The Last Stand - Brad Ferguson [63]
“I understand. Please inform me if you do.” They walked on and soon rounded a corner that opened onto a wide boulevard.
“Do you see what I see?” Ro asked.
“It would be quite difficult to overlook it,” Data said.
The buildings along the boulevard were much taller, and a huge sign had been strung across the full forty-meter width of the busy boulevard between two of them. The banner was made of a light, strong, and utterly white fabric that billowed in the wind like the sail of a gigantic schooner, and on its face it bore a single word in blazing red letters five meters tall:
PREPARE!
“I don’t think we have to wonder much about what we’re supposed to ‘prepare’ for,” Ro said dryly. “At least we know that the presence of the Krann in this system is no secret to the populace.” She looked down the boulevard. “That big building in the distance is Government House, isn’t it?”
“Yes, it is.”
Ro nodded. “This avenue we’re on leads directly to it, so this is the street we want. The Lethanta must consider this a major thoroughfare. There’s a ton of traffic and lots of people. If I had to hang up a sign, this’d be the place I’d want to do it.”
“The banner has not been up for very long,” Data observed. “It shows no evidence of having been degraded by the weather or the pollution emitted by the internal combustion engines of the many ground vehicles on the boulevard. Perhaps this means that the common people were told about the impending attack only a short time ago.”
“Good point, Commander,” Ro said. “Let’s go see if we can find out.”
“That is my intention.” They began walking in the general direction of Government House, which was several kilometers away and almost invisible through the haze of airborne grit and grime that hung over the capital city. In contrast to the side street they had just quit, the boulevard bore heavy traffic heading in both directions.
The people they passed on the sidewalk seemed subdued. There were a number of small stores and shops fronting the boulevard, and most of them were open, but they did not seem to be doing very much business.
They had not gone more than a block or two when they suddenly heard the cry of sirens. Data looked behind them. “There are a small number of ground vehicles attempting to work their way through traffic,” he told Ro. “They are still some distance away.”
“I can see flashing lights,” Ro said. “The law is the law the galaxy over. Think they’re looking for us?”
“Unknown as yet. I would not worry, however. We can beam back to the ship instantly if we encounter trouble. We might as well stand here and watch what happens.”
They looked on as three large ground vehicles—clearly belonging to some emergency or security force—fought their way through traffic and squealed to a stop just short of the giant banner, blocking the boulevard and bringing all traffic to a halt. Uniformed men swarmed out of two of the vehicles and to both sides of the boulevard, where they disappeared into two buildings, each opposite the other, from which the banner had been hung. More uniforms popped out of the third vehicle. These men—Data thought of them as police, as Ro had suggested they were—took up position along the street.
A minute or two later, the huge banner was cut loose from its pinnings on the roofs and upper floors of the two buildings. The sign sank to the street in slow motion, trapping air in its folds as it fell. It finally settled on the boulevard, tentlike, covering a large number of stalled vehicles and evoking angry shouts and cries from the people inside them. Several policemen began pulling at the fallen banner, gathering it together and dragging it to one side of the street, where it lay in a heap.
“I’m beginning to get the idea that PREPARE! is not a message condoned by the government,” Ro said.
“I think you are correct,” Data replied. “I wonder who is responsible for—”
“Just a minute, you two!” one of the policemen called. He began walking toward them, and he was scowling. “Stop right there!”
Data looked around. The small crowd that had been standing