Colonization_ Aftershocks Part 33

"Amen!" Penny said fervently. "You know something, Rance? I'm G.o.dd.a.m.n tired of having people point guns at me, is what I am."

After lighting another foul-smelling French cigarette, Auerbach eyed her through the smoke he puffed out. "You know, kid, you might have picked the wrong line of work in that case."

She laughed. "Now why the h.e.l.l didn't I think of that?"

"We're not doing too bad here this time around," Rance said. "Better than I expected we would, I'll say that."

Instead of laughing again, Penny pretended to faint. That made Auerbach laugh, which made him start coughing, which made him feel as if his chest were coming to pieces. Penny thumped him on the back. It didn't help much. She said, "Don't tell me things like that. My heart won't stand it."

"Don't worry. I'm not going to make a habit of it." Auerbach filled his gla.s.s from the carafe of red wine that sat on the table. "This is a complicated deal, you know? We've got to stay on Dutourd's good side on account of we're doing business with him, and we've got to stay on Kuhn's good side on account of we're doing business with him, too, and they don't like each other for beans."

"It'd be a lot easier if you didn't have anything to do with that d.a.m.n n.a.z.i," Penny said. "We don't need to, not as far as money's concerned."

"Oh, I know," Rance answered. "But I told that Roundbush son of a b.i.t.c.h that I was going to tie a tin can to his tail, and I d.a.m.n well meant it. He laughed at me. n.o.body laughs at me and gets away with it. n.o.body, you hear?"

Penny didn't say anything right away. She lit a cigarette of her own, took a puff, made a face, and took a sip of wine to help get rid of the taste. She studied him through her smoke screen. At last, words did come from her: "Anybody took a look at you or listened to you for just a little while, he'd figure you were a wreck."

"He'd be right, too," Rance said at once, with a certain perverse pride.

But Penny shook her head. She drew on the cigarette again. "G.o.dd.a.m.n, I don't know why I smoke these things, except I get so jumpy when I don't." She paused. "Where was I? Oh, yeah. You're like an old crowbar all covered with rust. Anybody looks at it, he figures he can break it over his knee. But it's solid iron in the middle. You can smash somebody's head in with it as easy as not."

Auerbach grunted. He wasn't used to praise-even ambiguous praise like that-from her. And he enjoyed feeling decrepit; whenever he failed at something, he had a built-in excuse. He said, "h.e.l.l, my own crowbar doesn't work the way it's supposed to half the time these days."

Penny snorted. Then she said, "You're sandbagging," which held an uncomfortable amount of truth. "You want to head back to the hotel, or you want to come shopping with me?"

"I'll head back to the hotel," he said without the least hesitation. "You go shopping the way a big-game hunter goes on safari." That was also a compliment of sorts.

Penny headed off to pit her bad French and her air of Midwestern naivete against the merchants of Ma.r.s.eille. Rance took a taxi over to La Residence Bompard. He hadn't been there long before somebody knocked on the door. The Luger he'd acquired wasn't legal, but a lot of the things he'd been doing in France weren't legal. "Who is it?" he asked, his raspy voice sharp with suspicion-he wasn't expecting company.

To his surprise, the answer came back in English: "It is I-Monique Dutourd."

"Oh." He slid the pistol into a pocket before opening the door. "h.e.l.lo," he said, also in English. "Come in. Make yourself at home."

"Thank you." She looked around the room, then slowly nodded. "Yes. This is what it is like to be civilized. I remember. It has been a while."

"Sit down," Auerbach said. "Can I get you some wine?" She shook her head. He asked, "What can I do for you, then?"

"I wish to know"-her English was slow and precise; she had to think between words, as he did for French, though she spoke a little better-"why it is that you are friendly with that SS man, that Dieter Kuhn." She said several words after that in incandescent French, French nothing like what he'd studied at West Point. He didn't know exactly what they meant, but the tone was unmistakable.

"Why?" he said. "Because he and I have an enemy who is the same. Do you remember Goldfarb, the Jew that English ginger dealer sent here when this was still part of the Reich?" Reich?" He waited for her to nod, then went on, "I am using the n.a.z.i to take revenge on the Englishman." He waited for her to nod, then went on, "I am using the n.a.z.i to take revenge on the Englishman."

"I see," she said. "If it were me, I would use the Englishman to take revenge on the n.a.z.i, who made me into his harlot. Is that a proper English word, harlot?"

"I understand it, yes," Rance said uncomfortably. "I'm sorry, Miss Dutourd, but what it looks like to me is, a lot of the people in the ginger business are b.a.s.t.a.r.ds, and you have to pick the one who will help you the most at any one time. For me right now, that's Kuhn. Like I say, I'm sorry."

"You are..." She groped for a word again. "Forthright." Rance smiled. He couldn't help himself. He'd never heard anybody actually say forthright forthright before. He waved for her to go on, and she did: "In this, you are like my brother. He makes no apology for what it is that he does, either." before. He waved for her to go on, and she did: "In this, you are like my brother. He makes no apology for what it is that he does, either."

"I'm not sorry to do the Lizards a bad turn any way I can," Rance said. "Turning them into ginger addicts isn't as good as shooting them, but it will do."

"I do not love the Lizards, but I feel about the Boches Boches as you feel about they-about as you feel about they-about them." them." Monique Dutourd corrected herself. Monique Dutourd corrected herself.

"And how does your brother feel?" Auerbach wasn't about to waste a chance to gather information on the people with whom he was dealing.

He got more than he bargained for. "Pierre?" Monique Dutourd's lip curled in fine contempt. "As long as he can get his money, he does not care whence it comes." Auerbach hadn't heard whence whence very often, either. He got the idea she'd learned English from books. She added, "And if he does not get his money when he should, then unfortunate things, it could be, would happen." very often, either. He got the idea she'd learned English from books. She added, "And if he does not get his money when he should, then unfortunate things, it could be, would happen."

Sure as h.e.l.l, that was worth knowing. All the same, Rance might have been happier not hearing it. He and Penny remained small fish in a tank full of sharks.

Peking was was home. Liu Han hadn't been sure, not when she first came back to the city, but it was. To her real astonishment, she even found herself glad to be eating noodles more often than rice. home. Liu Han hadn't been sure, not when she first came back to the city, but it was. To her real astonishment, she even found herself glad to be eating noodles more often than rice.

"This is very strange," she said to Liu Mei, using her chopsticks to grab a mouthful of buckwheat noodles from their bowl of broth and slurping them up. "Noodles felt like foreign food to me when I first came here."

"They're good." Liu Mei took noodles for granted. Why not? She'd been eating them all her life.

Talking about noodles was safe. This little eatery wasn't one where Party members gathered. The scrawny man at the next table might have been a Kuomintang operative. The fat fellow on the other side, the one who looked as if he'd bring in a good sum if rendered into grease, might have worked for the little scaly devils. That was, in fact, pretty likely. Men who worked for the scaly devils made enough to let them eat well.

"Hard times," Liu Han said with a sigh.

Her daughter nodded. "But better days are coming. I'm sure of it." Saying that was safe, too. All sides-even the little devils-thought their triumph meant better times ahead for China. Liu Han raised the bowl of noodles to her face and took another mouthful. She hoped that would cover the outrage she might show when thinking of what a triumph by the little scaly devils would mean.

They finished eating and got up to go. They'd already paid-this wasn't the sort of place where the proprietor would trust people to leave money on the counter. As they went out onto the hutung- hutung-the alley-in front of the little food shop, Liu Han said, "We finally have enough tea in the city."

"Do we?" Liu Mei said as men and women, all intent on their own affairs, hurried past. The hutung hutung was in shadow; it was so narrow that the sun had to be at just the right angle to slide down into it. A man leading a donkey loaded with sacks of millet had people flattening themselves against the walls to either side to let him by. Liu Mei didn't smile-she couldn't-but her eyes brightened at what her mother said. "That's good. It took us long enough." was in shadow; it was so narrow that the sun had to be at just the right angle to slide down into it. A man leading a donkey loaded with sacks of millet had people flattening themselves against the walls to either side to let him by. Liu Mei didn't smile-she couldn't-but her eyes brightened at what her mother said. "That's good. It took us long enough."

Before Liu Han could answer, a fly lit on the end of her nose. Looking at it cross-eyed, she fanned her hand in front of her face. The fly flew off. It was, of course, only one of thousands, millions, billions. They flourished in Peking as they did in peasant villages. Another would probably land on her somewhere in a minute.

She said, "Well, this is special tea, you know, not just the ordinary sort. It took a long time to pick the very best and bring it up from the south."

"Too long." Liu Mei was in one of those moods where she disapproved of everything. Liu Han understood that. Staying patient wasn't easy, not when every day saw the little scaly devils sinking their claws ever deeper into the flesh of China. Liu Mei went on, "We'll have to boil the fire up really hot."

"Can't make good tea any other way," Liu Han agreed.

They came out of the alley onto Hsia Hsieh Chieh, Hsia Hsieh Chieh, Lower Slanting Street, in the western part of the Chinese City, not far from the Temple of Everlasting Spring. Bicycles, rickshaws, wagons, foot traffic, motorcars, buses, trucks-Lower Slanting Street was wide enough for all of them. Because it was, and because everyone used it, traffic moved at the speed of the slowest. Lower Slanting Street, in the western part of the Chinese City, not far from the Temple of Everlasting Spring. Bicycles, rickshaws, wagons, foot traffic, motorcars, buses, trucks-Lower Slanting Street was wide enough for all of them. Because it was, and because everyone used it, traffic moved at the speed of the slowest.

More often than not, that was an annoyance. The little scaly devils in a mechanized fighting vehicle must have thought so; they had to crawl along with everyone else. Scaly devils were impatient creatures. They hated having to wait. They ran their own lives so waiting was only rarely necessary. Moving along jammed Chinese streets, though, what choice did they have?

When Liu Han said that aloud, Liu Mei said, "They could just drive over people or start shooting. Who would stop them? Who could stop them? They are the imperialist occupiers. They can do as they please."

"They can, yes, but they would touch off riots if they did," Liu Han said. "They are, most of them, smart enough to know that. They don't want us to get stirred up. They just want us to be good and to be quiet and to let them rule us and not to cause them any trouble. And so they'll sit in traffic just as if they were people."

"But they have the power to start running people over or to start shooting," Liu Mei said. "They think they have the right to do those things, whether they choose to do them or not. There's the evil: that they think they have the right."

"Of course it is," Liu Han agreed. "I don't suppose people can do anything about having the little scaly devils here on Earth with us-it's too late for that. But having them think they have the right to rule us-that's a different business. We should be free. If they can't see that, they need reeducating." She smiled. "Maybe we could all sit down together over tea."

No, her daughter couldn't smile: one more score to lay at the feet of the little devils. But Liu Mei nodded and said, "I think that would be very good."

The little scaly devils' machine tried to slide into a s.p.a.ce just ahead. But a man on an oxcart squeezed in first. He had to lash the ox to make it move fast enough to get ahead of the armored vehicle. As soon as he found himself in front of it, he set down the whip and let the ox amble along at its own plodding pace. That did infuriate the scaly devils. Their machine let out a loud, horrible hiss, as if to cry, Get out of the way! Get out of the way! The man on the oxcart might have been deaf, for all the good that did them. The man on the oxcart might have been deaf, for all the good that did them.

People-Liu Han among them-laughed and cheered. The fellow on the oxcart took off his broad straw hat and waved it, acknowledging the applause. If the little scaly devils understood that, it probably made them angrier than ever. Unless they chose to get violent, they could do nothing about it.

Then more laughter rose. It started a couple of blocks up Lower Slanting Street and quickly spread toward Liu Han and Liu Mei. Liu Han stood on tip-toe, but couldn't see over the heads of the people around her. "What is it?" she asked her daughter, who was several inches taller.

Liu Mei said, "It's a troop of devil-boys, cutting up capers and acting like fools." Disapproval filled her voice. The young men and-sometimes-young women who imitated the little scaly devils and adopted their ways were anathema to the Communist Party. They learned the little devils' language; they wore tight clothes decorated with markings that looked like body paint; some of them even shaved their heads so as to look more like the alien imperialists. There were such young people in the United States, too, but the United States was still free. Perhaps people there could afford the luxury of fascination with the scaly devils and their ways. China couldn't.

But then Liu Mei gasped in surprise. "Oh!" she said. "These are not ordinary devil-boys."

"What are they doing?" Liu Han asked irritably. "I still can't see." She stood on tiptoe again. It still didn't help.

Annoying her further, all her daughter said was, "Wait a bit. They're coming this way. You'll be able to see for yourself in a minute."

Luckily for Liu Mei, she was right. And, by the time Liu Han could see, shouts and cheers from the crowd had given her some idea of what was going on. Then, peering over her daughter's shoulder and through a gap in the crowd in front of them, she did indeed see-and, like everyone around her, she started laughing and cheering herself.

Liu Mei had also been right in saying this was no ordinary troop of devil-boys. Instead of slavishly imitating the little scaly devils, they burlesqued them. They pretended to be a mixed group of males and females, all taking ginger and all mating frenetically.

"Throw water on them!" shouted one would-be wit near Liu Han.

"No! Give them more ginger!" someone else yelled. That got a bigger laugh.

And then Liu Han started shouting, too: "Tao Sheng-Ming! You come here this instant!"

One of the devil-boys looked up in surprise at hearing his name called. Liu Han waved to him. She wondered how well he could see her. She also wondered whether he'd recognize her even if he could see her. They hadn't met in more than three years, and she didn't think he knew her name.

Whether he knew it or not, he hurried over when she called. And he did recognize her; she could see that in his eyes. Or maybe he just recognized Liu Mei, who, being much closer to his own age and much prettier, was likelier to have stuck in his mind. No-when he spoke, it was to Liu Han: "h.e.l.lo, lady. I greet you." The last three words were in the language of the Race.

"And I greet you," she answered in the same tongue. Then she returned to Chinese: "I am glad to see you came through safe, after all the troubles Peking has seen since the last time we ran into each other."

"I managed." From his tone, he was used to managing such things. His grin was wry, amused, older than his years. "And I'm glad to see you're all right, too, you and your pretty daughter." Yes, he remembered Liu Mei, all right. He sent that grin her way.

She looked back as if he were something nasty she'd found on the sole of her shoe. That only made his grin wider, which annoyed Liu Mei and amused Liu Han. She asked the question that needed asking: "Did you ever go and visit Old Lin at Ma's brocade shop?"

If Tao Sheng-Ming had visited Old Lin, he'd have been recruited into the Communist Party. If he hadn't, it was just as well that he didn't know Liu Han's name. But he nodded. His eyes glowed. "Oh, yes, I did that," he said. "I know more about comrades.h.i.+p now than I ever did before. Shall I tell you what"-he lowered his voice-"Mao says about the four characteristics of China's revolutionary war?"

"Never mind," Liu Han said. "So long as you know them." He wouldn't, unless he was a Communist himself. Or unless he's bait for a trap, Or unless he's bait for a trap, Liu Han thought. But she shook her head. Had the little scaly devils known she was coming into Peking, they would have seized her. They wouldn't have bothered with traps. Liu Han thought. But she shook her head. Had the little scaly devils known she was coming into Peking, they would have seized her. They wouldn't have bothered with traps.

Tao's grin came back. "Oh, yes. I know them. I know all sorts of things I never thought I would know. I have many things to blame you for-I mean, to thank you for."

He might be a Communist. But he was still a devil-boy, too. He enjoyed being outrageous. The foolish skit that he and his fellows had been performing proved that. "Did you have fun there, making the little devils look ridiculous to the ma.s.ses?" Liu Han asked him.

He nodded. "Of course I did. That was the point of the antics. Good propaganda, don't you think?"

"Very good," Liu Han agreed. "I will have to do some talking with the Central Committee"-that made Tao Sheng-Ming's eyes widen, as she'd hoped it would-"but I think you and your devil-boys may prove even more useful in the continuing revolutionary struggle."

"How?" Tao was pantingly eager.

Liu Han smiled at Liu Mei. "Why, in the matter of the special tea that's come up from the south, of course." Liu Han laughed. Liu Mei didn't, but she nodded. Tao Sheng-Ming looked most intrigued. Liu Han laughed again. Sure enough, she knew how to get devil-boy wildness to serve the Party.

"There is no justice." Monique Dutourd spoke with great a.s.surance and equally great bitterness.

Her brother was shaving with a straight razor, a little soap, and a handheld mirror. Pierre paused with the right side of his face sc.r.a.ped clean and the left still full of lather and whiskers. All he said was, "Now tell me something I did not know."

"Oh, shut up," she snarled. "You don't mind working with that n.a.z.i again, no matter what he did to me."

Pierre Dutourd sighed and raised his chin so he could shave under it. Some small part of Monique hoped he'd cut his throat. He didn't, of course. He guided the razor with effortless, practiced skill. He didn't talk while shaving around his larynx. But when he started on his left cheek, he said, "n.o.body in this business is a saint, little sister. The n.a.z.i was s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g you. The Englishmen were s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g somebody else-that Jew, the American said."

"n.o.body is a saint?" Monique rolled her eyes. "Well, if I didn't already know that, you would prove it."

"Merci beaucoup." Pierre was hard to infuriate, which was one of the most infuriating things about him. He finished shaving, rinsed and dried his razor, then washed his face with the water left in the enameled basin. He toweled himself dry and examined himself in the mirror. Only after a self-satisfied nod did he continue, "You know that, if you grow too unhappy here, you are always free to go elsewhere. There are times when I would say you were welcome to go elsewhere." Pierre was hard to infuriate, which was one of the most infuriating things about him. He finished shaving, rinsed and dried his razor, then washed his face with the water left in the enameled basin. He toweled himself dry and examined himself in the mirror. Only after a self-satisfied nod did he continue, "You know that, if you grow too unhappy here, you are always free to go elsewhere. There are times when I would say you were welcome to go elsewhere."

Ha! Monique thought. Monique thought. I did hit a nerve there, even if he doesn't want to let it show. I did hit a nerve there, even if he doesn't want to let it show. But Pierre had hit a nerve, too, and painfully. Monique still had nowhere else to go, and she knew it. She had received a couple of more letters from universities that had survived the fighting. n.o.body seemed to need a Roman historian whose university was now nothing but rubble that made a Geiger counter click. But Pierre had hit a nerve, too, and painfully. Monique still had nowhere else to go, and she knew it. She had received a couple of more letters from universities that had survived the fighting. n.o.body seemed to need a Roman historian whose university was now nothing but rubble that made a Geiger counter click.

She said, "You may be sure that, when the chance comes, I will take it." Each word might have been chipped from ice.

"Meanwhile, though, you would be wise not to bite the hand that feeds you," her brother went on, almost as if she hadn't spoken. "You would also be wise to become useful to someone in some way."

"Useful!" Monique made it a swear word. "Aren't you glad you're useful useful to the Lizards?" to the Lizards?"

"Of course I am," he answered. "If I weren't, I would have had to work much harder for most of my life. People I don't like would have told me what to do much more than they do now. Things could have been better, yes, but they also could have been much worse."

He was impervious. Monique stormed out of the tent. She'd been doing that more and more often these days. This time, she almost ran into a Lizard who was about to come in. "Excusez-moi," "Excusez-moi," he said in hissing French. Monique strode past him without a word. he said in hissing French. Monique strode past him without a word.

She'd just got to the edge of the tent city when a double handful of Lizards hurried past her. They were all carrying weapons. She was no great expert on the many patterns of body paint the Race used, but she thought theirs-which were all similar to one another-had to do with law enforcement.

Uh-oh, she thought. She turned and looked back. Sure enough, they too were heading for the tent she'd just left. And she couldn't do anything about it. They were moving faster than she could. She was too far away to scream out a warning to her brother. And, after this latest blowup, she wasn't much inclined to scream out a warning anyway. she thought. She turned and looked back. Sure enough, they too were heading for the tent she'd just left. And she couldn't do anything about it. They were moving faster than she could. She was too far away to scream out a warning to her brother. And, after this latest blowup, she wasn't much inclined to scream out a warning anyway.

She waited. Sure enough, the Lizards emerged with not only the one who'd gone before them but also with her brother in custody. They marched their prisoners out of the camp-marched them right past Monique, though Pierre didn't notice her-hustled them into a waiting motorcar with flas.h.i.+ng orange lights, and drove them away.

Well, Monique thought, Monique thought, what do I do now? what do I do now? She hadn't wanted to look for work in a shop. That would have been as much as admitting that she'd never find another academic position. As long as she could live with Pierre and Lucie, she'd been able to indulge those hopes. When you couldn't indulge your hopes any more, what did you do? If you had any sense, you buckled down and got on with your life. She hadn't wanted to look for work in a shop. That would have been as much as admitting that she'd never find another academic position. As long as she could live with Pierre and Lucie, she'd been able to indulge those hopes. When you couldn't indulge your hopes any more, what did you do? If you had any sense, you buckled down and got on with your life.

With her brother a captive of the Race, she was going to have to get on with her life if she wanted to keep eating. Shop girl, scullery maid... anything this side of selling herself on the street. Dieter Kuhn had made her do something all too close to that. Never again, Never again, she vowed to herself. Better to jump off a cliff and hope she landed on her head. Everything would be over in a hurry then. she vowed to herself. Better to jump off a cliff and hope she landed on her head. Everything would be over in a hurry then.

Hitting bottom here, realizing she'd have to look for work that had nothing to do with her degree, might have felt like that. It might have, but it didn't. Instead, it was oddly liberating. All right, she couldn't be a professor-or, at least, she couldn't be a professor right now. She'd be something else, then.

She started out of the camp and toward the rebuilding city of Ma.r.s.eille. She hadn't gone very far before she ran into Lucie coming back from the city. Unlike her own brother, Lucie recognized her. Of course, the Lizards hadn't just seized Lucie, either.

Monique was tempted to let her go back to the tent. Maybe the Lizards had left some sort of alarm behind so they could swoop down again when she did return. But Pierre's mistress hadn't given Monique a bad time. Lucie had, in fact, been easier to get along with than her own brother.

And so she said, "Be careful. The Lizards just grabbed Pierre."

"Oh, for the love of G.o.d!" Lucie said. "Was that the car I saw going downhill toward town?"

"That's right." Monique nodded. "Pierre and I had another fight. I'd just gone out when a Lizard-a customer, I mean-went in. And I hadn't gone a whole lot farther before a whole squad of Lizard flics flics came in and grabbed Pierre and the Lizard customer, too." came in and grabbed Pierre and the Lizard customer, too."