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"Or maybe the Rio Moths were trying to decide on achallenge, looked about and saw a great big statue on a hill?" Min's acid tone was leavened by a grin. "How about, you do my next turn at thewashing up if I'm right and they don't destroy the thing?"
Pan held his hands in a warding-off gesture. "I'll pass. You've already got me doing your laundry andcleaning your room."
The great big statue was called Christ the Redeemer and itsappearance on the challenge website had caused a new wave of upset, at leastamong Christians, who were convinced that the goal of the challenge was to destroythe statue.
"Do you think they're going to destroy it?" sheasked Fisher.
"I don't believe they'll care if they do." He stopped typing to glance at thetelevision, where the Mothed Blues were lining upnear a long row of cars, then turned the laptop toward her. "There's been another Roversighting. Again it's a city which gainedpoints during the first challenge. Butlook at it."
He started a video, and within a minute everyone was hangingover his shoulder having him replay it. The Rover they'd killed had stood as tall as a human, but wider, and itstail had extended a couple of metres. The video, an elevated street view, showed a Rover which was taller thanthe size of an ordinary door, so that it had to crouch and crawl to get insidethe building it was trying to enter, its curling tail trailing behind like aswimming snake's. Several Blues followedit in.
"Who filmed this?" Nash asked.
"A Green who returned to Berlin after the Spire stoppedsinging. She's been documenting Blueactivities."
"Damn. Above andbeyond." Pan shook his headrespectfully. "What've you beensaying?"
Fisher paged down the comments, where his new net identity,'Theo', had been making suggestions about fighting Rovers. "I don't dare outright say what workedfor us," he explained. "Toobig a flag. But I tell enough. Important, since the Rovers do appear to betracking Blues."
"I'm not sure we could fight one that big,"Madeleine said.
"There's every chance we won't have to." Fisher flipped through the mixture of photographsand drawings he'd collected in the short time before and after urgentrest. "The first sighting of aRover is soon after the Manila challenge, and if we look at the progression ofsightings, each larger than the previous, it's not unreasonable to concludethat the Rovers were some form of prize. That suggests a scarcity."
"With Nash, we have a chance against these glowingthings," Noi said. "I'm moreworried about what we do if Blues come after us. Greens we can shield paralyse and run. Blues – MothedBlues fight far better than we can, and if Nash drains them, well, from whatwe've seen that will probably kill the host as well as the Moth. Are we all willing to do that to people? Are we willing to do that to Gavin?"
Silence.
"Ho-ly shit!"
Pan almost catapulted himself into Fisher's lap, gaping atthe muted television, though by the time Madeleine looked there was only animage of three fighter jets, moving into formation as they streaked away over atree-dotted city.
"They shot a Spire! They shot a Spire!" Pan said. "Turn on the sound!"
Min dived for the remote and a woman's gasping voice said:"...there an impact?"
"Get higher," a second woman said. "In case they're coming back."
The image dipped and bounced as whoever was filming ran, and therefollowed a confused jumble of stairs and biohazard suits.
"I didn't see any explosion," Pan said.
Noi had an iron grip on Madeleine's shoulder. "Let it work," she breathed.
"But why would they think–?" Madeleine paused. "Of course. The Moths bring the shields down to gothrough for the challenges."
The camerawoman had reached a roof and provided a shot of aplacidly unperturbed Spire standing in the middle of a very long, straightpark.
"The Spire which rose under the Washington Monument,"Fisher said.
His tone and expression were no more than thoughtful, butsitting beside him Madeleine could feel the tension behind the relaxedappearance. She touched the back of hishand, and he looked at her blankly, then managed a semblance of a smile. "The most likely result is that theyjust bombed Rio de Janeiro."
"Damn, Fish is right," Pan said. "No sign of any damage on the Spire,anyway. Does anyone have the Mothtransmission still up? Anyexplosions?"
"Wherever those missiles went, it wasn't to Rio,"Min said, holding up a tablet. "TheMoths aren't acting like they've even noticed."
"Here they come!" gasped one of the rooftopwomen.
The image jumped sideways, then focused on the three jets,approaching in a tight triangular formation. A giant tower made an easy target, and each jet fired and peeled off inrapid succession.
"Shield's back."
Noi, voice flat, let go of Madeleine's shoulder as the bloomsof fire died.
"And now we find out if they meant it about'reprimands'," Min said, trying for his usual caustically delighted tone,but lacking the enthusiasm for it.
Madeleine drew her feet up, wishing she'd brought a blanketdown, and then murmured gratefully as Nash handed her a bowl of steaming pastashells. The television divided its time betweenthe video uploaded by the two uninfected women, and the challenge in Rio deJaneiro, which seemed to involve several hundred people scrambling for thenearest vehicle and racing off. A fullstomach and not enough sleep combined to make this a lullaby, until Fisher wokeher to a room darkened and emptying.
"We're going to finish the night in the study," hesaid. "Now that the challenge isover, it's possible the local Moths will pick up any search for theirRover."
She sat up, neck stiff, rubbing at her eyes and glancing atPan and Nash tidying in the kitchen. Fisher gauged her winces as she straightened.
"I'll get you an icepack," he said. "We shouldn't have left your backuntreated."
Ice was no less revolting a concept than when Noi hadsuggested it, and so Madeleine had to smile at herself obediently taking offher jacket, turning it to cover her front and slipping her arms back throughthe sleeves. She was sore, but moreinterested in an opportunity for another small step forward into somethingnew. She felt increasingly certain, too,that Fisher was finding chances to take them as well.
"Shoulder blades primarily?" He'd brought two folded tea towels, andprodded her gently to lean forward so he could rest them both against herback. Cold seeped through her Singlet,and she shivered.
"Not that giving you a chill is ideal," he said,lifting and turning the packs. "After a couple of days you're at least able to switch to hotpacks."
"What happened with the challenge?"
"It was a straightforward race. The base of the statue was simply the endpoint."
"It all seems so petty." Races and competitions – played with adistinct lack of care for the possessed hosts, but still games which hardlyseemed worth the immensity of death which preceded them. "And the attack in Washington?"
"No sign of any immediate response." Fisher's voice was composed, but the pressureon her back momentarily increased, and she knew that if their positions werereversed she would feel the roil of frustrated energy in him.
"You and Noi are so alike."
"Noi?" he repeated, startled, then stopped and gavethe idea some thought before saying: "I don't see it."