Garth Nix - Shade’s Children

Three came from each side of the room; then all six ran in a line to the foot of the desk and turned to face Shade, their pink, rubbery tails draped out towards the couch. Ninde shuddered again and drew her feet up.

Gold-Eye thought they were repulsive too, but for a different reason. He actually liked rats, and over the years had trained three of them as pets. They had been his only real friends and he had cried when each one was lost in the all-too-frequent moves between hiding places. These robot rats reminded him too much of the Overlords’ creatures and their relationship with humanity. Like, but not like…

“Can you see through them all at once?” asked Ella. There was no hint of revulsion in her voice – just the curiosity of someone shown a new tool.

“Not yet,” said Shade. “My parallel-processing capabilities need further enhancement. I can use six at a time, switching between rats every millisecond. I should be able to reduce that to a switch every point-two milliseconds – which will effectively give me constant vision and allow me to use twelve of them at a time. Or more, if we can get the materials to make them.”

“They should be very useful,” Ella said thoughtfully. “Can they carry anything? Do any manipulation with their paws?”

“Not yet,” replied Shade. “Which may be a good thing. If they depart from typical rat behaviour and are observed by a Myrmidon Master – or worse, an Overlord – he would quickly work out what they are. Then he need only scan the radio frequencies or check the old Comincsat satellites to discover that their controller is here. That I am here.

“In any case,” he continued, “they are extremely useful and add greatly to my ability to gather intelligence. Which leads me to the next mission for your team, Ella. It will begin tomorrow—”

“But we’ve only just got back,” interrupted Ninde. “Shouldn’t it be someone else’s turn?”

Her words trailed off as Shade fixed her with a cold gaze, and Ella half turned towards her.

“This is a reporting session,” Shade said sternly. “If you have something to add to Ella’s report, or a question for me, raise your hand.”

Ninde didn’t reply. Gold-Eye looked at her out of the corner of his eye and for a second met her gaze. In that instant she curled her lip, obviously angry. Gold-Eye looked away immediately, but he had the irrational feeling that she had suddenly taken a dislike to him.

“You must take your team out tomorrow,” continued Shade, ignoring the stiff body language that declared Ninde’s outrage, “because there has been a major battle at the University today between Blue Star and Silver Sun. The Death Markers went up an hour ago and will be up for two more days. This means that the Myrmidon barracks there will be deserted for that time – giving us a unique opportunity to get back to my original laboratory.”

He paused as Ella raised her hand.

“Yes?”

“Rick’s team has far better knowledge of the University and that area. Why not send them?”

Shade bowed his head and was silent. The others were silent too. Then Ella sighed, Ninde sniffed and Drum leaned forward as if to hear Shade better. Gold-Eye realised that what they were all about to hear was bad news.

“They were due back yesterday,” said Shade, looking up. He sighed too and ran his hands through his hair. “I sent my rats out this morning, and they found their weapon belts near some hedges that line the Old College grounds. There was Tracker ichor on the ground, and Myrmidon boot prints…”

“They’re gone then,” said Ella. Slowly, matter-of-factly, she recited the names as if to fix them in her memory. “Rick. Nelo. Tanner.”

“We will remember them,” said Shade, sitting up straight, his hands laid flat on the table. “At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them.”

“We will remember them,” echoed Ella, Ninde and Drum. Gold-Eye sat silent, uncomfortable, aware he was in the middle of some ritual he didn’t know.

Shade breathed in deeply then, chest visibly filling his crisp white shirt, and said, “Right. Back to the operation. The Death Markers give us a unique opportunity that must be exploited. There are instruments in my lab that will make a major difference to our struggle with the Overlords – if you can get them back.”

Drum raised one ponderous hand. Shade hesitated, then said, “Yes, Drum?”

“Instruments worth our lives?”

“That’s a difficult question,” replied Shade. He didn’t look at Drum, gazing at the ceiling instead as he spoke. “However, these instruments can possibly… can probably detect and measure whatever it is the Overlords project or broadcast from the silver globes you can see atop the International Trade Centre and City Tower. I’ve been trying to do that for many, many years, without success. I’ve also tried to duplicate the instruments in other ways. I really believe that if we can retrieve the main instrument package from my lab, then the secret of the Overlords’ Projectors will lead us to victory.”

“Then we’ll get the instruments,” said Ella decisively. “Right, Drum? Ninde? Gold-Eye?”

“Yeah, I guess,” said Ninde unenthusiastically. Then her voice brightened slightly. “At least we’ll be going somewhere different.”

Drum looked at Ella for several seconds, then finally nodded his approval.

Gold-Eye didn’t do or say anything. He didn’t know what they were talking about. But they were his new people, his new Petar and Jemmie. He would stay with them till something happened – and if it did, he’d already decided he wouldn’t run. Better dead or even the Meat Factory, than more years of running scared, running alone.

“I’ll talk to Gold-Eye now,” said Shade. “Ella, come back in an hour and I’ll give you a full briefing. The maps will be printed out then, with the latest intelligence from my rats and Stelo’s team.”

“Stelo’s back, then?” asked Ninde, smiling. Then she said, “Oops,” and raised her hand.

Her smile slipped as Shade looked at her silently, his fingers tapping equally silently on the desk.

“Your Change Talent makes you useful, Ninde,” Shade said finally, “but that doesn’t mean you can ignore the rules – little rules or big rules. Yes, Stelo’s team is back – but I forbid you to approach him. He’s got enough to worry about without you trying out flirting skills learned from 1990s videos. If you want to sleep with someone, Ninde, put yourself in the Lottery like everyone else – and pass the contraception knowledge test, which I note you haven’t even assessed.”

“But I don’t want to be in the Lottery,” Ninde complained. “I might get anyone. I might even get Drum. Oh, sorr—”

The sharp sound and impact of a slap cut her short, and Ella was standing over her, palm as red as Ninde’s left cheek. Before the younger girl could even speak, Ella had her in a “come along” hold and was forcing her out of the room.

“Right, Ninde!” Ella tightened her hold. “You’ve been drifting a bit and now it’s time I pointed you back on course, with a little explanation about what we’re here to do and your part… which I think may not be quite what you think it is!”

Gold-Eye watched them go in wonderment. Surely there was enough trouble outside without having trouble between people here?

Drum watched too, apparently unaffected by Ninde’s outburst. When the hatch closed behind the two women, he got up and made a curious half bow that included both Gold-Eye and Shade.

“I’ll go too,” he said very softly. As he passed Gold-Eye, he paused and lowered his great round head, looming over the boy like a spreading tree. Then he spoke, voice half whistling like wind in the branches.