“People, intelligence is a weapon. It is the most formidable weapon there is. Intelligence lets us create ever more effective weapons, ever more effective strategies to perceive and exploit our enemies’ weaknesses. Intelligence—in both uses of the words, information and smartness—is what wins wars.
“We can’t let New America win the United States. We can’t let those among the enemy who possess that special gene become more intelligent. That means we can’t let them be exposed to those among us who are v-coma carriers.”
Dead silence.
Jason continued, “This means we can’t ever, ever allow any of the Awakened to be exposed to anyone in New America. Nor can we allow anyone from New America access to the domes of Monterey Base. Because although we know that those of you who never went into v-comas are free of virophage by now, there are still dormant spores of the virophage in the domes. They’re apparently just as tough as R. sporii.
“I repeat, enhanced intelligence is a weapon. We can’t leave that weapon to New America. What we can leave, what we are leaving, is a planet that somewhere down the road will be free of RSA. But neither the Awakened nor the domes must remain where New America can get at them.”
Someone in the crowd yelled, “Kill all the Awakened!”
Jason did not see who yelled, but the shout was taken up by a few others. J Squad drew their weapons. Jason shouted, “There will be no killing!”
He saw Colin jerk his chair to shield Jane. Marianne continued to gaze directly at Jason. Hillson, with the agility of a much younger man, had climbed to the roof the FiVee cab, directly behind his commander, assault rifle on his shoulder.
Jason said, “Here is what we will do. Listen carefully, because most of you will have a choice to make. Three days from now, the Return, the World spaceship, will go back to World, who owns it. Every single Awakened will be on it. No exceptions. The rest of you may also choose to travel to World, or you may choose to stay here. However, the domes will be destroyed.”
Gasps. There was only one known way to destroy an alien dome.
“If you choose to stay on Earth, you must leave Monterey Base tomorrow. Civilians will be provided with FiVees, supplies, tech, some weapons. You can return to the Settlement dome if you choose, although I don’t recommend it because New America will attack there again and you will be vulnerable to siege.
“Army troops have four choices. You may come on the spaceship to World, under my continuing command. You may separate from the army and accompany civilians. You may stay with this battalion, which will now be commanded by Major Mainwaring, and will move into the mountains. Or you may join a convoy now on its way here from Fort Hood, although I should tell you that I believe Fort Hood to be under an unstable military dictatorship. All of those choices are more physically dangerous than accompanying us to World, but the decision is yours, except for the Awakened.”
It was Ryan, his usually meek and depression-prone father, who called out loudly, “‘Us’? Are you going on the ship to World?”
“Yes,” Jason said. “I am. So is Major Duncan, Captain Goldman, Lieutenant Li, and others.” All his coconspirators. “I urge you all to come with me to World, but I will not issue orders even to the soldiers among you. The decision is yours.”
Someone called, “You’re going to nuke the domes?”
Chaos erupted. Before anyone in the crowd was hurt—Jason hoped—a single shot was fired, echoing in the enclosed area. I’m hit, Jason thought a nanosecond before the pain started. A second shot, close on the first. Jason toppled forward off the hood of the FiVee. What son a bitch got a gun in here to—
Then he landed on the heads and shoulders and arms of people below, and knew no more.
CHAPTER 24
Zack thrust Caitlin into Susan’s arms and pushed himself forward to shield them both. But there were no more gunshots. Caitlin screamed; everyone screamed, it sounded like. The McKays stood near the open internal airlock, and Zack shoved Susan into the stream of panicked people. “Go! Go!”
“Zack—”
“I’ll be all right! Go! Take her to…” The lab might be attacked. Anywhere might be attacked if there was some sort of insane riot against the Awakened. But all at once one of Jenner’s J Squad was there, strong arms opening a passage for Susan.
“I’ve got her, Doctor.”
For one terrible moment, Zack thought: And what if you’re with the gunman? But, no, this was J Squad, Jenner’s personal Praetorian Guard, as Toni called them. Toni—
“Go!” Susan shouted, and he didn’t have to tell her where he needed to go. She knew. Susan always knew him. He let the soldier usher his wife and child to safety as he turned to fight against the crowd, toward the FiVee.
It was like trying to pole upstream in rapids, but he got there. Jenner, surrounded by grim soldiers, lay on the ground. Holbrook bent over him—or at least Zack thought he did. Jenner was not Zack’s goal.
Toni stood in a narrow passage between the FiVee and the armory wall. A soldier on the vehicle roof pointed his rifle at Zack, whose heart stopped. But then the soldier recognized him and nodded. Zack slipped behind the truck.
“Toni! You all right?”
“Nicole? Will they attack the infirmary? Will they—”
“Jenner’s men seem to have it under control. They took Susan and Caity to safety, they’ll protect everybody at risk… are you okay?”
“Yes. Jenner?”
“I don’t know.”
She said, “I was on the cab to answer questions, and then he fell and I jumped back here. I saw J Squad take down the gunman but I didn’t see any more. I think he might have acted alone.”
Relief flooded Zack, even though Toni could be mistaken; what did she know about the mood of Monterey Base? This was her first time out of the lab since she’d awakened. The lab…
“Toni—why? The birds—”
“Jenner told you why he released them. He’s right.”
Words that, coming from Toni, were almost as shocking as Jenner’s own. Her deep brown eyes caught and held his.
“Zack, he was right to release the birds. We were right.”
“The whole ecology will be wrecked!”
“Changed, not wrecked.”
“Wrecked. At least, in the short run.”
“We were thinking long run,” Toni said, and from her tone, Zack knew that the subject was closed. He knew, too, that Jenner’s plan would be rammed through, even if Jenner himself was dead. Major Duncan and J Squad and whoever else Jenner had brought into his strategy would make sure of that. The gene-drive birds had been released; the domes with remaining virophage spores would be nuked; the Awakened, if no one else, would go aboard the Return to the stars.
Wherever Susan and Caitlin went, Zack would go, too.
His breath caught at the thought. A spaceship, a new planet, they would have to have all their microbes changed, what did he remember about World, a K-something orange dwarf star…
Toni said, “I’m going to find out if the colonel is dead.”
And an alliance, however temporary, between Toni Steffens and Colonel Jason Jenner, US Army. That might be the strangest thing of all.
When there was no more gunfire after the first shot, panic subsided a little. Soldiers funneled everyone out of the armory. As the crowd thinned, Jane looked for Colin. Two soldiers had pushed Jane, her father, La^vor, and Belok^ into a corner and stood in front of them, guns raised, to protect them. But no one tried to hurt them, and when the armory was almost empty, Jane said to the back of one of her protectors, “Can I go now?”