“This goes beyond anxieties,” Rachel said.
“Then let’s say hatred—the equivalent of a fatwa, if you know what that is.”
But here Zeds spoke for the first time. “I would appreciate clarification.”
So Remilla explained the meaning of fatwa, an Islamic term ordering the faithful to kill an infidel for sins against the faith. “Do you have any evidence that it was Muslims?” Xavier said.
“None,” Remilla said, after a nonverbal consultation with Kaushal, who added, “Nor is it Hindi or Christian. But realize that the, ah, religious environment has changed considerably since 2019. There are new movements like Transformational Human Evolution, and new movements like THE tend to be quite sensitive—”
“And aligned with the powers that rule the Free Nations,” Edgar Chang said, opening his mouth for the first time. “This has all the signs of an Aggregate operation—using disgruntled or mercenary soldiers as surrogates.” He turned to Rachel and Pav. “They are the ones who shot at your spaceship.”
“That would have been my first guess,” Xavier said. Of all those in Adventure’s crew, he was the most obviously terrified of the Reivers and saw their motives behind every action.
Not that, in Rachel’s opinion, he was unduly paranoid in this case—
“We have no proof of that, Mr. Chang,” Remilla said.
“We’ll never have proof, Mrs. Remilla.”
“Whoever did it,” Rachel said, “it’s done, and it’s shown us that we aren’t safe here.”
“What could be safer than a military base?” Kaushal said.
“We’d like to find out,” Pav said.
“Look,” Rachel said, “our original plan was to move off-base within forty-eight hours. We extended that because of Sanjay’s condition. It seems that we should go back to that plan.”
Now Tea spoke. “And go where?”
“Downtown Bangalore,” Xavier said. “Some ritzy hotel where, if nothing else, it costs more to bribe the help than it does here.”
“That’s ridiculous,” Pav snapped.
And Kaushal was about to explode again. “They may have worn the uniform, but those were not my men!”
“Everyone!” Rachel said. “We understand, and shut up,” she said, looking at Kaushal, then at Xavier—who was fortunately the kind of person who could be so addressed. “We need to move to a more isolated base, or a ranch of some kind, preferably in another city. Or even another country.”
“You can’t still be thinking about the U.S.!” Kaushal said. “Even if you could sneak in, that entire country will be hostile.”
“What about China?” Tea said. The mention of that name caused Remilla to flinch, too. “I know they’re your big enemy these days, but they have strict control over their populace—”
“Or so they like to claim,” Remilla said.
“I have contacts in China,” Chang said, smiling and spreading his hands in acknowledgment of his surname and ethnic background. “My companies can’t operate without that market.” He turned to Remilla and Kaushal. “And I can tell you that a horror like last night’s attack could not occur there, not if Rachel and the others were sequestered at a military base.
“To be honest, though, it would be extremely difficult to place you on such a base. The most likely—”
“Let’s be thinking quickest, too,” Rachel said.
“—likely and quickest option would be to get you to a city like Shanghai, into some luxury hotel complex where my media work can commence—”
“And the money can begin to flow,” Xavier said.
Rachel saw no better option. “Can you get us out of here tonight?”
“By early morning . . .” Chang frowned. “I don’t want to promise what I can’t deliver.”
“Then please arrange for an early-morning departure,” Rachel said, looking toward Pav, then Xavier, then Zeds, and finally Tea and Taj. The humans indicated their acceptance of the plan with nods. Zeds clapped all four hands, which meant the same thing.
Chang cleared his throat. “How many of you will be going?”
Rachel turned to Kaushal. “Sanjay still can’t be moved?”
“Under no circumstances!” the commander said. “Moving him would jeopardize his recovery.”
“In that case,” Rachel said, turning back to Chang, “it’s the five of us.”
“We’re just going to leave him?” That was Yahvi, speaking for the first time. Yahvi had found the weakest spot in Rachel’s argument. She didn’t know whether to hug her daughter for displaying empathy and courage, or tell her to shut up and listen.
“Yes. He’s better off here than on the road—”
Pav weighed in. “And we have to move. It’s clear we are no longer safe here.” He looked at Remilla and Kaushal, as if daring them to argue. They remained silent.
Not Yahvi, however. “What if they come after him again?”
“We can put out a story,” Chang said, “let people think he’s been moved elsewhere.”
“We’re going to have to put out a whole bunch of stories,” Rachel said.
Chang stood up. “Which means I have a lot of work to do.”
Before he could exit, Taj caught him by the arm. “One moment.” He turned to his granddaughter. “Yahvi, I will take personal responsibility for Sanjay’s care—”
“Aren’t you coming with us?” Pav said.
“Yeah, Husband,” Tea said. “What about it?”
Taj looked at his son, then at his wife. “Tea will go with you. She and I will be in constant communication.” He glanced at Chang. “Someone needs to coordinate the travel, and I have the most experience.”
“More than I do,” Chang said, sounding grateful.
“I can help, too,” Pav said. “With Zeds.”
“It would have been nice to be in communication prior to the announcement of your decision,” Tea told Taj, with an edge in her voice that Rachel knew well.
She realized she had to play peacemaker for the various factions. “Tea, I know Taj would have talked this over, but this just came up, right?” Taj nodded.
“It’s settled then,” Rachel said. “We move tomorrow morning.” She pointed to Xavier. “We need to deal with the cargo, too.”
She was glad to have something practical to do, because if she allowed herself to consider the odds against the Adventure crew right now, she would probably curl up in a panicked ball.
Day Three
SUNDAY, APRIL 15, 2040
TIME TO FIRST LIGHT:
Minus 7 days
FIRST LIGHT
22 APRIL 2040 0001:00 MDT
TIME TO FIRE LIGHT:
Minus 24 days
FIRE LIGHT
09 MAY 2040 0001:00 MDT
COUNTDOWN CLOCK AT SITE A
CARBON-143
STATUS: Humans assigned to the Project had long reverted to their centuries-old practice of working 6.5 days a week. The formations would have required more—the quotas certainly demanded more—but a decade of observation and interaction had proven that humans working seven days a week not only were not more productive, they actually made more errors.
There were also limits on the resources that could be shipped to Site A and processed for manufacture. So Aggregate Carbon programmed a Saturday workday that ended at 1 P.M.
Absence of humans did not mean that work ceased; far from it. Aggregates usually worked 23.5 out of every 24 hours, with the unused 0.5 hour devoted to system updates and checks or needed rotation of functions.
In addition, every week Aggregates in high-stress activities would have a programmed “refurbishment” session of two hours, in which new downloads from the formation were processed, and possible new aggregations were formed. (Carbon-143 “remembered” that she had been “born” as an aggregate of 11,211 “cells” that had first been aggregated into an intermediate stage of 89 “individuals” before becoming a “unit.”)