‘Hey! Hey, Reave! Over here.’
The figure turned and started coming towards him. Reave was noticeably favouring one foot, as though his ankle was giving him pain. Silly hurried to meet him.
‘Are you okay?’
‘I came out of the nothings some way above the ground. I didn’t land too good. I guess I twisted my ankle.’
‘It ain’t broken or nothing?’
Reave shook his head.
‘No, but it hurts. You seen anything of the others?’
‘Not a sign.’
‘Any idea where we are?’
Billy shrugged.
‘How the fuck should I know?’
‘We could have picked a better place.’
Billy scowled.
‘So who picked it?’
They both stood in silence for a while, each waiting for the other to suggest something. Finally Reave shivered.
‘Do you figure we should build a fire or something?’
Billy looked at him contemptuously, and waved his hand at the scanty, dripping wet vegetation.
‘With what?’
Reave sniffed.
‘It was just an idea.’
‘Some idea.’
‘You think of something better?’
Billy sighed.
‘Okay, okay. Just wait a while. Something’ll turn up.’
Reave looked dubious.
‘You reckon? It looks like we really … aargh!’
He clamped his hand to his neck. His face contorted with pain. Billy looked at him in alarm.
‘What’s wrong?’
‘It’s this goddamn collar. A.A. Catto must be trying to find us.’
‘Do you think she’s nearby?’
Reave nodded.
‘She must be. The link doesn’t work over a really long distance.’
‘Maybe she’d hear us if we started yelling.’
‘It’s worth a try. It might stop her using her ring on me.’
Billy and Reave both began to shout at the top of their voices. After a while they stopped to listen. Nothing happened. The fog seemed to muffle out all sound. They tried again. When they paused a second time, Billy thought he heard faint shouts. They began to yell as loud as they could. They at least had the consolation that the activity was keeping them warm. They paused for a third time. Billy was sure he could hear faint sounds. He turned to Reave.
‘You hear that?’
‘What?’
‘I thought I heard voices.’
Reave listened.
‘I don’t hear nothing.’
Billy craned forward.
‘Yeah. Listen. There it is again. I’m sure it must be the others.’
He started yelling at the top of his lungs.
‘Hey, hey, over here.’
Even Reave could hear the answering shouts. After a few minutes of yelling they saw two figures begin to emerge from the mist. It was A.A. Catto and Nancy. They both looked cold and wet. Nancy was limping badly and A.A. Catto supported her on one arm. Their thin, revealing city clothes were obviously no protection against the vicious climate. Reave fingered his collar nervously. A.A. Catto looked as though she was in an evil temper. She walked slowly up to the two men.
‘Where in hell are we?’
Billy and Reave looked at each other. Billy shrugged.
‘Don’t have a clue.’
A.A. Catto scowled and said nothing. Nancy hugged her arms to her chest and shivered.
‘We got to get out of this goddamn place before we freeze to death.’
Billy nodded.
‘That’s for sure.’
Reave squatted down and rubbed at his damaged ankle.
‘So where do we go?’
A.A. Catto looked down at him in contempt.
‘Can’t you ever think for yourself?’
‘I don’t see you coming up with too many ideas.’
A.A. Catto’s eyes blazed.
‘Don’t talk to me like that!’
She twisted her ring savagely. Reave screamed and fell on his side kicking. Nancy grabbed her by the shoulders, but A.A. Catto pushed her roughly away. Nancy stumbled and fell over Reave. Billy grabbed A.A. Catto by this wrist and held on to her while she struggled and hit at him.
‘Hold it, damn you. Just take it easy.’
‘Take your hands off me, or I’ll kill you.’
‘You ain’t killing anyone. Calm down now. We’re all in this together. Fighting ain’t going to help us.’
A.A. Catto relaxed into sullen silence. Billy let go of her. He helped Nancy to her feet.
‘Okay, let’s try and get organized. We got to get out of here.’
Nancy tried unavailingly to brush the mud stains from her damp jump suit.
‘Did we manage to save anything useful from the airship?’
Billy patted his jacket.
‘I seem to have lost my gun in the fall.’
A.A. Catto sneered.
‘Typical.’
Billy turned on her.
‘What have you got?’
‘My credit card.’
Billy looked at the ground.
‘I don’t think that’s going to be a whole lot of use in this place.’
Nancy grinned.
‘I’ve got my gun.’
Reave climbed to his feet.
‘I’ve got mine too, and a gravity knife.’
Billy looked round.
‘How about food?’
‘Nothing.’
A.A. Catto grimaced.
‘I suppose nobody has any drugs?’
Everyone shook his head. A.A. Catto pouted sullenly.
‘You all realize I’m going to start coming down in a while?’
Nancy raised an eyebrow.
‘What do you expect?’
Billy quickly intervened before another fight erupted.
‘We ought to decide which way we’re going to go.’
Nancy shrugged.
‘I figure it’s either up or down.’
‘Down ought to be warmer.’
‘Down it is then.’
A.A. Catto shivered.
‘Can we get moving?’
Billy hesitated. A.A. Catto looked at him in exasperation.
‘I think I can hear something.’
‘Rubbish, I can’t hear a thing.’
She started to walk down the hillside. Billy didn’t move.
‘I’m sure I can hear something. It’s a kind of hum. Really high pitched, almost beyond the range of hearing. It’s hard to be sure but I think whatever’s causing it is coming nearer.’
Nancy nodded.
‘I can hear it too.’
A.A. Catto stopped and planted her hands on her hips.
‘Are we moving or aren’t we?’
Before anyone could respond, her question was answered by a reedy mechanical voice.
‘You-will-stay-exactly-as-you-are!’
Three grey steel spheres floated out of the mist. They were about a third of a metre in diameter, and hung some two metres above the ground. A dull black disc was set in the side of each one. The disc moved as the sphere slowly rotated. It was as though the disc was some kind of sensor device and the spheres were scanning the four humans. The surprise at their sudden appearance was so great that nobody moved or spoke. Billy felt as though all his willpower was being drained away.
One of the spheres moved silently away from the other two. It circled A.A. Catto and began gently to shepherd her back towards her companions. She too seemed to have been drained of all will to resist.
Once the spheres had the humans herded together in one tight group, they surrounded them in a triangle formation. The black discs stared implacably down at the four people. Nobody spoke or moved. The voice came again.
‘It-is-necessary-that-we-search-you.’
Billy couldn’t tell whether it came from one single sphere, or all three. A small circular slot opened in the base of each sphere and a steel tentacle snaked out of it. The tentacles extended towards the humans and moved slowly over their bodies, as though inspecting them. Billy stood horrified as the cold steel probe slid into his pockets and under his clothes. Then they began removing things from the group. They took Billy’s timepiece, his cigar lighter and small tri-di cube of a couple screwing that he kept as a good luck charm. They took Nancy’s and Reave’s guns and an electronic doorkey from A.A. Catto. They took everyone’s portable generator. They also took off her ring, and removed Reave’s collar. He had always thought it was permanently locked, but at a single touch from one of the sphere’s tentacles, it just fell open. The various objects were placed carefully together on the ground. The voice came again.