Finally, the President of the United States of the Western Hemisphere asked for an investigation into the causes of the conflict. “We must understand what happened here, and discover who took it upon themselves to give these orders, and do these things,” he concluded, “in order to avoid even worse disasters in the future.”
“Look to your own house,” I murmured. I trusted nothing spoken by Terrie politicians.
“This is very interesting,” Lieh said, placing her slate before me. She had worked her way through several layers to a small and exclusive Terrie advisement net called Lumen. She didn’t tell me how she’d accessed such a subscription — Mars had its penetrators and seekers after forbidden knowledge, and no doubt Point One had recruited many of the best. “This went out to subscribers about six hours ago.”
A handsome elderly woman with weary, wrinkled features and an immaculately tailored green suit sat stiffly in flat image, talking and calling up text reports from around Earth. At first glance, the program seemed dull and old-fashioned even by Martian standards. But I forced myself to listen to what was being said.
“No nation or alliance has taken responsibility for starting the action against Mars, and no pundit has given an adequate explanation for why any authority would do so. The calls for plebiscite judgment, absent any clear perpetrators, worries this observer a great deal… I think we are dealing, yet again, with gray eminences who have sealed themselves away from plebiscites, above even the alliances, and I look for them in the merged minds who ride the greatest and most secure Thinkers, those which oversee Earth’s estate and financial situation. Arising from the old system of national surveillance established in the United States over a century and a half ago, once limited to oversight alone, these merged minds — rumored but never confirmed — have become the greatest processors of data in human history.
“With the transfer of space defense to the alliances, they may not be limited to advisement now; they may have decided to wield power. If so, then our subscribers may wish to withdraw from all dataflux markets for the next few months or even years. Something is moving bigger than mere individuals can withstand.”
Even in the exhaustion, I shivered. “Have you heard of them?” I asked Lieh.
“Only as silly rumors,” Lieh said. “But this is an expensive advisement net. Maybe thirty thousand legal subscribers. Supposedly, rash or silly statements are never made here.“
“A small group mind,” I said softly. “Above the common herd. Sending orders down through alliances, through nations. Who, most likely?”
“Heads of GEWA,” Lieh suggested. “They have control of Solar System defense.”
Dandy shifted in his seat. “I’ve seen and heard enough scary stuff for one lifetime,” he said.
Unofficially, Mars was on wartime footing, and by the rules of the constitution, acting as President until Ti Sandra’s return, I had extraordinary powers…
But even my extraordinary powers could not extend to Cailetet. We had to treat it as a sovereign foreign nation; we could declare war, of sorts, and we would, but it would be a war of finance. I worried about Stan and hoped that he was using all of his considerable intelligence to keep himself and his family safe.
Damage reports came rapidly now. Station by station, region by region, lists of dead, missing, accounts of damages, requests for emergency aid, all crowded the restored channels. Point One transferred the calls to the government net, and Lieh drew them from the legislative and presidential channel, condensing and editing.
So little was known about some regions, still. Dataflow had not been re-established everywhere; some thinkers in key positions had apparently “died” and could not be brought up again.
Mars was screaming in pain; I suddenly specked hearing the collected information as one voice. I shied from that quickly. I could not afford such grim inspiration now.
On the shuttle flight to Many Hills, I tried to rest, but couldn’t close my eyes for more than minutes at a time. Unexpectedly, I started feeling my enhancement again, and began calculating the adjustments necessary to move a mass the size of Phobos. I visualized in multiple layers of equations the functions which described transfer of co-responsibility for conservation of these quantities to a larger system… The entire galaxy. Nobody would miss it. We had become thieves in a vast treasure house.
I murmured aloud some of the enhancement’s activities.
Dandy came into the darkened cabin with my dinner. “Excuse me?” he asked.
“My muse,” I said. “I’m possessed by physics.”
“Oh,” he said. “What does ‘physics’ tell you?”
I just shook my head. “I’m not hungry,” I said.
“Tarekh says if you don’t eat he’s bound by duty to force-feed you.” He smiled thinly and set the tray down before me. I picked at the food for a while, ate a few bites, and returned to my efforts to sleep.
I must have succeeded for a short while, for Dandy and Lieh stood before me suddenly. Lieh shook my arm gently. “Madame Vice President,” she said, “it’s official. She’s alive.”
I stared up at her, muzzy and confused.
“Ti Sandra is alive. We’ve had it confirmed.”
“Thank you,” I said.
“I have a message from the President,” Lieh continued.
“She’s been injured,” Dandy said. “They have her in recovery at a secret location.”
I took my slate, touched it to Lieh’s, and they left me alone while I listened to Ti Sandra. My eyes filled with tears when I saw her face; I could barely discern the support equipment around her. She did not seem in pain, but her eyes lacked focus and that clued me. Her nervous system was under nano control.
“Little sister Cassie,” she began. Her lips stuck together for a moment, muffling her words. Someone gave her a sip from a cup of water. Drops glistened on her lips. “I am so grateful that you carried this horrible burden the past week. Our little trick nearly turned true. We had a real shuttle crash on the slopes of Pavonis Mons. Special targeting for me. Paul is dead.“
My tears spilled over then, and my entire chest gave a sharp lurch. I felt as if my body might suddenly fail, my heart give out. I moaned.
Dandy looked in briefly, then closed the door again.
“I’ve lost half my body, they say. My big, lovely body. I’ll recover. We’re growing new stuff right now. But no thinker controls, no computer controls — just twenty human doctors round the clock. I feel so greedy, taking so much when so many others are injured… But they won’t let me near anything that could do any more harm. I don’t feel any grief right now, my dear. I won’t for a long time, they say.
“Cassie, I told Charles and Stephen to do it, right after my accident, before I was put completely under. I hope I was in my right mind. It does accelerate things, doesn’t it? I asked, and they assured me they were ready. There was danger, but it could be done. Now it’s done, and you must let them know how grateful we all are. There’s so much more to do, though.
“You must act for me a while longer. You’re more than my crutch now, Cassie, You must be me as well as yourself. I can’t think as well as I should.”
I wanted so much to collapse into being a little girl, irresponsible and protected by others. Worse, a feeling of absolute dread had rooted itself. I turned off the slate, halting Ti Sandra in mid-statement, and almost screamed for Lieh to come in. She came through the door, face white, and kneeled beside my seat.
“Find Ilya,” I demanded, grabbing the back of her neck.