Oakes glanced at Lewis, surprised a flitting smile there.
"Tell us what to do," Lewis said.
One of Lewis' minions in the crowd responded on cue: "Yes, tell us."
How well early conditioning pays off, Oakes thought. And he said: "First, we have to take stock of our situation."
"I've been watching the screen," Lewis said. "I don't see any Runners. Have you seen any, Legata?"
"No, not a one."
"Not one Runner has tried to enter the Redoubt," Lewis said. "They remember the chlorine."
"Have you looked at the whole perimeter?" someone demanded.
"No, but look at those people near that break in our wall." Lewis pointed. "Not a one of them's in trouble. I'm going to open the hatches."
"No!" Oakes stepped forward. "Whoever asked that question is right. We have to be sure." He turned toward Legata. "Do you have enough sensors to scan the perimeter?"
"Not completel.... but Jesus is right. Nothing's attacking our people out there."
"Send some volunteers out with portable sensors, then," Lewis said. "We could use a few repair crews as well. I'll go with 'em, if you like."
Oakes stared at Lewis. Could the man really be that brave? Runners remembering chlorine? Impossible. Something else was holding the demons in check. As he thought this, Oakes experienced the abrupt sensation that the entire planet was out there, waiting just for the proper moment to attack and kill him.
Taking his silence for agreement, Lewis pressed his way through the crowd, selecting people as he moved. "Yo.... yo.... yo.... yo.... Come with me. Larius, you get a repair crew together, take the down-chart and get busy restoring our eyes and ears."
Lewis popped a hatch at the far side of the room, waved his volunteers through, and turned before joining them. "All right, Morgan, it's up to you."
What did he mean by that? Oakes watched the hatch seal behind Lewis. I have to do something!
"Everybody back to work," Oakes said. "Everybody but the Command Center crew outside in the passage." They were reluctant to move.
"Nothing came in the hatch when Jesus opened it," Oakes said. "Go on. We have work to do. So do you."
"Leave the hatch open if you want," Legata said. Oakes did not like that, but the suggestion moved them. People began leaving. Legata turned back to the control console for the big screen. Oakes moved to the side, becoming intensely aware of the musky smell which surrounded her.
"We're fighting the whole damned planet," he muttered. He watched while portable sensors and repairs began restoring the big screen's overview of the Redoubt's operation. As service returned, it became apparent that something had destroyed some seventy degrees of perimeter sensors below the ten-meter level. Burned-out relays had put other sensors out of service. The damage was far less than he had feared. He began to breathe more easily, realizing only then how tension had tightened his chest.
Lewis returned after a time, crossed to Oakes and Legata at the screen. "Did you want those people to stay in the passage?"
Oakes shook his head. "No." He continued to watch the screen.
"I sent them about their business," Lewis said. "Nothing seems to've changed outside. Why are they waiting?"
"War of nerves," Oakes said.
"Perhaps."
"We must devise a plan of attack," Oakes said. "The clones must be convinced that it's necessary to attack."
Lewis stared at the play of Legata's hands across the screen controls, glancing now and then up at the COA she produced. Rega was much higher in the sky now and Alki was beginning to creep above the horizon. It was brilliant out on the plain, every detail washed in light.
"How will you convince the clones?" Lewis asked.
"Get a few of them in here," Oakes said.
Lewis directed a questioning stare at Oakes, but turned and obeyed. He returned with twelve E-clones whose appearance had been held closer to the Natural standard except for the introduction of extra musculature in arms and legs. They were a type Oakes had always thought bulged in a repellant way, but he masked his dislike. Lewis stopped the group in an arc about three paces from Oakes.
Studying the faces, Oakes recognized some of the group which had fled into the Command Center earlier. There was no avoiding the distrust in their expressions. And Oakes noted that Lewis had seen fit to don a bolstered lasgun and that the Naturals around the edges of the room were alert and watchful.
"I will not go back to Colony," Oakes began. "Never. We are here t...."
"You might run back to Ship!" It was a clone standing just to the left of Lewis.
"Ship will not respond to us," Legata said. "We are on our own."
Damn her! Oakes went pale. Didn't she know how dangerous it was to betray your dependence on others?
"We are being tested, that's all," Oakes said. He glanced at Lewis, surprised another fleeting grin on the man's face.
"Maybe we're supposed to go outside and run for it," Legata said. Her fingers danced across the screen's controls. "Maybe it's just a game like the Scream Room or running the P."
What is she doing? Oakes wondered. He shot a glance at her, but Legata continued to direct the screen's controls.
"They're doing something," she said.
Every eye turned toward the screen whose entire area she had focused on the view toward the cliffs. Panille was standing now, his right hand clutching a hylighter tentacle. More E-clones and others had massed around the cutter on the plain below him. Demons had moved out from the cliff shadows. Even the enclosing arc of hylighters appeared more agitated, moving about, changing altitude.
Legata zoomed in on a man standing beside the cutter's left wheel.
"Thomas," she said. "But the hylighter...."
"He's in league with 'em," Lewis said. "Has been all along!"
Legata stared out at the plain. Was that possible? She had been about to expose Oakes as a clone, but now she hesitated. What did she really know about Thomas?
As she thought this, Thomas lowered his right arm and Panille, atop the pinnacle, was picked up by one of the giant bags, carried gently down to the plain.
Thomas and his people were moving forward now, a ragged advance but spreading out on both sides of the cutter.
"There must be at least a thousand of them," Lewis muttered. "Where'd they get that many people?"
"What're the demons doing?" Legata asked.
The creatures had spread out below the cliff - Dashers, Spinnerets, Flatwings and more - even a few of the rare Grunchers. They were following the attackers but slowly and at a distance.
"If they get that cutter within range of us, we're through," Oakes said. He rounded on Lewis. "Now will you send out some attackers?"
"We have no choice," Lewis said. He glanced at the clones beside him. "You all see that, don't you?"
All of them were staring up at the screen, intently focused on the advancing cutter and the outrider demons.
"It's plain to see," Lewis said. "They cut open our perimeter and let the demons in. We're all dead then. But if we can stop the...."
"Everybody!" Oakes called out. "I grant full status as a Natural to every clone who volunteers. These rebels are the last real threat to our survival. When they're gone, we'll make a paradise out of this planet."
Slowly, but with growing momentum, the arc of clones moved toward the passage hatch. More joined them as they moved.
"Keep them moving, Lewis," Oakes said. "Issue weapons as they go out. We'll win by the weight of numbers alone."
***
Once my fancy was soothed with dreams of virtue, of fame and of enjoyment. Once I falsely hoped to meet with beings who, pardoning my outward form, would love me for the excellent qualities which I was capable of unfolding.