A Season For Slaughter Part 33

"No, you will not kill yourself. Whatever happens, Jim, you will handle it and you will survive it and you will report back to Uncle Ira or Dr. Davidson, or whoever else you have to, exactly what you saw and noticed and discovered. Because that's what you're good at. That's why you're here. Promise me that, Jim."

"Promise me! If you love me, promise me that one thing!" She stared into my face. "If you don't make me that promise, I won't warry you."

Somehow I got the words out quickly. "I promise," I said. "I won't kill myself.

Not for that reason anyway."

"If you break that promise, I'll dig you up and slap your face." She meant it too.

"Lady," I said, "you're almost as crazy as I am."

"Crazier," she corrected. "I'm the one who's marrying you and helping you pa.s.s along your genetic heritage."

I pulled her to me, laughing only a little bit. I needed a hug. And besides, she smelled good. I let my fingers trace their way up through a lock of her beautiful red hair. "Okay, sweetheart, I promise you. If I have to prove how much I love you by killing you, I'll do it. But what's the point of all this?"

"The point is, sweetheart, that when you accept the responsibility for another person's life, you are also accepting the responsibility for their death-if that's appropriate."

"I know that."

"No, you don't. Not as an officer. Certainly not yet as a combat officer.

Otherwise, we wouldn't be having this conversation."

I let go of her and waited. "All right," I said. "Tell me."

"You need to know this. You need to hear it from someone who's been there.

When a soldier takes his oath, he's committing himself to do whatever is required of him by his superior officers. He's accepting your control over his life. He's acknowledging that the job is more important than his personal survival. Your job as an officer is to make sure that his service is used wisely and appropriately. And if the job does require the ultimate sacrifice from him-and you hope to G.o.d that it never will-if that sacrifice furthers the larger goal to which we're all committed, then that's part of the job too. And in fact, Jim, if you extend this line of thought all the way out, once you accept the responsibility for that soldier's life, then if you don't make that sacrifice where it's required, you're betraying the commitment, yours as well as his."

"I wasn't raised in a military home," I said slowly. "I don't think that way, Lizard.

I hate that kind of thinking-I hate the justifications in it. I hate the callousness and the waste of life. I hate myself for having to think that way, and I think other people hate it too. I don't want to be hated anymore."

Lizard didn't answer immediately. She looked troubled; perhaps she was trying to decide how to proceed. At last, she cleared her throat and said, "I know you, Jim. I know what you've been through-with Shorty, and Duke, and Delandro, and all the others." She took my hands in hers and held them for a moment, looking at them as if studying and memorizing them, before glancing back up to my eyes. "Everything you've ever done, sweetheart, has been the right thing to do at the moment you did it. Based on the information you had available to you, you couldn't have justifiably done anything else." She stepped in close to me, and her voice became as candid as it had ever been; the moment was one of the most intense and intimate we had ever shared together. "I cannot possibly imagine you doing anything that would truly justify hatred-not from me, not from anybody. Anger, yes. Hatred, never. Remember that. Remember what I told you the very first time we made love. I don't go to bed with losers-and I certainly don't marry losers or failures, let alone bear their children."

I swallowed hard. If it had been difficult last night for Lizard to listen to the good truths I had to tell her, it was d.a.m.n near impossible for me to listen to this. I wondered if the lump in my throat would ever go away.

"Let it in," she said. "You are a good man, and you will accept your responsibilities. I've seen you do it too many times not to have total confidence in you for the future." And then she added, "I love you. I'm going to marry you. I'm going to bear your son. I'm going to make you unbearably happy-"

"Actually, I was hoping for a little girl-with red hair as shiny as yours-" But then, abruptly, I choked on my own words. What she had said hit me with the impact of an onrushing wall. I gulped down my joyous embarra.s.sment and let the tears of happiness well up in my eyes and pour down my cheeks. I managed to laugh and choke at the same time. "Oh, s.h.i.t. Here I go again."

I glanced quickly at my watch. "We have a little time left before we dock. Why don't we, ah, get a head start on some of that unbearable happiness?"

General Elizabeth "Lizard" Tirelli's expression broadened into a lascivious smile.

She winked and said, "Come on. I'll race you to the bedroom."

Most of the real growth of the Chtorran manna plant occurs in the topsoil, before the plant's fruiting body appears.

When a manna plant breaks apart, its spores are spread as easily as dust. Most of those spores will be eaten by Terran as well as Chtorran life forms, but a small percentage will always survive to begin the next generation.

Eventually, the surviving spores will find themselves in conditions suitable for growth, and they will begin feeding on the processes of decay that are present in all topsoil. When the growing fungi reach a critical size, they will mushroom up through the surface to spread spores of their own. The manna plant is one of the most widespread of all Chtorran species. Manna puffb.a.l.l.s are a common sight on fields and lawns in most of the infested parts of the world.

Occasionally, however, large ma.s.ses of manna plants will appear all at the same time over a large area. The triggering mechanism for this event is still unknown. It may be a response to a change in soil conditions, temperature, population density, or some combination of all of these conditions. It may also be a reaction to some kind of chemical triggering agent released by some other Chtorran plant or animal.

-The Red Book, (Release 22.19A)

Chapter 38.

Amapa "Any man with a prosthetic charisma is undoubtedly a liar in other respects too."

-SOLOMON SHORT.

Amapa was a place of nasty surprises.

While the Brazilian amba.s.sador and his entourage were debarking through the forward ramp, a service crew was loading additional instruments, probes, and supplies through one of the aft access bays. Once aboard, several of the service crew disappeared into an inaccessible maintenance corridor and were not seen again.

Shortly after that, a minor problem developed in one of the starboard ballast a.s.semblies, and Captain Harbaugh postponed lift-off until the maintenance team could double-check the rigging. After waiting impatiently in the lounge for fifteen minutes, Lizard tapped me on the shoulder. "Let's go," she whispered.

"Huh?" I looked up from the copy of Newsleak I was leafing through. The federal government had finally concluded its case against the Manhattan Twenty, a j.a.panese-American conglomerate that had bilked thousands of investors out of billions of plastic dollars with a phony reclamation plan for Manhattan Island. I had been looking through the pictures of the defendants to see if either Mr. Takahara or Alan Wise was there. Neither was.

I a.s.sumed that Mr. Takahara was too smart to get caught, and Alan Wise had probably been thrown back because he was too small. Sooner or later, I'd have to put a query into the network and find out what had happened to Mr. Wise.

"Come on," she repeated. There was an edge of impatience in her tone.

"Go where? I'm not through with the article." I held up the magazine so Lizard could see. The pictures of the real Manhattan reclamation project were both extraordinary and inspiring.

Lizard didn't even look at the magazine. She just bent down lower and whispered something amazing in my ear. What was equally amazing was the fact that I could still blush. I must have turned so red I could have stopped traffic on Fifth Avenue.

I managed to gulp out a yes, forgot the magazine, staggered to my feet, and s...o...b..red hungrily after her. I was lucky I didn't step on my tongue. But instead of turning left toward our cabin, she turned right, looked both ways, and pulled open an access door to a service bay. I followed her up a ladder, down a Spartan pa.s.sageway, and into-I recognized Dr. Zymph immediately. She looked tired, but determined. The first time I'd seen her, I'd thought she looked like a truck driver; she still looked like a truck driver, but now she was one who'd just driven from New York to San Diego and back without stopping to pee. Beside her stood Uncle Ira-General Wallachstein; still bald, still grim, and probably still carrying the same grudge. He was wearing a plain non-military jumpsuit.

Captain Harbaugh was there too, but only a few other members of the scientific mission were present. All of the military officers were in attendance. I noticed that General Danny Anderson, Duke's son, was also there, also in a non-military jumpsuit. That was a surprise. He was standing next to Uncle Ira, looking like a slab of human concrete. If anything, his shoulders had gotten broader than before. The man was all chest and cheekbones. He must have worked out with heifers instead of barbells.

"What the-?"

"Shh," said Lizard. She pulled me around to a place at the front of the bay. I glanced around quickly. We were standing under the towering silver bags of helium that lifted the Bosch. I looked up. And up. And up. I couldn't see the top of the bags. They disappeared into the soft yellow haze of distance. There were work lights up there, but they could just as easily have been stars.

"All right," said Uncle Ira. "Everybody's here. Let's go to work. We don't have a lot of time.

"The scientific mission you are going on is legitimate, never forget that, but it's also the cover for a major military operation as well. The mission is cla.s.sified Double-Q, Red Status. With a flag.

"The flag means that certain aspects of this mission have also been kept secret-at the President's request-from certain members of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. I'll say this in the clear. General Wainright knows only that there is a military component to this operation. He has been told that it is merely a security precaution, because that is what we want him to think. He does not know what orders you are about to be given." Uncle Ira looked as grim as I'd ever seen him. "He will never know your orders, nor will anyone else, because all of your orders are being delivered verbally.

Nothing has been written down. Nothing is going to be written alown. And that is your first order. Do not put anything in writing that pertains to this operation.

"Other than the President of the United States, the only people in the world who know of the existence of the military aspects of this mission are right here, right now, in this room. We are it. n.o.body else in the United States government knows.

n.o.body in the North American Operations Authority knows. In particular, and most important, n.o.body in the Brazilian government is even aware that I am on board for this briefing, or even that I am in the country. The same applies to General Anderson and Dr. Zymph. The fact that all three of us are here at once should give you some idea of how important we consider this operation. What we have to say to you is so important that we would not even risk committing it to paper or tape or any other media that might be interceptable."

Wallachstein glanced over to General Anderson. "You want to add anything?"

Anderson nodded. "We cannot stress the secrecy aspect of this operation strongly enough. If your cover is blown, we will try to protect you as best we can, but there is a limit to how far the umbrella will reach. If you get caught with your pants down and it looks like things are going to unravel badly, we'll not only disavow all knowledge of you, we'll probably have to send someone in to kill you. Don't worry, we'll do it as humanely as we can."

I raised a hand. "Excuse me? That's a joke, right?"

"That's a joke, wrong," Anderson snapped back quickly. "The best advice I can give you is to not let your cover be blown. If you talk in your sleep, shoot yourself before you go to bed. If you don't have that kind of willpower, sleep with someone who does."

I glanced over at Lizard. She looked grim. I had no doubts about her willpower. It was not a comforting thought. Before we went to sleep tonight, I'd probably have to rea.s.sure myself about her intentions. I suddenly had a lot of questions for her, but most of them were going to have to wait until later.

"All right," said Uncle Ira, taking over again, glancing at his watch. "Here's the hidden agenda. The United States wants Brazil to formally request military a.s.sistance against the Chtorran infestation. We have been pressing them to make this request for two years-even before we nuked the Rocky Mountain pustule." Dr. Zymph touched General Wallachstein's arm. She interjected quietly, "It's our concern that the Amazon mandalas are approaching a state of critical ma.s.s, a threshold level of stability that will make it possible for the next stage of the infestation to occur. What that stage might be, we can't predict; but, based on the previous history of the infestation, we can't afford to let it happen. These three sites have already become permanent reservoirs of infection; our best-case prediction is that they are about to metastasize. You don't want to hear our worst-case prediction." She nodded back to Wallachstein.

Wallachstein took a deep breath. "Forget all of the diplomatic huggy-face that's been going on, that's just the usual mix of protocol and bulls.h.i.t. The Brazilians still hate us and we don't exactly like them very much either. There's enough history between our two nations to fuel a major war-and if it weren't for the convenient intervention of the worms, that's probably what most of us would have been doing today instead.

"The bad news is that the common enemy of this ecological invasion has not united the nations of the Earth. On the contrary, if anything, it has exacerbated all our many differences. All of the economic and political issues that existed before the invasion are still unresolved; and in the post-plague reformation, what we're discovering is that power has not pa.s.sed in an orderly manner in many places, but has been seized by extremists who are placing greater priority on their own local agendas than they are on the multinational cooperation to resist the infestation. The Brazilian junta, unfortunately, falls into this category.

"They don't trust us. We don't trust them. Our use of nuclear devices, even against the worms, even inside our own borders, has been viewed with a great deal of skepticism in the Fourth World. The secret weaponry we revealed during the Gulf invasion is also seen as a major violation of the Moscow Treaties. The President hasn't said so publicly, and isn't likely to in the foreseeable future, but since the Gulf invasion, she has considered the Moscow Treaties to be invalid. Nevertheless, she will, if and when she considers it necessary, ask Congress to approve a bill unilaterally revoking our obligation to the Moscow Convention. That's how important she considers the military effort against the Chtorr.

"The President would like to move against the Amazon infestations, but we can't do so without the consent of the Brazilian government; we've been pressuring them for months to request military a.s.sistance. This would allow us to take appropriate action to save what's left of the Amazon. Unfortunately, hccause of the atmosphere of political distrust, the Brazilian government is extremely reluctant to make any request that would allow a United States military presence of any kind. It would be extremely unpopular with their own people, because widespread Iear that such a presence would be a staging area for additional military action against a government we have publicly disapproved of for twenty years before the worms arrived. They believe tlnat we would use an operation against the worms as a staging area for a military takeover of Brazil."

Wallachstein shook his head grimly. "Our rea.s.surances that we no longer have the kind of military resources necessary to conquer a nation the size of Brazil, and that it would be foolish even to try while we both share a much more pressing concern, have not been he.lieved. Our quick and decisive victory in the Gulf invasion is only seen as more evidence of our military duplicity. We are in the unfortunate position of having our every action, no matter how well motivated it is, given the worst possible interpretation. I know that some of you can identify with that on an individual level."

He was looking at me as he said that last. I didn't share his appreciation of the irony.

Wallachstein glanced over to Anderson, who now stepped forward. "Your mission is not only a scientific a.s.sessment of the Maparan infestation, but a military one as well, including-if you deem it necessary-the gathering of on-site specimens.

You are also authorized-if you deem it necessary-to use whatever ordnance is available to you, to protect yourselves from any threat, human or Chtorran.

Remember that you are now in the territory of a foreign government and therefore under its legal authority. Act accordingly. Nevertheless, there is a higher calling and a higher set of standards than those set by nations alone. Your Commander in Chief is charging you with the responsibility to act in a manner appropriate to the greater good of the human race. We all advise you to act with extreme care and caution."

I raised a hand. "Excuse me, sirs? But I don't think we have such ordnance available to us. I'm familiar with the loading manifests and I-"

"Don't believe everything you read, Captain," interrupted General Wallachstein. "I told you that nothing has been put in writing. There's a lot you can hide aboard a ship of this size."

"Yes, sir." I shut up.

Lizard asked quietly, "What about the nuclear options?"

Wailachstein shook his head. "It was extensively discussed. We decided it was too risky. The political fallout was unacceptable. The risk to the mission was also unacceptable. You'll have to make do with fuel-air explosives."

Dr. Zymph spoke up then. "Let me give you some background on the thinking of the Brazilian government. In partnership with their j.a.panese allies, they have begun extensive development of Chtorran agricultural products in tightly controlled biospheres, as well as in open-air farms. They have experienced great success using fluffb.a.l.l.s and wormberries for the production of sugar and alcohol. As you know, the Brazilians use gasohol for thirty percent of their fuel requirements. The fecundity of the Chtorran bioma.s.s makes it possible for them to renew this resource at a faster than ever rate and further reduce their dependence on foreign fuel sources.

"The Brazilians also do not share our aversion to the consumption of Chtorran flora and fauna. They have begun a national campaign to introduce many Chtorran species into their national diet. j.a.panese investors have also built plants for the processing and exporting of Chtorran delicacies. The j.a.panese are apparently very enthusiastic consumers of Chtorran protein. They particularly enjoy fresh worm blubber, either cooked or raw. I'm told that it makes for a particularly flavorful, if somewhat chewy, form of sushi. I haven't tried it myself. I have no particular desire to do so."

She allowed herself an unhappy shake of the head. "There's another aspect that we also have to acknowledge. Large parts of the Chtorran ecology are proving to have hallucinogenic effects. Several varieties of Chtorran dope are starting to show up in our seaboard cities. There's a lot of experimenting going on, different ways of processing the material, different ways of ingesting it. We're seeing some deaths from Chtorran narcotics, we expect to see a lot more. Some of these drugs are proving to be incredibly addictive, and they represent the potential for additional damage to the American economy.

"We have tried to point out to the Brazilians that the Chtorran agriculture is incredibly aggressive. There is no reliable way to control it. There is no safe way to farm it or harvest it. Any concentration of Chtorran flora represents an environment that not only wants Chtorran fauna, it needs it to survive. The Chtorran ecology is so interlinked that you simply cannot grow one species alone. Everything is connected to everything else. No matter how many times we repeat it, most people never seem to understand it: There is no such thing as one cow. We have tried to point out to the Brazilians that any concentration of Chtorran flora will put chemical attractants into the air that will call other Chtorran life forms to it, in particular whatever partners it needs to proliferate and spread.

"The Brazilians are not interested in this news. Chtorran agriculture is solving the nation's hunger and employment problems. It's adding millions of dollars of hard currency to the Brazilian economy every day. The Brazilian government is hopelessly addicted to the Chtorran market. They actually believe they can control it. And they believe that the American initiative to wipe out the infestation is an imperialist plan to destroy their new agricultural industries, permanently cripple their economy, and keep them dependent on American farm exports. The Brazilians and the j.a.panese believe that human beings can not only survive the Chtorran infestation, but tame it to our own ends." Dr. Zymph's expression demonstrated what she thought of that idea. "I don't have to tell you how dangerously stupid that course of action will prove to be. Most of you have had firsthand experience with the Chtorran ecology."

She shook her head again and handed the briefing back to General Wallachstein.

If Wallachstein had looked unhappy before, he now looked absolutely miserable.

"We know that there are human beings living in the mandalas, cooperating with the Chtorrans on a scale never before realized. We do not know if they are slaves or renegades or willing partners, or some relationship for which there is no human equivalent. We believe that the Brazilian government has much more knowledge of this presence than they are publicly admitting. It may even be that this human-Chtorran cooperation is occurring with the approval or the backing of the Brazilian government."

He let his next words out so slowly, he could have been experiencing physical pain in saying them. "We suspect that factions of the Brazilian government are playing with the idea of growing and training their own tame worms as weapons of war." He let that thought sink in. "We suspect that they may be intending to attack the United States again, by sending swarms of these trained worms up through Central America. We suspect that plan will backfire and that the swarms of worms will move on Brasilia and Rio de Janeiro first, but even so-the whole idea is so appalling that we have no choice but to investigate it.

"Of course, you realize," he added, "if we take any action against the Amazon mandalas without the agreement of the Brazilian government, it could be considered an act of war, and it probably will be." He spread his hands in front of him, as if to hold a very uncomfortable idea. "This whole situation is extremely delicate."

General Anderson stepped forward then. "At this point, we are not prepared to risk a war. Your mission is not to start one, not to fight one, but merely to gather intelligence on the scale of operation needed to win such a war, if and when it occurs.

"We want you to gather specific specimens and freeze them for our labs in Houston and Oakland. Other than that, we want you to minimize all direct contact with the inhabitants of the mandalas, human or Chtorran-except for those circ.u.mstances that also serve your scientific goals.

"In specific, we do not want you to initiate any military action against the mandala; but if you are. attacked, we want you to defend yourselves and get out as quickly as you can. Let me also add this: if you come into contact with any human who you think has a direct contact with the Brazilian authorities, you are to terminate that individual immediately, rather than risk any direct reports on our activities getting back."

Wallachstein added, "I don't have to tell you how dangerous this whole thing is. I want you to be careful. But most of all, I want you to get the job done. We're prepared to cover for you, more than you may realize, but please don't make our jobs any harder than necessary."

Dr. Zymph again. "I know that most of you signed on for a mission of scientific observation. And I know that you're not exactly overjoyed about having a military component to this operation. Let me put those thoughts to rest. The military aspect of this operation has been part of it from the very beginning; for obvious security reasons, it has been kept extraordinarily secret; but I want you all to understand that the immediacy of the military imperative is directly derived from the ecological crisis confronting us. There is no dichotomy here, there is no disagreement between the two branches. We are in.complete agreement about our needs and our goals.

"As most of you know; the Amazon is a particularly fragile environment. It does not repair itself easily. Great parts of it today are desert as a result of ma.s.sive cutting and defoliation and other mistakes made during Brazil's industrial years. We have some experience with attempts at rain forest rehabilitation. As a result of that experience, we believe that the damage to this environment inflicted by the Chtorran infestation is irreparable; therefore, it's imperative that we find ways to limit this danger as quickly as possible. We must minimize any further damage to the planet's oxygen-balance.

"There's an additional piece of information that we haven't discussed with you until now because we weren't sure what it meant. We still aren't certain, but at least we want you to have access to our best guesses." She cleared her throat gruffly and began.

"The satellite maps of the Amazon infestations have revealed a great deal of information about the growth and expansion cycles of the mandalas. As we have previously stated, we believe that the three largest settlements are rapidly approaching a point of specific criticality. In particular, the j.a.puran mandala is demonstrating the clearest impending evidence of that possibilitywhich is why, despite whatever has been said in any other briefing about its undesirability, the j.a.puran mandala has always been our primary target." She glanced hastily at her watch. "For those of you who haven't had access to the ecological background briefings before this, I'll explain quickly. The rest of you, who've heard this before, please be patient.

"We have previously observed steadily developing cycles of rapid expansion, followed by prolonged periods of rest and stability. During these periods of rest, we see a.s.similation, rehabilitation, and increasing internal elaboration, as indicated by the developing intricacies of the mandala design itself. During ihese periods, each nest within the mandala will show evidence of udding more and more members, until the entire mandala begins to experience an increased density of population, eventually leading to significant crowding and periods of visible agitation and localized aggressiveness. We have even observed occasional acts of violence and possible mob frenzies actually directed against parts of the mandala itself. All of these behaviors presage a period of rapid, almost uncontrolled expansion. Also, as that point of critical ma.s.s approaches, the jungle surrounding a mandala begins to show signs of heavy exploitation, up to and including the complete denudation of the surrounding terrain.

"This denuding of the forest provides two immediate benefits lo the mandala.

First, the bioma.s.s serves as raw material for the construction of new domes within the settlement, as well as protein for the gastropetles and their partners. Second, once an area has been cleared, it's easier for Chtorran vegetation to take root and claim the territory.

"This behavior has been observed prior to every major expansion of the mandalas. The j.a.purart mandala has been demonstrating most of these patterns for the past six weeks, and we believe ilurt it is getting very close to a point of critical ma.s.s. It could happen tomorrow, but equally, it might not happen for another six months; the longer the period of antic.i.p.ation, the greater the expansion that follows.

The larger the mandala gets, the longer its periods of antic.i.p.ation. We have no experience with a mandala of this size, and we have been observing significant anomalies of behavior that we don't know how to interpret. Please refer to your briefing books; read them carefully.

"I don't need to remind you that extreme caution is advised here; that goes without saying; but I also want to stress the opportunity that this mission represents for expanding our knowledge of the Chtorran life cycle. Here's the specific scientific question: ecologically, the j.a.puran mandala is a small city. It requires water, protein, waste management, and other services that require access to arable land. Without the kind of technology that we would use to support a settlement of that size, they are at a severe disadvantage. They are at the point of diminishing returns. The volume of the settlement is greater than can be supported by the territory they have access to.

In other words, the j.a.puran mandala is at the limit of its ability to feed itself.

Expansion is impossible. Nevertheless, it is demonstrating all the precursor signs of a major expansion.

"Our LI models suggest that if it attempts to expand, it will surely collapse and 'fragment. But we know that we are missing something from our LI models. Either there are other major sources of protein available to the mandala that we are unaware of, or the next cycle of, expansion will take some entirely new and unprecedented direction. Or, perhaps, we will see some combination of the two possibilities. At this point, we just don't know; but many of us are beginning to believe that the opportunity here is unprecedented. Whatever the j.a.puran mandala is about to metamorphose into may represent, if not the ultimate form of the Chtorran ecology, then certainly a viable forerunner of it. That information, of course, would be invaluable." She stepped back and returned the meeting to General Wallachstein, who was frowning impatiently at his watch.