Eighth Circle

Bryn told her about his village. He said it was the only place he knew. The guardians wouldn't give him a travel pass. The furthest he had been from home was when he went out to sea to dive for lobsters. He didn't like all the restrictions because he wanted to travel and there weren't any girls of his own age in his village.

Liala said she wasn't allowed to leave the guardians' palace except to go to sea with her brother in his research vessel. She didn't like that because marine science was boring and so were marine scientists. The only thing they talked about was fish and seaweed.

That got them talking about the guardians and what a bunch of shits they were. Liala said she wanted to join the common people and help them fight for freedom. Bryn didn't like to be called common and she was careful not to use the term again.

Talk of fighting got Balduur excited. He had spent the journey examining Bryn's gun and outboard motor. Both looked ridiculously old-fashioned to Liala but the little man was hugely impressed and wanted to know how they worked.

Liala sat back as Bryn tried to explain. He said his people were allowed to make guns that fired metal bullets but nothing more advanced than that. Their guns were primitive compared with the weapons the trolls used. Balduur questioned him on that and Liala turned her attention to shore and what she would say when they arrived.

Her only previous experience was reading prepared speeches before TV cameras. She told viewers about the good things the guardians were doing for the environment and how the country would be uninhabitable if it wasn't for them. There would be shots of the marine science lab and shots of her with dolphins. There were never shots of orcas.

She wondered about the orcas and why they had attacked her. Orcas were sea trolls and trolls were programmed to look after members of the royal family. That was one reason why her hair was dyed green.

Green was meant to send a caring signal to the brains of trolls. Something had gone badly wrong. Instead of caring, the orcas had begun pulverising. That was the first stage of a process that ended with eating. Fortunately, a wave washed her to shore before that could happen.

The guardians often got things wrong. The work of controlling their evil empire was left to computers, trolls and zombies. Trolls were monstrous creatures that terrorised people into submission when other means failed. Zombies were people whose minds had been taken over by the guardians. The polite word for zombies was surrogates.