"It's a riot, sir, a bad one! They estimate ten
thousand dead, already, most of them in the central park of the city."
40 He motioned North to follow. As they made their way through the
corridors the Guardian explained. "Thousands of Purists gathered in the
park in support of their arrested and fallen comrades. They claimed all
the charges against them were falsified and the dead had been killed
without cause, simply because they were Purists and disagreed with
mixed marriages.
41 Suddenly thousands more poured into the park screaming 'Murderers!
Butchers, killers of children! ' The Lord's Guard tried to keep them
apart, but it was impossible. Fists started flying, knives, clubs; the
center of the park looks like an ancient battlefield. Word of the
conflict spread like fire. Some of the Purists tried to attack the
slave quarters, but they were driven off by thousands.
42 The fighting is in the housing districts, the production centers,
there are even flare ups in other cities, and the outlying districts.
Some of the combat troops are not responding to the call up. They must be
involved in the rioting."
43 "Undoubtedly," agreed North, "some of our troops are Purists."
44 They entered the briefing hall and found Morn standing below a huge
viewscreen. "Gentlemen," he snapped, "Commander North
is arriving, so I will repeat your instructions for his
benefit. The red circles on the map show where the worst of the
fighting is. Five sectors, A, B, C, D and E. At the moment we do not
have enough troops to handle all five sectors, so I'm sending you out
to the worst three, first. You will seal off each area, then sweep it,
search every apartment, every building.
45 You will all carry marking stamps. You will mark