There was nothing to do but wait. He laid his head against the rock and tried to doze, ignoring the comings and goings in the tunnel outside the chamber.
Eventually he was roused by the return of the four fairies whose sleeping chamber this was. They scarcely seemed able to stand, flinging themselves to the floor as soon as they entered.
They were unwilling to answer questions, but Laedo persisted. “Have you ever thought of escaping?” he asked.
“Escaping to where?” one of the fairies replied wearily. “The gnomes are everywhere.”
“What if you could go to Fairyland, where there are no gnomes, only people like yourselves?”
“Is there such a place? It is only a fable our parents liked to tell.”
They all closed their eyes and soon were snoring. Laedo waited a little longer. He noticed that there was less activity in the tunnel lately. It seemed the gnomes scaled down their work at night.
He shook the fairies awake, ignoring their fatigue. “There really is a fairy world,” he said. “I can take you there. Come with me.”
“You are a fool,” said the male who had spoken earlier. He looked at Laedo in puzzlement. “You cannot defy the gnomes.”
“Watch this,” Laedo said. He unhitched his gun from its holster, adjusted the setting, and directed a beam at the side of the chamber.
They stared in disbelief as melted rock trickled down the wall.
“See? This is a better weapon than the gnomes have. And I know a way to get to Fairyland.”
One of the females shook her head hysterically. “No! We must stay here! The gnomes will kill us if we try to leave!”
Her reasoning was probably correct. Laedo’s plan, simple as it was, had every chance of going wrong.
But in his view the chance was worth taking, and it was the only chance they would ever have. So he was making the decision for them.
“If you insist on staying here, I will kill you,” he promised.
That seemed to frighten them into compliance. They had probably seen slaves killed for disobedience.
The only light the chamber had came from the nearest cresset in the tunnel. Laedo edged himself through the entrance, peering this way and that and listening intently.
No gnomes were in sight. And there was no sound of movement, not even the distant chinking of pickaxes he had earlier heard echoing through the tunnels.
“Come with me.”
“But it is our time to sleep!”
“Sleep later.” Laedo waved his gun. “Come with me!”
They obeyed. Proceeding down the tunnel, Laedo found he could extinguish the cressets by throwing a handful of dust on them. He created darkness behind them as they went. They turned into the main tunnel, which was also deserted, and sidled close to one wall until gaining the surface.
As on Fairyland, the structure of the split world, with its moonless, almost starless night, was an advantage. Overhead loomed the blank darkness of the opposite landscape, unenlivened by the light of fires. Only a few stars glinted through the gap between the two horizons, forming an embracing ring of distant points.
Otherwise the night was relieved by uneven glares from the blast furnaces. Laedo realized that he and the fairies would have good cover from the sight of any gnomes tending those furnaces, if they made their way round the other side of the big mound of tailings which separated the mine entrance from the open space where his ship was parked—if the ship was still there and had not been flown away by the determined Mezzen. The wingless fairies huddled with fright and unfamiliar cold as they came into the open. He herded them forward, anxious to get into the mound’s shadow.
Blackness engulfed them as the furnaces disappeared behind the bulk of the pile. The fairies moaned in bewilderment as they stumbled in complete darkness, until Laedo took the risk of bringing out his flashlight, tuning it to a diffuse, dull glimmer.
Treading crushed ore, they crept round the mound until emerging on its further side. Laedo smiled as, by the faint light washing across from the furnaces and filtering through the angular shapes of the catapult machines, he saw his cargo ship.
It lay on its side. Mezzen’s efforts had been rewarded with some success, evidently, but not enough. He had managed to turn on the manoeuvring engine, but had been unable to control it.
Laedo wished he could have witnessed the looks on the faces of the gnomes as their ‘experimenting’
caused the cargo ship to tilt over and crunch on to the cinders, creating chaos in the lounge/control room.
Presumably the problem had been left to await the dawning of the next day.
He turned to whisper to the fairies, pointing to the ship. “See that? That’s what we’re headed for. Quickly now, follow me.”
He went loping across open ground, not too fast in case the weary fairies were too weak to keep up with him. He paused before the looming ship, brought out his remote and ordered the steps to descend.
The steps emerged from the foot of the now horizontal doorway, sensed that the ground lay in the wrong direction, and skewed themselves round in order to reach it. Laedo dashed up the crazy staircase and opened the port, then turned and gestured, calling out in a low voice.
“Up the stair, quickly! I’m taking you to Fairyland!”
They hesitated at first, then one of the females bravely took the lead, clambering up the steps.
Encouraged by her example, a male followed. As she reached him, Laedo shoved her through the port and told her to keep going.
“Halt! Stand where you are!”
The voice was vibrant and raucous, a gnome voice. Gnomes were running across the open ground, taking aim with crossbows.
“Hurry!” Laedo shouted. He began to panic as he pushed the second fairy through the port. In the low gravity the gnomes were bounding across the cinders with phenomenal speed, like bouncing balls. At the foot of the stairs, the remaining male fairy gallantly urged his companion to ascend.
With alacrity she did so. Halfway up, a crossbow bolt took her full in the back. She tumbled from the steps with a dying gasp. Laedo glimpsed the tip of the bolt protruding from her chest.
He pulled his gun from its holster once more, and steeled himself to an act of violence.
He fired at one of the advancing gnomes. He had scarcely ever used the gun before, and his aim was bad. The beam missed. He kept it on continuous and sent the beam wavering around until it found its target. The gnome’s legs collapsed under him as his life was extinguished.
Laedo was screaming furiously to the remaining fairy, who instead of racing up the stair was examining the female to see if any life remained. He had left it too late. Two bolts hit him at once, one in the head, the other through the ribs.
A gnome appeared at the foot of the stairs, snarling up at Laedo. He had already discharged his crossbow and had no time to reload. He threw it away, trod carelessly on the male fairy, and scrambled upward, reaching for Laedo.
Hurriedly Laedo pointed the emitter of his gun and pressed the stud. The big, ugly face melted and charred. The gnome fell to join the two fairies in death.
Backing at a crouch through the doorway, Laedo thankfully closed the port. It was awkward making his way along a corridor that lay on its side, but at least he was safe now. He grinned as he heard crossbow bolts raining against the hull with banging, clattering sounds. They would make little impact against a hull built to withstand space debris travelling at high speed.
He wondered whether he should feel bad. Two of the fairies had met their deaths because of him.
No, he decided, he should not feel bad. He had estimated the risks and made a calculated decision.
Given time to think, the fairies themselves might regard death while attempting to escape better than a life of misery and servitude.