Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven [240]
It struck Rick that the Senator might like it fine. Johnny Baker was an Air Force general. If Colorado Springs had the power they claimed, that could be important.
"How many men here?" Pieter said. The question startled Rick from his reverie. "I estimate several hundred," Pieter was saying. "And many weapons. Do you think that is enough?"
Rick shrugged. He'd been thinking of the far future, weeks, months ahead, and had almost managed to forget why they had come to the Senator's Stronghold just now. "It's got to be," Rick said, and now he felt it too, the tension that Pieter and Leonilla had brought with them. It had never occurred to Rick that the Senator wouldn't have enough strength. He'd been so sure that somewhere there were civilized men and women, real safety and civilization and order … .
And maybe there wasn't any. Anywhere. Rick shuddered slightly, but he kept his smile in place, and the three of them sat in the paneled room, waiting and hoping.
"They call themselves the New Brotherhood Army," said Deke. He looked around him—at Harvey Randall and Al Hardy and General Johnny Baker, George Christopher, who sat far to one side of the room, and Senator Jellison in his judge's chair—and his eyes were haunted. He drank from his glass, and waited a minute while the whiskey worked its ancient magic, and said in a firmer voice, "They also claim to be the legal government of California."
"By what authority?" Al Hardy demanded.
"Well, their proclamation was signed by the Lieutenant Governor. 'Acting Governor,' he calls himself now."
Hardy frowned. "The Honorable James Wade Montross?"
"That's the name," Deke said. "Could I have some more of that whiskey?"
Hardy looked to the Senator, got a nod and refilled Deke's glass. "Montross," Al said musingly. "So The Screwball survived." He looked to the others and added quickly, "An insider's joke. In politics we usually have nicknames for people. The Loser. Grin and Bear It. Montross got tagged as The Screwball."
"Screwball or not, he's given me seven days to join his government," Deke said. "Otherwise his New Brotherhood Army will take the whole place by force." The farmer opened his Army-surplus field jacket and took a paper from an inner pocket. The paper was mimeographed, but the lettering was hand-drawn, in fine calligraphy. He handed it to Al Hardy, who glanced at it, then gave it to Senator Jellison.
"That's Montross's signature," Hardy said. "I'm sure of it."
Jellison nodded. "We can treat the signature as genuine." He looked up to include everyone in the conversation. "The Lieutenant Governor proclaims a state of emergency and asserts what amounts to supreme authority within California," he said.
George Christopher growled, a harsh grating sound. "Over us, too?"
"Everyone," Jellison said. "He mentions the Colorado Springs announcement, too. Do you know anything about that, General Baker?"
Johnny Baker nodded. He sat next to Harvey Randall, but he didn't seem to be part of the group in the room. The old gods have returned, Harvey thought. For the moment, anyway. How long will they be gods? Harvey had seen Baker with Maureen, and hated it.
"We caught a broadcast out of Colorado Springs," Baker said. "I'm sure it was genuine. It was in the name of the Speaker of the House—"
"A senile idiot," Al Hardy said.
"—who is acting as President," the astronaut continued. "His chief of staff seems to be a brevet lieutenant general named Fox. I think that's Byron Fox, and if it is, I know him. One of the professors at the Academy. Good man."
George Christopher had been quietly fuming. Now he spoke, his voice low and full of anger. "Montross. That son of a bitch. He was around here a couple of years ago trying to organize the pickers. Came right onto my land! I couldn't even throw the trespassing bastard off. He had fifty state cops with him."
"I'd say Jimmy Montross has quite a lot of legal power," Senator Jellison said. "He is the highest-ranking civil officer in California. Assuming the Governor's dead, and he probably is."
"Sacramento's