Anvil Of Stars Part 45

"She was clubbed to death," Kai said. "You clubbed her to death!"

"Shut up," Ariel said. "Martin, she was beaten."

"How long ago?"

"Less than an hour," Erin said. "There's..." She turned away and choked.

"The blood isn't dry yet," Ariel said.

"Who found her?" Martin asked.

"I did," Kai said in a child's voice, eyes gla.s.sy, in shock.

"Who else knows?" Hans asked.

"I have to tell the others." Kai stepped uncertainly to the open door.

"Hold it," Hans said. "We'll all go look. n.o.body tells anybody until we've seen what happened. Kai, stick with us."

Kai stared at Hans. "You think I killed her? You slicking insect. insect."

"Stop it, stop it!" Erin cried, head still bowed. Her body trembled as she tried to control her nausea.

"Martin, we should get a mom. Now," Ariel said.

Martin called on his wand and asked for a mom to meet them in Rosa's room.

Rosa lay face up, one arm tucked under her back, the other outstretched, hand forming a limp claw.

Red hair outspread, mixed with clots of blood; lip split, blood smeared down her jaw and chin. Face terribly slack, the innocent relaxation of death, eyes indolent.

Martin bent over her as the others stood back. Hans kneeled beside him, scowling, squinting, head tilted to one side.

The mom hovered above Rosa's head. Martin reached out to check the pulse on her b.l.o.o.d.y neck. None.

"She is dead," the mom confirmed.

"We'll need to roll her over," Martin said softly. He looked around the quarters, as if asking for someone to object, so he would not have to do this. n.o.body objected.

Kai stepped forward. Hans stepped back. Kai and Martin took her by one side. She hung limp, flesh cooling but not yet at room temperature. Martin grasped her shoulder, Kai her leg. As gently as possible, they rolled her over.

She had been struck from behind, on the back of the head. The occiput was misshapen. Beneath the red hair a pool of blood had gathered, and sticky strands of blood and hair clung to the floor, breaking loose silently as she rolled face down.

Jeanette moaned. Erin seemed fascinated now, past her nausea.

"What should we do?" Martin asked the mom.

"Rosa Sequoia is no longer useful," the mom said.

"Do you know who killed her?" Erin asked the robot.

"We do not know who killed her."

Kai looked up at Hans. "Where were you?"

"He was with me for the past couple of hours," Martin said. "I don't think she's been dead more than an hour."

"She has been dead for fifty-two minutes," the mom said.

Kai's face wrinkled in grief. "How do we know you'd tell the truth?" he asked Martin.

"I believe Martin," Jeanette said, wrapping her arms around herself. "Somebody else killed her."

"Why?" Erin asked.

"Because she was speaking G.o.d's truth," Kai said. "Will you let us tell the others, or are you going to pretend this didn't happen?"

"Everybody will know."

"Even the Brothers?" Ariel asked.

"They're our partners," Hans said. "We have no secrets from them."

Martin and Kai rolled Rosa over. n.o.body's thinking straight, n.o.body's thinking straight, Martin told himself. He looked at the pots of flowers, the pad off to one side, seeking evidence of who had been here. The room around the body was normal but for the drops of blood sprayed in one corner; empty except for Rosa's things, and the nonessential parts of Rosa. Martin told himself. He looked at the pots of flowers, the pad off to one side, seeking evidence of who had been here. The room around the body was normal but for the drops of blood sprayed in one corner; empty except for Rosa's things, and the nonessential parts of Rosa.

"Do you wish to have a ceremony?" the mom asked.

"Yes," Jeanette said.

"I'd like you to make arrangements," Hans said to her.

They don't want to know who killed her, Martin realized. Martin realized. They aren't looking. They aren't looking. He alone was examining the room closely. He wished they would all leave so he could talk with the mom in private. He alone was examining the room closely. He wished they would all leave so he could talk with the mom in private.

"Martin, you and Jeanette clean her up," Hans said. "Wipe her down, dress her in her best...What should she wear?" Hans asked Jeanette.

"I don't know," Jeanette said. "I don't..." She finished with a sob.

"Gown," Hans said. He looked at the faces one by one. "She was my lover," he said, eyes hooded, lips downturned. "We'll find out who did this."

The others left. Martin and Jeanette silently, grimly stripped Rosa and washed her with water. Martin used his wand surrept.i.tiously to record the body's condition, and swept the room for more details as Jeanette reverently dressed her, weeping.

"She's a martyr," she said. "Rosa died for us."

Martin nodded. That was probably all too true.

The moms didn't stop this. But they had learned this very hard fact many months, many centuries before: the crew of a s.h.i.+p of the Law was free. But they had learned this very hard fact many months, many centuries before: the crew of a s.h.i.+p of the Law was free.

Free to die, and now free to kill.

The human crew took the news much as Martin had expected. Some wept, some cried out in anger, others held on to each other; still others listened in stunned silence as Hans revealed the details.

Only Twice Grown had been invited to join the humans as Hans spoke. Coiled, without scent, he listened to Hans and to Paola's quiet re-Englis.h.i.+ng.

Hans finished by saying, "Rosa was murdered. That much is known. We know nothing about who murdered her, and we will not have time to find out before the s.h.i.+p splits and we move on to the next part of the Job. I wish our partners, our Brothers, to know..." He seemed to search for the right words, the diplomatic expression, but shook his head. "This was an aberration-"

"The failure of a broken individual," Paola said softly to Twice Grown.

"A hideous wrong." Hans shook his head again, lips pressed tight. "Rosa is going to be recycled by the moms in a few hours. Her family and a.s.sociates will wait in her quarters to receive those who wish to grieve."

Martin stood before the mom alone as it entered his room. "Do you know now who killed Rosa Sequoia?" he asked after the door had closed.

"Hans has asked me the same question," it answered.

"Do you?"

"We do not track or survey individuals."

"You keep medical records-"

"We monitor health of individuals when they are in public places."

Martin knew that, but he would not let his questions go. One by one, he would ask them, and that would be his peculiar grief; for he had in a sense been relieved relieved by Rosa's death, and he was sure Hans had been relieved as well, and a kind of guilt drove him now. by Rosa's death, and he was sure Hans had been relieved as well, and a kind of guilt drove him now.

"Could you detect who had been in her room?"

"It is possible to identify numbers of presences in a room, after the fact, but we lack the means to identify individuals."

"How many people were in her room before she died, before she was found?"

"One person was in her room with her," the mom said.

"Male or female?"

"Male."

"What else can you tell me?"

"There had been s.e.xual activity," the mom said.

Martin had noticed dried fluid around Rosa's v.u.l.v.a and spots still damp on her pad. "Was she raped?"

"No."

He took a shuddering breath, stomach twisting and his neck hard as rock, head aching intensely. "But you don't know who was with her."

"We are aware of sixty people who were not with her," the mom said. "Four others were in private quarters, not their own, including the one with Rosa, and were not tracked."

"Can you list their names?"

"Their names are in your wand now."

"Thank you," Martin said.

The mom departed and Martin examined the list. One or more of the four could have killed her, and Martin noted that Rex was among them. Giacomo, Rex, Ariel, Carl Phoenix; he could not help returning to Rex Live Oak's glowing name.

Hans insisted Martin attend the service. Jeanette Snap Dragon delivered a brief and surprisingly cool talk, and there was no mention of Rosa's supernatural interactions, no mention as well of Rosa's disciples.

Jeanette spoke instead of Rosa the story-teller, of the early awkward Rosa who had blossomed into her own kind of maturity late in the voyage.

Before Jeanette was finished, Martin's eyes filled with tears. We've lost our final illusions. We've lost our final illusions.

After the service, Jeanette and Rex Live Oak were the last to leave. Rex glanced at Martin in the corridor outside Rosa's quarters, his eyes red and swollen, his mouth a broken curve.

Rex had never been a very good actor. He was not acting now. "Too much," he said, edging past Martin in the corridor. "Too slicking much."

Rosa's room was sealed, her body still inside. Out of sight, the s.h.i.+p did its work silently and quickly, and the last of Rosa vanished.

Jeanette approached Hans and Martin when the others had dispersed. "We're still agreed," she told him. "None of Rosa's people will fight. We're standing down."

"I understand," Hans said.

"We won't vote on judgment, we won't go on the Trojan Horse, Trojan Horse, we won't engage in support services." we won't engage in support services."

"That's all been planned for," Hans said. Jeanette looked between them, her unlined features appearing much older than before. She turned slowly, eyes lingering on Hans, and walked inboard.

"It's over," Hans murmured to Martin, hair in spikes from constant pushes of his hand, eyes dark and puffy. "Let it go."

There wasn't much else Martin could do.

Separation was less than six hours away.

Martin walked beside Hans into the schoolroom. Hans carried the list of the names of the ten humans who would accompany ten Brothers aboard the Trojan Horse Trojan Horse as it dipped into Leviathan's system. The crew a.s.sembled in the center before the star sphere, all but Rosa's party, who stood to one side in ranks of five. as it dipped into Leviathan's system. The crew a.s.sembled in the center before the star sphere, all but Rosa's party, who stood to one side in ranks of five.

Hakim and Giacomo had arranged for the most recent results of the search team to be projected within the sphere: the best images of the worlds, like G.o.d's marbles dropped carelessly on velvet, beautiful and alive.

Hans called out the names without referring to the list.

Those chosen smiled and shook fists high in the air. Others looked disappointed until Jimmy Satsuma said, "Into the valley of death rode the ten...The rest of us will just have to wait outside to kick a.s.s."

The crew cheered. Martin thought, Remarkable how little the rhetoric of war changes, as if it's built into our genes. Remarkable how little the rhetoric of war changes, as if it's built into our genes.

"Twenty," Hans said. "Don't forget the Brothers." But word of possible doubts among the Brothers had circulated with unfortunate speed, and Hans had done nothing to cool their anger.

"Yeah," Satsuma said, without enthusiasm.

"The s.h.i.+p will split in one hour," Hans said. "I will ride Greyhound. Greyhound. Martin will ride the Martin will ride the Trojan Horse. Trojan Horse. For the time being, all is in the hands of the moms. But we'll get our chance soon enough." For the time being, all is in the hands of the moms. But we'll get our chance soon enough."

He paused, looking at the floor. "I have an intuition." The crew kept a tense silence. "I think we'll find what we came for. We'll find it here. We share this with the Brothers, whatever our physical differences: we share the need to see justice done.