The tags had been cut from the underwear and all the other clothes. That surprised me a bit because it was more professional than I’d have expected GGF to be. The lack of tags would make more work for local law enforcement in tracing GGF’s steps. I could have read a lot into that, but decided Gaia-guy just wanted to impress his people with his experience. It was a good way to build their confidence in him, which meant he was not a long-term acquaintance.

I smiled and thought back to the bar before the fight. Perhaps GGF had only arrived after the net collapsed. Gaia-guy had been brought in to organize it, but by whom? The why—power—was obvious, though from whom it would be taken and to whom it would be given were less so. As things geared up, we’d see how it would go and I was itching to figure out who signed Gaia-guy’s pay vouchers.

One of the kidnappers from the night before appeared in the office doorway. He tossed me a coat that I caught easily. “Oh, leather. Are we allowed to wear it?”

He hesitated for a moment. “Well, yeah, it’s a disguise, isn’t it?”

I nodded. “Good point.” I shrugged the jacket on, then slipped a bottle of water into one pocket. I followed the man to a door in the side of the building and out into an alley. It had a corrugated tin fence on the street end, so we headed back to a connecting alley, then slipped through a gate into a playground attached to a block of low-rent housing. Over in the parking lot he indicated a late-model Gaijin hovercar and pointed me to the driver’s side.

“You want me to drive?”

“Just do what I tell you and we’re going to be fine.”

I slid in behind the wheel and punched in the ignition code he gave me. The engine purred to life on the first go. I keyed in the sequence requesting performance statistics and they popped up onto the auxiliary monitor, showing that while the outside of the car wasn’t much, the propulsion system had been tweaked to perfection and beyond. “This monster will move.”

“Yeah, well, with any luck we won’t need any of it. Nice and calm, drive.”

I brought the hovercar up on a cushion of air and we were off. He had me do some lazy circuits while he watched the rearview to pick up anyone tailing us. He didn’t see anything, and started giving me directions that headed us back into the heart of Overton. I began to get a little antsy as we drew closer to the Constabulary headquarters. That seemed to amuse my compatriot.

“Relax,” he said. “We’re just going to pick up where the other team left off.”

“And what will we be doing?” As I asked that, the Castel Del Reis came into view.

He smiled. “Waiting and watching. Park anywhere along here and look sharp. We’re at the enemy’s gate and we’re going to bring it crashing down.”

Overton

Joppa, Helen

Prefecture III, Republic of the Sphere

21 November 3132

My tall, rangy companion said his name was Ray, and whether that was a nom de guerre or not I didn’t know and didn’t care. His brown eyes appeared real, his blond hair colored. He moved pretty easily and looked about warily. I couldn’t tell if he was carrying a weapon, but if he was it was small, like a hold-out laser.

I parked on the street, which was a lucky break, and we sauntered on down to a small bistro with a sidewalk annex from which we could watch the Constabulary building easily enough. He sat facing it while I was positioned at an angle where the building was to my left and I could see our hovercar off to the right. He had a little noteputer on which he appeared to be reading the news, but his thumb kept flicking every time someone walked in or out of the building.

He didn’t say much to me. In ordering his espresso, in fact, he said more to the waitress than he said to me. This left me alone with thoughts and my own observations.

Ray had mentioned that we were taking over for another team, but I didn’t see him signal anyone else that we were on station, nor did I see anyone else head out. I certainly didn’t see any of my other captors, so if there was another team, it was from a different cell. I’d already concluded that to make any plan work, Gaia-guy was going to require at least one more cell.

Bringing me this close to the Constabulary headquarters was not a very smart move because it was possible Reis might wander by and spot me. Then again, I pretty much doubted Reis would expect to see me in the shadow of his domain. Even if he did, what could conceivably go wrong? He gives me a rough time? Even if I told him everything, there was very little I could tell him. The place I’d been kept had probably already been abandoned, and Ray would have us heading back to some other location when our shift was over.

I ordered caffeine hot and tall, and relaxed as I sipped it. Likewise, other folks seemed to be enjoying the seasonably warm start to Helen’s autumn, and not a few hearty souls had already been shopping for the holidays. Within their conversations, however, I could pick up hints of the anxieties that had been running rampant in the underclass. Recent events had more profound effect on the society’s professionals, and while they might be stronger, the pressures would eventually make them snap as well.

The collapse of ComStar’s communication network was the equivalent of a massive earthquake. Everyone knows the earth is not supposed to move, so when you’re in an earthquake, it’s bizarre. In its aftermath nothing you took for granted can be trusted. The sun has always risen the next day, but would it tomorrow? Maybe not.

ComStar had always allowed folks to communicate between planets. That ease of communication was what held society together because it created demand and inspired people. Once a news report came in about the latest fashions on New Avalon or Tharkad, the desire for those things grew. Industries would hustle to supply that demand, and satisfied customers do a contented populace make. As long as everyone thinks they are at parity with their peers throughout the universe, they are pleased.

The media also managed to inspire both positively and negatively. In instituting Stone’s reforms, David Lear had clearly seen that information was the key to everything. When news stories came through that praised and valued the folk arts of a particular minority, or praised the efforts of a local group to deal with post-pollution cleanup, people were inspired to emulate or repeat that behavior. When stories came through decrying an injustice, others rallied around that cause. Republic officials harnessed that momentum, provided programs and resources to see that things could be accomplished, and successful efforts in turn generated more stories that inspired.

I know that could be read very cynically, primarily because it does involve the manipulation of the populace. That manipulation, however, was not the sort of ham-handed coercion Reis practiced. Taking action in those causes made citizens feel good about themselves. Those who were already Republic citizens were inspired to continue good works, and those who were not threw themselves into such causes to earn their citizenship.

The bane of the Inner Sphere had long been national rivalries, and they burned hottest on border worlds. Stone knew that the most contested worlds were the places from which all future conflicts would arise, which is why the worlds he built into his Republic are some of the most battle-scarred and storied in the tale of humanity. If he could bring peace to these worlds, he reasoned, so it could spread to the rest of the Inner Sphere.