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Noel and Prunella set off for the Commune with
a group that included the children and some of their parents, mostly their
mothers. Steven drove them in one of the old trucks, and went via a much
longer route than usual to avoid the League encampments in the desert. Back
at the Commune, they found construction work well under way. The engineers
reckoned they could complete the massive doorway to the cavern within a
month; however, they were having to work desperately hard to gather together
the materials that were needed for the boat. Noel found himself warmly welcomed,
and almost immediately the focus for questioning. Shyly at first, but gradually
with greater ease, the people of the Commune found opportunities to question
him about their future as a community. In time the questions became more
personal, and they would often ask him about Marinima's teachings, and how
they were to bring the teachings into their lives. Marinima also welcomed
Noel's return, but the old man was visibly more frail. He asked Noel to
visit him regularly, and they had long conversations about the old and mostly
forgotten religious traditions of the Continent. Steven was given security
responsibilities for the Commune, and he set up systems for surveying ADL
movements as best he could with their limited equipment.
As the weeks went by, the tension rose. The first offensive by the League
could come at any time, and the Government was worried that their forces
would not be sufficient to fight them off. Noel received news that Xavier
and his droids had made their way into the Fusodrome.
News of the League's first moves came. Through powerful sights and video
cameras the people of the Commune watched the first shells being fired towards
the Complex, and saw the answering shots: all this as little puffs of smoke.
It was now a desperate race against time to complete the work on the doors.
For days the battle raged between Government forces and the League. Detailed
reports came from Poets Quarter to the Commune every day: things were going
badly for the Government troops, and Noel was beginning to wonder if they
could possibly complete in time. The strain on him was telling. Prunella,
now visibly pregnant, did her best to relieve the dreadful tension that
Noel was suffering by her good-humour. Noel told her:
"I can't believe that the League will take the Complex without causing
a melt-down. Yet I can't see how on earth those reactors can be penetrated,
even by their forces. All the logic says that either they will be defeated,
or that they will gain control of the Complex, wipe out the droids, and
overthrow the Government. We would be finished of course, if they do. And
yet that is not how I see it."
Things were getting worse. The Government forces, after the first League
offensive, had pushed them out into the desert, and for a while looked to
be in control. However, they had underestimated the League reserves, and
found themselves outflanked. In a desperate fight to regain the perimeter
they suffered heavy losses, and found themselves in a worse position than
before their counter-offensive. The League now set up a heavy bombardment
of their positions, and forced them back within a mile of the perimeter.
As the news came, day by day, the Commune made superhuman efforts to move
their remaining supplies into the cavern, and to finish the doors.
The League continued their push against the perimeter, and eventually drove
the Government forces back to second emergency line half a mile from the
Fusodrome. Noel was beginning to feel that all hope was lost. The League
were not far from their objective, and either outcome: control of the Complex,
or its destruction at this early stage, would mean everything lost for the
droids. The League advanced inexorably towards the heavily defended perimeter
fence of the Complex, pushing back the Government forces again, with heavy
casualties on both sides. A period of uncertainty then followed as the League
threatened attacks at different points along the perimeter, often breaching
the defences, but choosing not to follow up their advantage. A new perception
of the League grew amongst the Government forces: simple-minded they may
have been in their propaganda, but they were not militarily naive. Their
plan was unclear at this point, but it had the immediate and successful
effect of demoralising the defence forces. The cat and mouse game continued
for some weeks, until an attack at one point was being routinely defended.
In the midst of the fighting a second attack was unexpectedly launched using
high-speed vehicles approaching from a distant encampment in the desert.
The advantage of surprise and the sheer weight of fire-power overwhelmed
the Government forces, and after the most bitter fighting yet, the League
had penetrated the Complex perimeter.
At the last moment the Commune gained the extra time it needed to complete
the door and gather supplies, for once inside the perimeter the League had
to manoeuvre in the concrete roads and buildings to advance towards the
control centre of the Complex. It was at this time that Xavier chose to
spring his own attack. The several thousand droid workers of the Complex
had been preparing and waiting for his initiative, and the last thing that
the League was expecting was a trained and armed droid fighting force. From
the concrete outbuildings, silos, and cooling towers they came under fire,
and on the ground, hand-to-hand combat with the former servants of the people.
The Government troops and human power-worker overseers were just as shocked
as the League: seeing their patient and passive droid workers turn into
well disciplined and brutal fighters unnerved them all. However there was
no choice for the Government but to fight on, even though what they saw
almost undermined the very thing that they stood for. The League were pushed
slowly back to the breach in the perimeter.
Meanwhile, in the basement of Xavier's tenement in the Quarter, Zebulun
ate his breakfast with methodical care, talking amiably with Roger. He had
carried on the pretence of his new-found contrition with no detectable transition
from the period when it was an involuntary drug-induced state. Zebulun had
received a second telepathic message in the night, and as he finished his
coffee he put into action the first part of their plan with an inward sense
of satisfaction that it was time to act again. He gently put out the thought
to Roger that he had forgotten something. A frown appeared on Roger's face,
and he scratched his head. Zebulun started to clear away the breakfast things,
and after an interval pushed the thought out to Roger more strongly this
time, hinting that Xavier had wanted him, Roger, to do something. Roger
stood looking down at the floor, with a puzzled expression, pursing his
lips and clasping his hands. Zebulun left it for a while, and then, as Roger
was about to leave, he forcefully communicated to Roger's mind a completely
fabricated scene: a droid messenger arriving and requesting that Zebulun
be brought into the Fusodrome to the command centre. Roger slapped his forehead,
shook his head and said:
"Zeb: I'm such an idiot. I had a message yesterday to take you to Xavier
in the Fusodrome."
Zebulun simultaneously raised his eyebrows and transmitted the thought that
they were to leave after breakfast.
"We're to go right now after breakfast. I'll send a messenger to say
that we are coming. Er, no, it would be best not to, don't you think?"
"Yes, Roger. It would be best not to."
They left, with the two droid guards behind them, and made their way to
the tunnel entrance. Zebulun had no difficulty influencing the droid guards
posted along the route that they were on Xavier's orders: he was able to
read the passwords from the droids' minds and put them into Roger's. He
was also able to get Roger's droid guards dismissed at one point, and proceeded
with Roger alone. As they walked they began to be able to feel the ground
shaking from distant artillery hits. Closer to Zebulun's real destination,
he persuaded Roger that Xavier had wanted them to visit a special installation.
They walked together down small passageways and past heavy gates that Zebulun
opened by typing in codes, Roger patiently observing everything. Zebulun
then put the thought into Roger's mind to climb up an iron-runged ladder
set into the wall that reached a balcony overlooking a large chamber.
"No way."
Zebulun looked at Roger startled.
"What?"
"You heard. We've gone far enough with your games."
Roger's weary expression now had a hard edge to it.
"I don't know how, but you have been controlling me all day. I've known
you were bad the moment I met you, but for a while I thought you had changed.
Now I am not so sure. I don't know what's going on round here, but I know
that I don't want you to get what you want out of it."
Zebulun choked back the fury at finding that he had been fooled by the ineffectual
Roger, and concentrated on making up his lost momentum. He had chosen Roger
for this last task, and he wanted as a matter of pride to bend him to his
purpose. His initial reaction, the quicker solution, of killing Roger, was
displaced by the determination to involve Roger in his plans.
"Even to the last, Roger, you only know what you don't want."
Roger's set look hardened further.
"I've heard all that psychological crap: it won't work now. I want
you to tell me what's going on. I know that the ADL want to destroy the
droids and hold the Government to ransom with the Fusodrome, but what does
your lot want? What do the Brothers really want here?"
"Why do you want to know?" said Zebulun carelessly.
"Damn it, your people have been pushing us around long enough. My whole
life I've pushed around, now we are alone here you've got to go along with
me for once."
Zebulun thought: paranoia is the automatic defence of the purposeless.
"All right. We'll do a deal. I'll tell you what's going on, but first
take these handcuffs off me."
Roger shook his head.
"What on Earth can I do on my own?" said Zebulun. "You've
got to agree that if the fighting gets this far I have no weapon, but at
least if my hands are free I can look after myself to some degree. It would
hardly be fair to leave a man handcuffed and defenceless in the middle of
a battle."
Roger scowled, but couldn't argue. The sound of shelling had grown closer.
He released Zebulun warily, giving the other no chance of a surprise move.
Roger sat down on an old crate opposite him, keeping his gun pointed at
him. Zebulun rubbed his wrists and also sat down, looking at Roger with
an air of scorn.
"I will keep my side of the bargain. Over that wall there lies the
last fission breeder reactor on the Continent."
"Fission reactor? I thought they had been shut down and dismantled
centuries ago."
"Yes, all but this one. The Brotherhood made big mistakes in the Civil
War, but in the ensuing confusion we managed to destroy all traces of this
reactor, which was used then only for research. We kept our access to it
via the old tunnels which your idiot, which your friend Xavier is now using.
There was a good chance of him discovering the tunnels, and so he did."
"So this whole charade was a trick to get access to the reactor again."
"Right."
"But what do you want with it now?"
"The last batch of zeesuits are ready for us. They use a transuranic
element as fuel.."
"And you can only make transuranic elements in a fission reactor."
"Exactly. Not many people.."
"Know that," Roger finished for him.
"What if I prevent you reaching it?" Roger said after a pause,
and cocked his gun.
Zebulun's eyes flashed with an instantaneous fury, but he answered mildly:
"It won't make much difference. The Brothers have enough to carry out
their plans anyway."
There was silence for a while.
"Don't you want to know what our plans are?" Zebulun turned to
Roger, and his eyes were strangely lit.
"Don't you want to know how we are going to run the world after this?
How we are going to become the last stage of man's evolution, the fulfilment
of the promise of power that every man senses when he is young and strong?
And later retreats and retreats from, until all he has is fantasy and bitter
regrets?"
Roger looked at him suspiciously. Zebulun continued:
"Do you remember one of your first remarks to me? To the effect that
one of the most interesting jobs on the Continent left you cold? There is
no life out there! There is no risk, there is no adventure; there
is no challenge! Everything is provided, and you can play at work if you
want. You are bored with it all!"
Roger was drawn to the argument despite himself, and relaxed the hand on
his gun.
"The will to power is everything Roger. Everything. But only those
who discipline themselves, submit to years of sacrifice gain the right to
it: the right to an eternal soul. You could make that journey, you have
that little spark that sets you apart from the rest."
Roger looked at Zebulun hard. There was the smallest nugget of truth in
what Zebulun was saying, a truth that drew him and made him forget his instinctive
distrust.
"War, Roger. The world of men, where men have a purpose, where you
come to know what you are made of."
Zebulun moved his face closer to Roger, and fixed his eyes on him.
"Are you a coward?" he whispered.
Roger was startled.
"I just don't know," said Roger after a while.
"Exactly!" said Zebulun, his eyes holding Roger's. "How can
you know unless you are put to the test? And how can you live with yourself
without knowing?"
Zebulun looked up, as if seeing his new world take shape round him, and
continued:
"War cannot be waged with nuclear weapons; men become mere mechanics.
We are going to the Old World, where the body of a man is his weapon. We
shall have armies of men, and we shall be their commanders!"
Zebulun looked at Roger again.
"You could be part of this."
Roger could not look away.
"Come with me into the reactor vault. You can take a suit, and your
training will begin: you will be out of this mess for ever."
There was silence, and after a while Roger took his eyes off Zebulun's face.
It was just long enough for the big man to lash with out a powerful blow
that knocked Roger sideways. Zebulun threw himself on Roger, and for a while
they struggled for the gun, but Roger, although muscular and fit, was no
match for the other man's bulk and fury. In a few moments their positions
were reversed, with Zebulun pointing the gun, panting, at Roger.
"Now, up there!" Zebulun spat out the words, and Roger,
bleeding from the mouth, had no choice but to walk over to the ladder and
began his weary ascent. Soon they were in the reactor vault, where Zebulun
tied Roger up with chains.
Noel meanwhile was making great efforts to reach the mind of Xavier down
in the midst of the fighting. From time to time he would catch glimpses
of the battle as seen through Xavier's eyes, but he could not gain an insight
as to which way things were going. To Noel's enormous relief the engineers
had reported to him that the doors to the cavern were completed. That afternoon
the members of the commune gathered by the rails of the runway leading out
of the mouth of the cavern, and they watched in silence as the big doors
were tested. With a great grinding sound and whirr of motors, the doors
slid sideways and finally shut with a booming sound. The exhausted community
let up a great cheer, and in the evening they had a barbecue under the stars
and the younger members celebrated their successful efforts with singing
and dancing. There was nothing to do now but to wait for the outcome of
the fighting still going on over the plain. Work did start at a more leisurely
pace on the fitting-out of living quarters in the cavern. At the first signs
of the impending melt-down the whole commune could be safe behind their
steel and concrete doors; this could be achieved within less than five minutes.
Over the next few days it looked like Xavier and his droids held the balance
in the struggle for the Complex, and were even beginning to drive the League
back from the breach in the perimeter and out into the desert. In odd moments
Noel made contact with Xavier and found him in good spirits. Xavier, with
the prospect of actually overcoming their enemies, was buoyant. In one particular
lull, while Xavier was able to find some rest, he reached out in turn to
Noel. Noel found that with both of them willing the contact, they could
communicate with great clarity. With the greatest of tenderness and care,
they let each other see parts of their minds. Xavier did not want to see
Noel's visions, nor did Noel want to trespass on Xavier's ever-present conflict
over George and Prunella. Instead Noel saw the events of the last few days
in the Complex, and delighted in Xavier's triumphs. Xavier in turn congratulated
Noel on the completion of the nuclear shelter in the mountains. Noel probed
Xavier about the effect on the Government troops of the presence of droid
fighters: Xavier admitted that he was worried. In the event of their victory,
it would be difficult to know how the Continent would react to the militarisation
of the droids. Xavier shrugged mentally and laughed. We'll see, was his
thought to Noel.
Noel felt a great relief to have been in such close touch with his closest
friend. Xavier left the channel a little open for Noel over the next few
days of fighting, and it seemed that defeat of the League looked more and
more likely. Noel relayed the events of each day to the rest of the Commune,
who had come to regard him with some of the awe in which Marinima was held.
The good news, however, had rather a dispiriting effect. After the triumph
of effort in completing the doors the likelihood of defeating the League
came as an anti-climax. As the days went on members of the Commune, especially
the more recent ones, began to complain about wasting their time and resources
on the cavern. One or two even left for the Capital, despite Marinima's
pleas for patience.
A few days later Noel woke to find Xavier desperately trying to contact
him. As Noel made contact with Xavier's mind he felt the anxiety that gripped
him. Forcing Noel to see with his eyes, Xavier made Noel aware of a large
number of League combat vehicles speeding across the desert towards the
breach in the perimeter. The League forces were drawing to either side of
the gap to allow the vehicles through. At first Noel could not understand
what was going on, but Xavier somehow made him see. The vehicles were all
nuclear-engined, and their course was set, along the funnel-shaped entrance
that the League was defending, for the first of the fusion reactors. Noel
could see, through Xavier's eyes, a huge number of vehicles of all types
gathered out in the desert. As well as military vehicles they had gathered
thousands of civilian nuclear-powered vehicles, mostly the ubiquitous NuPower
saloons. As they all knew, to set the first reactor in the Complex to go
critical, at least a medium-sized nuclear blast was needed. The engines
in the nuclear-powered vehicles of the Continent were designed to be harmless
even in the worst possible traffic accident - they were cold-fission devices.
But if you were to smash several hundred of them together in a small space....
Noel transmitted this thought to Xavier but Xavier said no - he had got
their experts to check this as well as they could, and in the worst pile-up
in the Continent's history two hundred vehicles had smashed together and
no nuclear explosion took place: the old scientists had designed them well.
What about more than two hundred? Xavier admitted that no-one knew. As Noel
looked on through Xavier's eyes he made out with horror that some of the
drivers of the suicide vehicles were droids. The League had made that much
progress with their reprogramming. It was an ironic twist for Noel and Xavier
that heightened their sense of despair. There was nothing that Xavier and
his droids, or the Government troops could do: if they shelled a vehicle
the nuclear fragments would simply settle around the reactor. The V-shaped
wedge that the League had driven into the defences of the Complex made it
next to impossible to block their approach to the reactor. They tried however
but they saw that the League had anticipated them: fanatically, they had
put every man and vehicle into defending the corridor of access to the reactor.
Noel got Xavier to keep a running tally of the vehicles, as best they could,
and before long the two hundred count was well exceeded.
Noel had lost contact with Xavier for a while, but later made contact again
suddenly to see through Xavier's eyes the wreckage of the ADL's vehicles
and their dead or injured drivers entangled in the wreckage, and with small
fires burning in places and a strange silence hanging over the scene. The
Government forces had ceased fire, and Noel became aware of the cause of
the hiatus: Xavier reported roughly four hundred vehicles in the carnage
beyond him, but the ADL had no more to send, and their gamble on a nuclear
explosion had failed. The radiation was intense apparently, but nowhere
near critical conditions. For several hours the stalemate continued, with
no side willing to start negotiation for fear of a trap, and in this time
Noel could only turn to the blinding memories of his visions to persuade
himself not to join in the growing feeling of victory spreading amongst
the droids at the Fusodrome, and among those in the cavern. Shaking his
head, Noel was about to warn Xavier to maintain his guard, when Xavier made
sudden contact. Several large concrete sections to the far end of the Fusodrome
were sliding to one side, as if revealing a silo of some sort, and no one
had any idea of what was under them. A few moments later reports came in
of a what looked like a cluster of shells moving from over the desert towards
the silo; after a while they could be seen in the scopes as zeemen.
"Shell them!" was Noel's desperate communication to Xavier: the
Brotherhood were arriving, and for Noel this could only mean disaster. Xavier
contacted the Government forces at the same time as his own, but it was
far too late to target the rapidly-moving Brothers, and even if they had
time their weapons were not suited to aerial targets. Xavier had driven
close to the silos now and could look inside them. Noel, seeing through
his eyes what was there had the chilling and unmistakable knowledge that
he was seeing a nuclear fission reactor. Dan Amalek was clearly visible
now, leading the group which came to a halt above the reactors, but out
of range of any of the weapons that Xavier and his forces had to hand.
Roger looked up to see the zeesuited Brothers descend into the reactor vault,
and Zebulun rapidly handing out the remaining stock of zeesuits to them.
He conferred briefly with Dan, and put on the remaining suit, buckling himself
in. Turning slowly to Roger he said:
"Do you see that panel?" pointing to a device similar to an ElectroClip.
"Sure."
"Pick it up. Good. Now activate it and enter the following code."
Roger carried out his instructions with no mental pushing. On his face there
was the blankness of defeat.
"Now hold down the 'Execute' button and write: 'Forward' and then 'Backward'.
Good. Now draw a diagonal from top left to bottom right."
Roger did not smile at the reminder of their first encounter, but sullenly
carried out the instructions. A grinding noise from over the reactor made
him look up.
"The gantry crane," said Zebulun.
Roger watched the giant crane, a girder construction resting on wheeled
bogies at either end of the reactor vault move forward a few feet and then
back again. It continued this motion over and over again, making a whirring
and grinding noise.
"It's in an infinite loop. Infinite as in forever." Zebulun savoured
the last words. "Not many people know that."
Roger just looked uncomprehending at Zebulun, who stared at him briefly,
and then turned to the Brothers to signal their departure. All of them flew
out with their burdens except Dan, who signalled to Zebulun with his hand,
and turned to the reactor console. The constant grinding of the gantry crane
sounded in their ears all the while.
"Not many people know this either," hissed Zebulun to Roger. "The
gantry crane drops the moderator rods into the reactor in the event of a
runaway."
"Runaway?" said Roger weakly, transfixed by Zebulun's bulging
eyes.
"Yes, runaway. A runaway chain reaction. Melt-down."
"You mean..."
"Yes."
"But why, why?" Roger shouted.
"We don't need it any more," said Zebulun mildly.
He leaned over Roger.
"And we don't need you. And we don't need androids."
As he spoke the last words the growing clamour from the gantry crane was
joined by a penetrating siren, and red panels of light began to flash around
the vault.
"This isn't NuSense now," said Zebulun to Roger. "There is
nothing virtual about this reality. No switching off the machine and going
to the kitchen for a coffee to salve your defeated ego. This is real defeat:
you are going to die soon."
Roger shrank in his chair.
Dan signalled again to Zebulun, who gave one last look at the slumped figure
of Roger Badcock. Zebulun walked over to Dan, conversed briefly, and after
adjusting his suit the two Brothers flew out of the hatch towards the sky.
The sirens echoed around the Fusodrome, and Xavier, now understanding the
extremity of their situation, raced back with his task force and ordered
an evacuation to the tunnels, a manoeuvre that had been planned in case
of defeat. In a few minutes Xavier had evacuated the core of his troops
to the tunnels, and they were riding away from the Fusodrome. Noel's conviction
that they had seen a fission reactor, and the wailing of the sirens, left
him in no doubt that an explosion was imminent. If Xavier and his troops
did survive they could plan their next moves from the tunnels.
Drained by his second-hand experiences, Noel regained his sense of being
in the cavern in the hills. Unsteady on his feet, he ran to the control
room and sounded the alarm. It had been sounded only briefly before to test
it, and its unexpected booming caught all the people of the Commune by surprise.
Each felt the shock and horror as it dawned on them that this was what they
had long prepared for. Fear gripped them, and in silence they ran through
their much-rehearsed drill: the wavering of purpose that had existed over
the last few days suddenly vanished. The big doors slid slowly shut, leaving
the stragglers only a few minutes to run through carrying their allotted
burdens.
Roger meanwhile was straining at his chains, and had managed to knock the
panel controlling the gantry crane to the floor, where it hung at one end
from its trailing cable and rocked to and fro. Despite his desperate attempts
he could not get any closer to it. Hearing another sound amidst the din
in the reactor vault, he looked up. With a shock he saw two very early-model
droids approaching him with their bizarre mechanical gait.
"Help me, help me!" Roger shouted.
"Of course. In what way may we be of assistance?"
The first droid uttered this in a monotone produced from the primitive speech
synthesizer it was equipped with. Roger realised that these ancient androids
must have been assigned to the reactor and been hidden there by the Brothers.
"Get me out of these chains."
The two droids looked at each other, and then examined the chains.
"Request clearance for unconventional action," said one.
"Why is human chained?" asked the other.
"Information absent."
"Perhaps human knows why."
"My friends were playing a joke on me," said Roger, desperate
that the half-witted creatures in from of him should not decide to keep
him prisoner, pending authorisation from the Brothers.
"A joke," said one in its harsh monotone.
There was a long pause, during which the android looked up: its eyeballs
mechanically roving from side to side.
"A joke is harmless fun that provokes the response: laughter,"
the other finally came out with.
There was another agonising pause, in which Roger prayed that the first
droid would not request an explanation of laughter. He watched the eyes
move backward and forward in a clumsy parody of a human in thought, and
remembered the old rules about thinking machines: lengthy processing must
be accompanied by a visual indication lest the operator assume a breakdown.
"Clearance granted for unconventional action," the second droid
finally said, bringing its eyes back to Roger.
The first android then bent to examine the chains more carefully, and, with
stolid precision and no perceptible effort, broke one of the metal links.
Roger immediately sprang to his feet, and then bent over to examine the
dangling panel. Nothing that he could do on the sensor pad, or with its
buttons, affected the gantry crane. The droids looked on in silence. Roger
turned the panel over and examined it.
"I need a screwdriver. A simple screwdriver. Could you get me one?"
"For what purpose?" came the response from the first droid.
"All I need to do is take out the batteries to reset the damn thing.
Then the gantry crane will be able to respond to the main control system."
The two droids looked at each other. This time they took what seemed to
be a eternity to Roger to work out what he was saying, and he almost screamed
at them just to bring him a screwdriver, but was afraid of slowing them
down even further. Eventually the second droid said:
"What is your authorisation code for modification of reactor equipment?"
The other droid nodded its agreement of the question.
Roger almost screamed again, then thought of finding a screwdriver himself,
but looking round the vast chamber that he was in realised that he could
spend for ever trying to find one. The droids at least seemed to know what
a screwdriver was.
"My authorisation is based around the fact that the reactor is about
to blow up. If I can fix, that is repair the panel," he waved it in
front of their faces, "I can save all our lives."
The droids looked at each other again.
"Our first priority is to save human life," the first responded
fairly rapidly.
"Authorisation is needed to modify reactor equipment," said the
other, after a long pause, during which Roger counted nine complete oscillations
of its roving eyes.
Roger felt the panic in him reach uncontrollable proportions.
"I have just given you all the authorisation you need!" he shouted
at droid number two.
The second droid thought this over, twelve oscillations this time.
"Authorisation code is a number," it finally said.
The first droid nodded in agreement. Roger suddenly picked up the panel
and smashed it as hard as he could against the edge of the console. This
provoked a rapid response from the droids, who placed themselves between
Roger and the panel, firmly pushing him to arms length distance away from
them. The gantry crane continued in its noisy dithering, while Roger, his
chest heaving, just stared at them speechless.
"You are not authorised to modify reactor equipment," said the
second droid.
"But you must be!" shouted Roger suddenly.
There was a pause while the droids looked at each other.
"We are most definitely not authorised to modify reactor equipment."
"Not even if a simple, er, repair would prevent an explosion, and the
loss of human life?"
The droids thought about this, but were interrupted in their slow deliberations
by a new high-pitched alarm that rose above the rest of the noise.
"Radiation level rising above human tolerance," said the first
droid.
"Preservation of human life takes priority," said the other, putting
down the panel and looking at Roger. He backed away from them, thinking
that he could draw them away from the panel, then dart behind them and have
a go at prising the damaged casing apart. Once they were about six feet
away he made a sideways lunge and succeeded in reaching the panel. The droids
reached him in seconds however and immediately pushed him away to protect
the panel from him.
"Priority conflict," said the first. The other droid nodded.
There was a pause again. Five oscillations.
"Priority conflict resolved," it said suddenly. "Human is
to be forcibly removed."
They advanced on him again, and with an agility he had not expected, they
grabbed his arms in a vice-like grip.
"You crazy stupid droids!" he shouted, struggling to free himself.
He struggled violently with them, hindering their progress towards the exit
to such a degree that in the end they stopped, holding his arms painfully
on either side.
"In extreme danger to human life, unconventional action may be taken,"
said the first droid, talking over Roger's head to the second.
The second was silent for a while.
"Clearance granted for unconventional action."
Unexpectedly the first droid released its grip on Roger, who only had the
briefest moment in which to stare at it, before receiving a professional
rabbit punch to the jaw. The two droids then wordlessly dragged his unconscious
body to the exit.
Noel meanwhile joined Xavier in his flight. The cavern doors were now shut,
and the people of the Commune were gathered silently around the screens
that focused on the Complex from across the plain. Only small wisps of smoke
indicated the weeks of fighting that had taken place. The minutes went by.
Inside the cavern word went round that Noel was in the Complex, in spirit
at least. Prunella sat by him anxiously watching the screen. He told her
that Xavier was now well down the tunnel.
Only a few moments later Noel felt the blast. The breeder reactor had gone
critical. Noel trembled as though his body were hit by the shock wave direct
from the inferno where the reactor had been. The vast tide of uncontrollable
energy unleashed from the reactor core spread spherically, vaporizing the
reactor and the buildings around it. Noel struggled to regain contact with
Xavier. Xavier, now well down the tunnel, also felt the blast. He and his
droids crouched against a wall as the earth trembled around them. In the
distance they could hear the tunnel collapsing. They had driven almost a
mile away from the epicentre of the blast when a wave of hot radioactive
air passed them where they waited. A few soldiers from the Government troops
had come with them, and Xavier tried to shield them from the radiation with
his body. The other droids followed suit.
Noel was desperate to communicate to Xavier in the last few seconds that
he knew were left. Taking Xavier's attention almost by force he guided him
to Noel's memories of Prunella talking to him about the baby. Xavier was
unwilling at first, but feeling Noel's urgency, absorbed the scene, as Prunella
weepingly had told Noel about the child and her motives. Noel felt Xavier's
tight knot of anger relax a little as he began to understand the innocence
of Prunella's actions. Xavier's bitter jealousy slowly gave way to confusion,
and finally to acceptance. In that moment, not long after the fission reactor
went critical, the adjoining fusion reactors were also triggered. Noel felt
the multiple blasts as he saw through Xavier's eyes the tunnel roof collapsing.
Xavier instinctively turned his head down just before tons of fiercely hot
and gamma-irradiated rock first crushed him against the soldier beneath
him and then reduced their mechanical and biological structures to ash.
The searing pain of Xavier's death caused Noel to clench his teeth and fists.
Great spasms passed through his body as he felt the destruction first of
Xavier, and then felt the whole force of detonation of the fusion reactors.
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