“You’re right.” Madhar stopped at the foot of the ramp. “Stay right here, Jim. I’ll bring Tella. You two should go back into orbit until we see how this turns out.”
“Are you sure?”
“It’ll be best.”
“Okay.”
Madhar was gone only a few minutes. Tella had regained consciousness, and the nurse had it strapped to a stretcher across the back of Madhar’s vehicle. She helped Jim and Madhar carry the stretcher up the ramp.
“How are you doing?” he asked his friend.
“I’ve been better,” Tella replied, obviously in great pain.
Madhar talked quietly with the nurse and then waited for her to leave. Her face was impassive as she gave Jim the bad news.
“Sopha Luca and my bodyguard are missing. Armed factions are facing off on the main road outside the Institute. You have to go quickly.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to come with us?”
“I have to stay with the students. I can’t leave them.”
“Good luck. If there’s anything I can do, send me a message.”
Madhar nodded and strode down the ramp.
Jim launched the flier, set the orbit parameters, and went back to check on Tella.
“Tella? Are you okay?”
The pale eyelids flickered. “No. I have damaged my hips. I may have internal damage.”
“What can I do?”
“Use the emergency beacon. It is located under the weapons control panel. Just press the green button. It will open another panel. Follow the directions there.”
“Okay. Who does it call?”
“The nearest External Intelligence Agency ship. I don’t know what it will be or how far away. I...may not be conscious when it arrives.”
“Okay, partner. There’s nothing else I can do for you?”
Tella was already unresponsive.
***
For Jim, there was a long, lonely wait as his craft held position above the Latsin Institute.
For Madhar Nect, it was a long night, huddled in a basement at the Institute with several of her colleagues and three hundred frightened students.
Throughout the night, sporadic weapons fire could be heard around the grounds, around the athletics track, and around the still-smoldering remains of Sopha Luca’s flier.
***
Jim slept sitting in the pilot’s seat. He woke up to the sound of silence. It was a kind of silence that in half-sleep was pleasant. Only as he came fully awake, he realized he should be hearing radio traffic. He had set the communications array to sweep the Turcanian radio bands to keep an idea of what was happening down below.
He sat up and turned on the Turcanian TV monitor. There was no transmission. He opened a message session, only to receive an error message that told him to try again later.
He felt blind and deaf.
In the galley, as he drank a juice, he thought of one more device to try. He picked up the Regdenir emergency communicator.
“Hello? This is James Able. Margrev Aplar, are you there?”
There was no reply, but the device seemed to be working.
He tried again. “Margrev Aplar, are you there?”
“Yes, James Able. I am here. Are you well?”
“I am fine. What’s happening down there? Why is there no TV transmission or radio traffic?”
“Ah...My colleagues have been busy.”
“What do you mean?”
“We learned that the audnir were fighting each other. We do not permit that. They should know better. We have withdrawn all power services until hostilities have ceased.”
“Can you do that? Do you have control over all the power supplies?”
“Oh no, only a portion is directly under our control.”
“So they should still be partially operating.”
“We have been more assertive than we are wont to be.”
Jim felt a brief illusion of weightlessness. “Please explain.”
“We have placed operatives in all the audnir power stations. We have taken complete control. You may be interested to know we also have Sopha Luca under our protection.”
“How did you manage that?”
“Do not underestimate the force of a First Order decision, James Able. When Angara Myourn speaks, many listen. When it comes to keeping the audnir from damaging themselves, there is usually consensus.”
Jim shook his head and wondered if he was still asleep.
“I don’t know what to say. What happens next?”
“The audnir government will be required to meet with the First Order. You will be required to address the assembly.”
Jim looked at the communicator, but it was real and solid.
“Required to...? When?”
“We will contact you.”
“But...”
The Regdenir had ended the call.
***
While he waited for word from the moon below, Jim began a long-range scan, watching for any EIA craft to respond to his alarm call. There were no ships anywhere nearby.
The atmosphere of TMV was clearing. The ozone columns had dissipated. There were still large fires burning at some of Sopha’s target sites. Jim wondered whether to go down and try to put them out. It was unrealistic. That wasn’t a job for a small flier. He grieved for the Maggnir. There was no way of telling how many the Regdenir had killed. He continued to feel the nagging urge to do something to help.
He thought about the equipment Sopha had used. If the base unit had been on board the flier, all the information collected about the Maggnir had been destroyed. It was possible that the data was somewhere hidden with one of his supporters. Both sides should have access to it, if the data did survive. Jim resolved to find out; this, at least, was something he could do.
Knowing the frequency in use between the scanning nodes, Jim could easily put together what looked to the scanners like a diagnostic test message. He transmitted the message and watched his map of TMV-I light up with twenty-five points of light. He stored each reply and read through the data streams. He knew twenty-four of them should be from remote scanning nodes that had, in their various combinations, provided the accuracy that Sopha had needed. One of the nodes, Tella had been sure, was on board the flier and, so, would have been in no condition to reply. Jim knew one reply had to come from the base unit. It was in the storage of this unit that the recorded data from each scan should still
