Part 16 (2/2)

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN.

2:45 p.m.

”Keep them out!”

The cry rang out across the crowd like a profanity at a wedding. Barney studiously ignored it as she patrolled the perimeter of her allocated area - nodding at fellow officers, smiling at children, making her presence felt in a dozen small ways. The best way, she knew, to prevent sticky situations was simply to be there. Not only would it have been impossible to silence every dissenting voice, but it might even have been counter-productive. Many a gathering had inflamed into riot as a result of overzealous policing.

She only hoped that being there would be enough. The crowd had begun showing signs of restlessness half an hour earlier, as three o'clock drew near.

Bunched against the Gate, it spilled along the main road into the city like water behind a dam. All in all, perhaps twenty thousand people had turned up to watch the arrival of the RUSAMC. The straight, grey line of the eastern arterial freeway split the ma.s.s of heads in two, aimed like an arrow for the centre of the Rosette. The road was lined with RSD officers, plus several squads of MSA troops, conspicuous in their black uniforms.

Although the occasional anti-Rea.s.similation cry did nothing to ease the tension, the greatest threat came is small-time agitators eager to create a stir. Groups dotted the crowd, jostling people nearby 44 for something to do. Easily bored, yet easily [email protected] by novelty in a city where nothing had for decades, they waited just as nervously as the Ia4c around them. Occasionally this nervousness itself in short-lived squabbles that needed to be V with quickly before they developed into anything serious.

She kept one hand at her side at all times, within easy 11, of her radio. If there were serious troublemakers WM- there, she would be ready. She also kept a close eye for anyone in an overcoat, sungla.s.ses and hat, half- . -7 a glimpse of bright redskin burning under the sunlight. If Cati did appear, she had no idea what she . possibly do to stop him. Neither she nor her squad Was armed with anything more deadly than a baton. I At two fifty-five, a m.u.f.fled cheer went up from the people closest to the Wall. The cheer echoed through the crowd, returned stronger than before from those further 7 up the road, then died. A false alarm, Barney a.s.sumed, noting that the people watching from rooftops nearby - and therefore able to see over the Wall - had failed to take up the cry.

Yet, regardless, her pulse quickened. She was as human as the rest, just as unsure about what the Reunited States might do to the city in which she had lived her entire life. Stedman's arrival would bring Rea.s.similation one step closer. Once he was here, there would be no turning back.

And once the RUSAMC was in the city, Roads' time would be almost up. He ha a ready lost the cases - regardless of his stubborn pursuit of Cati. Given the Reunited States' firm stand on blomodifications, a Humanity Trial would not be far behind.She wondered how she would have felt if her father had been in his shoes. No less confused, certainly. Everything she had taken for granted had been turned upside down in less than twenty-four hours.

Taking a deep breath, and trying not to think about the future, Barney settled back on her heels to wait.

At exactly three o'clock, a stronger cry went up as the Wall's automatic defence systems were deactivated. Warning lights that had flashed upon its summit for as long as she could remember suddenly died along the arc before her. The background hum of generators gradually ebbed and died. - Without consciously realising it, Barney inched forward to find a better vantage-point. As she did so, she became aware of a new sensation. Like a subsonic, the faint rumbling eluded her actual hearing, making its presence felt in the bones of her skull instead. Puzzled, she glanced around her, catching the eye of one of her squad. ”That's something I haven't heard for years,” he said, sticking a finger in his ear. ”What is it?” ”Heavy machinery, acoustically-dampened.” The officer took off his cap and brushed back his grey hair. ”And lots of it.”

Barney turned back to the Gate, wis.h.i.+ng she was with the MSA guards on top of the Wall. The sound set her teeth on edge. More than anything she wanted to see - and feared - what was waiting Outside to be let in.

Then, silently beneath the rumble and the buzz of voices, the Gate swung open, sliding on runners still smooth after years of disuse. The gap widened metre by metre until it reached its full twenty-metre extension. And when the way was clear, the vanguard of the RUSAMC convoy entered the city.

crowd fell back as one in the face of what before it. First came four pairs of anti-tank V, launchers. Ma.s.sive, six-wheeled machines a dark olive, they crept forward like insects at a walking pace, completely automated. The stings of C4.Imissiles pointed to the horizon over the heads of 4 @i- crowd; a variety of optical sensors mounted on their flanks impa.s.sively regarded the sea of people,

41.

for possible targets. Next came -person nel carriers, each carrying fifty ONIGM-Irelt4d.. The RUSAMC troops stood firmly to saluting the crowd. Their uniforms were =1 khaki, as they had been a century ago; only a 4,, slight changes, that no doubt meant a great deal, WMI-Mr M-- o the soldiers of this army from those of the 001.1 that had preceded it.

There followed an impressive variety of combat craft: ground-effect skimmers mounted with machine-guns; jeeps loaded with anti-aircraft sh.e.l.ls; tanks armed with pulse-lasers and sonics; ground-to-air hybrids that looked part-jeep, part-helicopter; and many others outside Barney's experience. Troops rode in the vehicles or marched alongside them, as disciplined as the machinery they accompanied.

Barney watched in awe as the procession rumbled by. The Reunited States of America Military Corps had arrived in style - she couldn't argue with that.

She had expected an army of refurbished left-overs from the old regime, not this bewildering display of newly-minted weaponry. Kennedy Polis wouldn't last a day against the might of such an invading force.

Of course, she reminded himself, this was exactly the point General Stedman was trying to make.

Barney noted with surprise that General Stedman himself hadn't appeared. She would have expected thefigurehead of a peaceful invasion to ride in an open vehicle at the fore.

Perhaps, she thought, his absence implied a lack of confidence, or trust.

Either way, it was a slightly ominous sign.

Gradually, the initial display of brute force mellowed into one more sophisticated. Unarmed troops marched in file, flanked by security androids.

Spindly snipers barely as tall as an average person dodged and weaved among the troops, nimble and well-coordinated on two legs, their red ”eyes”

flickering and darting. Surveillance robots dodged between marching feet like skinny, sixlegged rabbits, startling adults and delighting children by occasionally ducking into their midst.

Robots. Barney hadn't expected such advanced technology even in her wildest dreams - although with biomodification outlawed,there was a tactical niche to be filled. If people couldn't be given the capabilities of machines, a machine with the manoeuvrability of a human was the logical alternative.

But not even the old USA could have built Als with the required sophistication small enough to fit into the cranial cavity of one of the ”rodents”. Each robot would be linked to some sort of central processor, she guessed - a separate vehicle. She kept a careful eye out for such a control van, keen to grasp even the slightest weakness to this overpoweringly superior force. It would be large, probably covered in antennae and, by its very nature, vulnerable. If someone were to destroy the centre, the robotic proportion of the RUSAMC would be effectively wiped out.

It was a comforting hope that the force arrayed before her might have some weakness, no matter how small.

The procession of troops ended suddenly. The tramp of boots faded, leaving another peculiar sound in its wake: a buzzing, the rasp of a distant chainsaw. The crowd %Ilrq =1 to itself, curious to see what was coming. Nma it finally arrived, Barney's air of cautious _M4 Shattered, leaving her unsure what to think. P Roje;z.- vehicles glided through the Gate. All three were M*Mt;m and painted a dull black; a circular coat of N [email protected] in blue and gold was their only decoration. The h ;i-twu were no larger than tanks and might have been The third was as large as a moderate a chain of linked structures similar to a desert riftwot, There were no antennae to be seen, but Barney A nonetheless that this was the control van. It C ompletely undefended. Most incredible of all was the fact that none of the Ww appeared to have any means of propulsion.

spines pointed downward and at odd angles from belly of each craft; strange energies stirred the dust tii the road beneath. The nasal buzzing grew louder as approached. All three vehicles floated one metre above the earth. The crowd fell silent. As Barney watched, a hatch on the top of the foremost ”caravan”

opened and a familiar face rose into view: General Stedman, the leader of the RUSAMC envoy, at last. He was an imposing figure, even from a distance: at least two metres high and solidly built, he possessed a full head of grey hair and light-brown, weathered skin; his face was stern behind its smile. Barney sensed indefatigability radiating from the man.

The General nodded in greeting at the crowd around him and raised a hand to wave. Half the crowd cheered; more than a few remained speechless. Only a small proportion dared to boo.

One of these latter, taking the unenviable role of David in the face of such an invincible Goliath, actuallythrew a rock. The stone, larger than Barney's fist, arced through the air toward the control van. ”Kick them out!”

Stedman's eyes followed the stone, unconcerned. Had it continued unchecked, it would have missed the General by a metre or so and struck the hull of the van.

Instead, it was suddenly deflected downward into the ground by an invisible force, and shattered harmlessly into fragments.

The crowd stirred. A squad of RSD officers moved in to apprehend the rock-thrower. Stedman, untouchable behind the invisible defences of the control van, smiled more widely and began to wave.

Only then, as the caravan drifted past, did Barney remember her promise to call Roads. ”Phil?” she subvocalised. ”Are you watching this?”

A moment pa.s.sed before he replied, his voice m.u.f.fled but clear through the cyberlink: ”No. I've been busy. What's happening?”

Not sure whether he would believe her, she described the arrival of the RUSAMC at the city gates. When she reached the floating vehicles that had just pa.s.sed, she realised she lacked the words to summarise it accurately.

”Field-effects,” supplied Roads. ”Force feedback, levitation, boundary-blurring, whatever. You can use them to do anything from float a house to make its walls invisible - even build it out of energy alone, if you like. The technology was talked about during the War, although I never saw it in actibn.” ”And that's what they're using?” Barney shook her head. ”If you'd told me, I wouldn't have believed you. I never dreamed such things existed.”

”They might not have, until now. Stedman or his predecessors must've dug the plans out of the old bunkers.”

ure, 'Thank G.o.d. I was half-expecting you to say: 'S were everywhere when I was a kid. Every home had ”No. Not at all. We -Hang on.” A group of people were trying to rush IT;; cordon to follow the procession up the road. Barney the squad to force them back, noting the in the eyes of the citizens of Kennedy, the 61. fearful stare - even in those who weren't She didn't blame them. The unruly group didn't put up much of a fight. When the cordon was secure again, the crowd began to A couple approached the Gate to peer Outside. pursued them to request that they fall back, and to take a quick look herself. All she saw was the rutted remains of the highway and a green plain rolling off into the distance.

”Sorry.” Barney returned her attention to the cyberlink. ”After all this waiting, I almost expected to be disappointed. I simply had no idea ”None of us did,” Roads said. ”And - Christ! I thought I was going to die when he stuck his head out of the control van, or whatever it ”Stedman. I just knew something bad was going to happen. I could feel it in the crowd. I kept thinking of Cati, and of what a big target El Generalissimo had made of himself.” She snorted, then explained the ease with which the rock had been deflected. ”What a b.l.o.o.d.y joke. You might as well give up now.” ”I think I see your point. If Cati can kill Stedman, then what chance do we have of catching him? And if Cati tries and fails, then the States are quite capable of dealing with him themselves. Right?””Spot on. Better to quit while you're ahead, Phil.” ”Nice try, but sorry.

Machines are just machines. They have to be powered somehow. Field-effects - and robots, for that matter - will be thirsty; Stedman will have to turn them off eventually. Anyway, he's going to have to leave the control van to meet the Mayor. What about when he's inside Mayor's House?”

<script>