“My fellow Americans, as most of you know, the United States has received a terrorist threat from Sanctuary Orbital. They claim the capability to cause serious harm to four major American cities through illegal genetically modified viruses. They threaten to release these viruses if the scheduled federal delegation attempts to dock at Sanctuary tomorrow. This situation is intolerable for several reasons. The longstanding policy of the United States has been to never bargain with terrorists, under any circumstances. At the same time, however, absolutely paramount must be the safety and well-being of our citizens. That is never negotiable.
“To the citizens of New York and Chicago, of Washington and Los Angeles, I say this: Do not panic. Do not leave your homes. The United States will allow no action that will imperil your safety. Even as I speak to you, expert teams of biological warfare specialists are securing the safety of our cities. Even as I speak to you, every attention is being given to this intolerable and cowardly threat. I repeat: The best thing you can do is remain in your homes…”
The newsgrids continued to show people fighting to leave Washington, Chicago, New York, and Los Angeles. Aircars streamed above ground; super-rail cars were jammed; groundcars clogged the highways.
The White House broadcast never directly answered the question: Will the delegation attempt to dock at Sanctuary tomorrow morning?
“Keeping their options open,” Councilor Dey said grimly. “A mistake.”
“They’re Sleepers,” Councilor Aleone said, with contempt. But his breath came quickly.
An hour after the Kagura orbital demonstration, Sanctuary received a focused, high-powered communication from the White House, demanding immediate surrender of all illegal weapons, including the alleged criminal possession of biologicals. Sanctuary sent back a quote from Patrick Henry this one recognizable even to some of the Livers: “Give me liberty or…”
Two hours after the demonstration, Sanctuary sent another multi-channel conventional broadcast, audio only. It announced that the deadly genemod virus packets were cached not in Washington, New York, Los Angeles, and Chicago, but in Washington, Dallas, New Orleans, and St. Louis.
People started to stream out of St. Louis, and to riot in New Orleans. The evacuation didn’t slow from Chicago, New York, or Los Angeles.
A hysterical woman in Atlanta reported that all the pigeons on her terrace had just died all at once. People began to leave Atlanta, while a team in contamination suits rushed out from the CDC. They found the pigeons had eaten rat poison, but by that time the newsgrids had replaced the story with one about dead cattle near Fort Worth.
Jennifer leaned closer to the screen. “They can’t plan. Can’t coordinate. Can’t think.”
The protests within Sanctuary had reached a peak and subsided. All its spontaneous leaders were either locked in rational argument with councilors, were “sequestered” in the building quietly prepared by Sandaleros’s security force, or were busy collecting signatures on the official petitions that were Sanctuary’s usual answer to dissent. Always before, it had been a sufficient answer.
“The beggars can’t plan at all,” Jennifer repeated. “Not even when it’s in their own best interests.”
Will Sandaleros smiled at her.
“Leisha,” Stella said timidly, “do you think we should do anything about…about security?”
Leisha didn’t answer. She sat in front of three comlinks, each turned to a different newsgrid. She sat easily, without strain, but with a stillness that not even Stella’s timidity—Stella! timid!—could penetrate.
“I should have thought of that!” Jordan said. “I didn’t…I mean, it’s been so long since anybody hated Sleepless…Stell, who’s here this week? Maybe we can set up a rotating guard, in case we need it, I mean…”
Drew said, “There’s a Class Six Y-field around the compound, patrolled by three armed guards.”
Stella and Jordan stared at him. Drew added, “Since this morning. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I hoped I was wrong and Sanctuary wouldn’t do this.”
“How did you even guess they would?” Stella snapped, her tartness back.
“Kevin Baker. He guessed.”
“He would,” Stella sniffed.
Jordan said, “Thank you, Drew,” and Stella had the grace to look slightly ashamed.
And Leisha said nothing, completely still.
“We have no choice,” Miri said to Nikos. They huddled in Raoul’s lab, eight Supers, all that had made for the same place when the announcement of the Kagura Orbital demonstration struck like a meteor. Some of the others had run to Miri’s lab, dodging protesters and uniformed security forces—since when had Sanctuary had uniforms? Some had run to Nikos. An official “stay-inside” command had come over all audio channels—since when had Sanctuary had official commands? The children activated the comlinks between the three buildings.
All the normal comlinks in Sanctuary were dead.
Miri looked at Terry Mwakambe a second before the Super exploded in words Miri had never heard put together before. A detached corner of her mind, a part not whirling with chaotic strings, noted that cursing combinations must have some relationship to mathematical progressions for Terry to do it so naturally.
He immediately activated the hidden communications net the Supers had spent two months programming into every function of Sanctuary, a shadowy second orbital command so well hidden it could not be detected by the first.
“Nikos? Are you there? Who’s with you?”
Nikos’s face came on-line. “Diane, Christy, Allen, James, Toshio.”
“Where’s Jonathan?”
“With me,” Mark said, cutting in on the link. “Miri, it’s happened. They did it.”
“What are we going to do?” Christy said. She had her arm tightly around Ludie, one of the eleven-year-olds, who was crying.
“We can’t do anything,” Nikos said. “That’s not our agreement. They’re not harming the Supers, they’re trying to get Sanctuary free for all of us.”
“They’re going to get all of us killed!” Raoul cried. “Or else they’re going to kill hundreds of thousands of other people in our name. Either way, we’re definitely harmed!”
“It’s an external defense issue,” Nikos argued. “Not one for the Beggars.”
“It’s a betrayal,” said Allen coldly. “And not just of us. Uniformed guards, stay-inside orders, cutting communications—Christ, they’re arresting people out there! I saw a guard drag Douglas Wagner into a building. For the crime of thinking differently! How is that different from killing Tony for becoming different? The Council has betrayed the citizens of Sanctuary, including us. But the others can’t do anything about it and we can!”
“They’re our parents…” Diane said, in anguish, and Miri heard all the strings in Diane’s voice.
Miri said, as resolutely as she could, “What we’re going to do first is link with all the Beggars, wherever they are. I don’t see Peter—does anybody know where he is? Terry, find him and link, unless he’s with Norms. Then we’re going to discuss this. Thoroughly. Everybody’s opinions. Then we’re going to make a group decision.”
For our good, she added to herself. But not aloud.
Three hours after the Kagura orbital demonstration, Sanctuary broadcast to the United States that the same remote capabilities that could release and disperse the genemod virus in major American cities could also destroy the viruses completely before release. Sanctuary was eager to do so, if Congress agreed to a presidential order that the corporate entity of Sanctuary Inc. was no longer part of the United States for purposes of governance, taxation, or citizenship, and would henceforth have the same status as other independent nations.