Hillson continued, “All eight soldiers have agreed to be transported to World. You wanted agreement, sir.”
“I did.” Hillson had wanted only orders: This unit is being deployed. But this was hardly a normal deployment.
“Three of them have family members here, who will also go. Of the remaining troops, those whom you are allowing to choose deployment or separation from the service, the division is about fifty-fifty.”
That surprised Jason. He’d expected far fewer to choose World. A sudden pain seared his side; briefly he closed his eyes.
“Sir?”
“Continue, Sergeant. The officers?”
“Major Duncan, of course. Captain Goldman. Lieutenant Li.”
None with a choice; they were all coconspirators.
Hillson continued, “Lieutenant Allen. Lieutenant Parker and some of her nurses. The rest—captains Frazier, Gardner, Vargas, and Sullivan and Major Holbrook—all are staying here. Majors Sullivan and Vargas are furious that you released the birds and that you’re going to destroy the dome. I have a detail loading up scientific equipment onto a FiVee under their direction.”
“Go on,” Jason said.
Hillson spieled off more names, finishing with, “The civilian Awakened are… in a lot of disagreement.”
Of course they were. “Who else will leave?”
“All the aliens, of course.”
Jason would never get Hillson to think of them as anything but aliens. But Jason was relieved that Jane agreed; she might have tried to stay with Colin. But on second thought, perhaps Jane, with her increased insight, understood better than any of them.
“Dr. Jenner and Dr. Farouk agree to go, of course. Also Dr. McKay—his wife and child are both Awakened. He’s not happy, but he’ll go. Also some of the civilian scientists who are not Awakened, and a lot of the civilian base staff. They don’t want to try to live here without the base. A child, Devon James, is still in a coma, and his parents have finally agreed to go with him, but they’re not happy. In total, a hundred and three people have agreed to leave Earth. But some of the Awakened are saying they won’t go.”
“Who are… the holdouts.” Damn, he hadn’t expected to be this tired so soon. It wasn’t as if he hadn’t been shot before, in Congo. But he’d been younger, and hopped up on combat drugs, and not striving to move an entire Army base off-planet.
Hillson said, “Holdouts among the Awakened are two Settlers, one parent of a Settler girl still in coma, and Dr. Steffens.”
That shocked him. “Toni Steffens?”
“Yes, sir. She wants to stay here and continue her bird experiments. And to keep her wife here. The wife is in a coma.”
Jason thought rapidly. He hated the only alternative he saw. Toni Steffens was so intelligent, so stubborn, so commanding that Jason would have hated to face her in battle. But she could not stay. “Have her straitjacketed by force, and then drugged. Get Holbrook to do it, on my orders, with whatever troops it takes. She gets put on the ship, along with Nicole.”
“Yes, sir. Dr. Patel wants to stay here. She wants to go with the new Settlement your brother is planning.”
A loss. But Jason had allowed the choice, Claire had not been in a v-coma, and Colin’s people would need a doctor.
Hillson said, “Your father is going with the new Settlement, too.”
Expected.
Hillson coughed. “I haven’t talked to Dr. Ross.”
“Dr. Ross has agreed to go with us.”
Hillson nodded. “Yes, sir. About the Settler child in v-coma and her parents…”
“They have to go. Put the kid aboard the ship under armed guard and the parents will board. The other two Settlers get the same treatment as Dr. Steffens.” Colin was going to have a fit. Jason didn’t like it, either; he was kidnapping two families. But he had no choice. “Do it as quietly as you can, Hillson. And as soon as you can.”
“Yes, sir.”
“Good job, Hillson. Has the… Return… landed?”
“Should I get the doctor? You’re—”
“I’m… fine. The ship?”
“She’s landed, sir. Supplies are being loaded. The deserters… sorry, sir, the evacuees are being given transport and supplies and weapons. They leave tomorrow.”
“Good. Hillson… you didn’t name yourself.”
Hillson straightened, which would have seemed impossible given that he was already straighter than a rifle barrel. His homely face looked even more wooden than usual. “I go with the United States Army, sir.”
Cold slid down Jason’s spine. “Which army? Staying or going?”
“You are my CO, sir. You are deploying this unit. I go where you send me.”
“Thank you,” Jason said, and Hillson scowled at the breach of protocol, the gross violation of chain of command, as he had not outright scowled at any of the other fantastic and unprecedented things Jason had said so far.
Lindy bustled in, took one look at Jason, and said to Hillson, “Out. Now.”
Jason said, “I have people to—”
“No, you don’t. Not yet. I shouldn’t have even allowed Hillson in. Bye, Sergeant.”
Jason managed, “Dismissed.” Hillson would carry out all his orders. So would Elizabeth Duncan and the rest of his officers. But—
“You can’t control everything,” Lindy said. “Isn’t it enough that you’re bringing off this insane plan?”
“I need… a drug to stay awake.”
“No,” Lindy said. “You need to sleep.”
Against his will, he did.
When he woke again, it was the next day. Had Lindy given him something in his IV that made him sleep? He would have been furious with her if it would have done any good, but it wouldn’t. And Jason did feel stronger. Hillson reported that the convoys leaving the base were nearly ready to roll. “Convoys?” Jason said. “Plural?”
“Yes, sir. Major Duncan authorized it. One is heading south, to join the convoy from Fort Hood. Mostly military and their families, with some base civilians. They have transport and weapons. The other convoy has Settlers, some military, and a lot of base civilians. Colin Jenner will found a new village of some kind. They’re heading up into the mountains, to someplace able to be defended, and Major Duncan equipped them with most of the supplies not put aboard the Return and most of the transport.”
Colin had accepted military? And considering defense? “Are they equipped with weapons?”
“Yes, sir.”
Well, well. The mountain finally recognizes the reality of avalanches.
“Is the Return on schedule for departure?”
“Ahead of schedule, sir. Major Duncan wants to see you. Also Mr. Jenner.”
“The major first.”
Elizabeth Duncan entered. Jason said, “Major?”
“Operation is proceeding smoothly, sir. Both convoys to depart in a few hours. Prisoners are aboard the Return drugged and under guard: Private Porter, Dr. Steffens—”
Jason said sharply, “Only Porter is a prisoner.”
“Yes, sir. Sorry, sir. All the Awakened except Dr. Jenner are aboard, and so are the v-coma patients, including the parents of the Settler child. They’re under guard, too, but not drugged. The Settlers fought the two families’ removal, sir, but no one was injured. Lieutenant Li has loaded the signal station equipment. Loading everything else proceeds. So does ship modification for time during the flight.”
Jason didn’t ask what modifications she meant; it didn’t matter. If the trip to World was like the voyage of the Return here, they wouldn’t be in space very long.