A Deepness in the Sky

But that time will not come.Pham and Ezr's plan was proceeding down its own schedule. Except for a few old systems, a few electromechanical backups, the Qeng Ho localizers could have total control. Pham and Ezr were finally moving toward real sabotage—most important the Hammerfest wireless-power cutoff. That switch was an almost pure mechanical link, immune to all subtlety. But Pham had one more use for localizers. True grit. These last few Msecs, they had built up layers of grit near that switch, and set up similar sabotage in other old systems, and aboard theInvisibleHand. The last hundred seconds would involve flagrant risk. It was a trick that they could try only once, when Nau and his gang were most distracted with their own takeover.

If the sabotage worked—whenit worked—the Qeng Ho localizers would rule.And our time will come.

FORTY-NINE

Hrunkner Unnerby spent a lot of time at Lands Command; it was essentially the home base of his construction operations. Perhaps ten times a year he visited the inner sanctums of Accord Intelligence. He talked with General Smith every day by email; he saw her at staff meetings. Their meeting at Calorica—was that five years ago already—had been not cordial but at least an honest sharing of anxiety. But for seventeen years...for all the time since Gokna died...he had never been in General Smith's private office.

The General had a new aide, someone young and oophase. Hrunkner barely noticed. He stepped into the silence of the chief's den. The place was as big as he remembered, with open-storied nooks and isolated perches. For the moment he seemed to be alone. This had been Strut Greenval's office, before Smith. It had been the Intelligence chief's innermost den for two generations before that. Those previous occupants would scarcely recognize it now. There was even more comm and computer gear than in Sherk's office in Princeton. One side of the room was a full vision display, as elaborate as any videomancy. Just now it was receiving from cameras topside: Royal Falls had stilled more than two years ago. He could see all the way up the valley. The hills were stark and cooling; there was CO2frost in the heights. But nearby...the colors beyond red leaked from buildings, flared bright in the exhaust of street traffic. For a moment, Hrunk just stared, thinking what this scene must have been like just one generation earlier, five years into the last Dark. Hell, this room would have been abandoned by then. Greenval's people would have been stuck up in their little command cave, breathing stuffy air, listening for the last radio messages, wondering if Hrunk and Sherk would survive in their submarine deepness. A few more days and Greenval would have closed down his operation, and the Great War would have been frozen in its own deadly sleep.

But in this generation, we just go on and on, headed for the most terriblewar of all time.

Behind him, he saw the General step silently into the room. "Sergeant, please sit down." Smith gestured to the perch in front of her desk.

Unnerby pulled his attention away from the view, and sat. Smith's -shaped desk was piled with hardcopy reports and five or six small reading displays, three alight. Two showed abstract designs, similar to the pictures that Sherkaner had lost himself in.So she does still humor him.

The General's smile seemed stiff, forced, and so it might be sincere. "I call you Sergeant. What a fantasy rank. But...thank you for coming."

"Of course, ma'am."Why did she call me down here? Maybe his wild scheme for the Northeast had a chance. Maybe— "Have you seen my excavation proposals, General? With nuclear explosives we could dig shielded caves, and quickly. The Northeast shales would be ideal. Give me the bombs and in one hundred days I could protect most of the agri and people there." The words just tumbled out. The expense would be enormous, out of range of the Crown or free financing. The General would have to take emergency powers, Covenant or no. And even then, it would not make a happy ending. But if—when—the war came, it could save millions.

Victory Smith raised one hand, gently. "Hrunk, we don't have a hundred days. One way or another, I expect things will be settled in less than three." She gestured to one of the little displays. "I just got word that Honored Pedure is actually at Southmost in person, orchestrating things."

"Well, damn her. If she lights off a Southmost attack, she'll fry too."

"That's why we're probably safe until she leaves."

"I've heard rumors, ma'am. Our external intelligence is in the garbage? Thract has been cashiered?" The stories just grew and grew. There were terrible suspicions of Kindred agents at the heart of Intelligence. Deepest crypto was being used on the most routine transmissions. Where the enemy had not succeeded with direct threats, they might now win simply because of the panic and confusion that were everywhere.