Horizon Storms - Kevin J. Anderson [57]
Crim Tylar pounded his fist on the table. “I agree with Roberto Clarin. Severing business ties with the Big Goose is our only recourse. They have the military might, but we have the commercial muscle here. The Terran Hanseatic League understands that.”
“Yes! Cut off all stardrive fuel until the Chairman or the King condemns the piracy conducted by the Earth Defense Forces.”
“And they have to bring the perpetrators to justice!” Clarin shouted.
“Oh, they’ll just find a scapegoat.”
“Who cares? As long as they admit their actions.”
“And they have to swear that no further attacks will occur.”
“Shizz, they’ll never do all that,” groaned Pasternak.
“Well, if they don’t agree to play by our rules, then we Roamers will have all the fuel we need for our own purposes,” Clarin said. “What’s wrong with that?”
The clan leaders were riled up, and Cesca again urged caution. “We’ll take a day to consider what we’ve discussed, and in the meantime we need to bring in the input from other clan heads. Of course, we’ve got to take action—but it should be the right action.”
“I don’t need to consider anymore,” Tylar said. “It seems clear enough to me. My Guiding Star’s gone nova.”
“I’m ready to vote,” Clarin said. “Why get bogged down in interminable debates?”
Cesca had never seen the clan leaders so unified, so easily. “Are you prepared for the fallout? Our clans will need to tighten our belts even more. We’ll have to be ready for even more extreme retaliation—”
Pasternak snorted. “We are Roamers! We can always survive. The universe provides the materials we need, if we have the nerve and the ingenuity to take them. Rendezvous itself is a perfect example of how we can manage to live where no one else could.”
“Yes, back then, the Kanaka didn’t need commercial ties with the Hansa,” Clarin said. “None of us does. It’s time we remembered our own heritage—maybe we’re too spoiled, too soft from relying on all those Hansa luxuries. We left Earth a long time ago never intending to come back. It is time for us to cut the umbilical cord.”
Cesca saw the sense of the families, despite her own misgivings. “This will not be easy, but it is certainly possible.” She stood at the head of the table. “We will survive. We always do.”
Chapter 28—ORLI COVITZ
After the best dinner she could manage—mushroom stew, of course—Orli started on her required classwork. Her father kissed her on the cheek and went into town. He always enjoyed pie-in-the-sky brainstorming with his fellow Dremen colonists.
When she finished her classwork, Orli unrolled her old and out-of-tune music synthesizer strips and diligently practiced, letting her fingers wander across the pads to create haunting melodies. She turned up the volume, playing more vigorously as the mood took her. In indefinable ways, the melodies told a story, reflecting some of her memories, even her opinions of other people in town, who she knew laughed at her father behind his back.
Whenever she played in Jan’s presence, he applauded so often that he distracted her. Now that Orli was alone, she could improvise to her heart’s content. The music soothed and entertained her.
A gifted though untrained player, she enjoyed listening to ancient classical compositions, analyzing the structure of symphonies so she could better develop her own music. Unfortunately, her small set of synthesizer strips was limited in range. Jan kept promising that when they had enough money he would send her to the finest school off planet. Orli knew he meant it, but she wasn’t sure they’d ever have the funds.
Tired and sore from working hard in the sloppy mushroom fields all day, Orli left the synthesizer strips and fell asleep on the sofa. She woke abruptly when her father bounded through the prefab door, grinning with such exuberance that her heart fell. That was never a good sign.
“Good news, girl! An opportunity we just can’t pass up!”
Rubbing her eyes, she got to her feet and went to give him a welcoming hug. “What is it?”
“Oh, come on—show a little excitement. This could be a big break for us. You’ve heard about