Chapter 26

When my knees hit the floor, I instinctively pitched forward onto my stomach and grabbed the pistol I dropped. The metallic mesh coat I wore under my duster had done its job in diffusing the energy from the stunner. The energy blast had given me a good jolt and set my skin to tingling, but I regained control of my muscles and my facilities almost immediately. From initially pulling my pistol to hitting the floor, it had probably taken only a couple of seconds.

Falling face first to the floor allowed me to see under the heavy table where Bearclaw and Mendes sat. I was unsurprised that Mendez held a large stunner in his lap, pointed in my direction. I realized that it was Mendez who'd fired the stunner at me, so I returned the favor and put a 45-caliber slug in his foot. Mendez screamed and pitched backwards out of his chair with a thud. The stunner fell out of his hand and clattered across the tiled floor. I had no sympathy for the man as he lay there moaning piteously. He was supposed to be a doctor, a follower of the Hippocratic Oath, yet from day one he had planned to do me harm. He was now reaping what he had sown.

As soon as I fired, I rolled to my left, scrambled under the table and out the other side. I rolled left because it put me under the furthest table from the guards at the door and now all the council members were in front of me. I needed to be cautious, because according to Tonya, the mesh coat I was wearing would need five minutes to completely dissipate the charge it had absorbed before it would be effective again.

The room was now a frozen tableau, as everyone seemed in shock over what I'd done. To my right, both Tonya and Greer were on the floor unconscious. The two guards by the door were staring at Mendez, their weapons hanging limply in their hands. Bearclaw and the other members of the Pleiad were cowering in their chairs looking fearfully at me. I pointed my pistol at the two guards and pulled back the hammer. The metallic click of the hammer tang engaging the trigger sere echoed loudly in the quiet room.

"You two by the door better drop your weapons, or you'll join Mendez," I barked.

They complied immediately and I waved them away from their weapons with a twitch of the gun barrel. I rose to my feet and had all the council members stand up with their hands over their heads. When they were on their feet, I herded them over with the guards. By the time the councilors were lined up against the wall, Chairman Bearclaw had regained his composure. When he started to bluster and threaten me, I swung my pistol up and pointed it at his chest. As I brought the weapon to bear, the Pleiad member on either side of him shied away.

"I am a desperate man with nothing to lose, Bearclaw, and I hold you totally responsible for that. You are only marginally worth more to me alive, so mind your manners," I growled threateningly.

Bearclaw held up a placating hand, but he kept his mouth shut tight.

I knelt beside Tonya then, and unclipped the small communicator from her pocket. I activated the device by saying Sarah's name into it. The instrument emitted a few strange noises, but soon enough, Sarah's sweet face filled the little picture frame on the front of the communicator.

I made a large effort at keeping my voice calm and steady as I explained the situation to her. Sarah relayed the information to Lucy, who was speaking on her own communicator to Queen Elizabeth. After some back and forth, Sarah told me to stand fast, as help was on the way.

After telling Sarah goodbye, I retrieved my other six guns from Tonya's haversack, stuffed the stunners I'd collected into it, and slung the bag over my shoulder. Then I strapped on the holster rig and walked over to check on Mendez.

As soon as he saw me standing over him, Mendez started cussing me for all he was worth. He was sitting with his back against the wall by then, gingerly trying to remove his shoe. Mendez was pallid from shock, and bleeding right smartly. He'd live though, and with the medical care here in the future, he would probably be good as new in a few days. Not that it mattered to me, because I thought a little suffering was what someone as evil as he needed.

Help arrived ten minutes later in the form of Coleen and Helena. Coleen had her doctor's satchel with her, and after hugging my neck, she knelt down and treated Mendez's wound. Helena also hugged me, but she held me tighter and sighed.

Helena was the quietest and most reserved of the three future women who went back to my time, but her passion flared the hottest. She was also a brilliant scientist; her intellect both awed and slightly intimidated me.

"I have missed you too. After this business with Bearclaw is settled, I would love to spend some time together, just the two of us," I replied.

She smiled and nodded her agreement. I dug one of the smaller stunners out of Tonya's bag and handed it to Helena.

"Help me keep an eye on everyone, please. If anyone makes a threatening move, blast them," I instructed.

Helena looked at the stunner distastefully, but bobbed her head and took it.

Coleen gave Mendez an injection for his pain and he quieted down immediately. She dressed what I considered a mild wound then moved over to Tonya and revived her. In only a few minutes, Tonya was sitting up, groggy but conscious. I kept a wary eye on her, because the only person in the room who had given me no reason to doubt them was Helena. And with Helena there, I decided that all things being equal, now was the time to capitalize on my holding a strong hand.

"Helena, do you know how to operate the machine that brought me here?" I asked.

Helena nodded affirmatively. Helena was a smart woman and knew where I was headed. She was also about the only woman I had met here in the future who was not involved in some scheme that concerned me.

"The process is computer-controlled, Jeb, and I know for a fact that it is still calibrated to the cave back in your time."

Before I could comment on that, one of the doors to the chamber swung open and Sonja marched into the room. I watched her suspiciously as she entered, because last I heard, she was supposedly on the lam with Tonya's mother, but who knows, that might have been some sort of trick. Intrigue and double-dealing seemed to be the normal behavior of the valley people.

"Show me your hands, Sonja," I demanded.

Sonja's face went through a gauntlet of emotions at my barked request. Surprise and confusion flickered across her countenance before she sighed resignedly and raised her hands, palms towards me.

"I'm not your enemy, Jeremiah," she said reproachfully.

"I am not sure who is who anymore, Sonja, so I am disinclined to trust anyone."

Sonja looked pointedly at Helena, who was holding one of the guard's standard-size stunners. I ignored the obvious question in her look. By this point, my patience was wearing thin.

"State your business, or leave," I said.

Sonja looked at me as if I were some stubborn child.

"All of this is my business, Jeremiah Brock," she said peevishly. "As a member of the civil service, I work directly for the citizens of the valley. I might report to the Pleiad, but I answer to the Civil Service Commission. We administrators are educated and trained to advise the councilors on all aspects of government. Which begs the question of where is Noah Fletcher? It is highly irregular for the Pleiad to meet without an administrator present."

By the time Sonja finished her little tirade, I was red faced with embarrassment. Here I thought she was Bearclaw's lackey, and it turns out she was some sort of honest broker. Still, I didn't know that before, and she had been awfully chummy with the council chairman. I could, however, clear up her question about Mister Fletcher.

"Commander Greer had Fletcher hauled off to the hoosegow for something or other; maybe Tonya can clear that up for you," I said helpfully.

Sonja finally started looking around when I mentioned Tonya. Her eyes widened as she took in the sight of Mendez with his bloody foot, the unconscious Greer sprawled out on the floor and Coleen busily fussing over a slowly reviving Tonya. Sonja shot me a hard look and I just shrugged.

"I only shot Mendez after he shot me first. I think Tonya shot Greer and the Guards shot her."

It took a couple of minutes for Tonya to feel normal enough to talk. As soon as she was lucid, she, Coleen, Sonja and Helena started whispering. I let them talk because I held a 45 caliber veto to any plan I didn't like. After three weeks of being pulled from pillar to post here in this future, I was not about to relinquish the upper hand.

The women finished their little confabulation and Sonja flipped open her vid-phone. She glanced up at me when I cleared my throat. She sighed and turned her attention towards me.

"Listen, Jeremiah, I'm calling down to security to have Noah Fletcher brought back up here, along with the three councilors Bearclaw had arrested. I'm also going to have the video techs come record everything that happens. My priority is to get our government working again. As soon as that's done, we'll address your issues," she patiently explained.

I nodded, fair enough.

Bearclaw started objecting when Sonja took charge.

"You are seriously overstepping your authority, Miss Ferrens. I am still the legally appointed head of the government," he spouted.

Sonja shrugged her shoulders.

"My function as an administrator is to keep the government operating smoothly, and right now, it's doing everything but ... thanks to you and Mister Brock. Besides, everything will be on the record, so the Civil Service Commission can decide if I acted appropriately."

Bearclaw wanted to argue the point, but I waved away his objections with the five inch barrel of my Colt.

"Get on with it," I said.

Ten minutes later, Fletcher was escorted into the room by Agent Habib, Tonya's partner from the time of my arrival. I relieved Habib of her stunner then Tonya took her and the two other security men off to the side, while Fletcher and Sonja conducted a brief but animated discussion. Fletcher ducked out into the anteroom to retrieve his computing machine as Sonja busied herself rearranging table and chairs. I backed up into a corner so I could keep everyone in front of me.

After speaking with the other security agents for a couple of minutes, Tonya walked over to me.

"Give me our stunners and we'll help you watch this lot. I'll vouch for my troops," she said.

I looked her in the eye and said, "After hearing you talk to Greer, I am not sure I trust you to vouch for anything."

She returned my look without blinking.

"When we were in New London the first time, Liz smith told Sonja some disturbing news about the Pleiad. Sonja didn't want to believe it, that's why she left us and headed back to the valley. Once she was over the worst of her trauma from being captured by the Juicers, she set out to find out about the scheme for herself. Since she knew Greer is one of Bearclaw's chief allies, she suggested I make a show of allying myself with Greer. Letting him think I was acting on his behalf gave me much more latitude than I'd have gotten as just your escort. His thinking I was with him is why pretending to bring you in worked so well."

Then she grinned.

"But you suspected something like that already, or you wouldn't have trusted me to take him out when you made your move."

I returned her smile and handed over her haversack.

"I had a moment's doubt when I was frog-marching behind you two on the way here, but we were soldiers in combat together, and you were willing to die with me instead of escaping when the Juicers had me dead to rights. How could I not trust you?"

It took an additional ten minutes for the moving picture cameras to be set up and the councilors under house arrest to arrive. By the time everyone was present and everything in place, it was almost nine at night, and we had been at our intrigues for the better part of two hours.

Sonja finally had everyone situated. Mendez was laid out on a divan and Greer, the security commander, was still unconscious and sprawled on the floor next to the wounded doctor. The security personnel were spaced about the room, keeping an eye on everyone while Tonya and I were standing over Sonja's shoulder. Sonja and Fletcher now occupied the seats where Mendez and Bearclaw were when I arrived, the recently released council members sat down one side of the 'U', while Coleen and Helena sat down at the other. Bearclaw and the rest of the Pleiad were sitting in a single row of chairs a few feet back from the opening of the 'U'.

Sonja's agile fingers clickity-clacked on the lettered and numbered buttons attached to the computating machine. After half a minute, she pressed one of the buttons forcefully and leaned back in her chair. A few seconds later, the room reverberated with buzzing and ringing and everyone reached for their vid-phones. At the same time, a large picture frame mounted on the wall lit up. In the center of the lighted frame, a number appeared. The number flickered quicker than the blink of an eye, and a larger number replaced it. At the bottom of the frame a red line came to life. At the right side of the line was a smaller number followed by a percent sign. I looked to Tonya for an explanation of what I was seeing; Tonya gave it to me.

"Sonja sent out an emergency alert to every comm unit in the valley. The large numerals on the screen indicate how many citizens are online, monitoring the broadcast. The small number is the percentage of the voting public the large number represents. When a quorum is reached, the red line will turn green and Sonja can proceed," she said.

I nodded my understanding. The direct participation of all adult citizens was one of the good things about Paradise Valley. That was exactly how I thought a democracy should work.

Sure enough, a minute or so later the big number passed fifteen-thousand, the small numerals passed through seventy-five percent and the red line turned green. As soon as the line turned green, Sonja gave a signal to the woman who had set up the moving picture camera. A red light at the top of the lens came on, and Sonja started talking.

"Good evening Citizens, I apologize for intruding on your lives in this manner, but after I explain the reasons why, I think you'll agree it was appropriate. I am Senior Government Administrator Sonja Ferrens, and the gentleman on my right is Senior Administrator Fletcher. As you can probably tell, we are broadcasting from the Pleiad Chambers at the university megaplex.

"Three days ago, Chairman Bearclaw, with the support of a split Pleiad, invoked a state of emergency. He stated then that our safety and continued survival was threatened by outlanders and the man we brought back from the past. While what the Pleiad did was unprecedented, and Bearclaw's stated reasons dubious, they acted within the scope of our constitution. We administrators had no choice but to allow it.

"Since then, we have been under some sort of quasi-martial law, and under the cover of his emergency powers, Chairman Bearclaw and his supporters have had a number of people secretly arrested or detained. When Administrator Fletcher protested the Pleiad's actions, he was also arrested. Because I was responsible for bringing Brock here from the past, I was in hiding until tonight to avoid being arrested, also.

"One of the chairman's fears became reality tonight when Mister Brock was captured and brought before the newly constituted Pleiad. Brock smuggled an antique weapon into that meeting and took the Pleiad and a few other of the chairman's supporters captive. He did that not to cause problems for us citizens; he simply wanted to return to his own time.

"After taking his prisoners, Brock called one of the staff doctors for assistance. That doctor alerted me and I snuck into the building and made my way up to these chambers."

Sonja paused and motion to the man operating the second camera that was set up by the doors. When the camera came on, Sonja's picture on the big frame shifted to on side and a view of the whole room appeared next to her. Sonja then identified everyone in the room and explained what had happened to Mendez and Greer. Then she resumed her narrative.

"While I was in hiding, I received some disturbing information that puts Chairman Bearclaw's actions in an entirely different light. So Brock's intervention was good news to me. I spent the last day and a half verifying that information, and I can prove everything I say. What I discovered is that Bearclaw is the leader of a cabal of men in positions of power, who worked for ten years to gain control of our government."

As soon as those words were out of Sonja's mouth, Bearclaw leaped to his feet with a shout. His face was twisted into a mask of fury as he took a step towards the 'U' shaped table. I drew my pistol, but before I could do anything, Tonya jolted him with a low powered blast from her stunner. Bearclaw froze in mid-stride and slumped back into his seat.