Amos looked down at the floor and sighed. “I don’t know.” He looked up again. “I only know that food production up on the Shelf is not sufficient to provide for the cities for very long. We know it, and they know it.”
“And what, then, are we to conclude from these facts?” Bennings asked.
“They must attack at some point,” Amos said. “As soon as they feel they are strong enough, or that they have an advantage.”
“If we know this, and we expect an attack on the AZ, what are we going to do to protect the Amish there?”
“Everything that can be done.”
“Can we guarantee that they will not be harmed?”
“No.”
This answer caused a general buzz to run through the room. The voices carried with them every form of human emotion. Anger. Concern. Fear. Amos knew that fear, when properly curated, could be a great ally. It is good that they fear, he thought. If they are not afraid, then they are stupid. And if they are afraid, then they should listen to me.
Amos spoke loudly to be heard over the general din. “On this side of the cliffs, Transport forces are only performing occasional probing actions. But we should not get cavalier and forget the dangers. We’ve seen what they did to their own city.”
“What you say they did to their own city!” It was Councilman Graham, a politician who represented rebels who lived in the countryside beyond the Shelf.
Amos Troyer smiled, but it was a smile dripping with irony. “If you have information about the bombing that contradicts the facts we know, Councilman Graham, I’d love to receive them.” He knew that Graham was a great supporter of his. The man was just making a joke to lighten the mood and to emphasize that some members of the Council didn’t trust Amos Troyer with power. Not now that TRACE was winning the war.
Bennings waved off the small performance between the two allies. “What about our soldiers who stopped the attack on your brother in the AZ?”
Amos noted—and not for the first time—that whenever his military actions were successful, Bennings would refer to the soldiers as our soldiers. Our forces. Our actions. But if something failed, as it did in the recent limited attack on the Tulsa, Bennings had emphasized that “Your people were not ready.” “Your people were caught by surprise,” he’d said. Amos decided, wisely, not to point out this anomaly, but he intended to mention it to some of the other Council members in private conversations later.
“Our people,” Amos said, “have been permitted by the elders in the AZ to stay for one week, to tend to their wounded or to make other arrangements. But after that, they’ll have to go. This is in accord with the agreement the Amish have with Transport, going back to the foundation of the colony.”
“But Transport has no authority there now!” Councilman Bennings shouted. “They’re gone from the east. Why are the Amish still obeying Transport?”
Amos stared at Bennings for a moment before answering. “The Amish have their own reasons for everything they do, and you know that,” he said. “They don’t have to answer to me or to you. However, they’ve graciously given us some insight into their decisions. The elders realize that their colonization agreement may be voided now that Transport has fled beyond the Shelf, but they don’t want to be harboring violent rebels beyond the time limit that they believe allows them to satisfy the Biblical requirement for charity and mercy. This is the best that we can expect.”
“And what about your brother?” Bennings asked.
“Yes?” Amos said. “What about him?”
“Are the Amish going to ask him to leave, too?”
“No.”
Bennings nodded. “And how does this affect the war?”
“Although they cannot yet ask Jedediah to leave, the elders also voiced the opinion that he should pray about whether or not he is becoming a detriment to the future happiness of the colony. Jed was not found to have engaged in any violence, or to have encouraged it in any way, but they ask that he consider whether or not his presence among the plain people is likely to encourage more violence to happen in the Amish Zone.”
“And how does Jedediah figure in your plans?”
Amos smiled. “I’m not free to divulge that yet, other than to say that my brother is of primary importance to our war effort.”
At this point, Bennings stood and threw his hands into the air. “So you don’t even feel the need to inform this council of your plans?”
Amos shook his head. “I do not.”
Councilman Graham interrupted. He had his hands spread apart like he was separating two prizefighters in the ring. “Can you at least tell us why you don’t just mount a full attack on Transport? Those of us who live on the Shelf would greatly appreciate the relief. We’ve given you the Tulsa, as you asked. We’ve achieved air superiority. We have them on the run beyond the Shelf—”
Amos raised his hand, palm out, to silence his friend. “If we defeat them here… if we destroy them, and any means or method they have to travel back to the old world—which is no easy task… we still have the fundamental problem.”
“And what problem is that, sir?” Bennings asked.
“They still have control of the old world. According to my brother, they have now discovered a means to gather and utilize an enormous amount of okcillium. If we win the war here, the fight only shifts back to the old world. From there, if they are not stopped, they can build a thousand portals—and flood this world again in a way that we’ll never stop.”
Bennings looked around at the other faces and frowned. “But if we don’t win the war here first, then they still control both worlds, and can shut the portal any time they please…”
“Something they’ve already done by destroying the City, haven’t they?” Reynosa asked.
Amos Troyer put up his hands again, indicating a request for silence. After a moment, the talking and bickering quieted down, and Amos waited a few more beats before speaking.
“By destroying the City, Transport succeeded in destroying the only… official… travel portal between the old world and New Pennsylvania. This is true. But we should all be prepared to accept the reality that they would not have done this if they didn’t already have another portal ready and operating. We suspect that this new portal is somewhere beyond the Shelf.”
Bennings sat down in frustration. He sighed deeply and rubbed his face with his hands. “I guess I hadn’t really thought about that with everything going on here. The Transport station in the City was our main means of maintaining the war in both worlds… and now it’s gone.”
Silence reigned for a few moments, and all eyes were on Amos.
“The good news is that we have another portal, too,” he said. He began pacing again, but looked at each Council member in turn as he spoke. “The existence and location of that portal is currently a military secret. I will not divulge it to this council or to any other person at this time.”
Silence.
Bennings stood again. “Either we must win here, or we must win there—in order to guarantee ourselves a future.”
“That is incorrect,” Amos said. “We must win here and there, or we are all finished.”
“Which war is more winnable?” Graham asked.
“This one.”