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making conversation when a voice snarled, Whaddya want? from inside the
room.
I hear you ve been abusing one of my staff, Forrester snarled louder.
Whaddya mean? The guard sounded suspicious. Cwej reached for the
reassurance of his gun.
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I mean that I ve had a complaint from one of my cleaners. He said you
verbally abused him.
Beside Cwej, Bernice shook her head. Not trying very hard, is she?
Give her time, Cwej said defensively, she s not trained in undercover
work. He remembered the incomprehension on Forrester s face when Power-
less Friendless suggested the plan. But you re an alien! she had said. You
should expect abuse. And why should a human supervisor be concerned? The
guard ll never buy it.
All you have to do, Bernice had explained patiently for the third time, is
get the guard where Cwej here can come in and lay him out from behind.
An explosion of anger from inside the room snapped him back to reality.
He said what? The dirty scummy slug!
I know, I know. Forrester s voice was world-weary. But the shift super-
visor s a fraggin alien-lover. Me, I get caught in the middle. Do us both a
favour: show me the stain. If I say it s still there, then we ve got grounds to
get rid of the slug. Nothing but a troublemaker, that one.
Powerless Friendless shifted slightly beside Cwej, and frowned.
It s all right, Cwej said soothingly. She doesn t mean it.
I suspect she does, Bernice said softly.
There was a scuffle of movement inside the room, then the guard said,
There, look at it. What kind of job do you call that?
Hmm. Forrester was silent for a moment, then she said, Hey, look at this.
What?
No, down here.
Where?
Look, right down here . . .
Cwej risked a look around the edge of the door. The guard was kneeling
down, his eyes a few inches from the floor and Forrester s pointing finger.
Forrester looked up at the doorway, saw Cwej and nodded towards the nape
of the guard s neck. A few quiet steps brought Cwej up behind the kneeling
man s back.
Can t see nothing, the guard said.
What about this? Forrester said as Cwej s hand sliced through the air,
impacting on the guard s temple with a meaty chunk! He shook his head
slowly, and tried to turn around. By the time his eyes locked with Cwej s,
there was nobody home. He slumped gracelessly to the floor.
Brilliant, Bernice said as she and Powerless Friendless entered the room.
If ever I want some heavy hitting done, I ll be in touch.
Thanks, Cwej said, pleased at the unexpected praise. He looked around,
taking in the details of the room for the first time. Apart from a desk and chair
on one side and a metal vault door and a window set into the far wall, the
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room was empty. Like Powerless Friendless had said, the window showed a
view across to the next block, but the door in the wall next to it was security
rated. He moved across and looked out of the window. It was no simcord,
that was for sure.
Bernice walked across his side and stared at the vault door. As far as Cwej
could see it was made of solid alutrium. A small but sophisticated security
lock on the desk presumably controlled access to whatever lay beyond.
I don t suppose . . . Bernice started to say, then looked back at Forrester,
Cwej and Powerless Friendless. No, she finished, I don t suppose any of you
do.
Wait a moment, the Hith said, and slid forward. I think I might be able to
help.
You? Forrester said. How?
Powerless Friendless s eye-stalks rotated to look at her. Krohg, he said. My
pet. He s good with locks. He started rummaging around in his rucksack.
This isn t just a lock, Bernice said. It s a computer-controlled access sys-
tem. No budgie, however smart, is going to get in.
He s very clever, Powerless Friendless said, still rummaging. But I can t
seem to
He s here, Cwej said, reaching into his pocket and closing his hand around
the small, soft form of the creature named Krohg. At Forrester and Powerless
Friendless s accusing glares, he shrugged and said, Well, he s cute.
Cute? Forrester said. Cwej, you re sick. .
Cwej tickled the little orange creature under the chin at least, he assumed
it was the chin and handed it to Powerless Friendless. The Hith slithered
across to the desk and placed Krogh against the access panel, murmuring
something to it as he did so. The little creature flattened itself against the
keys, and quivered slightly.
We re wasting time, Forrester said. We need to get through that door, and
this isn t doing us any
With a beep and a faint rumble of machinery, the door opened.
I don t believe it, Forrester murmured.
Cwej rushed across and picked Krohg up before Powerless Friendless could
retrieve it.
Well done, he said. Turning to Bernice he said, Don t you think that was
well done?
She didn t answer. She was just staring through the opening that the vault
door had revealed. A strange grey light was playing across her face.
Cwej turned to follow her gaze. Through the doorway, a catwalk extended
for a hundred or so metres. At the end of the catwalk was a spacecraft of a
strange design, rounded and spiked, like some alien insect. Everything else
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through the opening apart from the catwalk and the ship was a pearly, shifting
grey that looked as if it was simultaneously infinitely distant and close enough
to touch.
Isn t that . . . ? Cwej started to say, but Bernice beat him to it.
Yes, she said quietly, it s hyperspace.
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Chapter 13
I m Shythe Shahid and this is The Empire Today, on the spot, on
and off the Earth. Reports from the Imperial Palace in orbit around
Saturn suggest the Empress is on the verge of imposing martial law
in selected Overcity areas in an attempt to contain the rioting that is
slowly but surely eating its way like a cancer across the heart of the
Empire. The first measure to be announced will almost certainly be a
curfew, with death as the penalty for non-compliance. Meanwhile, it
is rumoured that Professor Zebulon Pryce, noted scientist and mass
murderer, has escaped from the Landsknechte Penal Institution on
Dis. We go live now to . . .
The Doctor s eyebrows rose in surprise and amusement, partly at what Hater
Of Humans had said and partly at Provost-Major Beltempest s open-mouthed
astonishment.
You ve built an encampment on Purgatory? he said.
Hater Of Humans nodded.
Before terraforming Hithis, it said, the Landsknechte preserved a portion
of its surface and transplanted it to their own world. They did this not in
remembrance of our planet, but as a trophy, and as an example of territory
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