Worldwar_ Upsetting The Balance Part 4

Somewhere up ahead, an owl hooted. He didn't mind that. A few nights before, he'd heard wolves howling. That had sent the hair on his arms and at the back of his neck p.r.i.c.kling up in atavistic terror.

Also up ahead, but closer, the point man for the partisan band let out a hiss. Everybody froze. A whisper came back down the line: "Jerzy's found the highway."

The road from Lublin up to Biala Podlaska was paved, which by the standards of Polish country roads made it worthy of that handle. One of the Germans in the band, a hulking blonde named Friedrich, thumped Anielewicz on the shoulder and said, "All right, Shmuel, let's see how this works."

"It worked once, or something like it," Mordechai answered in German cleaner than the Wehrmacht Wehrmacht man's. First names were plenty in the partisan band. His was false-anybody who figured out who he really was might be tempted to betray him to the Lizards-but had to be Jewish in spite of his unaccented German and Polish. Languages were all very well, but some things they couldn't disguise. man's. First names were plenty in the partisan band. His was false-anybody who figured out who he really was might be tempted to betray him to the Lizards-but had to be Jewish in spite of his unaccented German and Polish. Languages were all very well, but some things they couldn't disguise.

"All right," Friedrich said. "We see if it works again." His voice carried an implied threat, but Anielewicz didn't think that had anything to do with his own Judaism. Friedrich just didn't want things to go wrong. That much he still kept from his army days. Otherwise he didn't look much like the spit-and-polish soldiers who'd made life h.e.l.l for the Jews in Warsaw and Lodz and everywhere in Poland. A floppy hat had replaced his coalscuttle helmet, he wore a fuzzy yellow beard, and the bandoliers crossed over the chest of his peasant blouse gave him a fine piratical air.

With a grunt of relief, Anielewicz unstrapped the crate he'd been carrying along with his knapsack. Some enterprising soul had stolen it from the Lizards' base at Lublin. It wasn't anything special, just an ordinary Lizard supply container. As he carried it toward the road, other partisans put in cans and jars of food, some from purloined Lizard stock, others of human make.

Up by the highway, Jerzy had the piece de resistance: piece de resistance: a jar full of ground ginger. "Stick it in my pocket," Mordechai whispered to him. "I'm not going to put it in there yet." a jar full of ground ginger. "Stick it in my pocket," Mordechai whispered to him. "I'm not going to put it in there yet."

"This is your play," the point man whispered back as he obeyed. He grinned, his teeth for a moment startlingly visible. "You sneaky Jew b.a.s.t.a.r.d."

"f.u.c.k you, Jerzy," Anielewicz said, but he grinned, too. He stepped out onto the asphalt and tipped the supply crate over sideways. Cans and jars rolled out of it along the surface of the road. He decided that wasn't good enough. He stomped on a couple of cans, smashed two or three jars.

He stepped back, considered the artistic effect, and found it good. The crate looked as if it had fallen off a supply lorry. He took the jar of ginger from his pocket, unscrewed the lid, and spilled half the contents over the cans and jars still inside. Then he set the jar and the lid by the crate and retreated back into the woods.

"Now we set up the ambush and we wait," he told Jerzy.

The point man nodded. "They're fools for not cutting the brush farther back from the sides of the road," he remarked.

"Fools?" Anielewicz said. "Well, maybe. You ask me, though, they just don't have the manpower to do everything they need. Good thing, too. If they did, they'd beat us. But trying to take on the whole world spreads them thin."

He found a good hidey-hole behind a shrub-as a city boy, he couldn't identify it any more closely than that. He detached the bayonet from his Mauser and used it to dig himself a little deeper into the soft, rich-smelling dirt. He was too aware of how much better he could have done with a proper entrenching tool.

Then it was lie and wait. A mosquito bit him in the hand. He swatted at it. It or one just like it bit him on the ear. Somebody warned he was making too much noise. Another mosquito bit him. He lay still.

Lizard vehicles weren't as noisy as the grunting, flatulent machines the n.a.z.is used. Sometimes the racket from the German tanks and troop carriers was intimidating, but it always told you right where they were. The Lizards could sneak up on you if you weren't careful.

Mordechai was careful. So were the rest of the partisans; the ones who hadn't been careful-and some of the ones who had-were dead now. When the faint rumble of northbound vehicles came to his ears, he flattened himself against the earth, to be as nearly invisible as he could. The Lizards had gadgets that could see in the dark like cats.

A personnel carrier whizzed by the artistically arranged crate without stopping. So did three lorries in quick succession. Anielewicz's heart sank. If his ambush went for nothing, he'd lose prestige in the band. He might have been the leader of Poland's Jewish fighters, but the partisans here didn't know that. As far as they were concerned, he was just a new fish showing what he could do.

The last lorry in the convoy pulled to a stop. So did the troop carrier riding shotgun for it. Mordechai didn't raise his head. He strained to catch the noises from the highway. A door on the lorry slammed. His heart thumped. One of the Lizards was going over to investigate the crate.

His biggest worry was that the Lizards wouldn't touch it because they were afraid it was rigged to a land mine or a grenade. Actually, that wasn't a bad idea, but Mordechai was ambitious. He wanted to bag more Lizards than he could with such a ploy.

He knew the exact instant when the Lizard realized the ginger was there: the excited, disbelieving hiss needed no translation. He wanted to hiss himself, with relief. Not all Lizards were ginger tasters, by any means, but a lot of them were. He'd counted on there being at least one taster among those who investigated the spilled crate.

That hiss brought another male out of the lorry. Maybe the Lizard who'd made it had a radio with him, for a moment later hatches on the troop carrier came down, too. Anielewicz's lips skinned back from his teeth in a savage grin. Just what he'd hoped for!

Easy, easy... patient. He willed his comrades to hold their fire until they could do the most damage. With a whole lot of luck, the fighting vehicle's crew would get down along with the infantry they transported. He willed his comrades to hold their fire until they could do the most damage. With a whole lot of luck, the fighting vehicle's crew would get down along with the infantry they transported. If If they were smart, they wouldn't, but ginger tasters were more apt to be greedy than smart. Would they be foolish enough to forget about the heavy weapons the troop carrier bore? they were smart, they wouldn't, but ginger tasters were more apt to be greedy than smart. Would they be foolish enough to forget about the heavy weapons the troop carrier bore?

One of the partisans couldn't stand to wait any more. As soon as one man opened up, everybody started shooting, intent on doing the most damage to the Lizards in the shortest time possible.

Anielewicz threw his rifle to his shoulder and, still p.r.o.ne, started squeezing off shots in the direction of the crate. You couldn't use aimed fire at night, not unless you had gadgets like those of the Lizards, but if you had put enough bullets in the air, that didn't matter too much.

Hisses turned to screeches on the roadway. A couple of Lizards started firing back at the partisans. Their muzzle flashes gave the humans hidden in the woods better targets at which to aim. But then the turret-mounted machine gun and light cannon in the troop carrier opened up. Anielewicz swore, first in Polish, then in Yiddish. The Lizards hadn't been altogether asleep at the switch after all.

With that kind of fire raking the trees and bushes, there was only one thing to do. "Let's get out of here," Mordechai yelled, and he rolled away from the road. The Lizards weren't the only ones screeching now; screams from the darkness and Polish cries for the Virgin said some of those sprayed bullets and sh.e.l.ls had found targets.

The advantage of opening fire from close to the highway was that you were right on top of the enemy. The disadvantage was that you took a long time to get away from his guns. Not until Anielewicz scrambled behind an oak tree whose trunk was thicker than his own did he begin to feel safe.

Firing from the road died away. Anielewicz didn't think the partisans had hurt the Lizards so badly they'd call in air strikes. This sort of warfare walked a fine line, if you did too little, you didn't harm the enemy. If you did too much, you were liable to provoke him into squas.h.i.+ng you like a bug. The Lizards could do that almost anywhere in the world, if they wanted to badly enough. Keeping them too busy in a lot of places to concentrate on any one worked fairly well.

Mordechai was walking a line himself, but not a fine one. It involved fetching up against a tree with his nose, stepping into a hole and twisting his ankle (by luck alone, not too badly), and splas.h.i.+ng through a tiny rill he discovered by the simple expedient of getting his feet wet. Some people moved through the woods at night silent as a lynx. He sounded more like a drunken wisent. He thanked G.o.d the Lizards were even less woodswise.

"That you, Shmuel?" somebody hissed-Jerzy.

"Yes, it's me," Anielewicz answered in Polish. He had no idea the other partisan was within a kilometer till he spoke. Well, that was why Jerzy walked point while he shlepped along well back in the line.

But the Pole didn't sound angry at him. "That was a good scheme you had there. The Lizards really like sticking their snouts into that stuff, don't they?"

"That they do," Mordechai said. "The ones who get hooked good, they'll do just about anything for a taste of ginger, and a lot of them are hooked-quite a lot of them, if what happened back there is any clue."

"Might as well be p.u.s.s.y, eh?" Friedrich stepped out from behind a tree. He was twice Jerzy's size, but just about as light on his feet-and it didn't do to think him stupid, either. He'd understood Polish and answered in the same language.

None of which made Mordechai feel easy around him. "I don't think they keep their brains in their p.r.i.c.ks, unlike some people I could name," he said. He tried to keep his tone light, but wasn't sure how well he succeeded; having to deal with Wehrmacht Wehrmacht men made his hackles rise. men made his hackles rise.

"If men keep brains in their p.r.i.c.ks, why do you Jews make yourselves stupider by cutting some off?" Friedrich retorted. Was that just raillery, or did the German mean something more by it? Who could tell what a German had been up to in Poland before the Lizards came? Anielewicz gave it up. They were-supposed to be-on the same side now.

Jerzy said, "Come on-we go this way now." Mordechai was d.a.m.ned if he knew how Jerzy could tell which way to go, or, for that matter, which way this this way was. But the Pole was rarely wrong-and Mordechai had no idea which way he was supposed to be going. He followed. So did Friedrich. way was. But the Pole was rarely wrong-and Mordechai had no idea which way he was supposed to be going. He followed. So did Friedrich.

The point man's skill or instinct or whatever it was led them back to the partisans' camp deep in the forest. No one risked a fire even with thick tree cover overhead; the Lizards had too many eyes in the air. They just found blankets, rolled themselves in them, and tried to go to sleep.

For Anielewicz, that proved impossible. For one thing, adrenaline still sang through him from the fight. For another, he wasn't used to sleeping in a blanket on the hard ground. And for a third, men-and a few women-not lucky enough to have been guided by Jerzy kept stumbling into camp all night long. Some of them moaned with wounds.

Some of them couldn't sleep, either. He joined one of the little knots of fighters sitting in the darkness and trying to figure out how well they'd done. One fellow claimed four Lizards downed, another twice that many. It was hard to figure out the partisans' losses, but at least two men were known dead, and four or five wounded. What morning would prove remained to be seen.

Mordechai said, "If we hit them this hard every time, we'll make them know we're there. We can afford to trade one for one longer than they can." That produced thoughtful silence, then grunts he took as agreement.

Sirens screaming, airplanes roaring overhead, bombs cras.h.i.+ng down, antiaircraft guns pounding maniacally-Moishe Russie had been through that in Warsaw in 1939, when the Luftwaffe Luftwaffe methodically pounded the Polish capital to pieces. But this was London almost four years later, with the Lizards trying to finish the job the Germans had started here, too. methodically pounded the Polish capital to pieces. But this was London almost four years later, with the Lizards trying to finish the job the Germans had started here, too.

"Make it stop!" his son Reuven cried, one more wail lost in the many that filled the Soho shelter.

"We can't make it stop, darling," Rivka Russie answered. "It will be all right." She turned to Moishe. She didn't speak again, but her face held two words: I hope. I hope.

He nodded back, sure he bore an identical expression. Having to admit your powerlessness to your child was awful, and being afraid you were lying when you rea.s.sured him even worse. But what else could you do when you had no power and were dreadfully afraid things wouldn't be all right?

More bombs. .h.i.t, somewhere close by. The mattresses strewn across the floor of the shelter jumped with the impact. The outcry inside the shelter rose to a new pitch of polylingual panic. Along with English and the Russies' Yiddish, Moishe heard Catalan, Hindustani, Greek, and several languages he couldn't identify. Soho held immigrants and refugees from all over the world.

Reuven squealed. At first, Moishe was afraid he'd hurt himself. Then he realized the flickering candlelight had been enough to let his son spot the Stephanopoulos twins, who lived in the flat across the hall from his own. Reuven had no more than a handful of words in common with Demetrios and Constantine, but that didn't keep them from being friends. They started wrestling with one another. When the next flight of Lizard planes dropped another load of death, they paid hardly any attention.

Moishe glanced over at Rivka. "I wish I could be so easily distracted."

"So do I," she said wearily. "You at least don't look like you're worried."

"No?" he said, surprised. "The beard must hide it, because I am." His hand went to his whiskery chin. A lot of men were sporting whiskers in London these days, what with shaving soap, razor blades, and hot water all in short supply. He'd worn a beard in Warsaw, though, and felt naked when he shaved it off to escape to Lodz one step ahead of the Lizards after he refused to be their radio mouthpiece any more.

They'd captured him anyhow, a few months later. Growing the beard again had been the one good thing about the prison into which they'd clapped him. He shook his head. No, there had been one other good thing about that prison-the commando raid that got him out of it. The trip to England by submarine had followed immediately.

He peered around the shelter. Amazingly, some people managed to sleep despite the chaos. The stink of fear and stale p.i.s.s was the same as he'd known back in Warsaw.

Rivka said, "Maybe that was the last wave of them."

"Alevai omayn," Moishe answered fervently: "May it be so-amen!" The vigor of his reply made Rivka smile. Wis.h.i.+ng didn't make things so, worse luck, but he didn't hear any more explosions, either nearby or off in the distance. Maybe Rivka was right. Moishe answered fervently: "May it be so-amen!" The vigor of his reply made Rivka smile. Wis.h.i.+ng didn't make things so, worse luck, but he didn't hear any more explosions, either nearby or off in the distance. Maybe Rivka was right.

The all-clear sounded half an hour later. Friends and neighbors woke the men and women who'd slept in spite of everything. People slowly went back above ground to head back to their homes-and to discover whether they had homes to head back to. It was about as dark on the street as it had been inside the shelter. The sky was overcast; the only light came from fires flickering here and there. Moishe had seen that in Warsaw, too.

Fire engines screamed through the streets toward the worst of the blazes. "I hope the Lizards didn't wreck too many mains," Moishe said. "They'll need all the water pressure they can get."

"I just hope our block of flats is still standing," Rivka said. They turned the corner. "Oh, thank G.o.d, it is." Her voice changed timbre: "Get away from there, Reuven! That's broken gla.s.s-you could cut yourself."

A woman lay groaning in front of the apartment building. Moishe hurried over to her. He'd been a medical student when the war started, and used what he'd learned in the Warsaw ghetto-not that all the medical training in the world did any good when people were starving to death.

"My leg, my leg," the woman moaned. Russie was just starting to learn English, so that didn't mean much to him. But the way she clutched at the injured part, and the way the s.h.i.+n bent where it had no business bending, told him everything he needed to know.

"Doctor," he said; he'd made sure he learned that word. He pointed to himself. It wasn't quite true, but he was the closest thing to a doctor the poor woman would see for a while, and thinking he was the genuine article might give her more confidence in him. He wanted that; he knew how to set a broken leg, but he also knew how much the process hurt.

The woman sighed, he hoped with relief. A small crowd had gathered around her and Moishe. He looked up to the people and said, "Fetch me a couple of flat boards and some rags to tie them to her leg."

n.o.body moved. Russie wondered what was wrong until Rivka said gently, "Dear, they don't understand Yiddish."

He thumped his forehead with the heel of his hand, feeling seventeen different kinds of idiot. He tried again, this time in the clear German he'd learned in school. Every time he had to use it, irony rose up to choke him. Here, in the heart of Germany's most important enemy, the irony was doubled.

But no one in the crowd followed German any better than Yiddish. In desperation, Moishe tried Polish. "Here, I'll get what you need," somebody said in the same language. Better yet, he translated Russie's request into English. Several people hurried away. In the rubble from years of bombings, boards and rags were easy to come by.

Moishe said to the fellow who spoke Polish, "Tell her I'm going to set her leg and splint it. Tell her it will hurt." The man spoke in English. The injured woman nodded. "Maybe you and a couple of other men should hold her while I work," Moishe went on. "If she thrashes around, she's liable to make things worse."

The woman tried to thrash. Moishe didn't blame her; he admired the way she did her best to keep gasps from turning into shrieks. He got the broken bones aligned and tied the splint tight to keep them from s.h.i.+fting again. When he was through, the woman whispered, "Thank you, Doctor."

He understood that. It warmed him. When he stood up, his own knees clicked. The sky was growing light. He sighed. No point in going to bed. He had an early broadcast scheduled at the BBC Overseas Services. Yawning, he said to Rivka, "I may as well just get my script and go on in."

"Oh, dear," she said sympathetically, but nodded. He and his family went upstairs together. He found the manila folder with the papers inside, then realized he was wearing only a greatcoat over pyjamas. He threw on a white s.h.i.+rt and a pair of trousers and headed out to face the world. A stretcher party had taken away the woman with the broken leg. Moishe hoped she'd do well. He wouldn't sleep, but he thought his wife and son might.

The building that housed the BBC Overseas Services was at 200 Oxford Street, not far west of his Soho flat and a few blocks east of Hyde Park. As he walked to work, London came to life around him. Pigeons cooed and sparrows chirped-lucky creatures, they knew nothing of war, save that it made the air sharp with smoke. Bicycles, men and women afoot, and horse-drawn wagons and even buggies taken out of sheds where they'd moldered for a generation clogged the streets. Petrol was in as desperately short supply here as in Warsaw or Lodz; only fire engines had all they needed.

Nathan Jacobi approached the building that housed the studios from the other direction at the same time as Moishe reached it. The two men waved to each other. Moishe broadcast in Yiddish and German; Jacobi translated his words into English. His Yiddish was polished and elegant. If his English came close to it-Russie wasn't qualified to judge, but doubted the BBC would have hired him if it didn't-he made a very effective newsreader indeed.

Now he surveyed Moishe with a sympathetic eye. "Bad for you last night? You look done in."

"I am am done in," Russie said. "I hope the tea in there has a jolt to it this morning. If it doesn't, I'm apt to fall asleep in front of the microphone." done in," Russie said. "I hope the tea in there has a jolt to it this morning. If it doesn't, I'm apt to fall asleep in front of the microphone."

"It'll be hot, anyhow," Jacobi said, which was true. "As for the jolt, you never can tell from day to day, not with these messes of leaves and roots and rose hips we get instead of the proper stuff." He sighed. "What I wouldn't give for a cup of vintage Darjeeling-b.l.o.o.d.y war."

The last two words were in English. Moishe knew what they meant, but took the adjective literally. "b.l.o.o.d.y war is right. And the worst of it is, we can't make the Lizards out to be as black as we would otherwise, because they haven't done much worse to us than we were already doing to ourselves."

"You would know best about that. Anyone who was in Poland-" Jacobi shook his head. "But still, if we hadn't been geared up to a fever pitch to fight each other, could we have put up such a battle against the Lizards?"

"I suppose not, but it's no credit to us that we were," Russie answered. "It's not as if we knew they were coming. We'd have gone right on slaughtering ourselves if they hadn't come, too. Still, I admit that's neither here nor there at the moment. They are here, and we have to make life miserable for them." He waved the pages of his script, then fished out his pa.s.s and showed it to the guard at the door. The guard nodded. Russie and Jacobi went in to get ready to broadcast.

.3.

"Forgive me, Exalted Fleetlord, but I have an emergency call for you from the 206th Emperor Yower 206th Emperor Yower," Atvar's adjutant said. In the vision screen, the younger male looked as worried as he sounded.

"Very well, Ps.h.i.+ng, patch it through," Atvar said, setting aside for a moment the war against the Big Uglies for his private conflict with the s.h.i.+plord Straha. After Straha failed to topple him from command of the conquest fleet, the s.h.i.+plord should have known revenge was on its way. Atvar wondered what sort of lying nonsense Straha would come up with to justify himself.

Ps.h.i.+ng's face disappeared from the vision screen. It was not, however, replaced by that of Straha. Instead, Atvar's chief security officer, a male named Diffal, turned his eye turrets toward the fleetlord. Diffal was earnest and capable. All the same, Atvar yearned for the cunning deviousness Drefsab had brought to the job. Even as a ginger taster, he'd been the best in the fleet. But now he was dead, and Atvar had to make do. "Do you have the s.h.i.+plord Straha in your custody?" he demanded.

"Exalted Fleetlord, I do not." Diffal also sounded worried. "I am informed that, shortly before the arrival of my team aboard the 206th Emperor Yower, 206th Emperor Yower, the s.h.i.+plord Straha left this vessel and traveled down from orbit to confer with Horrep, s.h.i.+plord of the the s.h.i.+plord Straha left this vessel and traveled down from orbit to confer with Horrep, s.h.i.+plord of the 29th Emperor Jevon, 29th Emperor Jevon, whose s.h.i.+p has landed in the central region of the northern portion of the lesser continental ma.s.s, near the city called St. Louis." whose s.h.i.+p has landed in the central region of the northern portion of the lesser continental ma.s.s, near the city called St. Louis."

Atvar hissed. Horrep was a member of Straha's faction. Ps.h.i.+ng, who must have been monitoring the conversation from his outer office, came onto the screen for a moment. "Exalted Fleetlord, the 206th Emperor Yower 206th Emperor Yower did not report this departure to us." did not report this departure to us."

Diffal said, "I have been in communication with the 29th Emperor Jevon. 29th Emperor Jevon. Straha is not aboard that s.h.i.+p, nor has his shuttlecraft landed nearby. I examined the radar records of the trajectory of the shuttlecraft. Computer a.n.a.lysis of the course they indicate gives a landing point relatively close to the Straha is not aboard that s.h.i.+p, nor has his shuttlecraft landed nearby. I examined the radar records of the trajectory of the shuttlecraft. Computer a.n.a.lysis of the course they indicate gives a landing point relatively close to the 29th Emperor Jevon, 29th Emperor Jevon, but not so close as would be expected if Straha truly intended to confer with Horrep. The s.h.i.+plord Horrep, I should inform you, vehemently denies that Straha sent messages announcing a visit, as custom and courtesy would have required." but not so close as would be expected if Straha truly intended to confer with Horrep. The s.h.i.+plord Horrep, I should inform you, vehemently denies that Straha sent messages announcing a visit, as custom and courtesy would have required."

"Ever since we came to Tosev 3, custom and courtesy have been corroding," Atvar said. Diffal stared back at him, not replying. One couldn't expect a male in security to be concerned with philosophy as well. Atvar dragged himself back to the matter at hand: "Well, where is the s.h.i.+plord Straha, then?"

"Exalted Fleetlord," Diffal said, "I don't know."

Jens Larssen was sick and tired of bicycles. He was sick and tired of pedaling all over creation on missions he shouldn't have had to take on and knew he wouldn't get thanked for, and, of all the things he never would have expected before he set out from Denver, he was sick to death of pine trees.

"First the Arapaho G.o.dd.a.m.n National Forest, now the Payette G.o.dd.a.m.n National Forest-or is it the Nez Perce G.o.dd.a.m.n National Forest yet?" he asked as he worked his way up US 95 toward Lewiston, Idaho. He was used to talking to himself on the road; days often went by when he didn't talk to anybody else. The longer he spent on his bike, the better he liked being alone.

He wiped sweat off his forehead with a sleeve. The day was hot, but he wore long sleeves and a long-brimmed cap anyway-he was so fair that he worried more about burning in the sun than baking in his clothes. His ears, which the cap didn't protect, were a permanently raw red peeling mess.

"Not that anybody gives a d.a.m.n what I look like these days," he said. Self-pity notwithstanding, he wasn't a bad-looking fellow: a skinny blond Viking, just past thirty, with bright blue eyes. A sour twist to his mouth marred his features, but since he couldn't see it, he didn't know it was there.

A Lizard jet screamed by, high overhead, flying west. The Lizards held the Snake River valley from Idaho Falls to Twin Falls, and used it as an air base against the Pacific Northwest. Outside of their airfields, though, they didn't seem to give a d.a.m.n about the area-a sentiment with which Jens heartily concurred. He'd gone through several towns-even what pa.s.sed for cities hereabouts-without seeing a one of the little scaly b.a.s.t.a.r.ds.

"Maybe I should have stopped and gone looking for them," he said to the trees. He knew enough to make the Lizards have kittens. What better way to pay back Barbara for dumping him, to pay back Colonel Hexham for helping him lose his wife, to pay back Oscar the guard for slugging him when he grabbed her to try to get her back, to pay back the Metallurgical Laboratory and the whole stinking human race on general principles? Denver might not earn an atomic bomb all on its own, but it would sure as h.e.l.l get leveled.