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.They've lived under the rule of the Keremaths,and she hasn't: they know better than she how to take this.Apparently theirrespect for Kerehorn, or any of his family, is limited.Page 104ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html"We pledge ourselves to the restoration of the ancient liberties andtraditions of the Caraqui people," Kerehorn says, and cynical laughter floatsfrom one team member to the next."Why does he even bother to justify it?" someone says.Cold certainty suddenly floods Aiah's mind: Kerehorn is not the real leader.This unprepossessing a character could never have organized something asdangerous as the coun-tercoup.He is a figurehead, intended to provide adegree of legitimacy for the coup's genuine leaders.But whose figurehead ishe? Radeen's?Perhaps Radeen is using the Keremaths' money to wedge himselfinto power.Perhaps they are both pawns of someone else.Or perhaps there isno real leader, only a group of people, each with different reasons forwanting to destroy the current government.Coel's Channel comes to an end up ahead, and the waters of a wide canal openout, its water bright green with algae and home to a flock of pelicanspreening themselves in the unusual stillness.The boat's helmsman throttlesback.Aiah looks at the map again.Ideally she wants to go straight on, but looking ahead she can see nothing butthe gray slab wall of a pontoon on the far side of the canal.Obviously theywill have to traverse the open canal for at least a while before turning westagain.The helmsman reverses the engines briefly to bring the boat to a completestop, its prow barely jutting out beyond Coel's Channel.Another crewmanairily steps out onto the foredeck and peers left and right past the highconcrete walls on either side.Aiah can tell from the sudden stiffening ofhis spine that he sees trouble.He returns to the cockpit, and Aiah's mouthgoes dry as she sees his grim expression."There's a bridge to starboard, right in our path," he says."I can see apolice roadblock on it, several cars, maybe a dozen cops."Armed?" Aiah asks.An unreadable expression passes across the crewman's face."Of course.An idiot question: Aiah doesn't know what she's going to do, what she can do,and is just playing for time.She delays further by going onto the foredeckherself, moving far less surefootedly than the boat's crewman; she peersgingerly around the corner, heart pounding, and sees the bridge a few stadesaway.Suspension wires curve in a graceful arc, and the iron uprights arecovered with an untarnishable black ceramic impressed with the oval cameoprofiles of long-dead Caraquis.Square in the middle of the span is theroadblock: cars drawn across the span with their lights flashing in silence,uniformed men standing with long weapons in their hands.Should they chooseto fire down into boats passing beneath them, they could cause a massacre.But getting around them will require an endless amount of backtracking, withlittle assurance of not encountering another roadblock somewhere else alongthe way."Long live the Provisional Government!" The chorused words ring out from theradio.Aiah gnaws her lip and tries to figure out what to do.Pelicans drift in the canal ahead, mocking her with eerie pebble eyes."We now take you live to Government Harbor," the announcer says, "whereofficers and men of the Caraqui Army will swear allegiance to PresidentKerehorn and the new government.There is a pause, a howl of feedback apparently people in Government Harborare listening to the broadcast with their speakers turned up and then acommanding voice, speaking a bit too far from the microphone."This is War Minister Radeen!" he says, and immediately afterward, as thetechs sense his distance from the mike, his volume cranks up a bit.He has atendency to shout every phrase and then stop, breaking every sentence up intolittle exclamations."I have before me the officers! And the soldiers! Of theArmy of Caraqui! Soldiers !" The volume goes up again as the proclaimingstarts."I will now lead you! In the oath of allegiance to your newPage 105ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.htmlgovernment!" He takes a breath."/, a soldier of Caraqui."I," a great chorus roars, "a soldier of Caraqui.Aiah is struck by the idea of Radeen, far before the issue is decided,actually lining up the soldiers of the Second Brigade or a large number ofthem, anyway in Government Harbor square in order to swear an oath that,judging by the Second Brigade's adherence to past oaths, isn't worth a brasshundredth."Here in the sight of the gods and immortals.," Radeen continues.Government Harbor is a symbol it's the official seat of government, with thePopular Assembly and offices for most of the government departments but it hasno real military value.True civil and military power is concentrated in thevastness of the Aerial Palace.During the coup of Drumbeth and Constantine,Government Harbor had been seized, but the Marines then pushed on to aid inthe storming of the Palace.Now Radeen seems content with the seizure ofdeserted office buildings and the mouthing of empty oaths.Aiah has no military background, but in the past months she has seen realsoldiers at work, and if she were in charge of the Second Brigade her soldierswould already be hammering at the doors of the Palace.She snarls.These people do not deserve to win."/ swear allegiance to the Provisional Government, representing the peopleofCaraqui.And then over the radio comes a whistle and an explosion, and then another andanother, and then shouts and screams.There is the crackling sound of rollingthunder, and Aiah remembers plasm heat on her face as she recognizes the soundof telepresent mages doing invisible combat.More cries and explosions buffetthe microphone.She pictures neat parade formations dissolving in blood andchaos.Perhaps this is the ordinary soldiers' first clue that they are notunopposed.Government Harbor, she concludes, is entirely within the range of the mortarsthat Geymard had readied on the Palace roofs, and Radeen's mages can't keepout every round.She looks back over the boat's crew and sees their grins twisted Davaththrows back his head and laughs, cold amusement bubbling from his vasttrunk and then quite suddenly she knows what she will do."Turn on the flashers," she says."Lean on the horn.Everyone put on yourhard hat, and stay in plain sight." A strange, daring humor courses throughher, and she gives a reckless smile."When we see the police, everyone wave!The crew looks at her in surprise, then obeys.She puts on the official redhard hat that marks her as a member of the ministry's Plasm Bureau.Theemergency lights flash on, tracking yellow and red across the narrow concretewalls of Coel's Channel.The helmsman leans on the air horn, and the blaststartles the flock of pelicans into sudden flight [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]