Clarion

CLARION 167

William Greenleaf

came to me last night! He gave me the holy

Godstone, and a message to pass along to his children!" He turned the disk back and forth so the silver face would catch and reflect the sun. The murmurs died away as the people around him

stared at the disk. The uniformed boys were closer. He knew he couldn't let them get within dart-gun range.

"The message means freedom from tyranny and fear! The freedom is for you!" He cast another frantic glance toward the wall. Jacque and Karyn were working at the straps that held Sabastian's ankles. The deacons in front of the temple remained where they were, but their eyes were on Paul. He thrust the disk out toward them.

"Lord Tern told me the old ways are gone\ He wants a new era to begin! An era of peaceF The ankle straps were free now. Jacque supported Sabastian while Karyn cut at the wrist straps.

"Lord Tern wants all his children to know that High Elder Brill has twisted the sacred revelations to his own advantage—" A dart sang past his right ear. Selmer yanked on his arm and he half fell from the bench.

"The gate\"' Selmer hissed.

Paul risked a final glance toward the God Wall. Sabastian was on the ground now, his arm around Jacque's shoulders. The three of them were pushing their way toward the back wall.

Then Paul became aware of a new commotion

surfacing above the general confusion. Shouts, screams—and above those human sounds he heard the roar of a powerful engine. Selmer was beside him, pulling desperately at his arm.

"It's a floater!"

A large vehicle swept around the corner of the temple, carried on a cushion of air with its fans roaring. Paul stared at it for a moment before he realized it was an ancient Guard combat car. The crowd scattered as the car bore down on Karyn and Jacque. Paul realized in a flash that this was what High Elder Brill had planned all along. Brill knew they would try to free Sabastian, so he'd purposely kept his deacons and Sons out of the way long enough for them to get into the courtyard. He had kept the car concealed until he knew they were trapped. This would be his triumph. He could get rid of the heretics with such a show of power that the people ofFairhope would see the futility of ever going against him.

As the car neared the wall, it began firing streams of pellets from guns just above the skirts. Even from this distance Paul could see a spray of blood as several men and women screamed and went

down. The car careened wildly as people scattered. Karyn and Jacque huddled against the wall with Sabastian between them. Paul watched helplessly. Then another sound broke through the screams and the roar of the car's fans. Paul's head jerked up as the high-pitched whine intensified, and a sleek black craft swept over the temple. Paul caught a glimpse of fore and aft drive webs. A streamship\

Before he had time to absorb the significance of that, another flash followed from the distant mountain peaks. It resolved quickly into another streamer that was silver, and smaller than the first. It looped back to follow the black craft with green lightning snapping from its nose. Across its fuselage was a crosshatch design in bold blue—the emblem of the Fringe Alliance.

The combat car ground to a stop, and activity on the ground ceased as the two streamers flitted about in the air like lethal butterflies. They screamed upward in a vertical climb with the gun still blazing from the nose of the Alliance streamship. The black craft had been dodging the energy bolts with uncanny precision. Now it suddenly flipped wing-forwing and dropped toward the ground. The Alliance 168 William Greenleaf CLARION 169

craft shot past it with stasis jets screaming in protest. The pilot must have realized his mistake instantly. He began a desperate loop to the left, but by that time the black craft was directly behind him. A single bolt of energy snapped from its nose cannon, and the silver craft exploded in a white flash. Debris began to settle down into the far side of the city.

It had all happened in the space of a minute. The people around Paul stared upward, stunned into silence.

The black craft looped back and dropped toward the temple. It hovered erratically, its stasis engines stuttering. Then Paul saw something that gave him another jolt: the five-circle UNSA logo was emblazoned behind its stubby wings.

"It must have taken a hit," Selmer said. Suddenly the combat car churned back into

motion and roared down the side of the temple building. The big gun on the top lifted. Something streaked toward the black streamship. Part of a stubby wing sheared free, and the craft's stasis engines roared. A narrow beam lanced down into the cockpit of the combat car. The front of the car lifted momentarily; then it crashed to the ground and the engine roar died.

The streamship slid sideways and dropped another few meters. Someone in the crowd yelled, and a new panic set in as people pushed back to clear a place for the craft. It came down on its struts with a hard thump, bringing up a pall of dust. The canopy swung open and a man in black fatigues jumped to the ground, followed by a faint wisp of smoke. He barely had time to regain his balance before one of the deacons near the wall fired a dart that narrowly missed him. The man stopped and stared at the white-robed deacon, then had to duck as two more darts flew toward him. He dived for cover behind one of bis craft's landing struts.

Paul craned his neck to look over the crowd and saw Jacque and Karyn still huddled against the back wall with Sabastian.

"Let's get out of here!" Selmer hissed in his ear, tugging at his arm.

"Wait." Paul looked toward the grounded streamship. The deacons and several uniformed boys were converging on the man behind the landing strut.

"C'mon," Paul said, and began pushing his way through the crowd.

"•Wait!" Selmer caught up with him. "What are you doing?"

"He saved our lives. We can't leave him there." He and Selmer had nearly passed the grounded combat car when one of the deacons saw them. He yelled, and several of them began running toward Paul and Selmer. Paul pulled Selmer around behind the combat car. The idling engine rumbled faintly.

"Now what?" Selmer yelled. "Lord, we've had it—"

With the deacons' attention on Paul and Selmer, the man behind the landing strut broke from cover and zigzagged across the courtyard toward them. The deacons and Sons were having trouble pushing their way through the panicky crowd, and Paul knew they would reach the car a few paces behind the man in the black fatigues.

The man was yelling something as he approached, and when he got closer, Paul recognized him. Erich Frakes.

"Get in!" Frakes yelled, already pulling himself up over the car's fan skirts. Paul followed and fell into the cockpit beside Frakes. The driver was a husk of carbon. Frakes grasped the charred body and threw it over the side, then slid into the driver's seat. Paul managed to pull himself into the seat beside him, gagging at the stink of blood and hot William Greenleaf

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metal. Selmer crowded onto the narrow rear bench, cursing loudly.

Frakes worked the hand controls and the fans roared. The car vibrated, then lifted with a jerk. A comer touched down with a shrill grinding and rocks flew out from under the skirts. Frakes gunned the engine and the fans roared again. The car shuddered, then slammed unexpectedly sideways into the temple, ripping off a corner of the building.

"Back there!" Paul yelled, pointing. "The three people at the wall—"

The car's vidscreens were out. Frakes half lifted himself to see through the hatchway. Fighting the controls, he brought the car around and headed it toward the back wall. He slammed through the corner of a dormitory, then grounded the car beside the wall. Jacque climbed up over the skirts, half carrying Sabastian. Paul stood and reached out to take Sabastian's arms and helped him into the back. Jacque climbed inside, and Karyn fell into the seat beside him, breathing hard, eyes flaring.

"Get us out of here!" she rasped. The fans screamed again as the car lifted and swung around. It plowed into the wall and wallowed briefly as Frakes fed more power to the forward fans, lifting the front of the car up over the debris. Then the car was careening wildly across the wide expanse of lawn behind the temple.