Several hours later Vidal stood at the window in his room at Eaglestone and wondered yet again what Jason was doing and where he was. Tomorrow was his turnover day. The day that no Sime looked forward to. The day when his body would have used up half of his monthly supply of selyn, and he would start the inevitable downward descent towards true need. As always, when his partner was not close by, he was dreading it...

Thankfully a chime at the door pulled him out of his reverie. As always, Vidal appreciated the complete insulation that could be found in all of Zeor’s installations, as he went to let in his unknown visitor.

Stepping to one side, he watched as the Sectuib walked slowly into his room.

‘My people have carried out a full examination of our communication system,’ Jordan said, as he sat down.

‘And?’

Jordan sighed. ‘It seems you were correct. A message was sent in code, minutes after I had contacted Gavriel.’

‘Do you know what the message said, or to whom it was sent?’ Vidal pressed.

‘Not yet. I have some of my best people working on it.’

‘I would imagine, it will merely say that you were coming here tonight, and ordering your assassination before you arrived.’ Vidal said, and then went on. ‘It goes a long way to explaining who our friends in the other Speeder were.’

‘Yes, I agree. But it’s far more important that we find out who, here at Eaglestone, actually sent the message.’ Jordan stated.

Vidal agreed as he rubbed his aching neck muscles with his tentacles.

Jordan zlinned him closely as he said, ‘You seem a little tense.’

Vidal laughed, ‘Hardly surprising when you consider what happened on the way here,’ he pointed out.

‘True. However, it can hardly help matters that we haven’t eaten for nearly twenty four hours.’ The Sectuib reminded him dryly. ‘I have asked for a late supper to be served in the dining room, shortly. Perhaps you will join me?

‘A peace offering?’

‘Would it be accepted if it was?’ Jordan asked.

Vidal felt some of the tension drain away as he accepted his friend’s apology. He still felt that he would feel a lot better if he could go outside to stretch his legs and breathe in the fresh night air, especially after being cooped up in the small craft for so long.

Looking across at his friend he voiced the thought out loud as he said. ‘If you have no objection, I’d like to go outside for a short walk before I eat.’

‘I’ll go with you.’ Jordan stated and then pointed out, ‘If we notify main security, they will want to send guards to accompany us.’

Vidal stared at him for a moment, a slight smile touching his sensuous lips as he observed, ‘I believe we can take care of ourselves. Don’t you?’

The Sectuib’s face broke into a wide grin. Minutes later the two men went out through a side door into the cold night air, leaving two of Zeor’s own security guards staring after them.

‘The grounds around Eaglestone, as I recall, are extensive. Some are cultivated, and some have been allowed to go semi-wild.’ Jordan stated as he led them both down one of the many paths that headed away from the main building, and was now drenched in moonlight.

Vidal felt the last of the tension leave him as he drew the crisp night air into his lungs, and began to visibly relax.

Suddenly, Jordan stopped and stood with his head back as he both zlinned the upper branches and scanned them with his eyes, and then said softly, ‘See that.’

Vidal immediately spotted the owl that his friend was referring to, golden eyes glowing like twin torches in the dark. ‘Beautiful,’ he whispered.

‘Indeed.’

After a few seconds they both began to move forward again, when Vidal asked, ‘Did you hear that?’

The Sectuib nodded as he whispered, ‘Yet, I zlin nothing.’

‘Whoever or whatever it is, they must be hiding behind something very solid, indeed.’

‘Behind what? There are no rocks or anything similar around here, except for that stand of trees.’ Jordan stated, and then went on, ‘Perhaps we should have brought some guards with us after all.’

‘Maybe we should. But we didn’t, so…’ Vidal paused and then went on his voice even lower, ‘Of course it could just be a nocturnal animal. Is there much wildlife in the grounds, do you know?’

‘Some.’ Jordan said briefly, ‘Perhaps we should head back.’

Vidal agreed and the two men turned and began to retrace their steps back towards the house.

Jordan, who was now walking behind Vidal, suddenly touched his arm with a tentacle as he said breathed quietly in his ear, ‘Keep moving, but slow down. There is a deep rainwater ditch to your left. I believe someone may be hiding there.’

Vidal immediately zlinned the area. Although he could zlin the edge of the ditch itself, he could not zlin anything below the ground. But, if the Sectuib said there was someone there, then he would not deny the possibility.

‘Stay here.’ Jordan whispered, as he began walking slowly and carefully towards the ditch. Just before he reached the edge, from where he could look down into the deep trench, a stone suddenly hit him on the brow. Seconds later, a hard body barrelled into him, head first.

The air rushed out of the Sectuib’s body, as with Sime swiftness, his hand chopped the side of his unknown assailant’s vulnerable neck. With a gasp, the Channel absorbed the slight shock to his tentacle sheaths as he accepted the vicious backlash from his own actions. The Gen, for it was undoubtedly a Gen, dropped silently to lie face down on the hard ground.

Vidal, who had augmented his way to his friend’s side, said quickly, ‘Are you all right, Jordan?’

‘Yes.’

‘Who the shen is it?’ The other Channel demanded to know, and bent to turn the still unconscious body over, zlinning at the same time. ‘It’s…’

‘Laurence Knight.’ Jordan replied before he could do so. ‘I know.’

‘Laurence...? I don’t understand. What the shen is he doing here?’ Vidal asked and then went on, ‘And why did you hit him, if you knew who it was?’

‘I didn’t. Not till after the blow had actually landed. He hit me on the head with a stone. I immediately stopped zlinning, then he head butted me in the stomach.’ The Sectuib said by way of defence, ‘It was only after I had actually chopped him on the neck that I zlinned him and realised who it was.’

Both Channels were now zlinning the unconscious Gen, as Vidal dropped to his knees to examine him with his tentacles as he said, ‘I think he’ll be all right when he wakes up, apart from a sore neck. But he won’t be a happy Gen, especially when he finds out it was you who hit him.’

‘He hit me with a stone and then head butted me. What did he expect I’d do? Kiss him?’ Jordan demanded to know.

Vidal laughed softly, ‘One thing for sure. Considering the bad blood between the two of you, he’ll believe you did it on purpose. Whatever you say to the contrary.’

‘Yes I suppose he will.’ Jordan agreed as he picked the Gen up easily in his arms and stood up. ‘It’s getting even colder now. There’ll be a frost tonight for sure. We’d better take him inside.’

Vidal agreed as he zlinned the Channel and said, ‘Your head is bleeding. Shall I carry him?’

‘No. I can manage.’

Vidal gave in at once, realising that Jordan was probably not feeling too happy about hitting the Gen so hard; for he was still unconscious.

Without further argument they both began to hurry along the path towards the house when Vidal stated, ‘Perhaps we should take him to your room and see to him ourselves, rather than have a doctor tend him.’

Jordan looked across at him his eyebrows raised in query.

Vidal pointed out logically. ‘We don’t know what he was doing out here do we? Perhaps he has some intelligence that we are unaware of. Besides which, we don’t know who inside Eaglestone is actually on our side, and who is not. So it might be best if we keep him hidden for the time being, at least.’

Jordan conceded the point.

Arriving back at the house, Vidal went in first and distracted the two guards, while Jordan carried Laurie up to his suite. The Sectuib was already tending to him when Vidal entered the room and went over to help.

‘Your head wound is still bleeding, Jordan. You’d better let me fix it.’ The Channel said at once.

‘Head wounds always bleed like this. You know that. Stop fussing. It can wait till I’ve finished here.’

Vidal stared at the Sectuib in surprise. He was definitely acting as though he were guilty of something.

Then another thought entered his head, as he wondered if Jordan had known that it was Laurence Knight before he had hit him. No. Surely not. After all, surely he would have known if the Sectuib was telling him an outright lie, wouldn’t he? Well, wouldn’t he?

A doubt still lingered in his mind. Jordan, after all, had also claimed that he was not zlinning the Gen at the time that he hit him. Yet he was the Sectuib in Zeor. He had little doubt that if he wished to do so, the Sectuib could indeed fool any Sime into believing what he said was true, including, perhaps, Vidal!

A slight smile touched Vidal’s lips as he thought of all the ramifications of his idea, if he was correct. It was, after all, not the sort of thing a Channel, especially the Sectuib in Zeor would ever contemplate doing, especially to a Gen. On the other hand, if he were indeed correct, it was a very "human" thing to do.

It was, of course, only an interesting theory. He knew he would never know the true answer to the question. Even so; it was undoubtedly intriguing.

The Sectuib’s voice broke into his thoughts as he said irritably, ‘Have you fallen asleep by any chance? I asked if you would make us a pot of trin.’

***

While Neil sat and looked through the pictures and profiles of all the people who were now employed at Eaglestone, Jason sat on his bed and ate.

Any luck?’ He asked, yet again.

‘No. I told you, I’ll let you know the moment I recognise anyone.’

‘Can’t you speed it up a little?’

Neil looked across at the Gen. ‘Jason, go out for a walk, will you?’

‘Then lie down and go to sleep. It’s supposed to be a Gen’s favourite pastime, isn’t it?’

‘I’m not tired.’ Jason snapped back and picked up the viewer Neil had been looking at last night. Quickly he ran through the pages of the first magazine, but found nothing to interest him. Sighing, he tossed it back onto the Sime’s bed, then lay down on his back his hands clasped behind his head as he stared up at the uninteresting ceiling.

Slowly his eyes began to close and his mind wandered back to Vidal as he wondered, amongst other things, if he was eating. Simes did tend to forget about such mundane matters, unless they were reminded by… His eyes flew open again and he turned his head to glance at the calendar on the wall as he did a quick calculation.

‘Shen!’

‘What’s wrong now?’ Neil asked turning his head to stare across at the Gen.

‘It’s Vidal’s turnover day tomorrow.’

‘So?’ The Sime asked as he turned back to his task.

‘Is that all you can say? I should be with him!’

‘What more do you expect me to say?’ and then before Jason could formulate an answer he went on to point out, ‘All Simes have to suffer turnover. Not all of us are lucky enough to have a Gen to help us through it. So, like I said, what do you expect me to say?’

‘Nothing. I’m sorry.’ Jason lay down again, and another twenty minutes ticked slowly away when the Sime suddenly shouted, ‘Yes!’

‘Yes, what? Have you found something?’ He sat up quickly and swung his feet to the floor.

‘I know this lorsh!’ Neil stated and pointed to the screen as the Gen rushed to his side.

‘Sten Heigngis – Sime.’ Jason read off the screen.

‘That’s not his real name. He works for the Organisation and his name is Alex Judy. As I recall he usually works with two Gens. A man called Mel Lane, and a female who goes by the name of Linda Pope,’ Neil stated and then grinned up at the Gen as he asked, ‘Want to bet that I find both of them on this database, too?’

‘If only we had some idea of what they intend to do while they’re at Eaglestone.’ Jason murmured.

‘Well, I can tell you one thing, Alex Judy is an armaments man,’ he looked up at Jason and went on, ‘He specialises in blowing things up.’

‘You reckon he intends to blow up something at Eaglestone?’

‘Why not? Get everyone at the same time. Saves taking them down one by one doesn’t it?’ The Sime said logically, ‘Ah, good, I have the other two.’

‘What posts do they hold?’

‘Alex is one of the agency guards drafted in to help Zeor security. Both Gens are part of the agency catering staff.’ Neil replied and then pointed out, ‘That means that between them, they’ll have access to every part of the building.’

‘It also means they could have planted a bomb anywhere.’ Neil pointed out quietly.

‘I know. But once we get some of Zeor’s Simes zlinning the place, if there’s anything there at all, it shouldn’t be all that hard to find.’

‘Sorry, Jason, it just doesn’t work that way.’ The Sime reminded him. ‘I have no doubt at all that they’ll use one of the field dampening devices to shield it. Even the Sectuib in Zeor would have little or no chance of zlinning it, let alone an ordinary Sime like me.’

‘Shen. I never gave that a thought.’

The Sime tapped the end of a tentacle on the table in contemplation before he said, ‘One thing we do know. If they’ve already set the device, they’ll be long gone. They won’t want to die. Assassins they might be. Fanatics, they’re not!’

‘So, the first thing we have to do is find out if they are still actually on the premises,’ Jason stated and then said musingly. ‘I wonder if they’ll simply set it to blow up at a given time. Or if they’ll detonate it by remote control?’

‘From what I’ve heard about Alex Judy, he’ll do it the easy way. Set it to explode at a given time and get as far away as possible before it does.’

‘Well, if that’s the case, then we have to notify Zeor security.’ Jason said at once, ‘So they can, at the very least, begin a search.’

‘We can’t do that. either.’

‘Why ever not?’

‘Although I may have identified Alex and his two friends, there’s nothing to say that they are the only ones. There could easily be others among the staff. It wouldn’t the first time that the Organisation has sent in a back up team in case the first team gets caught.’ Neil said and then went on to point out, ‘It also means that the moment we speak to anyone in Zeor about all this, if the device is already in place, it could well force their hand, and make them detonate it straight away.’

‘So you believe that all outside communication with Eaglestone may be intercepted?’ Jason asked, and the Sime nodded his head, ‘In that case, how about we speak to Sam Betjeman?’

‘Same result. He’d still have to contact someone at Eaglestone wouldn’t he?’

‘So what do we do?’

‘Do you know where Vidal and Jordan are?’

‘The last I heard they were still looking into the possibility that the Runzi might be infiltrated by Simes from the Organisation,’ Jason reminded him, ‘I do know where they’re staying. I found that out when I was acting as liaison. I should really go through Greg Reeves if I want to make contact with them. But this is an emergency so I can’t wait for all that. I’ll try them, direct.’

It was almost an hour before Jason turned to Neil in frustration. ‘I don’t understand. I can’t contact Vidal or Jordan. I’ve even tried Greg, without success.’

The Sime was silent for a few moments before he said, ‘It looks like you’ll have to try this Sam Betjeman.’

‘Well, he should know where they are.’

A short time later as Sam Betjeman broke contact with him Jason turned to look at Neil. ‘I’m sure he didn’t believe me when I told him why I have to contact Vidal. I’m only glad he wasn’t here. He’d have seen through the lie at once.’

‘You had no choice.’

‘Didn’t I? I’m not so sure. Perhaps I should have tried to explain to him about Alex Judy and his cohorts, and why he couldn’t just notify Eaglestone about all this.’

‘Do you honestly think he would have agreed not to interfere, and just leave it to us?’ Neil asked pointedly. ‘Believe me, you’ve made the right move.’

‘I hope so.’

The Sime placed one tentacle on the Gen’s arm and gave it a comforting squeeze as he said, ‘Our first priority is to make contact with either Vidal or Jordan. He did tell you where they are, didn’t he?’

Jason grinned as he said, ‘They’re both at Eaglestone, would you believe? Do you think we can get into the place undetected?’

‘From what we saw when we scouted around, I wouldn’t like to try. It’s guarded like a fortress. That’s not counting the enemy, who may well be on the lookout.’

‘I know that. We still may have to give it a go.’

Neil began to walk up and down the small room like a caged animal, before he turned abruptly to stare at the Gen as he said. ‘You’re Vidal’s companion, right?’

‘You know I am.’

‘So, what would be suspicious about a Channel’s companion calling Eaglestone, and asking to speak to him? After all, it’s his turnover day tomorrow. Naturally, you’re worried about him.’

Jason looked at him for a moment or two, and then nodded slowly a smile breaking out on his face as he said, ‘No. It wouldn’t be suspicious at all. It would be quite normal.’

‘Contact him tonight, and arrange to meet him tomorrow.’

‘Are you going to go with me?’

‘How can I? But at least you’ll know where I am if you want my help.’

***

Jason stared at Vidal’s face on the small view screen, but before he could speak the Channel asked, ‘Where the shen are you!?’

‘Nice to see you, too, Vidal,’ the Gen grinned and a note of sarcasm entered his voice, as he went on, ‘It’s your turnover day tomorrow. I… er… I wondered if I could see you?’

What do you mean IF you can see me? Of course, you can see me!’ Vidal snapped back, ‘Where are you?’

‘I’m… er… I’m…’

‘On your way to Great Holm,’ Neil whispered in his ear from one side.

‘…On my way to Great Holm. I’ll see you tomorrow. I’ll get to Eaglestone about nine o’clock. I’ll meet you outside the main entrance.’

‘Who’s there with you?’ The Channel demanded and Jason knew that he must have heard the whispered aside.

‘See you tomorrow, Vidal.’

‘Was that Neil Heyer?’

‘Good night, Vidal.’

‘Jason!’

The Gen broke the connection and turned to look at the Sime. ‘He knows you’re with me.’

‘So it would seem. But how could he know it was me?’

‘Search me. But you heard him ask if it was you. He even used your name.’

‘When you see him tomorrow, you must not confirm his suspicion, Jason.’ The Sime warned.

‘He’ll know if I’m lying to him, Neil.’

‘Then don’t lie. Just refuse to confirm or deny.’

Jason gave a humourless laugh as he promised, ‘I’ll do the best I can. But you don’t know Vidal.’

***

The next morning Jason approached Eaglestone with a good deal of apprehension, and was surprised to find Vidal talking to a couple of Gen guards as he waited outside for him in the weak autumn sunshine.

As he approached the Channel, Vidal stopped talking and turned to look at him. Moving closer still, Jason grasped the Channel’s shoulders. To Vidal’s obvious surprise he drew him into an embrace, as he whispered into his ear, ‘Don’t argue with me, please, Vidal. Suggest we go for a walk, and I’ll explain everything.’ Then, stepping back and speaking in his normal voice said, ‘It’s good to see you Vidal.’

The Channel looked across at the two guards who were watching them with obvious curiosity and said, ‘We’re going for a walk.’

The two men nodded their heads and went back to their own conversation.

Once they were out of earshot of the guards Vidal said dryly, ‘I wondered why you were being so demonstrative. It’s not normally your way.’ And before the Gen could retaliate he went on, ‘Where the shen have you been? What possessed you to just go off on your own without a word to me?’

‘I spoke to Sam.’

‘But not to me!’

‘Betjeman is our Controller.’

‘And, I’m your partner!’

‘All right. I’m really sorry, okay? Look, I realise this is your turnover day, but that’s no reason to lose your rag with me is it?’ He pleaded.

‘I am not losing anything with you. I am merely disappointed that you didn’t even stop to think that your leaving and going away like that would at the very least, bother me. Or didn’t you care?’

‘Of course I cared!’ Jason bit his lip, the Channel was right. What he had done, had not been for his partner’s good.

He tried once more to explain. ‘Look, I can only say I’m sorry. To be truthful, I was bored stiff doing that liaison stuff. So when I suddenly got an opportunity to leave there and do something worthwhile, I grabbed it. I know I shouldn’t have done that, but I did. In fact, I took it with both hands, and that’s the truth.’ He paused momentarily and then continued, ‘I know I was wrong to do it and… No. This is all wrong. I’m trying to justify the indefensible! Because, to be perfectly honest with you, I don’t have an excuse.’ He looked up into the Channel’s eyes and said simply, ‘What I really wanted to say was – I’m sorry Vidal. Forgive me?’

Vidal stared at his partner for several seconds as his anger drained away and he finally said, ‘Of course, I forgive you. Who, after all, should know you better than I?’

He sighed deeply and then admitted ruefully. ‘But as you pointed out, it is my turnover day; which means, if I am brutally honest, that I am not always rational at this time.’

Stepping closer Jason placed his hand at the nape of his partner’s neck and rested his head against his shoulder, ‘Better?’ He asked quietly.

Vidal sighed, ‘Much better, thank you.’ For a few minutes the Channel stood and luxuriated in his partner’s undivided attention, before he slowly drew away and asked, ‘You wanted to tell me something?’

‘Yes. I have a lot to tell you. Please, don’t interrupt till the end, okay?’

Then, with Vidal’s nod of acquiescence Jason said, ‘Let’s go and sit down on that log over there. This is going to take some time.

As his dialogue drew to a close, Vidal quickly filled him in on what he and Jordan had been doing.

‘So, Laurie is here too.’

‘Yes he is. What use he will be to the Sectuib is anyone’s guess. I am still not happy with the situation between the two of them,’ Vidal confessed and then went on slowly, ‘Neil Heyer, I take it, that he, too, is close by?’

‘I’m sorry. I’ve given my word not to say.’

‘That answer, simply isn’t good enough, Jason.’

‘I agree with you. It isn’t, but there’s nothing I can do about it.’ He paused and then said pleadingly, ‘Look, you know why I can’t confirm or deny that question.’

‘Jordan will want to know,’ he warned.

‘Well he won’t find out from me. You know I can’t tell him.’

‘No, I suppose you can’t,’ Vidal conceded and then straightened his shoulders and said as he stood up abruptly. ‘Very well, we will put the question of Neil Heyer to one side for the time being. However, we had better go inside and tell Jordan what you have told me about this Alex Judy and his Gen friends.’ He paused and glanced at the Gen almost apprehensively as he asked, ‘You will be staying here now. You won’t be returning to this "unknown" Sime?’

Jason could almost hear the fear in his partner’s voice, which prompted him to say, ‘Of course I’m staying, you idiot. Unless you don’t want me to?’ and he grinned fondly at the Channel.

‘Don’t want you to?’ Vidal asked with a deep sigh of genuine relief. ‘What do you think?’

***

Jordan still felt guilty as he stood and watched Laurence Knight inspecting the large bruise at the side of his neck in the mirror.

‘Does it still trouble you?’ He asked at last.

‘Not as much as it did,’ Laurie said, and then gave a bark of laughter as he confessed, ‘I was wondering just how much bigger it would have been if you’d realised it was me, before you hit me.’

‘How many times must I tell you? I did not do it on purpose.’

‘So you say.’

The Sectuib sighed, ‘Very well, believe what you wish – you will anyway.’ He should never have agreed to having Laurence Knight as his donor this month. It was a foolish decision, and one he just knew he would live to regret.

Unfortunately, this, too, was his turnover day. He was a few hours ahead of Vidal, and he envied his friend who was at this moment meeting up with Jason, while he had no one to turn to.

He surreptitiously zlinned his own Gen, sensing his animosity towards him, and wondered what he had ever done in his life to warrant punishment like this? Because having Laurence Knight for transfer, really did constitute punishment of the worst kind.

Several more minutes dragged by and Jordan was wondering whether to make some excuse to leave for a while, when Vidal arrived and ushered Jason into the room. A wave of relief washed over the Sectuib that he was no longer alone with his Gen. Then he saw that Vidal was zlinning him, and shrugging his shoulders, he smiled sheepishly across at him.

‘Are you all right?’ Vidal mouthed.

‘Yes.’ The Sectuib murmured back.

Liar! Vidal thought, and glared across at Laurence Knight who was making no effort at all to help his Channel. What did the lorsh want Jordan to do? Crawl to him for help?

‘You can talk freely,’ Jordan informed them, ‘I have ordered that your suite of rooms, Vidal, as well as mine, are swept for listening devices every morning.’

Sitting down at the round table Jason quickly filled them in on what he had been able to find out. Then they began a discussion on what would be their best course of action.

Getting up from the table, Jason walked across to a computer outlet and asked, ‘May I use this, Jordan?’

‘Help yourself.’

As the other three went on talking, Jason drew up an architect’s plan of Eaglestone and printed it out. Carrying it across to the table he spread it out on the polished surface.

Jason sat down and opened his mouth to speak, but was interrupted by Jordan who held a tentacle up in front of him to gain his attention. ‘Jason, you’re drifting.’ He said softly.

The Gen immediately brought his errant field under control as he quickly apologised to both Simes. Laurie looked from one to the other in confusion. ‘Is there something I should know?’ He finally asked.

‘No.’ Both Simes said almost simultaneously.

Jason merely studied his fingertips before he said. ‘I suggest we eliminate those areas that are obviously not going to be used to plant a bomb; and then split up the other rooms between us.’

‘Can’t we use some of my people?’ Jordan asked.

Vidal shook his head, ‘No. Once we get the security people involved, even the in-house ones courtesy of Zeor, the other guards will notice that something is going on. It would be impossible to keep something like this secret. We just daren’t take the chance. We’ll have to take care of it ourselves.’

‘A pity,’ Jordan sighed, ‘It’s going to take us a lot of time to search every part of this place, especially as we can’t even zlin for the damn things.’ He pointed to the plan with one tentacle as he went on, ‘On the upper floors alone, there are fifty large bedrooms, not counting cupboards, bathrooms and staff quarters at the very top.

‘Down below we have dining and reception rooms. This large room, here, is the old ballroom that the negotiators are using as their conference room at the present time. Down below that are the kitchens, laundry and storerooms. It’s a mammoth task we’ve set ourselves by anyone’s estimation.’

‘It’s a pretty tall order. I agree,’ Jason said, ‘I don’t have to remind everyone that time is of the essence here. The sooner we get started the better.’

They all murmured their agreement as Vidal said. ‘I’ll have to contact Sam Betjeman and get him to send someone up here who will know what to do with this device when and if we do find it. Possibly someone who can render it inactive.’

‘You don’t have to do that,’ Laurie suddenly chimed in, ‘I can take care of it.’

‘You!?’ The three men looked at the other Gen in open surprise.

‘It’s one of the first things I was taught.’

Jason laughed abruptly, ‘I’m glad no one suggested teaching me about explosives.’

‘So am I.’ Vidal said under his breath, and knew that only Jordan had heard him.

For the next thirty minutes various areas were eliminated from the initial search, whilst the remainder were split up between the four of them.

During the whole of this time Laurie had sat in silence and merely watched, till he suddenly said. ‘You know I believe we’re going about this in entirely the wrong way.’

‘Meaning?’ Jason demanded as the two Channels turned their heads in surprise.

‘Meaning, that the main objective of these assassins, at least as far as we know, is to blow up this building, and as many of its occupants as possible. Which means there are only a few places where they can place a device and have any hope at all of achieving full destruction.’ He paused momentarily and then pointed out, ‘On top of all that, we must not overlook the fact that there might well be more than one bomb.’

‘And you think you know where the best places are?’ Jordan asked.

‘I believe so.’

‘Show us.’ Vidal urged.

Laurie leaned over the plan and pointed to the four areas that he considered the most pertinent. ‘An explosion in any of these places would be devastating to the entire structure of this building. Two explosions, say here and here, would be catastrophic.’

‘You obviously know more about demolition than we do,’ Jordan said quietly, ‘I think we’d be foolish, Vidal, if we didn’t follow his idea.’

The others agreed as Laurie said, ‘I suggest we each take one of the places I’ve pointed out to search first. Then, if we have no luck, go on to the other designated areas.’

‘Of course there’s one other thing we haven’t thought about doing,’ Jordan said suddenly.

‘And that is?’ Jason demanded.

‘Why not evacuate everyone?’

Jason shook his head in emphatic denial. ‘We’d have to tell them why. Whether we tell them the truth, or a whole lot of bull, there will still be some of them who will panic. While they are busy trying to stampede out of the building, Alex Judy and his friends could easily blow the place sky high.’

Vidal nodded, ‘I agree. And on top of that, even if we were lucky and they didn’t blow the place up during the evacuation, where would we take them all? There’s no building near here that’s anywhere near big enough to accommodate everyone. We can’t have them all standing outside while we bring in transportation. That could take hours. Besides which Alex Judy and Company, might well have another try somewhere else.’

‘And who’s to say they wouldn’t pick off the chief negotiators while they were all milling around outside unprotected?’ Laurie pointed out logically.

Jordan waved his tentacles in the air in defeat, ‘all right you’ve convinced me. We’ll stick to the original plan, and see if we can’t find these shenning things.’ He stood up and placed his hands on the table as he looked around, ‘let’s do it.’

 Read Chapter 8

Comment to the Author

Companion in Zeor is Copyright © 1997, 1998, 1999, 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003   by Sime~Gen Inc.   

The Sime~Gen universe was created by Jacqueline Lichtenberg and is owned by Sime~Gen Inc. and may not be reused without explicit permission of the Corporation.  Email: simegen@simegen.com 

Feedback about this page. 

Feedback about Sime~Gen Inc. 

Feedback about technical problems with this site.

Concerned about your privacy? Simegen Inc. respects your rights,
and the protection of children. Please read our Privacy Statement.