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down across his mouth. Re wiped it ~way with the back of his hand and fought
to control his anger.
"You will do as we say," she ordered him. "There will be no more talk from you
abput do this do that. We are the Family Reads and we will be obeyed. There
will not be another trip. You will..."
"You stupid old woman, can you not understand me? Are you so ignorant that you
do not know that nothing will move until I permit it? I have parts of all the
machines and they will not run until the parts are replaced. I will destroy
these parts now and we will all die the quicker. I will do this at once if you
do not permit the return trip for the corn. You do this and I promise to ask
no more of you. When we return you are in charge as always. You issue the
orders and everyone obeys. Is that agreeable?"
"No! You cannot tell us what to do." The Rradil would accept no compromises.
"I'm telling you nothing. I'm asking you first."
"It is not too bad a plan," Ivan Semenov said. "We lose nothing if they go
back for the corn. And we did promise...
'Ask for a vote, Ivan," Jan said. "Or does this cow frighten you all?"
Then she was calm, just that suddenly. The unabated hatred was still there in
her eyes, but not in her voice. 'All right, we will argue no more. The trains
will leave as 5oofl as possible. I am sure you all agree."
They were confused, not understanding her sudden change. But Jan knew~ She was
not ready for a showdown now. And she did not really care if the trains went
or not.
What she wanted was his death, preferably a long and painful one. From now on
he walked with that danger and accepted it.
"I know you will all agree with Ivan and The Rradil," Jan said. "We leave as
soon as the corn is emptied. We will need all the new drivers...."
"No," The Rradil said. "There will be only men. It is not permitted for young
girls to be alone with so many. None of the girls will be allowed to go.
Alzbeta will not go.
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She threw this last out as a challenge and for a moment he almost accepted it.
Then realized he could lose everything if he insisted. Re matched her cold
calmness with his own.
'All right then, just male drivers. Get out of here, and issue the orders to
cooperate with me. Make it clear to eveyone what is happening. No more lies~'
"You should not.say that Ivan complained.
"Why not? It's true, Isn't it? Secret meetings, secret trials, secret
execution plans, more lying so that fool Ritterspach takes the blame. I do not
trust one of you out of my sight. Leave and go to your families and tell them
what is to be done.
Only when everyone is sure what is happening will the machines be made
operable again...
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"Seize him now and kill him," Taekeng screamed.
"You can-but someone else will destroy the cables."
"It is Ryzo," Ledon said. "Re defied me like this one.
"We will issue the orders," the Hradil said. "Go at once and do it."
Thirteen
The trains were ready to go, had been for almost two hours, standing quiet in
the darkness. The drivers were in their seats waiting for orders. Food and
supplies for the trip were in the house car, along with an unhappy
doctor-in-training, Savas
Tsiturides. Doctor Rosbagh said that his assistant was not completely trained,
not able to be on his own. Tsiturides had fervently agreed. Re had come
anyway. Jan could not risk his men on this trip without some kind of medical
aid. The last details had been seen to, the off-duty drivers were already
asleep, and he could not make excuses much longer.
"Back in five minutes," he said, ignoring the questioning looks of his crew.
Re climbed down from tank six, he would lead the tanks himself on the return
trip, and walked back along the trains. This was the spot--but no one was
here. It had been a risk to send the first message, madness to follow it up
with a second. But he had had to do it. The Central Way was silent, it was the
middle of the sleep period.
"Jan. Are you there?"
Re spun about and there she was, by the warehouse. He ran to her.
"I didn't know if you were coming."
"I had the message, but I couldn't leave until now, when they were all asleep.
She has them watching me.
"Come with me."
He had meant to build his argument logically and rationally, explaining how
important it was she keep the bit of independence gained. To perfect her
technical skills. It was a good argument. He wasn't going to mention how he
loved her and needed her. Yet at the sight of her he had forgotten it all and
just blurted out the words. Alzbeta recoiled, shocked.
"I couldn't do that. There are only men."
"We're not animals. You won't be hurt, touched. It is important for you, for
both of us."
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"The Hradil would never permit it."
"Of course. That is why you must leave without permission. Everything is
changing and we must make it change faster. If the ships don't come all of us
have only a few more years to live. When summer comes and we can't make the
tri~we burn. I want those years with you, I can't bear losing one day of
them."
"Of course, I know."
She was in his arms, and he was holding her tightly, hard 'to his body, and
she was not resisting or pulling away. Over her shoulder he saw Ritterspach
and two Proctors running toward them. All the men carried clubs.
A trap, that's why Alzbeta had been late. They had intercepted his message,
planned to catch them together. The Rradil must have arranged it all, was
gloating now at her success.
"No!" Jan shouted, pushing Alzbeta away from him, crouching in defense, hands
extended. The clubs were to beat him with, not kill him, bring him back for
her justice. "No!" shouted even louder still as he dived under the swing of
the first
Proctor's club.
The swing missed and he hit the Proctor hard, hearing the air rush from his
chest, slapping his forearm hard against the man's throat as he whirled to
face the others.
A club caught him on the side of his head, slammed down onto his shoulder. Jan
shouted aloud with pain and grabbed the man, caught his neck in an armlock,
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