came forward to greet them.
'Major Karlsson,' he said in a surprisingly deep voice.
'My name is Carolian -1 am Ambassador Horst's secre-
tary. The desk said that you wish to speak with the
ambassador on an urgent matter.'
'That is so,' Theo said. 'It concerns the events at Port
Gagarin yesterday.'
'I see.' The man Carolian took out a small grey pad
which he studied for a moment. 'Our sensors say none
of you is armed but one of you is carrying a digitact of
some kind.'
Theo put his hand on Barney's shoulder.
'My associate, Mr Macrae, has a device containing
new information about the attack which the president is
keen for the ambassador to see.'
'Very well, I will see if he is ready to receive you.'
Carolian left by a side door then reappeared moments
later to beckon them in. Theo led the way and was ush-
ered through to a well-lit kitchen/breakfast bar where
the ambassador sat at the table, playing chess with a
ghost.
'It's a hologram,' Macrae murmured. 'Supposed to be
his dead daughter.'
The translucent figure was of an attractive young
woman, early twenties perhaps, with long brown hair,
wearing a many-coloured flowery shift over patterned
blue trousers. Theo knew the background from news
reports and Pyatkov's briefings, which said that Horst's
daughter had died a couple of years ago, yet the sight
made the hairs on his neck prickle.
'Good day, gentlemen,' Horst said, rising to face
Theo. He was wearing a calf-length house-gown of
some olive green material, fastened loosely with a yellow
sash. 'Major Karlsson, yes? The president's adviser . . .'
The two men shook hands. Horst's grip was firm,
dry and steady, yet Theo got the impression that there
was some concealed frailty to the man.
'My thanks for agreeing to see us, Ambassador. These
are my colleagues, Mr Macrae and Mr McGrain.'
More handshakes. Rory had blinked on hearing his
surname and his wide-eyed stare flicked between the
ambassador and the opaque hologram. Come on, Rory,
Theo thought. Don't let me down, lad.
'And this is my daughter, Rosa.'
The hologram girl smiled at the three men, who gave
brief, nervous bows. Theo glanced at Macrae, but he
seemed unruffled so he tried to appear unconcerned
himself.
'So, Major,' Horst went on. 'You have more informa-
tion regarding yesterday's horrific events, information so
urgent that it could not wait till my return to
Hammergard.'
'Exactly so, sir - we have a recording of what hap-
pened.'
A look of unease passed across Horst's face. 'A
recording? Is it from the Brolturans?'
Theo shook his head. 'Another source, Ambassador.
May we show it to you?'
For a moment the ambassador was silent, his eyes
glancing sideways for a moment before he gave a sigh
and nodded.
'Very well, Major, do you require any equipment?'
Theo turned to Barney, who already had his displayer
in hand. 'Um, would it be okay to use the ambassador's
vee screen?'
'Certainly,'said Horst.
Macrae produced a coil of tendril-thin cable, hooked
up the displayer to the vee screen, fingered the screen
controls, and moments later was ready. But Horst made
him wait while he spoke with the hologram.
'I'm sorry, Rosa, dear, but I have some work to attend
to. Can we continue our game later?'
'Of course, Daddy - I'll remember where all the
pieces are.'
As fondnesses were murmured, Theo exchanged baf-
fled looks with Barney and Rory. Then the hologram
winked out and Horst slipped a flat, octagonal unit into
the pocket of his house-gown, put away the chess set
and turned back to the others.
'Proceed.'
Barney pointed the black rod remote and the record-
ing played out silently as before. Barney paused it as
before, pointing out the number of Ezgara commandos
before and after the assassination. When it was over,
Horst sat there looking stunned, even a little shrunken
in the baggy folds of his gown. But then he stared off to
one side, frowning, lips moving, shaking his head
slightly as if having a private conversation ...
His AI implant, Theo realised. That's what he's lis-
tening to . . .
'Ambassador . . .' he began.
'Ah, yes, Major, yes . . .' Horst put finger and thumb
to the bridge of his nose, eyes squeezing shut as if in dis-
comfort. 'How confident are you of this information's
provenance?'
'My colleague, Mr Macrae, is the one who obtained
it,' and at Theo's prompting Barney told the ambassador
how and why the recording had come to be made. By
the end, Horst's expression was weary but grim.
'This is very serious,' he said. 'I would be the first to
admit that the Hegemony has in the past employed
questionable methods in pursuit of its interests, but to
do this, and to their closest ally?'
'It looks like a justification for a military intervention.'
Theo said. 'But if anything they've stayed their hand.'
'Darien Colony would be in upheaval now if
Sundstrom had not manoeuvred us into looking bad to
the media.' Horst stared down at his hands. 'If I'd
known about this before I would have deployed the
marines sooner and in greater numbers.'
'Can this be done now, Ambassador?' said Theo.
'Yes -1 have a subspace comset in my luggage . ..' He
paused and looked to one side. 'It's all right, Harry, I
know what I'm doing.' As he got to his feet his attention
came back to Theo. 'It's through in the stowaway -1'll
just...'
The door flew open and the secretary Carolian
rushed in, clearly upset.
'The news channel, Ambassador! It's about you . . I
Quickly, Horst reached for the vee screen's keypad
control and thumbed it on. Up came the Darienwave
news channel with one of the regular presenters, Oxana
Rugov, and with Horst's face in an upper corner box.
'... just to recap on Our breaking story, the Brolturan
delegation has issued a statement accusing Earthsphere
Ambassador Robert Horst of planning and ordering the
terrorist attack at Port Gagarin yesterday, resulting in
the murder of Diakon-Commodore Reskothyr and four
others on his staff. The statement goes on to claim pos-
session of damning evidence, eyewitness accounts and a
testament given by a DVC soldier who Ambassador
Horst allegedly tried to recruit.
'Shortly after the release of this statement, a commu-
nication was received by all media outlets from
Father-Admiral Dyrosha, commander of the Brolturan
vessel Purifier. It says, quite simply, that a Decree of
Arrest has been issued, naming the ambassador and
demanding that he present himself to airborne units
<
br /> which have been sent forth to detain him ...'
Horst staggered back from the screen and dropped
into a chair at the table, looking pale.
'It's preposterous ... outrageous!... I had nothing to
do with . . .'
'Ambassador, you've got to get to safety,' Theo said.
'Can you call the Heracles and get them to send a shut-
tle to pick you up?'
'Yes, I can,' Horst said, getting to his feet. 'I'll get my
comset. . .'
'I'm sorry, Ambassador,' said Carolian. 'But you and
your visitors will have to remain here until the arrest
detachments arrive.' ..
The slender secretary, poised and composed, was
holding a handgun with a strange oval barrel sporting
curved flanges along its sides.
'Carolian,' said Horst. 'What the hell are you doing?'
'Following orders, sir, which means that you will
have to follow mine.'
Everyone froze. Theo cursed the demented bad luck
of Horst having a Hegemony agent on his staff, even
though it was only to be expected . . . and then he
realised that Rory wasn't in the room. Now he glimpsed
movement along the short passage that connected the
kitchen with an adjacent room, probably a formal
dining room. Carolian hadn't noticed Rory's absence
yet, so a diversion was called for.
'You're walking a razor's edge, you know,' Theo said.
'The captain of the Heracles won't permit this and
Sundstrom will put all military units on high alert.'
'Don't be ridiculous, Major,' Carolian said. 'The
Purifier outguns the Heracles by roughly ten-to-one - if
Captain Velazquez tries to interfere he will be fired upon
and you'll be dredging pieces of his ship out of the ocean
for months to come. As for any forces under Sundstrom's
command . . . well, they don't present any kind of serious
threat, I can assure you ...'
And that was when Rory's left hand slammed
Carolian's head into the wall while his right shoved the
secretary's gun hand up at the ceiling as it went off. A
bright barb of energy punched through the plaster and
woodwork, causing a spray of dust and splinters, while
Rory tore the weapon from Carolian's fingers and then
punched him to the ground. Leaning over the moaning,
bloody-nosed secretary, he said, 'How's that fur a seri-
ous threat, matey?'
'Well done, Rory!' said Theo. 'How . . .'
'Ah was over at that window in the corner when he
came in, and I could see a gun in his back pocket and I
thinks, well now, whit's this all about, so when he pulled
it out I hopped up and through that wee delivery hatch
smart as ye like. Came round the other side and nabbed
him.'
'Excellent. You and Barney get him tied up.
Ambassador, let's dig out this comset of yours.'
But when it was unearthed from a large, wheeled
trunk the device turned out to be dead. The power cells
registered full but nothing was being activated.
'But I used it this morning to speak with Velazquez,'
Hoist said.
'Your secretary must have disabled it soon after,'
Theo said. 'Advance preparation - he couldn't have
known that we were coming or what we had to show
you.'
'So he knew that Kuros was planning my arrest,'
Horst said slowly, then glanced sideways. 'They are?
Thank you, Harry . . . Major, it's not safe here. Those
Brolturan fliers will soon be here.'
'Then we need transport,' Theo said, trying not to
think about the AI as he took out his comm and called
Alexei, who was still down at the entrance with his
brother.
'Yes, Major?'
'Alexei - Brolturan troops are on their way here to
arrest the ambassador so I need you and Nikolai to head
back to the zeplin and tell Gunnar to cast off, fly over
and pick us up from one of the residencies - we'll be the
ones on the roof, waving.'
'We're on our way, Major.'
Theo closed his comm and turned to Horst. 'Time to
go, Ambassador.'
From the viewing balcony outside, a stairway curved
up to a railed-in sunbathing deck on the roof. The view
of the thundering Gangradur Falls in the rosy late after-
noon light was breathtaking but all eyes were fixed in
the other direction, towards the guesthouse's mooring
grove and the sparkling grey expanse of Loch Morwen
beyond.
Theo had been racking his brain to think of some-
where safe to hide both Horst and themselves. Then as
the bulbous, boxy shape of Gunnar's zeplin rose over
the treetops he realised that there was one place which
was perfect and took out his comm, hoping that he
would be able to get through.
42
GREG
Greg was on his way back from having sent provisions
down to the well chamber with Chel (who had recently
arrived by zeplin) when his comm. chimed. Seeing who it
was, he grinned and quickly answered.
'Uncle Theo, good to hear from you. How are you
today?'
'I'm well enough, lad. Listen, would it be all right to
impose myself and a few friends upon you just for
tonight? We'll be up and away early tomorrow.'
'Aye, that shouldn't be a problem, Uncle. When can
we expect you?'
'We're coming in by zeplin so we'll be with you in
about half an hour. Oh, and there's no need to tell the
station warden - our pilot is going to let us down on
that grassy stretch behind the ruins. Can't thank you
enough for your help - you're a good lad. Right, be
seeing you.'
As the line went dead Greg lowered the comm and
stared, half-annoyed, half-amused at having been unable
to get a word in.
He's almost a force of nature is Uncle Theo. What
must he have been like when he was youngerl
At the site huts he quickly checked the state of the rec
room then looked in on the stores to see what bedding
was available. He also stopped at his own hut to assess
how much work he had to cover later on, then put on a
heavier jacket and went back outside.
Dusk was his favourite time of the day he decided as
he strolled through the darkening ruins. Dawn could be
very special if it was bright and dry - a rainy dawn felt
as if the world's burden was being reluctantly dragged
into the daytime. Whereas dusk looked great whatever
the weather, be it cloudless skies or overcast, clement or
a downpour. A few times he had been out and about at
sundown with mist or fog creeping down from the dense
forest slopes, and every time it was a splendidly Gothic
experience.
Now, in the fading, grainy light, the surfaces of
ancient broken walls and columns were beginning to
grow dark and foreboding, the stonework looking
increasingly eroded and time-worn, until the night
finally claimed them, turning them into black shapes,
silently looming. Then, as the sun's last g
limmer sank
away, leaving only a dwindling radiance on the hori
zon, Greg heard the hum of approaching engines. A
minute later he saw the faint edges of a light beam
wavering along the cliffs that led east from Giant's
Shoulder. After that it wasn't long before the bulky mass
of a zeplin nosed up over the natural ramparts of the
promontory, a solitary spotlight probing the gloom.
As it descended, engines idling, Greg ran over,
exchanging a wave with the pilot in his glowing cockpit.
When it got to about ten feet off the ground it paused,
hovering, while a rope ladder was flung out of a side
hatch and several figures climbed down. By his own
torch Greg recognised Uncle Theo and Rory but not the
other three, one of whom was dressed in what seemed to
be an elaborate dressing gown. Greg went over to greet
them, but before he could even say hello, Theo had a
hand on his shoulder and was steering him back
towards the huts.
'Good to see you, boy. I hope you didn't let anyone
know we were coming.'
Behind them, the zeplin was gaining height and turn-
ing south to head over the ridge.
'Didn't tell a soul, Uncle. So, what's all this about?'
By the meagre torchlight he saw Theo's craggy fea-
tures crease into what his mother once called his
'devil-may-care' smile, which was usually a sign of trou-
ble ahead.
'Ach, well, it's quite a tale,' his uncle said. 'One that
should be told with a glass of the fair dram in hand.'
'I believe that I can unearth a bottle of
Glenmarra . . .'
'Good man! Always prepared for guests, that's what
I like.'
But when they reached Greg's hut, Poul, one of the
interns, was waiting for him.
'Poul, what's the problem?'
'Not sure, Mr Cameron, but a weird message came
through to our hut terminal from the university, warn-
ing us that those Brolturans are sending troops here to
search for the missing ambassador.'
'What?' Greg said. 'To search for who?'
Poul shrugged. 'Seems that the Brolturans are accus-
ing the Earth ambassador of being involved in all the
bombings and that assassination. It's been all over tha
vee-news since this afternoon.'
'Aye, well I've not had the vee on all day, Poul - too
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