Lise, DM Arnold [bearly read books .TXT] 📗

backpack.

“Tagg! What are you doing here?”

“Waiting. I have a mission.” He opened his pack, withdrew a lump of charcoal and began blackening his face with it.

“What mission?”

“We're going to blow up the Quadrant Four Safety Building.”

“WHAT?”

“You heard what I said.”

“The constables?”

“Precisely.” He took a brick-shaped object from his pack. “I have fifty kilos of high explosive here.”

“Where did you get that?”

“From Mott. He supplied it. We're going to show them we're a force to be reckoned with.”

“Don't do this, Tagg. This isn't the way. None of this is the way.”

“It's the only way, Lise.”

“Tagg -- if you do this, it's over between us. I won't have anything to do with it or with you.”

“Too late. It's going to be glorious, Lise. First we set charges on the security pylons that watch the Zone. Those are going down, one after another. That'll draw the deputies out of the Safety Building. We'll go in and BOOM! I'm in charge of one of the pylons. We assemble as soon as curfew sounds.” The warning chimes reverberated across the city. “Not long, now! See you later, Lise.”

Tagg packed the block into his pack and headed up the steps.

“Mother! Father!” Lise yelled.

“What is it?” Grott came from his room.

“It's Tagg -- They're going to bomb the Safety Building. You've got to stop him.”

Grott grabbed his length of pipe and headed up the steps. He returned a short time later. “No sign of him.”

“Use your mediascreen,” Lise said. “Call the constables and warn them.”

She grabbed it. “Low battery,” she said. “I was using it all afternoon to follow the news and didn't have the charger.”

The curfew siren wailed. “Shall we risk breaking curfew to warn them?” Lise asked.

“No,” Grott replied. “We'll just have to let this play out.”

Lise paced around the basement, chewing her lip. “How much longer?”

It wasn't much longer. She felt the concussion a split-second before hearing the blast. Then another and another -- six in all, followed by the wail of sirens.

“That was Tagg's doing?” Grott asked.

“I ... I'm afraid so.”

Grott shook his head. “I don't know what thrall this Mott holds over the young ones.”

Then, there was a flash in the sill windows, followed by a grunting thud and a blast that shook the foundation and dislodged dust and bits of concrete.

“A force to be reckoned with, are they? Now we'll see who's a force to be reckoned with.”

XV

Dawn twilight began to fill the basement through the sill windows. Then came an unfamiliar sound -- the whine of turbines. Lise jumped up and peered out the window. She saw trucks.

“They've opened the main barricade,” Grott said.

“The one closing off the Zone from the rest of the city?” Rayla asked.

“Yes.”

Amplified announcements could be heard. “Attention. The city of Vyonna is now under a state of emergency. A dusk-to-dawn curfew is now in effect. All registered novonids living within the Green Zone must report to their owners by sundown tomorrow.” The announcement repeated itself.

“Report to our owners?” Rayla said.

“In my case,” Lise replied, “it's Novonid Rescue. That must mean Thom Bromen.”

“I suspect we should pack some clothes.”

“Mother -- make sure you bring your mediascreen and the charger. Keep the battery charged.” Lise grabbed some shorts and bandeaus and packed them into a polymer sack. She pulled her stash of scrip cards from under her mattress. “Here...” She handed some to her parents. “In case you need it.” She pocketed the rest and took the card with Megan's call number.

“Let's go,” Grott said.

The three of them headed toward the gate leading to the bus stop. A crowd was there, but this time it was of constable's deputies in full riot gear holding long arms. A growing line of novonids waited to pass through the gate.

Lise reached the checkpoint. A deputy keyed in her registration number. “Novonid Rescue. What the f....”

“Thom, Lord Bromen,” Lise replied.

“Bromen... Okay, find your bus.”

She turned and saw Grott and Rayla speaking with deputies. Her mother was arguing with one. He was blocking her path with his baton.

“What's the matter?” Lise asked.

“He ... he said my number is invalid!”

“Go on ... back into the Zone.”

Lise looked at her stepfather. “You'd better find your bus,” she said. “When I see Thom I'll tell him about this. He'll know what to do.”

Grott nodded and squeezed Lise's shoulder.

Lise embraced Rayla. It was the first time she could recall seeing fear in her mother's eyes. “Don't worry, Mother. Thom will know what to do. Hang onto your mediascreen. Keep it charged up and I'll be in touch.”

Rayla turned and headed back toward the courtyard. Lise crossed the street and waited for the inbound coach. It pulled to the corner and she hopped onto the platform at the back.

She regarded the factories along the route, now deserted because of the state of emergency. The bus entered the curve approaching Thom's house. She pressed the stop request. This time it worked and the bus pulled to the side of the road.

Lise hopped off and mounted the steps to the promontory. Thom's red roadster sat in the drive. She rang the bell.

Thom opened the door. “Lise! What are you doing here?”

“They're evacuating the Zone,” she replied. “We've been ordered to go to our owners. Since that's Novonid Rescue in my case, and since...”

“Fine, fine. Come in. Lise -- I'm sorry, but I'm awfully busy right now. Make yourself at home.”

“Thom... My mother was turned back into the zone.”

“What?”

“They're turning all unregistereds back into the Zone. They couldn't find my mother's number on the register.”

Thom cradled his head in his hand. “Lise -- I really have more important things to do right now.”

“More important than helping my mother?”

“What's her number?” Lise jotted it onto a polycard. Thom manipulated his mediscreen. “I don't see it here.”

“That can't be right,” Lise replied. “She's been registered for years.”

“Who's her owner?”

“I can't recall the name. He's the same as my stepfather's.”

“Do you have his number?” Lise jotted it on the card. “Let's see... Yes, here's Grott. I'll cross reference his owner... Rayla, right?”

“Yes!”

“Here she is. For some reason the number never transferred to the registry master list. I'll open a trouble call...” He manipulated his screen. “There ... Someone in BSS administration will take care of it.”

“Thank you, Thom. I knew you'd know what to do. I'll call Mother. How long will it take to fix it?”

“A few days.”

“A few days? They said the Zone had to be evacuated by sundown tomorrow!”

“Lise... I've done what I can.”

“Can anyone look up the registry?”

“Yes...” He pointed to the screen. “You request the BSS directory and it's under Registry. Now, I really have other things to deal with. If you'll excuse me...”

“Can I use your mediphone?”

“Go ahead, but keep it short.”

She punched in her mother's call number. “Mother ... It's Lise. It was a mix-up with the registry. Thom has put in a request to have it fixed. He said it could take a day or two.”

“Thank goodness it was only that,” Rayla replied. “I was afraid... Lise -- they're turning more of us back into the Zone. Folks are getting worried.”

“Thom's busy but I'll speak to him about it. He needs to make calls and I need to call Megan. I'll speak to you later, Mother.”

“Okay, Lise.”

She pulled the card with Megan's number from her shorts and keyed it in. The call connected. “Megan -- it's Lise.”

“Lise -- are you all right?”

“Yes, but we've been ordered to our owners.”

“It's okay, Lise. My factory is shut due to the state of emergency. I'm happy to hear you're all right. I heard about the explosions in your quadrant.”

“Lise,” Thom said, “Do you mind?”

She looked up at Thom. “Someone needs to use this, Megan. I'll keep in touch.” She terminated the call. “Thom... What about everyone else who's being sent back into the Zone?”

“I know about it... I'm doing what I can.”

“Are you working with the authorities for a solution?”

“Yes, Lise.”

She let out a sigh of relief. “Good. I feel better, now. I'm sure with your influence you'll get it resolved.” She walked behind his chair, draped her arms around his shoulders and kissed his neck. He caressed her forearm.

“Lise ... I have to ask you to stay on the upper level of the house. I'll have meetings and the like downstairs. You can use the guest bedroom on the second level.”

“You don't want me sharing your bed? I'll be happy to.”

“My schedule is going to be crazy for the next few days.” He squirmed from under her arms. “Please, Lise... I must get this work done.”

“Okay... May I use the terrace?”

“Go ahead, Lise.”

“I'll get some sun.” She rubbed her arms. “I've been feeling a bit sun-hungry lately.”

She stepped out onto the terrace and looked down. She could see the constable's trucks patrolling the main streets of the Zone, and the crowd of novonids waiting to pass through the checkpoints. Her eye scanned rightward, toward the woods of native cycads. Then she looked toward the horizon and saw where the city ended and a savanna of wild pomma grew. In the distance she could make out some of Varada's fauna, grazing on the pomma heads.

Lise strolled the terrace. Concrete planters, long neglected were overgrown with trash plants. She stepped inside.

“Thom -- I like being busy in the sun. Would you mind if I tended your garden?”

“Fine, Lise...”

Lise stepped back onto the terrace and began pulling the weeds from the planters. There wasn't a single, attractive plant among them. She looked at the empty planters, and had an idea. She recalled her garden in the courtyard, the one she had sown with varieties of wild pomma. With care and cultivation those plants could be quite attractive, and she knew they grew along the streets in the Zone. She could probably find some here.

Down the steps to the street she bounded, and then paused. She hadn't noticed it before, but there appeared to be a trail leading toward the woods and the pomma savanna. Lise headed in that direction and noticed a marker -- a wand planted in the ground with a red reflector. Ahead a distance was another wand.

She followed the wands, collecting seeds from likely-looking specimens along her way. Then, she stopped short. She hadn't walked far, she realized, but the topography had been deceptive and it appeared further than it was.

She was looking at the old, deserted hotel, but from the other side of the fence that separated the city from the countryside. The whine of a turbine grew near as a truck barreled down the broken and overgrown street. Lise crouched, hiding among the shoulder-high pomma plants. Deputies, carrying long arms piled out of the truck and into the old hotel.

A pair of young novonid men appeared from behind some debris. They ran to a break in the fence and pushed through it, and then started running through the wild pomma, away from the city. One of the corpsmen nudged his partner; then raised his long arm and squeezed off a few rounds in their direction. The men kept running.

Through the pomma heads she peered. The corpsmen entered the hotel, leaving their vehicle deserted. Convinced the coast was clear, she turned and headed back to the house. By the time she reached the top of the steps, Thom's speedster was gone.

She planted the seeds and headed to the house to find something in which to carry water. She looked around the lower level of the house. Yes, she remember that Thom had asked her to keep to the upper levels, but she couldn't disturb him if he weren't here. Lise hadn't seen this part of the house before. She walked along a short corridor to a pair of doors. One was locked -- for a reason, she figured.

From the kitchen she fetched a panful of water and carried it to the planters and dumped it onto the freshly planted soil.

She was beginning to feel full of sunshine, so she went inside to explore the house some more. The bed in the guestroom was as soft as Thom's. Then, into