interrogation . ..'
'So help me, Donny, if she's harmed I will kill them!'
'Calm yerself, man - she was only brought in less
than an hour ago. Sundstrom knows about this and he's
doing all he can to get her released, but you being under
suspicion in the matter of Ambassador Horst isna help-
ing!'
Theo shook his head, almost snarling with rage and
frustration.
'So what was all that with the comm?' he said.
'DVC intelligence got hold of your comm's signal ID
this morning and they've been listening out for it. Their
tracking is pretty rudimentary but the Brolturans' isn't -
I was told that it would be possible for someone to use
the comm-hub network to locate a particular comm, as
long as the battery's in and it's switched on.'
'Okay, so what is the next move?' Theo said. 'I'm
not leaving Solvjeg in there ...'
'First things first,' Donny said. 'Where's Horst? Is he
all right?'
Theo gritted his teeth, ran his fingers through his hair,
grasping a handful for a second. How the hell am I
going to tell this tale}
'The truth is that I don't know.'
Donny gave him a hard look. 'You're the one that got
him away from Gangradur Falls just yesterday - how
come ye don't know where he is?'
T know the last place I saw him.'
'Which was where?'
'A secret chamber under the temple on Giant's
Shoulder,' Theo said, and gave him a condensed account
of what he had witnessed last night in that cold, black
vault. Wearing a frown of concentration Donny listened
closely and, to Theo's surprise, became neither angry nor
derisory. Instead, he nodded thoughtfully.
'Sundstrom once said that the Uvovo were making
their own plans for resistance,' he said. 'Wonder if that
was what he meant. . .'
'Well that is exactly what happened. Just speak with
my nephew Greg, and he'll confirm it all.'
'Aye, well, there's a thing,' Donny said, suddenly
sombre. 'A short while before I found you I got a mes-
sage saying that K5 has arrested Greg Cameron and
they're bringing him to Hammergard by zeplin.'
Theo bowed his head a little, feeling the weight of
events. My family, he thought. I've put them it.
danger . . .
Then he realised something and snapped his fingers.
'By zeplin . .. that means they'll have to tie up at
Northeast Fields and come the rest of the way by road.
Can I borrow your comm?'
Donny regarded him a moment. 'You thinking of
putting yer Diehards up against K5? - wouldna recom-
mend it, they're hard cases, each and every one.'
'My men know what's at stake,' Theo said, holding
out his hand. Donny give him his comm, a slim, grey
functional model, and Theo punched in Rory's number,
'Aye, who ur youT
'Rory, it's me.'
'Jeez, Major, caught me by surprise, there - didna
recognise the number . . .'
'Where are you, Rory, and who's with you?'
'I'm at Maclean's wee place on the coast road, just
outside the city, and there's Janssen, Ivanov, Henriksen.
Mad Davey, and Nikolai and Barney're here, too.'
'They're supposed to be at Bessonov's ...'
'Aye, Major, but the cabin got raided last night - cops
and some hard-looking milint types hangin' around by
the time we got there so we scarpered.'
'Okay, I need you to get across town to Northeast
Fields - Greg Cameron's being brought in under armed
guard and I want you to take down the escort and get
him safely out of the city.'
'Right, sir, what are we up against?'
Theo looked at Donny. 'How many guards and what
will they be carrying?'
'Shouldn't be more than four,' said Donny. 'Sidearms."
Theo relayed that, adding, 'And these are well-
trained field agents, Rory - they won't be a pushover.'
'That's a'right, Major - me and the boys like a wee
bit ae' a challenge now and then.'
'Fine - and don't take Barney unless he's happy with
the idea of being shot at!'
'Right - we're on our way.'
'Good hunting,' Theo said, then closed the comm
and handed it back.
'I hope you know what your doing,' Donny said.
'Now, are you still set on trying to get your sister?'
'Yes - are you going to help me? I'll make the attempt
on my own otherwise.'
Donny squeezed his eyes shut for a moment, as if at a
stabbing headache. 'I must be off ma head,' he said,
opening his eyes to stare at Theo. "Cos ye know what? -
I am going to help ye, though God knows it's going to
be risky.' He nodded towards the square. 'This way.'
'I thought the ordinary detention rooms were in a
sublevel of the main building,' Theo said, realising that
they were heading across the square towards the
Assembly annexe on the east side, where the Defence
Ministry had its offices.
'Aye, but there's a far better chance of me getting you
past security at the civilian staff entrance ...' He slowed
and cocked his head. 'Do you hear that?'
Theo heard nothing for a second. There was a sound
like a high-pitched whine that grew suddenly into a
loud, roaring rush which terminated in a deafening
crash as something struck the front of the main
Assembly building and exploded. Fire blossomed, the
frontage near the top floors broke apart and debris
flew ... a missile of some sort, he realised amid the
cacophony. The impact of the noise and the abrupt, vio-
lent destruction stunned his senses and he would have
stumbled and fallen had not Donny caught his arm and
dragged him onward.
'Come on! - we've got to get out of the . . .'
The rest of his sentence was lost as a second missile
hit a few yards to the left of the first. Another explosion,
a bright flash and an outburst of flame and pulverised
stone. Alarms were yammering all around the square
and panicking, shouting people were fleeing up side
streets. Then Theo stopped in his tracks as a horrifying
realisation came to him.
'The top floor,' he said to Donny. 'Isn't that where the
president's offices are?'
Donny nodded grimly, then without hesitation they
began running towards the burning building.
46
GREG
It was getting aggravating - these K5 people just would-
n't respond.
'So, Lieutenant, I'm curious - what part has your
organisation been playing in the hunt for the murderers
calling themselves the Free Darien Faction?'
Lieutenant Laing was a tall man with a lantern jaw,
dressed like his three subordinates in dark green uni-
forms lacking any insignia. Seated across from Greg in
the zeplin gondola, his features were as impassive as
they had been when he had arrested Greg back at
Giant's Shoulder. However, Greg was sure there was a
doleful look in
his eyes that wasn't there when they left
the site an hour ago.
'Sorry, Doctor Cameron, that is privileged informa-
tion.'
'Ah, privileged - what a happy state that must be.
Well, I imagine that the true answer is "none" because
you're too busy prying into the lives of ordinary folk,
rooting through their bins and opening their mail. I
can't help wondering what you were up to at the
moment when the bullets were flying at the dig back
there and people, myself included, were ducking and
fleeing for their lives. Compiling lists of subversive
library readers, maybe? Or were you secretly recording
dissident joke-tellers or perhaps even photographing
the cludgie wall graffiti in every bar and dive in
Hammergard? Or even arresting elderly women for no
reason other than to put pressure on a relative - now
that is despicable.'
'Your mother is helping us with our inquiries into
the disappearance of Ambassador Horst, Doctor
Cameron,' Laing said in a level, deliberate voice.
'Aye, I'm sure she is.' Greg's anger seethed, and part
of it was directed at Uncle Theo for having snatched
Horst away and brought him to Giant's Shoulder. Part
of it, also, was self-reproach for not having been cau-
tious enough . .. but who could possibly imagine that
the Sentinel of the well would grab someone and spirit
them off to God knows where?
So now Uncle Theo was a hunted man, his mother
was under lock and key and he was on his way to join
her. And the plain fact was that while he was scared for
them, he was most immediately worried for his own
skin - these four men, his escort, seemed to display a
striking similarity of bearing, all sitting in the same stiff
posture, each face impassive and without a hint of bore-
dom or wandering attention. In fact, not one of them
betrayed any kind of personal trait or mannerism, he
realised with growing unease. He pondered on the idea
of trying to engage one of them in conversation, but
before he could do so Laing's comm beeped from an
inner pocket. The K5 lieutenant answered it, listened
without expression, then said, 'Understood,' and put
the comm away.
'There is a security alert taking place in the city,' he
told Greg. 'All flights are either grounded or diverted.
We have been ordered to divert to another destination.'
'Which is where, Lieutenant?'
'Privileged information may not be passed to unau-
thorised persons, Doctor Cameron,' Laing said, getting
to his feet. 'I am going to inform the pilot of our change
of course. Please do not leave your seat or my men will
put you back in it.'
Greg said nothing but sat back, folded his arms, and
gazed over at the three K5 men, thinking for one bizarre
moment how much they reminded him of the three
robot dogs in The Dancing Engineer, a book he'd read
many times as a child. What were they called again? . . .
ah yes, Crusher, Digger and Grinder, that was it...
Laing returned to his seat and strapped in as the
zeplin began to bank into a descent. Greg could only
speculate about their location and battled against feel-
ings of desperation that threatened to swamp his mind.
Suppressing thoughts of what might happen to him at
the hands of these K5 interrogators, he tried to focus on
imagining what Uncle Theo would do in this situation,
or even his brother Ian.
Ten minutes later, while the zeplin was being winched
down to wherever it was landing, he did not feel any
more filled with resolve and a daring boldness than he
had before. But then reason told him that since the odds
were against him it would be better to be stoic yet pre-
pared, so he kept his mind stoic while his digestion and
his legs gave themselves over to quivering terror.
There was a bump as the gondola nudged up against
its mooring platform. Laing's subordinates went to open
the hatch, tip out a set of folding steps then one by one
hurry down them. As Greg followed, with Laing at his
back, he saw that they were moored on the ground, an
expanse of perfect lawn which stretched out to a white-
painted wall with several odd, conical objects spaced
along the top.
When Greg reached the foot of the steps, two of
Laing's men, Crusher and Digger, seized him by the arms
and marched him towards the tail of the zeplin with
Grinder behind him, hand grasping his jacket collar.
Beyond the tapering stern of the gas-filled envelope, an
imposing three-storey house came into view, flanked by
smaller buildings, bushes, gardens, trees, and several
strange vehicles with stubby wings and painted in green
and grey camouflage . . . and in the next instant, with
dread rising in a chorus, he saw the group striding
towards them, long strides made by tall Sendrukans in
uniforms and carrying long weapons with multiple bar-
rels
'No . . . no, you can't do this! Laing . . .' He started to
struggle but his captors only tightened their grips.
'... you cannot hand me over to these people .. .'
'I am under orders to render assistance to the lawful
representatives of the Sendrukan Hegemony,' Laing
said. 'Said representatives have requested temporary
extradition so that questions may be put to you, which
is permissible under emergency powers . . .'
'Emergency . . . are you out of your mind?'
'Thank you for aiding our inquiries, Lieutenant
Laing,' said another Sendrukan, who had appeared from
behind those in uniform. 'I am Assister Sejik, security-
master to the High Monitor.'
Like the soldiers he towered over the humans, but
unlike them he wore pale, flowing garments and in one
hand carried a slender, golden stave bearing a line of
black characters and tipped with a small silver figurine.
'I am glad to be of help, Assister.'
'Under the agreed terms we shall return Doctor
Cameron to your custody in six hours,' said Sejik.
'Would you care to wait?'
'I am instructed to return after the allotted period,
Assister Sejik.'
'That is acceptable.'
Laing's men suddenly released Greg but, before he
could react, one of the uniformed Sendrukans grabbed
both his arms, staring stonily down at him while a
second produced a silver object which was pressed
against his neck. Abruptly, all feeling in the rest of his
body vanished and his head lolled forward.'The terror
that gripped him was swamped by a surge of numbness.
Sights and sounds were blurred, vague shapes passing
by, deep voices booming to one another, strange, distant
sensations of motion, a muffled swaying, a slow heavy
tread . . .
Awareness came back in a rush, like a drowsy half-
sleep dispelled by fearful realisation. Greg found that his
hands were bound behind him and
he was sitting at a
square, cloth-covered table on which several glassy,
gourd-like vessels were grouped around a crystalline
pitcher with six or seven spouts. The table and chairs
were on the Sendrukan scale and he felt like a child
seated in an adult's place. The table covering was a
detailed depiction of humanoid creatures, Sendrukans,
he presumed, engaged in a variety of warlike activities.
Similar framed tapestries adorned the leaf-patterned
walls, along with some far more modernistic pieces - or
so they seemed to his eyes. Long, openwork curtails
hung before tall windows, and gauzy, embroidered ban-
ners were draped low over the table and in the corners
of the room. The impression was one of cultured opu-
lence without excess, while the artworks spoke of
violence.
'Doctor Cameron, it is most pleasing to meet you
again.'
A deep voice, rich and expressive, spoke and High
Monitor Kuros stepped into view from behind Greg's
chair. He was dressed in shades and layers of grey, pat-
terned and semi-opaque, and wearing his tall, black
helical headgear. The features, so Humanlike, were com-
posed, the large dark eyes fixed on Greg as Kuros took
a seat near the table's corner, his long, graceful fingers
toying with a small blue vial.
'I cannot say the same, High Monitor,' Greg said.
'Handing me over into your custody clearly runs con-
trary to the basic tenets of liberty. I implore you to
return me to the keeping of Darien's civil authorities . . .'
'But we need you here, Doctor Cameron,' Kuros said.
'We have many questions and we are sure that you have
the answers.'
'But under our constitution I have personal rights,'
said Greg. 'You have given many speeches that mention
the importance of freedom and liberty - surely you
understand . . .'
'I do, Doctor Cameron, but unfortunately you do not
understand what we mean by freedom and liberty. These
are qualities conferred upon Sendrukan society by the
power of the Hegemony - they do not exist by them-
selves in the universe so they must be created by the
pinnacle of Sendrukan culture, the Hegemony and its
laws. Our freedoms and liberties are not permitted to
contradict the purpose and stability of the Hegemony,
Michael Cobley - Humanity's Fire book 1 Page 44