Lucifer's Hammer - Larry Niven [253]
"Owen again," Christopher said. "I knew we should have killed him."
"No, sir, I don't think you should have," Harry said. "If it hadn't been for him, I wouldn't be here."
"So Owen is one of the leaders," Al Hardy said.
Harry shrugged. "They listen to him. But he doesn't give any orders, or at least I never saw him give any. But he said I'd be the perfect one to bring you a message, and I've got it here. I'd got a couple of miles along the road when Hugo caught up to me, and after he told me what it was like back there I thought you ought to hear that before you read the letter they sent."
"Yes. You've done well, Harry," Jellison said. "Well, George? It was on your orders that Beck was expelled."
Christopher looked stunned by all that he'd heard. "Twenty-four hours? Let him stay overnight, and give him three meals fit for a man to eat."
"I think we ought to read that message before we decide anything," Al Hardy said. "And there's a lot more information we need. Hugo, what's their strength? You said a thousand. How good is that estimate?"
"It's what Jerry Owen said Sergeant Hooker had told him. I think it's about right. But they've got more. They've got Bakersfield. It isn't organized yet, but they own it, and their people are sifting through what's left of the city, looking for weapons. And recruits."
"So there's more than a thousand?"
"Yes, I think so, but maybe not all armed. And maybe not recruited all the way. They will be."
"So they could possibly double that strength after they have an … initiation ceremony," Hardy said. "We're in trouble. You mentioned Sergeant Hooker. Who is he?"
Beck shrugged. "He's as close to a leader as anyone they have. A big black Army man, Army uniform anyway. There are generals and like that, but Sergeant Hooker outranks them all. I didn't see him much. He has his own tent, and when he goes anywhere they drive him in a car with plenty of bodyguards. And Armitage always talks polite to him, as polite as he ever is to anybody."
"A black man," George Christopher said. He looked around at Rick Delanty, who had sat silently during Beck's story. Then he looked hurriedly away.
"There are other black leaders," Beck said. "They spend a lot of time with Hooker. And you never say anything bad about blacks, or chicanos, or anybody else. First couple of days they just slap you for it, like if a black man says 'honky' or a white dude says 'nigger,' but if you don't learn fast they figure you're not really converted … "
"Don't mind me," Rick Delanty said. "I've got all the equality I ever wanted."
Harvey Randall and Tim Hamner came into the room. They brought folding chairs from the library. Eileen went to Tim and whispered hurriedly, and everyone tried to ignore the growing horror on Hamner's face. Alice Cox brought in lighted kerosene lamps. Their cheery yellow glow seemed out of place. "Shall I light a fire, Senator?" Alice asked.
"Please. Hugo, did you see their arsenal?"
"Yes, sir. There were a lot of guns. Machine guns, and some cannon, and mortars—"
"I need details," Al Hardy said. "We all do, and things are getting busy around here. It might take more than one day to get all the useful information he has. Mr. Christopher, could you reconsider?"
Christopher looked as if he were going to be ill. "I don't want him here. He can't stay here."
Hardy shrugged. "And the Governor? Hugo, what do you know about Lieutenant Governor Montross?"
"Nothing, except he's there," Hugo said. "He stays in officer country, and when he goes anywhere there's a lot of bodyguards. Like Sergeant Hooker. The Governor never did talk to us, but we got messages in his name sometimes."
"But who's in control of this group?" Hardy demanded.
"I don't know! I think it's a committee. I never got to talk to the top bosses—mine was a