"How long?" Amos ben Sierra Nueva said desperately

"Okay, I'm a Sondee mud-puppy eavesdropper and

data-banditNso listen to what they're saying, will you?"

Seld blinked and did so. "Holy shit," he whispered.

"We are going to be attacked by pirates." His eyes lit.

"Hey, Joat, this is like a holo."
Joat kicked him.
"What did you do that for?" he demanded,

outraged.

"Because I like you, fool," she said.
"You do?" he said, straightening up and then winc-

ing. "Hell of a way to show it, ferdler."

"Fardler yourself. This ain't no holo, Seld. Those

pirates, those Kolnari, are for real. Half the outies on

that ship that nearly dipped the station were dead, osco.

That's d-e-a-d, dead, finished, off to the big tax-haven

in the afterglow, dead. This is major criminal we're talk-

ing, Seld. Like, we could get seriously fardled up N

you, me, Simeon, Channa, your dad."
"Yeah," Seld said, in a small voice, looking totally

scared. "But what can we do?" That word came wob-

bling out as Seld tried not to show Joat how tightened

he really was.

"Come close and listen to momma," she said.

"Simeon has some ideas. I got more."

174
Anne McCaffny fcf SM. Stirling

Rachel bint Damscus sat and shivered on the edge of

the bed. There was nothing under it. Not even legs to

hold it up, just some sort of field mechanism, yet it did

not move. She shivered again, looking down at the pill

in her hand. The strange dark man1 they called Doctor

Chaundra had given it to her, saving that it would

make her feel better. She didn't want to feel better. She

wanted to feel pain, because pain told her she was still

alive.
Her eyes flicked around the little cubicle. There was

a sink in the corner. She darted to it and threw the pill

down the drain, scrabbling at the unfamiliar controls

until a gush of water followed it. Then she scrambled

back to the bed, humiliatingly conscious of how the

thin hospital gown revealed her body. Conscious also

of the emotions roiling beneath the surface of her

mind, like great boulders grinding and moving in the

dark....
/ wish I was home, she thought desolately. But home

was gone, further than all the light-years between this

accursed place and the sun Saffron. Home had been in

Keriss... Keriss was poisoned dust floating in Bethel's

skies. Mother, she thought, father. Little sister Delilah.

Most of the other Bethelites who escaped had been

from the Sierra Nueva lands. Amos' family had been

direct descendants of the Prophet, members of the

Synod of Patriarchs for twenty generations. They had

owned the city of Elkbre outright and tens of

thousands of square kilometers around it. And they

had always been an enlightened family, as much as any,

more than most. Hence, the Second Revelation had

spread widely there. Rachel had come to it late. After I

heard Amos speak, she thought, burying her face in her

hands. He was like the Prophet come again. A new voice,

sweeping away the intolerable stuffy load of conven-

tion. And he is so beautiftd....
THE CITY WHO FOUGHT
175
The partition door opened. Joseph came through

first, one hand under the flap of his jacket as was his

custom- Amos followed, and Rachel flung herself for-

ward into his arms, gripping him fiercely. It was a

moment before she felt the awkwardness with which

he pattediier back. Site withdrew, clutching at the

gown. That only emphasized its skimpiness, and she

flushed deeply, looking down at the floor.

"Pardon, excellent sir," she said.
He made a dismissive gesture. "No need to be for-

mal, Rachel," hesaid. "You are well?"

"Relieved," she said. "They would only say that you

would return, but not where you had been taken or

why. Where have you been?" She raised her eyes

anxiously to his fece.

He hesitated for a moment 'Joseph and I have been

meeting with the station managers. We have arranged a

funeral service for those who died on our journey here.
She turned aside to spare his embarrassment. "They

are not to be trusted."

"What do you mean, Rachel?" His tone was

apprehensive but also stern.

"Nothing, yet," she said sullenly, hanging her head.

Then she grasped his wrist painfully tight, meeting his

eyes earnestly. "But who knows? They are mezamerin."

Strangers. In the ancient liturgical language, infidel.

"Rachel, do not start parroting the Elders at this late

date," Joseph said in exasperation. More gently, he put a

hand on her shoulder. "Did you take the medication?"
"Yes," she said brusquely, shrugging off bis hand.

Then she turned to Amos with a sigh. "I am sorry,

Excell...Amos."
The memory swept over her again: the crowded

chamber and the sickly-sweet taste at the back of her

mouth as the coldsleep injection took effect
"I... thought I had died, when I woke here," she

said. "My father... did I tell you?"

176
Anru McCa/jrey fc? 5M. Stiriing
"No," Amos said, taking her hand. His large dark-

blue eyes held a sudden compassion. "He cursed you?"

"Yes. When I left home to follow you, he put the

Patriarch's curse upon me: hell, and miserable rebirth,

and damnation again, forever."
Amos blanched slighdy for, though his father had

been disappointed in his son, even appalled by his son's

apostasy, he had not uttered th^-curse. Perhaps that

would have come about had his father not died during

Amos' early teens. If I had been cursed? Perhaps that was

why I, fatherless, could become the leader of the Second Revela-

tion, he thought. What courage my followers had, to dare the

curse for me!

"I thought I was damned indeed," she whispered.

"Since I awoke ... I... I really do not feel myself,

Amos."
"It is to be expected," he said, patting her cheek.

"You will feel better soon."

"And did you tell them of what follows us?" she

asked, blurting out the words since his touch had given

her the courage to speak them. "Have they defenses?"
Joseph had been brooding, facing slightly away.

Now he laughed bitterly. "Defenses? These people are

as open as a canal-side harlot"
Rachel drew a shocked breath.
"You forget yourself, Joseph," Amos said as Rachel

drew closer to his side, an instinctive move toward his

protection. "There is a lady present."
The shorter man bowed. "Apologies, Excellent Sir,"

he replied stiffly. A deeper bow." My lady."

"I cast your own words back, my brother N do not

imitate the Elders," Amos said. Unnoticed, Rachel

stiffened.
"Is it true?" she said. "They have no defenses?"
Amos nodded, his mouth drawn into a line. "Yes.

These are peaceful people, as we were. Fortunately,

they are in communication with the Navy of the
THE Crry WHO FOUGHT
177
Central Worlds. Unfortunately, the Kolnari will be

here before that help arrives."

Rachel gasped. "How can we flee Scorn here?"
"We cannot," Amos replied, shrugging away the

chance of flight. "There are ships, but they are small

and have no facilities f&r passengers. Children, those

with child, and the infirm are to be evacuated. The rest

of us must remain here and seek to delay the enemy."
They will know us!" she said in a trembling voice.
Joseph shook his head. "I think not, Lady bint

Damscus," he said formally. "Not in this place, and

among such as inhabit it. Already we have seen more

races of men than I knew existed outside legend. Some

very different customs," he pulled his mouth down in

disapproval, "and non-men as well."

Rachel's eyes went wide. The most cogent incentive

for the Exodus to Bethel had been the Prophet's deter-

mination not to pollute the pure blood by congress

with non-humans. Nonhuman intelligence was the

creation of Shaithen, whether flesh or machine.
Joseph made a soothing gesture. "They are not

rulers here. Still, among so many and so various, our

handful will disappear and not be remarked by the

Kolnari for what we are. The fiends must believe that

they strike without warning, that no help will be called

to this station. So they will wait, thinking to feast at their

ease. Then the warships will come, to rescue us N and

return us to our poor Bethel."

"Yes," she said, thoughtfully. "I had not thought of

... returning."

"In a sense," Amos began, and her eyes snapped back

to him with a fixed attention, "we have won the war. Now

we must try to survive it Please, Rachel my sister, would

you go among the other women and children? They are

awakening, and will be lost and frightened. Prepare

those who are eligible to leave here."

MI obey, Amos." She looked around, realizing that
178
Arme McCaffny 67 SM. Stirling
she could not go even among women and children of

her own people in what she wore.

Joseph opened one of the closets and handed her a

large, shapeless robe. Rachel nodded a distant thanks

before she donned it and left, thej|ull folds sweeping

behind her.

"We have something we shares-she and I," Joseph

said bitterly, throwing himself down in his float chair.

Even his solid bulk did not make it bob on its support-

ing field. Amos noted the feet and filed it

7 must make a quick review^he thought. Find what tech-

nologies have arisen during our isolation on Bethel. Whatever

supports the chaircould be altered to support otherheavyweights.
"What do you share?" he asked the other man.
"We both aspire above our stations, she and I,"

Joseph replied.

Amos blinked in surprise. "Oh," he said after a

moment. "Sits the wind so? I had thought her merely

devoted to the cause."
"So she is, but that is not the whole story."
"Even if we followed the old customs, I would not

take her even as a second wife," he said with a dismis-

sive shrug. "Since I have not even a first, speculation is

useless." Then he raised one eyebrow. "You have not

pressed your suit?"
"Was there time?" Joseph asked rhetorically. Then

he sighed. "Amos, could you see me going to her father

for permission? Bastard son of a whore and a docksidepimp

he would have called me, whether he had disowned

her or no N and it would be no more than the truth."
Amos laughed grimly and thumped his follower on

the shoulder. "Joseph, my brother, you are a bold man

who has saved my life more than once. But there are

times when you allow your birth to blind you as much

as any hidebound Elder."
At Joseph's puzzled look, he continued. "Joseph,

where did Rachel's father live?"

THE CITY WHO FOUGHT
179
"KerissNah! I see."
"Where did the Elders live, for the most part?"
"Keriss N and those that did not, they were in the

city for the council meeting," Joseph said. "You have

had rime to think,_eh?"
"It is necessary tfiatsomeone do so," Amos said. "We

of the Second Revelation were planning to leave, to

escape the bonds-of customs gone sterile in their

changelessness, Joseph. When N ifN we return to

Bethel with the Space Navy at our backs, very litde will

remain unchanged after what the Kolnari have done.

God has given us a sharp lesson. If we ignore the

universe, the universe will not necessarily ignore us.

And on Bethel... the last shall be first, and the first,

last; that at the very least.

"Furthermore," he went on, with a man-to-man

grin, "I now stand in her father's place, in law. I hereby

formally give you leave to press your suit, and for the

marriage portion, I will dower her with the Gazelle

Rancho at Twin Springs."
Joseph's laughter matched his leader's. "I may press,

but I doubt she notices my existence," he said. "Con-

sent may be as far away as the Rancho." A pause.

"Although that is where I would take her to live, if we

were wed and our cause victorious. She is stronger

than she suspects, I think N but her liking for the new

ways you preach is of the head, not here." He touched

his heart. "As lady of an estate, there would she be

happy. She would not thrive among strangers."
CHAPTER
TJN
"Detection. Ship track."
Belazir t'Marid looked up from his crash couch

wjiere he had been rerunning a tactical manual on the

screen.
"What signature?" he said.
"Ion track, very feint," Baila said. "Could have been

weeks ago."

Belazir ran his hand through the long blond mane of

his hair and cursed inwardly. The second m two days, he

thought They were getting into well-traveled space,

despite the feet that their data showed little or no setde-

ment in this area. The centuries-old Grand Survey

reports listed no inhabitable planets, although there

was a nebula with potentially valuable minerals. There

must be a regular traffic now, perhaps habitats or small

space colonies. Dangerous, very dangerous.
A time would come when the Kolnari would not

have to skulk around the fringes of known space,

hiding like scavengers. But that time was not yet
"Reduce speed," he said. "Pulse message to the con-

sort ships. Keep formation on new vector." Trjat form of

communication was so short-range that it was undetec-

table. "Anything more on the subspace monitors?"

"Plenty of nearby traffic, but mostly encrypted," the

intelligence officer said. Belazir nodded. Perfect codes

were an old phenomenon, available to anyone with

decent computers.

"And the prey?" he asked.
Baila shrugged. As she was almost as well-born as
THE CTTY WHO FOUGHT
181
Belazir, he decided to let the informality pass

unreprimanded. Also, she was daughter to a staff

officer of Chalki/s.
"The track is firm'and hot," the woman said. "We

gain, at an increasing rate. Signs of deterioration, as

one would exjSerffrom old engines heavily stressed N

sublimated particles from exterior drive-coils and cool-

ing vanes. She cannot survive much longer."
"Much longer, much longer! You've been saying that

for days!" Belazir snarled, starting half-erect. The

junior officer's eyes dropped before the captain's lion

stare. Belazir sank back, satisfied that deference had

been restored.
"Transmit to all vessels," he went on. "Maximum

alertness. We strike hard and then we run. Plasma tells

no tales."
"Dad, I'm not going," Seld Chaundra flatly told his

fether.
The head of SSS-900-C's medical department looked

up in surprise. For a moment, he tried to fit the words into

a context that made sense as his hands continued auto-

matically packing a carry-all for his son's trip. Then he

shook his head. He was very tired. Since the

announcement was made two days ago, there had been

absolute chaos in the station. Literal chaos in some

instances, and sickbay was full of injuries, everything from

carelessness through flare-ups to attempted suicide.

"Do not make troubles now, son," he said. "There is

too much to be doing."

"I'mnot going, Dad," Seld said again.
Gods, but he looks like his mother, the doctor thought

with despair. She had had exactly that set to her jaw

when she decided to stand on an issue of principle. And

I could never convince her of her error when she looked like

that, either. Fortunately, he did not need to convince his

son, who was still a minor.

182
Arme McCaffrey &? SM. Stirling
"Yes," Chaundra said, "you are going. I need SOT you

to go." '

"Well, I need for me to stay!"
Chaundra grabbed his son by his upper arms and

shook him gendy. "You're all I've got, Seld. You're the

most important thing in my life ana I've got to keep

you safe. He pulled out his ace,, "It's what your

mother would have wanted.
Seld's red-headed temper flared and, for the first

time in his twelve years, he contradicted his father. "No,

she wouldn't! She'd say what.I'm gonna say. You're all

Fue got, and if you can't be safe dien I've got to be with

you!"
He pulled his son to him in a fierce hug to hide the

sudden glisten of tears in his eyes. Then he sank into

his armchair, covering his eyes with his hand.
"Yes," he said thickly, "that's just what she'd say.

But," he pointed a finger at Seld, "she'd be talking

about herself, not about you."
"Dad..."
"I have packed one change of clothes, two changes of

underwear and one," he held up one finger for

emphasis, "thing you can't bear to part with. I'll be back

in half an hour to walk you to the ship."

"Dad!
"Half an hour." He stood and left. There are times

when a man must weep alone.

"Joatl" Simeon said in exasperation, "Answer me! I'd

hate to have to send someone in there to flush you

out"
He heard laughter echo softly then, from some-

where in the ductwork. Damned tunnel rat, he thought

in exasperation. She had rigged the sensor in her room

to show her present and he was still trying to figure out

how it had been done.
"You know they wouldn't find me."
THE Cnv WHO FOUGHT
183
"C'mon Joat, you've got to go. Channa has packed

some of your things. She'll meet you at the lock. You're

one of the lucky ones. You don't have to wear a suit and

travel in the hold for the whole trip."

"Hunh. Done it before.1
"Well, you don't haife to do it now. Come on! They're

leaving in fifteen Minutes."

"I'm not going." /
"Perhaps I left something out here? Pirates, heavily

armed, almost certain death and destruction? Did I

mention any of those?"
"You need me," she said simply.
"Yeah," he said slowly after a moment's pause, "but I

think I should do without you for a while.

Joat came into view, grinning. "You are so soft," she

said and shook her head. "You need me because no

adult except you knows this station the way I do." She

crossed her arms smugly. "This is my home, too, and I

want a crack at defending it Besides, I'm not about to

deliver myself to Dorgan the Gorgon." If she's still alive.

Those demonstrators looked mean. "So here I stay!"
"Joat, is avoiding Ms. Dorgan and the orphanage

worth risking your life for?"

"You better believe it!" That forced an unwilling

chuckle out of Simeon.

"Look, Joat, no more kidding. Channa and I are

fighting for our lives. If we have to worry about you,

too, it might make that last little bit of difference and get

us killed. We catitafford distractions from a kid."

Joat's lips went white. "You fight dirty," she

whispered.

"I fight to win," Simeon replied.
"Well so do ir Joat shouted. "And Vmotive, aren't I?"

She paused for a moment, breathing hard. Then the

urchin grin came back. "I've got an instinct for this

kinda thing. Trust me." She took a step back and

disappeared.
184
Annt McCaffrfy &?SJlf. Stirimg
I wish I knew how she did that, Simeon thought. It

would, come m handy when the Kolnanget here.

"Channa's expecting you on Boat Deck!" he called

after her.

A voice filtered in from nowhere. "Tell her 111 be

seeing her."

#5;

"Detection ... ship detected! Ship detected! Captain to

the bridge!"
Belazir t'Marid had been kneeling between his wife's

thighs, with a heel in each hand.

"Demonshit!" he swore, diving off the pallet and

toward his clothing. The woman N she was his second

wife, and a third cousin N cursed antiphonally, rolling

away in the other direction.

"The Divine Seed damn them," she said, hopping

on one leg as she stuck the other into her skinsuit.

"Easy for you to say," he snarled and kicked at her,

struggling with the humiliating and acutely uncom-

fortable process of getting into space armor in a state of

arousal. Then he raised his voice. "Battle stations, full

alert Brief me."
"One vessel. Approaching on path of our trajectory,

in normal space."

"Normal space?" he said. The door hissed away as he

trotted out of his quarters which were aft of the bridge

and one deck down.
"Confirmed," Serig said as Belazir stalked into the

bridge. While the captain slept in hostile space, the

executive officer stood the watch. He now rose from

the commander's couch; a squat man for a Kolnar, a

hand below Belazir's height, and muscled like a troll.

"You have the bridge, lord."

"Acknowledged." Belazir felt an obscure comfort as he

slid into the crash couch and let his hands fafl on the con-

trols. And that cold plastic catheter has settled my otherprobtem,

he thought with an inward quirk of the tips. "Data."

THE CTTY WHO FOUGHT
185
"Vessel is in the one kiloton mass range." The battle

team was on the bridge now, the circular room

brightening as consoles came up to ready status.

"Neutrino signature indicates merchanter-class

engines, presendy running on ballistic. There may be

energy or-kinedc weaj#>ns, but I detect no triggers for

fusion warheads."
"Interesting," Belazir said calmly. "Serig."
"Command me, lord."
"Indeed. We're going to take a closer look. Prepare

for drop into normal space. Notify the flotilla.

"Lord..."
"Yes, yes. The primary mission. We are gaining

swiftly and have the time. Also, if we detect this ship, it

may have detected us." The Kolnari fleet had the best

instruments diey could steal or copy, but there was no

telling how much performance had improved in areas

in close contact with regular shipyards. There had

been one or two nasty surprises like that before in the

Clan's history. "If they have, all the more reason to

investigate and make sure they have no tale to tell

anyone."
"Prepare for breakthrough." Alarm chimes tinkled

and sang. "Thirty seconds, mark."
A twisting at the fabric of the universe; the view on

the exterior screens did not change N the computers

compensated during FTL running N but a subtle

sense of reality returned, something at the corner of

the mind.
Serig's voice spoke beside Belazir. "Lord, we have

her on electromagnetic detectors. No answer to hail-

ing. Shall we use the kinetics?"
Their relative velocities were in the thousands of

kps; solid shot would strike with nuclear force.

"Not yet," Belazir said thoughtfully. "Give me a

visual."
The image sprang out before him a few seconds

186
Amu McCaffny &? 5M. Stirling