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passenger seat next to his friend.
"The corporal's name is Troxa, I believe, yes. Why?"
"I remember him from the Borderland--used to be a pickpocket. Not a
major one."
Ribera smiled. "A cause can reform a man, Jake."
"Maybe. Sometimes."
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"You're even more cynical than you used to be."
"I probably am, yes."
From the backseat Ogden Swires said, "Tyranny has an uplifting and
ennobling effect. It turns thieves and ne'er-do-wells into patriots in
the service of a worthy cause."
"Beg pardon?" said Ribera.
"He's only dictating something for his story," explained Beth, who was
sharing the backseat with the reporter.
Swifts asked, "When am I going to be allowed to take some pictures,
General?"
"When we reach the base."
"But I'd really like to get some shots of this forest. The trees are
really quite--"
"That isn't possible, senor. We don't want any specific details of the
route to the camp appearing."
"I can be very discreet in snapping the--"
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"It's not flermited."
Sighing, Swims returned to talking quietly into his recorder-mike.
Jake asked, "What exactly have you heard about Professor Kittridge's
crash, Eddie?"
"Nohing beyond the fac that a crash apparently occurred."
They were surrounded now by the gian trees, and the day was moving
rapidly toward night.
Jake said, "But their sky cruiser came down airly near here."
"Supposedly, yes."
"Supposedly? Do you have doubts?"
"I mean only that I was away at the time, Jake. Therefore I possess
nothing but hearsay information." Kibera glanced briefly back at Beth.
"Surely the sego rita can provide you with all the details, since she
was with her father." "Actually I wasn't," she said.
"I heard that--"
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"She wasn't," Jake interrupted. "Is there anything else you can
add?"
Shaking his head, Ribera said, "No, nothing.." nada." "You know
Bennett Sands."
"Of course. Though I'm not overly fond of Him," the general admitted.
"I must mention, however, that he's been most helpful to
US."
"How so?"
"He's given Warbride considerable financial aid."
"To make certain," Beth said, resting her hand on the headrest of
Jake's seat, "that his own holdings hereabouts don't get damaged or
nationalized,"
The general said, "That may well be his motive." "Then Warbride
might," said Jake, "do Sands a favor." "She might. What sort do you
have in mind, Jake?" "Don't know. Something to do with Kittridge,
probably." Ribera nodded. "Si, that's possible."
"But she wouldn't necessarily confide in you if she had?"
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Ribera laughed. "You know her," he said. "Warbride is not the
confiding type--not with her lovers and not with her generals."
The noise came rolling through the night forest, hundreds of voices
shouting and one amplified voice booming out above them. There was a
glare, too, starting to show up ahead.
Landcars were parked at the side of the wide woodland road, land vans
as well, and even some jet cycles
Pulling off the road, Ribera said, "I'd forgotten about this. We'll
stop here and go the rest of the way on foot."
"What's going on?" asked Jake.
"A sort of rally." The general got out of the car. "Warbride's
addressing her followers--and the event's being vi aped
"Propaganda, huh?" Jake joined him at the side of the road. "Copies
of the vidtape will be circulated." Swires asked, "Can I use my camera
now?"
Smiling faintly, Ribera replied, "No one will object, senor."
Beth took Jake's arm. "Vargas is likely to be here, isn't he?" she
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asked quietly.
"I sure hope so."
She tightened her grip on his arm. "I don't think this is the ideal
location for confronting him."
The shouting from up ahead grew louder, and then there was a sudden and
abrupt silence.
Five seconds passed.
The amplified voice of a woman came echoing through the great trees.
"Who am l?"
"Warbride," answered the as-yet-unseen crowd. "I cannot hear you."
"Warbride!"
"Once again, please. I still can't quite hear you."
WAR BRIDE
"I have been called Warbride since I was seventeen. Since my brother
and father vanished. Since they were made to disappear because they
believed in freedom--not just freedom for themselves, but for all of
Mexico. They vanished because they opposed the ruthless tyrant who
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then ruled our country .. ."
With Ribera in the lead, they made their way toward the rally. There
were more cars now, more land vans more jet cycles all crowded at the
sides of the roadway. The bright white light coming from up ahead made
the parked vehicles gleam and glow.
"... and that man, that despot, was not as bad as the whore who
occupies our capital now. I have been called Warbride since the day I
was raped by federal soldiers. Raped by five men who served a tyrant.
I have been Warbride since that day. Since that dark day when I swore
that I would marry not a lover, not a good man who wanted me--I would
be married to war.f And I shall remain the bride of war and revolution
until my country--until our country--is free.
Tell me my name." "Warbride!" "Varbride!" WAR BRIDE
Cigantic trees had been cut down, at least two dozen of them to make a
large clearing. There appeared to be well over a thousand people, men
and women, in uniform and out, seated on the bare ground and all
staring at a wide, raised, wooden platform. On each side of the
platform stood a huge vidscreen, each one twenty-five feet high and
twenty-five feet wide. A dark-haired woman, wearing tan trousers,
highly polished black boots and a blood-red sleeveless tunic, stood
alone on the stage. On both screens there showed an enormous image of
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her. She wore her hair cut short, and there were traces of weariness
and strain showing in her tanned face. She was a pretty woman, with an
intensity in her dark eyes. She raised her right hand and her arm
flashed and glittered in the spotlights aimed at her It was
chrome-plated metal to just below the elbow.
Beth leaned closer to Jake and whispered, "She looks a lot older than I
expected."
"Careful where you step," Ribera cautioned as he led them up to the
bright-lit clearing.
"Holograms," realized Jake, scanning the rear rows of the audience.
"It helps make for a more convincing propaganda vidfilm," the general
said. "We actually have only about four hundred in attendance, but a
thousand looks better and--ah, senor, I'd prefer if you didn't
photograph this particular aspect of our rally."
Swires, crouching slightly, was about to use his small pix cam "These
projected people'll come out looking nearly real in my--" "Even so."
Reluctantly, the reporter lowered his camera. "I'm going to have to
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