[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
.But most of the rescue work is invisible: telepresentmages at nearby plasm substations scouring the rubble for signs of anyonetrapped in an air pocket, and other mages with the rare and difficult skill ofteleportation stand by to pop any survivors to the nearest hospital.Constantine watches grimly, the collar of his windbreaker turned up as therain falls in a soft mist on his bare head.Disposed about the boat are hisguards, all twisted Cheloki with bony faces like armored black visors, and ledby Marti-nus.They have followed Constantine all these years, from theCheloki Wars on, and they have never failed him.Constantine had not used so many guards until recently.Aiah assumes thattelepresent mages are on guard as well.This business, she reflects, has madeConstantine wary."It will be the Hand sending a message," he says.Drops of rain course downhis face, and he blinks them from his lashes as he speaks."Who else has theplasm to waste? Sorya taught them not to use bombs. Aiah huddles beneath her jacket hood as rain patters on it, a steadypercussion near her ears."What can we do? Constantine tilts his head back, as if to consult with the low clouds.Heopens his mouth and lets the rain refresh him.Then he looks at Aiah, and adangerous light burns in his eyes."I want you to give me a list," Constantine says."Ten Handmen we have notarrested.Not necessarily the highest-ranking, but the worst, and allmarried with large families, preferably.I want their addresses and the namesof their close kin.I want them by the beginning of work shift tomorrow. Aiah's mouth goes dry.Her hand, holding her rain hood closed beneath herchin, begins to tremble."Yes, Metropolitan," she says.He does not correct her use of his old title.Instead he looks at the rubbleof the building.His tone turns meditative."And another list, I think.Every Handman in your files.Names, pictures, current addresses." He looks ather sharply."But that for later.The list of ten, first of all.I wouldsend Great-Uncle Rathmen an answer to his message. INTERFACT PURCHASES WORLDWIDE NEWS, DATAFILESTHE WIRE PROTESTS BIDDINGPROTOCOLSThere are three bombings in the next wave.Three Hand-men arekilled, along with their families.Three Handmen from the list of ten thatPage 86 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlAiah had prepared.The explosions are carefully controlled, and there are noother casualties.After this, the bombings cease entirely.Aiah concludes that Constantine's message has been received.She does not watch the video for days, in order to avoid any pictures of deadchildren, but she finds, regardless, the dead haunting her dreams, a sad andsilent procession, gazing at her with drowned, frozen, reproachful eyes.EIGHTWeeks pass.The Plasm Enforcement Division hones its moves, gathers more data, makes morearrests against increasingly powerless, increasingly desperate opposition.Mercenaries, now dressed in more politically acceptable Shield-gray uniformsinstead of full combat gear, continue to storm the bastions of the SilverHand.Even the police begin to do their bit, rounding up Hand-men on one charge oranother.Not major figures, scarcely anyone ranked above brother, but everyarrest helps.The firing squads continue in their work, though the executions are no longerpublicized, and terse press releases providing just names and the crimes ofwhich the Handmen were convicted are given out instead.It is not work ofwhich anyone is particularly proud.Aiah hears more and more reports of Handmen and their associates who havedecided to leave Caraqui and seek a life elsewhere.The knowledge gives hernothing but satisfaction.Other Handmen turn up with growing frequency in byways and canals, all dead byviolence.Aiah follows these cases in hopes that they may turn out to be asign that the Hand has turned on itself, is warring over the remains of itspower in the absence of its leadership, but the available evi- dence suggeststhis is not so.The members of the Hand are too terrified of the governmentto spend time fighting each other.These bodies are the result of privatevengeance, citizens no longer afraid of the Handmen and considering themselvesfree to act without fear.Aiah supposes that she can't approve.But neither, she decides, can she muchblame the citizens for turning on their persecutors.She spends a certain amount of time compiling a dossier on Gentri.There islittle to discover beyond what is in the public record.She spends some timesurveilling him through telepresence, but it's impossible to monitor him whenhe's at work in the heavily shielded Palace, and otherwise his life seemsunexceptional he works long hours, returns to his family on his off shifts,and if he spends time skulking with Handmen and Keremaths it's when she's notlooking.She doesn't feel comfortable peering in at him this way, and is waryof the consequences should she be discovered.This is Sorya's sort of work, anyway.Rohder arrives in Caraqui, and there is a party to welcome him, but afterwardAiah sees him only rarely, at weekly meetings in which he reports to her andConstantine.He spends his time closeted with engineers and plasm theoristsfrom the university.Eventually Aiah and her entire division hit the wall.Everyone is exhausted,arrests fall off, mistakes are made that result in the wrong doors beingbashed in, the wrong people arrested, military police wandering down the wrongcorridors, the wrong canals.Aiah prevails upon Constantine to declare aten-day amnesty in which people are encouraged to report to the government anystolen plasm they may possess without fear of retaliation, and during whichshe and her department can catch up on their sleep.Unlike the first amnesty, this one produces results.Aiah has the impressionthat people are relieved to give their stolen plasm back."Apparently theguilty knowledge of all that plasm has been weighing heavily upon the thieves'consciences," Constantine remarks.Then a devil's smile dances along hisPage 87 ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmllips, and he adds: "That or the weekly lists of the defunct. It is the fifth day of the amnesty, and Aiah is beginning to regain aninterest in things other than surveillance, arrests, and stolen moments withConstantine.Early second shift she'd actually phoned hermother voluntarily! and spent an hour talking with her."There's some dirty hermit saying things about you," her mother reports."I'm not interested," Aiah says."I want to talk about Henley. Henley is Aiah's sister, and Aiah has a plan for her.Ten years ago Henleyhad been crippled by an Operation street lieutenant who had broken herhands just for the fun of it and afterward arthritis set in, and Henley'sbudding career as a graphic artist had come to an end."I want to buy her some plasm treatments," Aiah says."Straighten the bones,erase the arthritis.I can afford it now
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]