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Hector operating again, under their control, the fight for Cloud, such as it was, was pretty much over, and they were herding the survivors into camps. They posted Hector up on Overlook Hill to help keep an eye on us.
"The point of all of this is that Hector didn't betray us. We betrayed him. Hector had identified a hostile threat and was ready to do something about it. He could have done something about it too, as the battle this afternoon proved. But we ordered him to hold his fire ... and, like a good soldier, he obeyed orders."
Jaime was breathing hard, his fists clenched at his sides, as he stared at General Sprady. Dieter wondered if he was waiting for a protest, an explanation, an apology.
How does one apologize for the death of a civilization?
"Thereўthere were ships in the area," Spratly said, his voice weak. "Human ships. And the Empyrion was overdue. We didn't know she'd been destroyed. The first message from those incoming ships was Empyrion's own ID and hailing codes! By the time our scans showed the incoming ships were aliens, that Empyrion wasn't among them, it was too late! I... I didn't want to fire on our own people. Didn't want to precipitate a ghastly, horrible mistake. . .."
"Hector's not the one to blame," Jaime said, his voice filling the barracks despite the steady hiss of rain on the roof. "And a number of us are going with him . .. elsewhere. We have a plan, one mat raves us a fair chance of getting out of this area and off into the wilderness where we might be able to escape clacker notice. We might even be able to find a way off this rock. I can't make any promises at this point, but that's the plan.
"If you want to stay here and take your chances with the clackers, or if you want to stay with General Sprady, that's your decision. But you're going to have to make
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it damned fast." He looked at the cuffwatch woven into the left sleeve of his uniform. "Those of us going with Hector are leaving in three hours, to take advantage of the dark and the rain. You have that long to decide what you want to do."
The three-hour deadline, Dieter decided, was as much for show as anything else. No one in the camp had possessed even a fingerwatch since they'd been run down by the machines, stripped of everything even remotely technological, and thrown into the camp, and with the rain and cloud cover, it was impossible to tell time as they usually did by the moons or suns.
No matter. He knew they would make the deadline. It wasn't as if any of them had a lot of things to pack.
The crowd was beginning to break up, forming numerous small discussion groupsўsome of them quite animatedўwhile others retreated to their sleeping areas, to pack, or simply to think Dieter began making his way in toward the center.
"I'm sorry, General, but that's the way it's got to be."
Captain Pogue, Dieter saw, was standing in front of Spratly, hands spread. The other staff officers, Dulaney and Howard, looked furious; Spratly looked merely . . . beaten.
"You can't think you'll have a better chance with them," Spratly said. He sounded terribly old and very tired. "After everything we've been through together...!"
Think of it as insurance, sir," Pogue replied. "I'll be able toў" He broke off suddenly as Dieter approached.
"General?" Dieter said, ignoring Pogue and the other staff officers. "I'm sure there'd be room for you, too, on this march."
"A march to where. Dr. Hollinsworth?" Howard demanded. His voice possessed an unpleasantly nasal whine. "There's no place on Cloud to go where we
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can escape the machines, and this notion of getting off-planet is sheer fantasy]"
"He's right," Dulaney added. "The only people with ships on Cloud are the Tolun and the clackers, and neither of them are likely to help us!"
