The Wind From a Burning Woman: Six Stories of Science Fiction Read Online Free PDF Page B

your aft crater and release the charge in my cargo hold. Im one floating megaboom now, enough to boost the rock up and out by a few additional kilometers. But that means Ill be dead, and not enough left of me to memorialize or pin a medal on. Not too good, hm?
    None of my sweat.
    No, I suppose not. But listen, sister
    No sister to a lackey.
    Porter started to snap a retort, but stopped himself. Listen, they tell me to be soft on you, but Im under pressure, too, so please reciprocate. I dont see the sense in all of it. If you get your way, youve set back your cause by God knows how many decadesbecause once youre out of range and blown your trump, theyll deny it all, say it was manufactured evidence and testimony under pressureall that sort of thing. And if they decide to hard-line it, force me to do my dirty work, or God forbid let you do yoursweve lost our homeworld. Youve lost Psyche, which can still be salvaged and finished. Everything will be lost, just because a few men may or may not have done a very wicked thing. Come on, honey. That isnt the Geshel creed, and you know it.
    What is our creed? To let men rule our lives who arent competent to read a thermometer? Under the Naderites, most of the leaders on Earth havent got the technical expertise to... to... I dont know what. To tie their goddamn shoes! Theyre blind, dedicated to some half-wit belief that progress is the most dangerous thing conceived by man. And when they wont touch our filthy nuclear energy, we get stuck with it because otherwise we all have to go back four hundred years, and sacrifice half the population. Is that good planning, sound policy? And if they do what I say, Psyche wont be damaged. All theyll have to do is fetch it back from orbit around the sun.
    Im not going to argue on their behalf, sister. Im a Geshel, too, and a Moonman besides. I never have paid attention to Earth politics because it never made much sense to me. But now Im talking to you one-to-one, and youre telling me that taking revenge against someones irrational system is worth wiping away a planet?
    Im willing to take that risk.
    I dont think you are. I hope you arent. I hope its all bluff, and I wont have to smear myself against your backside.
    I hope you wont, either. I hope theyve got enough sense down there to do what I want.
    I dont think they have, sister. I dont put much faith in them, myself. They probably dont even know what would happen if you hit the Earth with your rock. Think about that. Youre talking about scientific innocentsflat-Earthers almost, naive. Words fail me. But think on it. They may not even know whats going on.
    They know. And remind them that if they set off the charges, itll probably break up Psyche and give them a thousand rocks to contend with instead of one. That plan may backfire on them.
    What if theywedont have any choice?
    I dont give a damn what choice you have, Turco said. Im not talking for a while. Ive got more work to do.
    Porter listened to the final click with a sinking feeling. She was a tough one. How would he outwit her? He smiled grimly at his chutzpah for even thinking he could. Shed committed herself all the wayand now, perhaps, she was feeling the power of her position. One lonely woman, holding the key to a worlds existence. He wondered how it felt.
    Then he shivered, and the sweat in his suit felt very, very cold. If he would have a grave for someone to walk over...
    * * * *
    For the first time, she realized they wouldnt accede to her demands. They were more traitorous than even she could have imagined. Orthe thought was too horrible to acceptshed misinterpreted the evidence, and they werent at fault. Perhaps a madman in the Psyche crew had sought revenge and caused the whole mess. But that didnt fit the facts. It would have taken at least a dozen people to set all the psychotropic vials and release them at oncea concerted preplanned effort. She shook her head. Besides, she had the confidential reports a friend had accidentally