’t seen Generalissimo Oosik, but Corporal Slate here chewed things over with his driver this morning, the one that brought him and got them clear. Tell her, Slate.”

“He brought a slug gun to the meetin’, sir,” Slate began. “That’s what his driver says, ’n he says he don’t usually have nothin’ but a needler ’n his sword, see? So who was that for? Then when they was talkin’ in back — you know how them armed floaters are laid out, sir? There’s no wall or nothin’ between the seats up front and the back, so he tuned in. General Mint said somethin’ about how Councillor Loris was the head of the Ayuntamiento, and it was Generalissimo Oosik that said he was dead. He thinks maybe Generalissimo Oosik did it himself, he seemed so happy about it.”

Sand looked from Violet to Abanja, then at Siyuf. “Only Councillor Potto’s got it in for him, and he knows it. He was like a brigadier back before the insurrection, so he had to be one of the Ayuntamiento’s floor bolts. But when Calde Silk came along, he went over right away and got made head of the whole host of Viron. He knows Councillor Potto, so he’s got to know how pissed off he is about that.”

Siyuf, who had been slouching in her chair, straightened up. “You desire me to set free your calde to save your Viron, so much is plain. I do not care about your Viron.”