The Power(69)

She kneels down by the body, flips it over with one hand, rummages in his coat. They can’t quite see what’s happening. She finds some gum, a handful of flyers for a men’s protest group. And then there’s a familiar heavy metallic chink.

Esther reaches behind him and there, in her palm, is a gun; thick and snub-nosed, military issue. ‘He pulled his gun on you,’ says Esther.

Jocelyn frowns. She understands, but she can’t stop herself from saying the words.

‘No, he didn’t. He was …’ She stops, as her mouth catches up to her brain.

Esther speaks in a very calm and easy tone. There’s a smile in her voice. Like she’s talking Jos through an equipment maintenance drill. First turn off the power, then apply the lubricating fluid, then adjust the belt using the tightening screw. Simple. One thing, then the next. One, two, three. This is how it has to go.

She says, ‘You saw that he had a gun in the side pocket of his coat, and he was reaching for it. He had already committed an act of violence against us. You perceived a clear and present danger. He reached for the gun and you used proportionate force to stop him.’

Esther uncurls the boy’s fingers and wraps them around the holster of the pistol. ‘It’s simpler to understand this way. He was holding his gun,’ she says. ‘He was about to fire it.’ She looks around the circle of young women, meeting each of their eyes in turn.

Tegan says, ‘Yes, that’s what happened. I saw him reach for his gun.’

Jocelyn looks at the gun, clasped in the cooling fingers. Some of the NorthStar people carry their own unregistered side arms. Her mom had to get the New York Times to pull a piece about it, on the grounds that it would threaten homeland security. Maybe he had that gun in his back pocket. Maybe he was going to turn it on them. But if they had guns, why were they using bats?

Esther clasps a hand on Jocelyn’s shoulder. ‘You’re a hero, soldier,’ she says.

‘Yes,’ says Jocelyn.

It gets easier to tell the story the more she does it. She starts to see it very clearly in her mind’s eye so that, by the time she’s talking about it on national TV, she thinks she half remembers it anyway. Hadn’t she seen something metal in one of their pockets? Couldn’t it have been a gun? Maybe that’s why she let off her blast. Yes, she probably did know.

She smiles on the television news. No, she says. I don’t feel like a hero. Anyone would have done the same.

Oh, come on, says Kristen. I couldn’t have done it. Could you, Matt?

Matt laughs and says, I couldn’t even have watched! He’s very attractive, a good ten years younger than Kristen. The network had found him. Just trying something out. While we’re at it, Kristen, why don’t you wear your glasses onscreen now, it’ll give you gravitas. We’re going to see how the numbers play out this way. We’re sending it for a run around the park, OK?

Well, your mom must be very proud, Jocelyn.

She is proud. She knows part of the story, but not the whole thing. It’s given her leverage with the Defence Department in rolling out the NorthStar training camp scheme for girls across all fifty states. It’s a well-run programme, with good links to colleges, and they’re able to charge the army a bounty for every girl they send their way who can bypass basic and go straight into active duty. The army is fond of Margot Cleary.

And with all that’s going on in the news, says Matt, this war in Eastern Europe, what is that about? First the South Moldovans are winning, now it’s the North Moldovans, and the Saudis are involved somehow … He shrugs helplessly. It’s great to know that we have young women like you ready to defend the country.

Oh yes, says Jocelyn, just like she practised. I would never have been able to do it at all without the training I received at NorthStar Camp.

Kristen squeezes her knee. Will you stick around, Jocelyn? We’re going to be tasting some great cinnamon recipes for fall after the break.

Of course!

Matt smiles into the camera. I know I feel safer with you around. And now, the weather on the ones.





Statue of the ‘Priestess Queen’ – found in a treasure trove in Lahore. The statue itself is substantially older than the base, which is made from repurposed Cataclysm Era technology.

Though much eroded, analysis of the base has revealed that it was originally marked with the Bitten Fruit motif. Objects marked with this motif are found across the Cataclysm Era world and their use is much debated. The uniformity of the motif suggests that it is a religious symbol, but it may also have been a glyph indicating that the object should be used for serving food; the different sizes may have been used for different meals.

This Bitten Fruit artefact is, as is common, constructed partially of metal and partially of glass. Unusually for objects of this type, the glass is unbroken, giving it high value in the post-Cataclysm years. It’s speculated that the Bitten Fruit artefact was given as a tribute to the cult of the Priestess Queen and used to increase the majesty of her statue. The two objects were welded together around 2,500 years ago.





Statue of ‘Serving Boy’, found in the same hoard as the ‘Priestess Queen’. From the careful grooming and sensuous features, it has been speculated that this statue depicts a sex worker. The statue is decorated with Cataclysm Era glass whose composition is similar to that of the base of ‘Priestess Queen’; it almost certainly came from a broken Bitten Fruit artefact. The glass was probably added to this statue at the same time that the base was added to ‘Priestess Queen’.