Fortress on the Sun by Paul Cook

Author:Paul Cook [Cook, Paul]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Science Fiction
Publisher: Hewlett-Packard Company
Published: 2010-12-06T16:00:00+00:00

22

As a result of the Vapor Injunction, Kate found herself

extraordinarily depressed, her very soul had gone cold with despair.

When the Meadow Council met that afternoon near the gazebo, a rainless storm blustered above the forest—Ian’s idea. He wanted something to mirror his mood. For Kate, however, the storm only damp­ened her spirits. She didn’t know how much more she could take.

“Some storm,’ Elliot commented. The clouds above moved visibly fast, each one a distinct digital projection that looked as if it could chuck actual bolts of lightning or pummel them at any time with golf-ball-sized hail.

Kate shivered, but she didn’t think it was from the weather. All morning she had felt feverish. It was almost as if her mind had been processing like a supercomputer, searching furiously for a way—an excuse, a reason, a ploy, anything—to remain on the sunstation.

But what if she was ill? Didn’t Councilor Whitehall say they would destroy anybody who rode the Shunt who happened to be ill? Yet, she was one of the parol­ees. Would they make an exception in her case?

Kate couldn’t think straight. She needed sleep— about a thousand years of it, away from the living fire menace of the sun.

Ian put an arm around Kate’s shoulders where they sat in the grass near the gazebo. “Are you all right?” he asked.

“No.”

“We’ll fix that,” he said, and hugged her. She man­aged a thin smile.

“Who’s minding the store?” Lorraine asked as she approached the group. She had come up through one of the maintenance tunnels, making sure there were no little Boys eavesdropping on the Meadow Council.

“Larry is,” Elliot said, leaning back. “I can’t tear him away from the Man. He’s really pissed off.”

“Larry or the Man?” Lorraine asked, sitting be­side him.

“Larry. When Matt and Oaks wiped out his comet, they accidentally took out most of the planetarium’s programs. Oaks apparently didn’t like the comet and wanted to rewrite it.”

Lorraine looked up at the blustery sky. “The day program seems normal now.”

“It was in a separate directory,” Elliot said. “Those two are going to be a lot of trouble.”

“We’re lucky they haven’t already vaporized us,” Ian said.

“Anyway,” Elliot went on, “Larry wants to make a few improvements in the comet.”

“What sort of improvements?” Pablo Ramirez asked.

Pablo Ramirez was sitting on the gazebo steps just a few feet away, fiddling with what appeared to be a spray device—a canister and nozzle mechanism— Ian had asked him to work on.

“He’s thinking of making the comet look like a space ship,” Elliot said.

“He wants it to look like a space ship?” Pablo asked.

Elliot shrugged. “He got the idea in a dream last night. He wants the comet to look more… artificial, I guess. You know—windows, doors, tail fins, dual overhead cams, twin exhausts, chopped and chan­neled. Don’t ask me. Ask him.”

“He sure has strange dreams,” Pablo remarked.

“We all have strange dreams,” Kate said.

Hugh Bladestone was the last of the Council to ar­rive. He came up through the meadow pond. “Sorry I’m late, people. I wanted to make sure that Bebe and Clarissa were resting well.

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