CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

“We’re leaving. You can’t stop us. There isn’t going to be any vote. They put you in charge. We didn’t. I didn’t. We don’t want to be part of this. We’re leaving.” Karsh was on his feet and shouting. This was pretty normal for Karsh, Mike thought, although the we’re-leaving-now part was new.

Brux asked, “Finally?” He paused to let his sarcasm drip then said, “As in going to another part of the planet away from us?”

“Yes.”

Brux asked, “Can I help you pack?”

“Who’s with us?” Karsh asked.

Ten others rose and clustered around Karsh. Mike was surprised that Krim stood among them. Then he noted that Cak did not.

“Where will you go?” Joe asked.

“Not here.”

“It’s pouring rain. The desert is currently a flood. The mountains have snow nearly down to the colony. You’ll die in the desert or in the mountains. There’s no other place.”

“We aren’t safe here,” Karsh said. “Murder has been done and we don’t know who did it. There is a killer among us. We need to leave to keep ourselves safe.”

“How do you know the killer isn’t going with you?” Joe asked.

Karsh pointed to the ground. “We’re going to die here. You know that and we know that. The goal is for all of us to die. If we stay here, we die. If we go, we die.” He pointed to the men sitting around Mike and Joe. “I’d rather die somewhere not under the rule of you all.”

Brux said, “There’s no fuel or food up there.”

“We’re entitled to our percentage whether we’re with you or on our own.”

“It’ll take away from our supplies.”

“And you’re taking away from ours. But if we go, we die free.”

“How will you get new supplies?”

Karsh hesitated then said, “We’ll set up a separate delivery point. There has to be more than one delivery point. They must be planning for more of us. There will be millions eventually with huge amounts of supplies. We’re a prison. We’ll be lucky to ever be self-sufficient.”

Brux said, “Won’t you really need to all walk off separately, otherwise you’ll be slaves to each other?”

“I don’t want to listen to your bullshit comments.” He jabbed a finger at Mike. “You could have used your power to save us all.”

“How?” Mike asked.

“You could have threatened all of them with death and destruction.”

“For every second of brag and bluster and nonsensical defiance from me, they threatened to kill a million of us. Is that what you wanted?”

“You could have stopped them.”

“You keep saying that, but you never say how. I’m not on every planet. How many planets do the Religionists control? Thousands? Millions? I’m one guy.”

“You could share your power.”

“I would if I could.”

“You’re lying, just like we’ve been lied to all our lives.” He turned to his cohorts. “I’m not listening to any more bullshit. I’m leaving. Whoever is coming with me can come with me. Whoever isn’t can stay with these shits. You can die free or slaves.” No others stood to join their band of eleven.

Karsh stalked out of the room. The few who had stood straggled behind him. One of them called out to their leader, “Won’t we need supplies?” Karsh, head up, marched on. They left.

Mike was the first to speak when they’d gone and the other men in the room had turned their attention to him. “Give them whatever they can carry, unless they try to take all of something vital. Since they are eleven of the original one hundred give them eleven one-hundredths of something, unless an item is designed for later colonies.”

Joe said, “They won’t like it.”

“They won’t like anything,” Mike replied. “If we’re going to build a successful society, we have to let them go.”

Mike saw doubt and hesitation in the looks of some of the men. “We’ve got to let them try. If they fail, they’ll have learned on their own. Maybe they’ll succeed.” There were snorts of derision at this.

Mike spoke over them, “And if they succeed maybe we’ll have learned something. We’ve spread beyond the plans that were set up for us in small ways. We’ll do it more, but if these guys succeed it could give us another way of inhabiting the planet. Besides, in the thousands and millions to come we’re going to have a lot of psychologically damaged people. It hasn’t been so bad in our group and until Bir’s death, not tragically so. We’ve had planning, training, responsibilities. We’ve been kept busy preparing for and doing our tasks. Most of those that come after us are going to be dumped here, most likely unprepared, probably confused and frightened, certainly angry. We’ve got to be as ready for them as possible. I want to settle this problem of Leavers now. We can’t stop them. Imprisoning them would be too bizarre.”

Brux said, “A little death might be effective.”

Mike gave him a look.

Brux shrugged. “Just a thought.”

“Let’s set up a guard rotation,” Joe said. “I don’t think they’d steal stuff. They can only take what they carry and that won’t be very much. But other than stealing stuff, they might get carried away and start wrecking things. We better make sure the security is tight.”

Brux said, “I’ll take care of it, and I’ll be fair, don’t worry. Plus, in case they try and wreck things or sabotage them, I can tie in the alarm system easily enough.”

“They wouldn’t wreck things, really would they?” one of the men asked.

Brux tapped him on the arm. “Honey, as I’ve said before, never underestimate the amount of, or the power of stupidity.” He paused for a moment then said, “I had a thought. What if we just announce we’re all going with them? Wouldn’t that drive them nuts?”

Joe smiled. “If I was assured that it would, I’d pack up in a minute.”

“One thing,” Mike said.

“What’s that?” Joe asked.

Mike said, “The spy can’t have been among the Leavers. They were the most negative and contrary of the colonists. If I wanted a spy among us, I’d wanted him to stay with the main group. I assume I’m the main object of their attention. As long as I’ve got this little doohickey in my head, I guess I’ll always have friends.”

Brux said, “How the hell are they going to get anywhere in the mountains? We aren’t scheduled for ground transport vehicles until we have over a hundred thousand people.”

Joe said, “I guess they’ll walk like we all do.”

Brux asked, “In the rain? And the snow-line now starts within spitting distance of the colony.”

Joe said, “They have an equal right to their own stupidity.”

“I guess it’s something like that,” Mike said. “And the storms have been receding for a week. Depending on how fast they go, the storms may recede in front of them.”

“They have no way of getting more provisions,” Brux said. “Why they haven’t thought of that is beyond me.”

“Maybe they have,” Joe said. “Maybe there’s something about this we don’t know yet.”

“Or is the killer smart enough to have staged this so he can’t be caught?”

“That’s why they chose now to leave?”

“The killer, I presume so. The others, I’m not so sure.”

“But Cak isn’t going.”

“He’s not the killer?”

None of them knew the answer to that.

The meeting broke up. Mike, Joe, and Brux hung back. Joe said, “They’re leaving hours after the murder? One of them is the killer and is using this as an excuse to get away.”

Brux said, “I agree.”

Mike added, “It’s the most logical. If they waited a week, they could for sure follow the storms up the mountains rather than leaving in them.”

Joe said, “They’ll have advanced outdoor gear. No one has used any of it so far. There’s tons of the stuff. I’ve even managed to trade it for a few things especially with Nek’s crew.”

Mike said, “They’re welcome to it. Maybe we will be a little safer with them gone.”

Brux said, “I hope so. I wish Cak had gone with.”

“That was odd,” Mike said. “And I want to talk to Krim. Him leaving doesn’t make sense.”

Brux said, “It must to him.”