“I don’t think so. I got it right first time, pal. There’s one fuck of a lot of you. That means you’re running scared.”
“Interpret our emergence how you choose. It is of no relevance to me. Did you wish to surrender?”
“Blunt son of a bitch, ain’t you?”
“I’ve been called many things, that’s one of the milder observations.”
“You killed a lot of people on Arnstat, Admiral.”
“No. You did. You backed us into a position where we had no alternative but to respond appropriately.”
Al grinned brightly. “Like I said, I frightened you. That’s a big tough decision your Assembly must have made, sacrifice an entire planet just to whack me. Taxpayers ain’t gonna like that, no sir. You’re supposed to be protecting them. That’s your duty.”
“I’m very aware of my duty to the Confederation, Mr Capone. I don’t need you to tell me that.”
“Have it whatever way you want. Thing is, I’ve got an offer for you.”
“Go ahead.”
“You’re gonna shoot off a shitload of artillery at us, right. I mean, it’s gonna be like the fucking Alamo in here.”
“You’ll discover my intentions soon enough.”
“We’ve got over a million people up here, more if you count all us poor lost souls; but certainly a million flesh-and-blood bodies. Plenty of women and children, too. I can prove that; there’s stuff my technical guys can send you, lists and records and such. Do you really want to kill them all?”
“No, I do not wish to kill anybody.”
“That’s good, we can talk about that.”
“Talk quickly.”
“Pretty simple; I ain’t gonna jive-ass you. You’ve already decided you’ll give up New California just to get rid of me. Well, I gotta tell you, I’m real flattered. That’s one hell of a price to put on a single guy’s head, you know. So in return, I’m gonna do you a favour. I’ll send all my people down to the planet, all the possessed here in Monterey and the other asteroids, everyone in the fleet, the whole goddamn lot of them. Then when we’re all down on the ground, we’ll take the planet away. This way nobody gets hurt, and you get back all the hostages I’m keeping up here. I’ll even throw in the antimatter as well. How does that grab you, Admiral?”
“It grabs me as fundamentally unbelievable.”
“Hey shit-for-brains, you want a bloodbath that bad and maybe I’ll just give the order to butcher all the hostages right now, before your weapons ever reach us.”
“No. Please don’t. I apologise. What I should have asked was, why? Why are you making this offer?”
Al leaned in closer to the sensor transmitting his image to the Illustrious. “Look, I’m just trying to do what’s right here. You’re going to kill people. Maybe I pushed you into that, maybe not. But now it’s here, I’m trying to stop it, I ain’t no goddamn maniac. So I offer you a way out that leaves both of us looking good.”
“Let me get this straight, you are proposing to ferry every possessed down to the planet, disarm your fleet and hand back the asteroids?”
“Hey, slow but smart. You got it. In return for letting us keep our bodies, we leave and don’t bother you again. That’s it. End of story.”
“Moving that many people down to the planet would take some time.”
“Emmet, my guy, he says about a week.”
“I see. So while my ships sit out here doing nothing, what guarantee can you make that you’re not simply trying to pull another Trafalgar strike against us under cover of this withdrawal?”
Al gave him the look. “That’s fucking low, pal. What’s to stop you shooting when we’re halfway through evacuating and I got fewer ships to give my people covering fire?”
“In other words, we have to trust each other.”
“Bet your ever-loving ass.”
“Very well. My ships will not launch any offensive while your evacuation is in progress. And Mr Capone?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
“No problem. You just be sure and tell everyone back home that I ain’t no cracker-barrel fishball. I got me some style.”
“Of course you have. I wouldn’t be here otherwise.”
Al leaned back in his chair and switched off the super telephone machine. “No, guess you wouldn’t,” he said contentedly.
Jezzibella stood in the bedroom doorway. She wore a blue towelling gown loosely over her green wrappings, helping to make her look slightly more human and not so much like a plastic version of the Tin Man out of Oz.
He shot to his feet. “Hey, you shouldn’t be out of bed.”
“It doesn’t make any difference if I’m lying down or not. The packages work either way.” She walked slowly across the lounge, barely flexing her knees. Lowering herself into the chair was difficult. Al made a real effort not to go over and help, he could see how much doing it all by herself meant. Toughest girl in the galaxy.
“So what have you been doing?” she asked. The voice was muffled through the slit in her mask package.
“Putting a stop to all this crap. My guys, they can scoot down to the planet and get home free.”
“I thought so. That’s very statesmanlike of you, baby.”
“I got a reputation to keep, you know.”
“I know. But Al, what happens when the Confederation finds out how to bring planets back? I mean, that’s what all this was about, wasn’t it? Standing up to them on their home ground.”
He reached over the table and gripped her hands. The fingers were sticking out from the end of the packages, allowing him some genuine contact with her skin. “We lost, Jez. Okay? We were so goddamn good, we lost. Go figure. We frightened them too much. I had to make a choice. The fleet can’t fight this admiral off. No way. So letting the planet go is the smart way to deal with it. The way I see it, my guys get years more living in their bodies. At least. And the Confederation longhairs ain’t gonna risk bringing them back until they’ve found a way of giving us new bodies, or something. They’d just start the whole thing over. Who knows, maybe New California can vanish from the next universe, too. There’s a lot of things can happen. This way, nobody dies, we all win.”
“You’re the best, baby. I knew it right from the start. When do we go down?”
Al squeezed her fingers a little tighter, looking into her face. He could just see her new eyes through the green package, like she was wearing swimming goggles, only they were full of liquid. “You can’t, Jez. Christ, your medical stuff only just works up here. Where New California’s headed, who knows what’s going to go bust. You’re healing up real good now, all the docs say so. But you need more time to get perfect. I ain’t gonna allow nothing to interfere with that.”
“No, Al, I’m going with you.”
“Wrong. I’m staying here. See, we’ll still be together.”
“No.”
“Yeah.” He sat back, and waved an arm round in a gesture that took in the whole asteroid. “Done deal, Jez. Someone’s got to stay here and keep the space weapons going while the guys fly down to the planet. I don’t trust that motherhumping admiral none.”
“Al, you can’t operate the SD platforms. For fuck’s sake, you don’t even know how to work the hotel air conditioner.”
“Yeah. But the admiral don’t know that.”
“They’ll catch you. They’ll expel you from that body. It’ll be the beyond for the rest of time. Please, Al. I’ll work the SD platforms. Be safe. I can live as long as I know you’re safe.”
“You’re forgetting something, Jez: everyone forgets, except maybe good old brown-nose Bernhard. I’m Al Capone. I ain’t scared of the beyond. Never was. Never will be.”
The voidhawk from New California arrived just as First Admiral Aleksandrovich’s flyer touched down. It meant he could walk into the Polity Council meeting primed with some good news—always a good negotiating position to be in.
His first surprise came at the Polity Council chamber door. Jeeta Anwar was waiting outside for the navy delegation.
“The President has asked me to inform you that no aides are required for this session,” she said.