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There was a sudden sorrow in the man s expression now, almost like he wanted
to cry. Didn t wanna do it. It was orders. Just orders. Nothin personal,
friend. We don t wanna hurt nobody, see?
Then why did you take my children?
Nothin personal, the man repeated, drooling a bit. See, cause we gotta
get outa here. Got the big one.
Know where the treasure of treasures is. But we can t get to it. Stuck here,
eatin
grass and drinkin sheep dip beer. Cap said you wouldn t take us. No room. So
we make room . . .
Cap? Who s Cap? Did he give the orders?
Yeah, sure. Cap always gives the orders. That s what cap ns do.
Where is this captain? I d like to talk to him.
The man gave an uncomfortable shrug, seemingly unaware that he was lying
strapped down on a medical table connected to all sorts of tubes. Somewhere
down below. We don t see him much, y know? Like most cap ns. They just pass
down the orders. Ours not to reason why . . .
Stow the ancient quotes. Where did they take my children?
Another shrug. All over. Dunno. Lotsa places. Booby trapped places, see.
What if we took hostages?
Wouldn t matter. Less, o course, you can find the ossifers. Rest of us, all
expensable.
You mean expendable?
Yeah, that s it. Exprendable.
The villagers are they crew, too?
Not most of em, no. They was already here. Stuck here long, long ago. Got
conned, y see. Old con.
Used t do it myself in the old days. Take their stuff, drop em nowhere while
you fake a fight, lose the fight, then they re stuck. You spend their money,
nobody remembers they was born.
Woodward looked over at Cromwell. Pirates all right. It s amazing that we can
learn the basics of subatomic physics, the magic of faster-than-light travel,
and still the human soul stays right where it s always been.
Cromwell nodded. Amen to that.
Woodward turned back to the captive. Were you ordered to attack my children
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out there just now? You and the woman?
No, not like that, the man managed. See, we was just just we was kinda rear
guards, see? Slow down anybody chasin till they can split up the hostages and
get em set up.
You figure you did your job?
Oh, sure. I mean, I guess so.
Woodward sighed and stepped back. Keep working on him. I want every detail
his rather empty head contains, no matter how small. What about the woman?
His partner, more or less, Cromwell told him. They were having an expert
female security interrogator work with her in another room using pretty much
the same techniques. More vicious because, we think, she s of the first
group. She managed to snare one of them and dominate him and get entry into
their better society, but she s done it by being meaner than they are. I have
a feeling that taking her out of circulation might gain us some local
friends.
Well, we ve tried finding local friends, the Doctor noted, and it s gotten
us nowhere. No, I don t think this is a time for being diplomatic. Those
stranded pirates were helped by many of the local villagers. You can see it on
the recordings. No, I think it s time we fought the devil on some of his own
ground.
Tomorrow morning I want every single child in the closest and surrounding
villages picked up. Babies to maybe ten or eleven. All of them. Bring down
some of our child-care people to help out with them. Treat them fine, but keep
them inside here, out of sight. Don t bring any of their babysitters. If
there s any resistance, knock em cold and leave em where they fall.
You really think that s going to do anything to help our people?
Tom, I have no idea. What I know is that nothing in your ferret operation
here or the other one to the do north showed any children underground. Men,
women, yes, but no kids. And the kids up here are all getting educated,
whether they re pirate or villager. Let s see if we can at least get our
pirates to talk on a timetable of our choosing, huh? I also want this village
locked down. They can stay inside the village, but nobody leaves. Nobody goes
anywhere outside. If they want to leave they re going to have to do it
underground and probably with us watching. Let s see what they think when they
see their kids taken away.
But surely we re not going to do anything to the children!
Of course not! You know that, and know that. But do
I
they know that? If we can t pressure those bastards underground one way, let
the villagers do it. Sometimes you can fake even the devil out.
He paused a moment, then added, I d like you and all the Elders to meet me in
the Meditation Room in one hour. I believe that, before we act, we must
consult a higher power. Only with His will and strength behind us will we have
a good ending here tomorrow.
VII: MOUNTAIN MOVES FAITHS
The question really was, when was faith truly faith and when was it a synonym
for doing something stupid? How many cult types in human history had jumped
off cliffs or taken poison because they were convinced it was the act of faith
God wanted?
It was so easy to go through these problems in classes, to imagine yourself in
this or that position, but it was like contemplating death: you knew it was
possible, but there was always the chance that an exception might be made.
The one problem with martyrs was that they were all dead.
Not that she didn t believe in God with all her heart, but her group taught
that it wasn t as simple as that.
Believing wasn t enough; you had to act on that belief, and you had to do it
without God s instructions from the omnipresent parallel dimensions called
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