Eighth Circle

Liala lay on her stomach and peered down the hill. The ground was frozen and caked with a thin layer of snow. Like the other members of the group, she wore an ankle-length coat and was equipped with night-seeing binoculars.

Bryn crouched beside her. He had his tablet open and was transmitting short messages. The computers that monitored transmissions would record that they were about the price of fish in the Elm Grove markets and take no further notice of them.

'All systems up and running,' he said in a low voice.

'When can we expect some action?' a man asked.

'Not long now.' Bryn pointed down the hill. 'The guard is going to be changed at the chemical factory. A security pod will leave the patrol post with the new guard. It will travel along the perimeter fence towards the main gate. If our friends in the palace have successfully corrupted the command system, the pod and its occupants won't survive the journey.'

'And if they haven't?' a man asked.

'Then we'll have to wait for them to make the necessary adjustments. This is a pilot operation. You can't expect to get all the parameters right first time ...'

'That's not what your Uncle Allain said,' a strident voice cut in. 'He said he would call for an immediate vote on the leadership if the operation failed. Now you are saying we'll have to wait ...'

Liala recognised the northern fairy's distinctive tones. The big woman had put on a heavy coat and was hovering over Allain like a hawk over its prey. She bent down and thundered in his ear.

'They had better get it right for your sake, Allain Entwhistle.'

He ignored her. Liala guessed he would. There was no point in arguing. Allain was the strong silent type and not given to unnecessary words. She adjusted the light levels on her binoculars and peered towards the patrol post.

The binoculars were of the old-fashioned sort. That was how crazy things were. People had to watch television on sets built to the same specifications as those made five hundred years ago. The night vision binoculars were the same. Those supplied to the marine scientists produced images in colour. Those sold in the shops made everything look green.

Liala focussed on the security pod. It had armour that could resist shells and didn't have wheels. Security pods hovered over the ground and could skim over water just as easily as they could travel along a highway. Ordinary people were restricted to wheeled vehicles and didn't stand a chance when the patrols were after them.