Eighth Circle

Crispin searched the monster icons and found what he was looking for. An army post was under attack. The defenders were given a blue tinge on the screen and the attackers were tinged pink. Apart from that there was little to distinguish the two sides. Without the artificial colouring it would look as if one bunch of trolls was fighting another.

The defenders were in a fortified enclosure and had a couple of armoured hover pods out in the open. These had pinned down the attackers in a narrow gully. They were in an impossible position and about to be eliminated.

'Blue has pink cornered,' Crispin remarked.

'If this was a game and you were pink, what would you do?' Tom asked.

'Call in reinforcements.'

'Say you don't have any?'

'Then I'm stuffed.'

'How about changing one of those hover pods to pink?'

'That's not allowed.'

'It is if you are a guardian.'

Crispin looked up from the screen.

'You mean I can decide which side they are on?'

'Only the trolls under your command. You can make them fight one another because they will do anything you tell them to do. The rogue trolls are a different kettle of fish.'

'What sort of fish, Professor?'

'Autonomous ... they make up their own minds.'

Crispin moved his baton over the icons and one of the hover pods changed colour. One moment it was blue. The next it was pink. Then it was gone ... blasted away by a burst of fire from the fort.

'Wow! That was impressive.'

Tom turned off the computer.

'Tell the commander of Plaid Koerno that, when he launches his next attack, we shall intervene. The security forces will fight one another and the guardians will discover that their systems have failed and there is nothing they can do about it.'

'They are rat shit, Professor.'

'Yes, Crispin. Rat shit. Tell the commander that our combined forces will bring them crashing down. Say I regret I cannot meet him in person.'

'I'll leave as soon as possible, Professor.'

'Get going without further delay. Speak to the commander and convey my regards to your sister, Liala. Say I regret the misunderstanding at our first meeting. Blame it on the orcas. Tell her that things would have worked out very differently if they had not been there.'