What was under that mask? Was there a man in there making all those whirlwind decisions? Falkenberg dominated every situation he fell into, and a man like that wanted more than money. The vision of Falkenberg seated at a desk pronouncing dooms on her people haunted her still.
And yet. There was more. A warrior leader of warriors who had won the adoration of uneducated privates-and men like Jeremy Savage as well. She'd never met anyone like him.
"I'll do it." She smiled and walked across the room to stand next to him. "I don't know why, but I'll do it. Have you got any friends, John Christian Falkenberg?"
The question startled him. Automatically he answered. "Command can have no friends, Miss Horton."
She smiled again. "You have one now. There's a condition to my offer. From now on, you call me Glenda Ruth. Please?"
A curious smile formed on the soldier's face. He regarded her with amusement, but there was something more as well. "It doesn't work, you know."
"What doesn't work?"
"Whatever you're trying. Like me, you've command responsibilities. It's lonely, and you don't like that. The reason command has no friends, Glenda Ruth, is not merely to spare the commander the pain of sending friends to their death. If you haven't learned the rest of it, learn it now, because some day you'll have to betray either your friends or your command, and that's a choice worth avoiding."
What am I doing? Am I trying to protect the revolution by getting to know him better-or is he right, I've no friends either, and he's the only man I ever met who could be- She let the thought fade out, and laid her hand on his for a brief second. "Let's go tell Governor Silana, John Christian. And let the little girl worry about her own emotions, will you? She knows what she's doing."
He stood next to her. They were very close and for a moment she thought he intended to kiss her. "No, you don't."
She wanted to answer, but he was already leaving the room and she had to hurry to catch him.
IX
"I say we only gave the Fedsymp traitors what they deserved!" Jack Silana shouted. There was a mutter of approval from the delegates, and open cheers in the bleachers overlooking the gymnasium floor. "I have great respect for Glenda Ruth, but she is not old Joshua," Silana continued. "Her action in removing me from a post given by President Bannister was without authority. I demand that the Council repudiate it." There was more applause as Silana took his seat.
Glenda Ruth remained at her seat for a moment. She looked carefully at each of the thirty men and women at the horseshoe table, trying to estimate just how many votes she had. Not a majority, certainly, but perhaps a dozen. She wouldn't have to persuade more than three or four to abandon the Bannister-Silana faction, but what then? The bloc she led was no more solid than Bannister's coalition. Just who would govern the Free States?
More men were seated on the gymnasium floor beyond the council table. They were witnesses, but their placement at the focus of the Council's attention made it look as if Falkenberg and his impassive officers might be in the dock. Mayor Hastings sat with Falkenberg, and the illusion was heightened by the signs of harsh treatment he'd received. Some of his friends looked even worse.
Beyond the witnesses the spectators chattered among themselves as if this were a basketball game rather than a solemn meeting of the supreme authority for three quarters of New Washington. A gymnasium didn't seem a very dignified place to meet anyway, but there was no larger hall in Astoria Fortress.
Finally she stood. "No, I am not my father," she began. "He would have had Jack Silana shot for his actions!"
"Give it to 'em, Glenda Ruth!" someone shouted from the balcony.
Howard Bannister looked up it surprise. "We will have order here!"
"Hump it, you Preston Bay bastard!" the voice replied. The elderly rancher was joined by someone below. "Damn right, Ford Heights don't control the Valley!" There were cheers at that.
"Order! Order!" Bannister's commands drowned the shouting as the technicians turned up the amplifiers to full volume. "Miss Horton, you have the floor."
"Thank you. What I was trying to say is that we did not start this revolution to destroy New Washington! We must live with the Loyalists once it is over, and-"
"Fedsymp! She was engaged to a Feddie soldier!"
"Shut up and let her talk!" "Order! ORDER!"
Falkenberg sat motionless as the hall returned to silence and Glenda Ruth tried to speak again. "Bloody noisy lot," Jeremy Savage murmured.
Falkenberg shrugged. "Victory does that to politicians."
Glenda Ruth described the conditions she'd seen in Allansport. She told of the burned-out city, hostages herded into jail cells-
"Serves the Fedsymps right!" someone interrupted, but she managed to continue before her supporters could answer.
"Certainly they are Loyalists. Over a third of the people in the territory we control are. Loyalists are a majority in the capital city. Will it help if we persecute their friends here?"
"We won't ever take the capital the way we're fighting!"
"Damn right! Time we moved on the Feddies."
"Send the mercenaries in there, let 'em earn the taxes we pay!"
This time Bannister made little effort to control the crowd. They were saying what he had proposed to the Council, and one reason he supported Silana was because he needed the governor's merchant bloc with him on the war issue. After the crowd had shouted enough about renewing the war, Bannister used the microphone to restore order and let Glenda Ruth speak.
The Council adjourned for the day without deciding anything. Falkenberg waited for Glenda Ruth and walked out with her. "I'm glad we didn't get a vote today," she told him. "I don't think we'd win."
"Noisy beggars," Major Savage observed again.
"Democracy at work," Falkenberg said coldly. "What do you need to convince the Council that Silana is unfit as a governor?"
"That's not the real issue, John," she answered. "It's really the war. No one is satisfied with what's being done."
"I should have thought we were doing splendidly," Savage retorted. "The last Confederate thrust into the Matson ran into your ambush as planned."
"Yes, that was brilliant," Glenda Ruth said.
"Hardly. It was the only possible attack route," Falkenberg answered. "You're very quiet, Mayor Hastings." They had left the gymnasium and were crossing the parade ground to the barracks where the Friedlanders had been quartered. Falkenberg's troops had it now, and they kept the Allansport officials with them.
"I'm afraid of that vote," Hastings said. "If they send Silana back, we'll lose everything."
"Then support me!" Falkenberg snapped. "My engineers already have the automated factories and mills in reasonable shape. With some help from you they'd be running again. Then I'd have real arguments against Silana's policies."
"But that's treason," Hastings protested. "You need the Allansport industry for your war effort. Colonel, it's a hell of a way to thank you for rescuing my family from that butcher, but I can't do it."
"I suppose you're expecting a miracle to save you?" Falkenberg asked.
"No. But what happens if you win? How long will you stay on the Ranier Peninsula? Bannister's people will be there one of these days-Colonel, my only chance is for the Confederacy to bring in Franklin troops and crush the lot of you!"
"And you'll be ruled from Franklin," Glenda Ruth said. "They won't give you as much home rule as you had last time."
"I know," Roger said miserably. "But what can I do? This revolt ruined our best chance. Franklin might have been reasonable in time-I was going to give good government to everyone. But you finished that."
"All of Franklin's satraps weren't like you, Roger," Glenda Ruth said, "and don't forget their war policies! They'd have got us sucked into their schemes and eventually we'd have been fighting the CoDominium itself. Colonel Falkenberg can tell you what it's like to be victim of a CD punitive expedition!"