Retreat Hell Read Online Free PDF Page B

survive.
    “Pity you can't talk him out of it,” she said, finally.  Someone who didn't know her very well would have missed the self-recrimination in her tone.  She blamed herself for the political disaster threatening to overwhelm the Commonwealth, even though no one else believed it was her fault.  “Do you think he can win?”
    Emmanuel hesitated.  He’d followed Avalon’s politics since the old Council had been defeated and exiled, but he had to admit that hardly anything was set in stone.  It had been barely five years, after all.  The Empire had taken nearly a century to settle all the issues that arose when the human race was united under one banner – and then started to ossify.  But all that meant, he knew, was that someone with sufficient determination and political backing could rewrite the rules to suit himself.
    “I don’t know,” he confessed, finally.  “But he does have quite a following.”
    He mulled it over as he kissed Jasmine goodbye and strode out of the apartment, walking down towards the gate that led out to the city itself.  Their relationship was an open secret, at least among the Marines, some of whom had teased Jasmine for sleeping with the enemy.  Emmanuel had found that more than a little insulting at first – he’d supported the Marines ever since they’d disposed the old Council – but Jasmine had explained that reporters from Earth normally couldn't be trusted.  And, even if they were experienced enough to produce reports that actually bore some resemblance to the truth, their editors would often rewrite them to suit their political leanings before the reports were published.  Few in the military cared for reporters.
    Outside the gate, Camelot seemed to have grown even larger and more populous overnight.  He shook his head; between the Commonwealth bringing skilled workers to Avalon and farm children trying to move to the city to get in on the economic boom, the city was just growing larger and larger.  His contacts had already told him that the Council was considering emergency legislation to limit the number of people who could move to the city, although Emmanuel suspected that would fall flat on its face.  There were just too many people who wanted to share in the economic prosperity the Commonwealth had brought to Avalon.
    Enough , he asked himself, to prevent Councillor Travis from trying to separate us from the Commonwealth ?
    The thought nagged at him as he made his way into the core of the city, the mansions that had once belonged to the old Council.  Given Avalon’s relative poverty before the collapse of the Empire, the mansions were nothing more than gross displays of conspicuous consumption on a colossal scale.  Of the ones that had survived the Cracker War, one had been preserved as a museum, the remainder had been turned into government offices or emergency housing for some of the new immigrants.
    He walked past the largest mansion and down towards a smaller block that served as the city homes for councillors.  Unlike the Empire, which demanded the physical presence of Senators on Earth, Avalon insisted that the Councillors spend most of their time in their constituencies.  Indeed, only the President and the four Councillors representing Camelot itself remained in the city more or less permanently.  It was just their bad luck that Councillor Travis represented the business interests in the city.
    There was only one guard at the gatehouse when he approached, something that always amused him after the old Council’s paranoia about their safety.  No one wanted to actually kill the new councillors, not when they could be recalled by their constituents.  Politics on Avalon might be down and dirty, but they were safe.  The victors certainly didn't take bloody revenge on the losers.
    But they might soon , he thought, as the guard searched him thoroughly.  How many vested interests are tied up with the Commonwealth ?
    “You’re clean,” the