Hilldiggers

— Uskaron

McCrooger

The quofarl first surrounded us, then closed in. Two grabbed Rhodane, thrust her down on the floor and pi

"What's going on?" Rhodane finally demanded.

The quofarl responded only with an irritated clicking of their mandibles, and aimed their weapons more deliberately. Now Rhodane began to look really worried as she observed other Brumallians spreading out through the surrounding area. It was not just quofarl arriving, but others laden with equipment. Abruptly lights set into the walls came on, and the hum of power permeated the air. Some of the biomechanisms around the bases of the ships began showing signs of movement, the pumps accelerated, and light and heat began to emit from the ships themselves.

"Are you picking up anything from the Consensus?" I asked.

"Something is definitely going on," she said.

"No shit?"

She held up her hand, listening intently to the chatter of the other Brumallians here. I guessed she was also trying to interpret the chemical messages in the air.

"Perhaps you should never have brought me down here?" I suggested.

"It's not that. Something about Fleet…and an evacuation. I think the Speakers—"

The quofarl abruptly parted.

"Come—"

"— with—"

"— us," they said, and a couple of the hand gestures I read indicated: Move now, urgency, danger, outsiders, protect citizens. The butt of a weapon smacked into my back and I started to turn in anger, but Rhodane grabbed my arm and began towing me after the two quofarl who led off. "Keep moving, don't question their orders, don't disobey—and don't do anything stupid."

"Danger?"

"They are confused and scared, so will kill us at the slightest provocation. There's a threat to—"

"Silence," ordered the quofarl, and that's what they got.

They did not take us out the way we had come in, but into a tu

Finally they brought us to the edge of a canal where a massive cargo barge sat on the steadily freezing water. By now Rhodane had put on her helmet and gloves, so looked little different to the other Sudorians being forced into the barge. Typical: round up the aliens and intern them. I guessed some things would never change.

It was crowded inside, people sitting with their backs against the outer walls or scattered in groups about the cold alloy floor. I estimated there to be at least 200 people gathered here. Frightened chatter filled the area, but it always dropped to silence when the doors opened and more people were shoved inside. I supposed these Sudorians were used to dealing with Brumallians and well aware of how dangerous quofarl could be, but I also wondered how many had died already, for the one I had seen being carried over a shoulder had not been brought here with us but taken towards a barge moored further along the canal. Standing head and shoulders above everyone else, blatantly not wearing protective gear and evidently neither Sudorian nor Brumallian, I became the focus of much attention.

"What's he?"

"That Consul Assessor from the Polity."

"I thought he was dead."

"Looks very much alive to me."

"Is he anything to do with this?"

Finally seals thunked down in the doors, fans started ru

"Have you any idea what's going on?" I asked Rhodane once she had taken off her own.

"Not yet." She raised her hand in greeting to a woman just across the room, who began to make her way towards us. "Shleera will know."

"So this is him." Shleera looked me up and down, and I studied her in return. I realised that her bulk was not all due to her envirosuit. She was overweight and wore spectacles—both of which were never seen in the Polity unless as a matter of choice.

"It certainly is," Rhodane replied. "Shleera, meet the Polity Consul Assessor, David McCrooger."

"I would rather have met you under different circumstances," she said.

"Do you know what's going on here?" Rhodane asked.

"Fleet," Shleera spat. "What do you think?"

"Have they attacked?"

"Not yet." Shleera glanced around at those who were gathering closer. "Consensus Speakers have been in contact to deny any responsibility for the missile strike on his ship" — she gestured at me. "They investigated and retrieved enough evidence to refute Brumallian involvement but, before they could pass it on, Fleet cut communications. Now Fleet are pulling their perso

"I have heard nothing about this." Rhodane was looking puzzled.

"Perhaps you're not as close to them as you would like to think," Shleera replied.

"We did hear something about an evacuation," I interjected.

"Evacuation," Shleera shook her head. "That's not the ground bases, that's Vertical Vie

"Fleet wouldn't dare," said Rhodane.

"Parliament has allowed Fleet to take the caps off its guns. You do realise the Carmel space station is working again?"

"Shit," said Rhodane, or rather used some nearly untranslatable Sudorian equivalent.

"Vertical Vie

She glanced at me. "The subterranean city nearest to the missile's launch site."

I considered that, and found my hand straying to the tiger pendant on my chest. After a moment I coughed into my hand and said, "Tigger."