But I stop because the night sky lights up again with the same glow I saw on my ride here. Everyone looks towards the city.
“Get the probe up!” I say. “Get it up now!”
[TODD]
I fire the gun before I can even think if I want to–
BANG!
I ain’t ready for the kick-back and it knocks me in my collarbone and I grab Angharrad’s reins and we spin round in a full circle before I finally see–
A Spackle–
Lying on the ground in front of me–
(with a knife stuck in his–)
With a gunshot wound bleeding from a hole in his chest–
“Nice shot,” the Mayor says.
“You did it,” I say, turning to him. “I told you to stay the hell outta my head!”
“Not even to save your life, Todd?” he says, firing his gun again and another Spackle falls.
I turn, gun raised–
They’re still coming–
I aim at a Spackle raising his bow at a soldier–
I fire–
But I pull it to the side on purpose at the last second, missing altogether (shut up)–
The Spackle jumps away, tho, so it worked–
“That’s not how you win wars, Todd!” the Mayor yells, firing his gun at the Spackle I missed, catching it in the chin and sending it sprawling–
“You have to choose,” the Mayor says, ranging his gun round, looking for the next thing to shoot. “You said you’d kill for her. Did you mean it?”
Then there’s another whisk sound–
And the worst squeal imaginable from Angharrad–
I turn round in the saddle–
She’s been hit in the back right flank with an arrow–
Boy colt! she yells. Boy COLT!
And I’m immediately reaching back to try and grab the arrow and not fall off from her leaping about at the pain of it and it snaps in two in my hand and I leave a broken bit stuck into her back leg and Boy colt! Boy colt! Todd! and I’m trying to calm her so she doesn’t throw me down into the heaving mass of soldiers all round us–
And that’s when it happens again–
WHOOMP!
A huge flash of light and I turn to look–
The Spackle have another fire weapon at the bottom of the hill.
The flames spill out from the top of the horned creacher and cut right thru the middle of the soldiers and men are screaming and burning and screaming and burning and soldiers are turning back and running and the line is breaking and Angharrad is bucking and bleeding and squealing and we’re slammed by a wave of men retreating and she bucks again and–
And I drop my gun–
And the fire expands out and up–
And men are running–
And smoke is everywhere–
And suddenly Angharrad spins free and we’re somehow in a place where no man stands, where the army is behind us and the Spackle are in front of us and I don’t got my gun and I don’t know where the Mayor is–
And the Spackle on the back of the horned creacher with the fire-making thing has seen us–
And he starts coming right towards us–
{VIOLA}
Bradley presses the screen on the remote device. The probe lifts lightly off the ground, straight up with almost no sound except a little zip. It hovers for a second, extends its wings, and then takes off for the city so fast you almost don’t see it go.
“Wow,” Mistress Coyle says under her breath. She looks back to Bradley. “And we’ll be able to see what’s happening?”
“And hear,” he says, “to a limited degree.”
He presses the remote again, dialling the screen with his thumb until a light flashes out the end of the remote device, projecting a three-dimensional picture that hangs in mid-air, lit up in bright greens because of night vision. Trees rush by, a flash of the road, a few blurs of tiny people running–
“How far is the city from here?” Bradley asks.
“Ten kilometres, maybe?” I say.
“Then it should almost be–”
And then the probe’s there, at the edge of the city, rushing over buildings burning where the Answer set them alight, rushing on over the ruins of the cathedral, rushing over crowds of townsfolk running in panic from the square–
“My God,” Simone whispers, turning to me. “Viola–”
“It’s still going,” Mistress Coyle says, watching.
It is still going, flying past the town square and down the main road.
“Brightest light source–” Bradley starts to say–
And then we see just exactly what the brightest light source is.
[TODD]
Men burning–
Everywhere–
The screaming–
And the terrible smell of cooked meat–
I gag in my throat–
And the Spackle’s riding right towards me–
He’s standing on the back of a horned creacher, his feet and lower legs strapped into boot-type things on either side of the saddle, letting him stand there without needing to balance–
And he’s got a burning torch in each hand and the u-shaped fire-making thing in front of him–
And I see his Noise–
I see me in his Noise–
I see me and Angharrad alone in the middle of an emptiness–
Her screaming and twisting with the broken arrow in her flank–
Me staring back at the Spackle–
Me without a gun–
And behind me is the weakest part of our line–
And I see the Spackle shooting the fire in his Noise and taking out me and the men behind me–
Leaving the Spackle an opening to come pouring into the city–
Their war won before it’s barely even started–
I grab Angharrad’s reins and try to move her but I can see the pain and fright shooting thru her Noise as she keeps calling out Boy colt! Todd! and it’s ripping my heart as she calls it and I wheel round trying to find the Mayor, trying to find anyone who’ll shoot the Spackle on the horned creacher–
But the Mayor ain’t nowhere I can see–
Hidden by smoke and panicking men–
And no one is lifting a gun–
And the Spackle is raising his torches to fire the weapon–
And I think, No–
I think, It can’t end this way–
I think, Viola–
I think, Viola–
And then I think, “Viola”?
Would it work on a Spackle?
And I sit up as high in the saddle as I can–
And I think about her riding away from me on Davy’s horse–
I think of her broken ankles–
I think of us saying we’d never part, not even in our heads–
I think of her fingers twirling round mine–
(I don’t think about what she’d say if she knew I let the Mayor go–)
I just think Viola–
I think Viola–
Right at the Spackle on the horned creacher–
I think–
VIOLA!
And the Spackle’s head jerks back, dropping both torches and falling backwards over the horned creacher, slipping outta the boots and onto the ground, and the horned creacher turns from the sudden shift in weight, stumbling back into the line of advancing Spackle, knocking ’em this way and that–
And I hear a cheer behind me–
I turn to see a line of soldiers, recovering, surging forward, past me, all round me–
And the Mayor’s suddenly there, too, riding beside me, and he’s saying, “Excellent work, Todd. I knew you had it in you.”
And Angharrad’s tiring beneath me but still calling–
Boy colt? Boy colt? Todd?
“No time to rest,” the Mayor says–
And I look up and I see the same huge wall of Spackle coming down the hill, coming to eat us alive–
{VIOLA}
“Oh, my God,” says Bradley.
“Are those–?” Simone says, shocked, stepping towards to the projection. “Are they on fire?”
Bradley presses the remote and the picture suddenly gets closer and–
They really are on fire–
Through great swathes of smoke, we see chaos, men running this way and that, some pressing forward, some running backwards–
And some just burning–
Burning and burning and sometimes running for the river and sometimes falling to the ground and staying there.
And I just think, Todd.
“But you said there was a truce?” Simone says to Mistress Coyle.
“After a bloody war that killed hundreds of us and thousands of them,” Mistress Coyle says.
Bradley dials again. As the camera pulls back, showing the whole road and the bottom of the hill, swarming with an impossible number of Spackle, in reddish and brown armour and holding what look like sticks or something and riding–
“What is that?” I say, pointing at some kind of massive tank-like animal stomping down the hill, a single thick horn curving out the end of its nose.
“Battlemores,” Mistress Coyle says. “At least, that’s what we called them. The Spackle don’t have a spoken language, it’s all visual, but none of this matters! If they overrun the Mayor’s army, they’ll just keep coming and kill the rest of us.”
“And if he beats them?” Bradley asks.
“If he beats them, then his control over this planet will be absolute and that’s not a place you’d ever want to live.”
“And what if you had absolute control over this planet?” Bradley asks, surprising fire in his voice. “What kind of place would that be?”
Mistress Coyle blinks in surprise.
“Bradley–” Simone starts to say–
But I’m no longer listening to them–
I’m looking at the projection–
Because the camera’s moved down the hill and south a little–
And there he is–
Right in the middle of it all–
Surrounded by soldiers–
Fighting off Spackle–
“Todd,” I whisper–
And then I see a man on horseback next to him–
My stomach drops–
The Mayor is next to him–
Untied and set free, just like Mistress Coyle said–
Todd’s let him go–
Or the Mayor’s forced him to–
And Todd’s at the very front of the battle–
Then smoke rises up and he disappears.
“Get the camera in closer!” I say. “Todd’s down there in it!”
Mistress Coyle gives me a look as Bradley dials the controls again and the image on the projection searches through the battle, seeing bodies everywhere, living and dead, men and Spackle mixed together, until how can you tell who you’re fighting, how can you safely fire any kind of weapon without killing your own side?
“We have to get him out of there!” I say. “We have to save him!”
“Eight hours,” Simone says, shaking her head. “We can’t–”
“No!” I shout, hobbling over to Acorn. “I’ve got to get to him–”
But then Mistress Coyle says to Simone, “You have some kind of weapons on this ship, yes?”
I spin round.
“You wouldn’t have landed unarmed,” Mistress Coyle says.
Bradley’s face is as stern as I’ve seen it. “That is no concern of yours, madam–”
But Simone’s already answering, “We have twelve point-to-point missiles–”
“No!” Bradley says. “That is not who we are. We’re here to settle the planet peacefully–”
“–and the standard complement of hoopers,” Simone finishes.
“Hoopers?” Mistress Coyle says.
“A kind of small bomb,” Simone says. “Dropped in clusters, but–”
“Simone,” Bradley says angrily. “We did not come here to fight a–”
Mistress Coyle interrupts again. “Can you fire any of them from a ship that’s landed?”
[TODD]
We push forward–
Forward forward forward–
Into the line of attacking Spackle–
There’s so many–
And Angharrad is whinnying beneath me in pain and fright–
I’m sorry, girl, I’m sorry–
But there’s no time–
There ain’t no time for nothing in war except war–
“Here!” the Mayor says, shoving another gun in my hand–
And we’re at the front of a small rush of men–
Racing towards a bigger rush of Spackle–
And I’m pointing the gun–
And I’m pulling the trigger–
BANG!
I close my eyes at the pop and I don’t see where I shot cuz there’s too much smoke already in the air and there’s Spackle falling and men calling out on either side and Angharrad screaming and pressing forward anyway and the Spackle armour cracking and bursting under repeated fire and more arrows and white sticks and I’m so terrified I can’t even breathe and I’m just firing my gun and firing my gun, not even seeing where the bullets are going–
And the Spackle keep coming, climbing over the bodies of soldiers, and their Noises are wide open and so are the Noises of every soldier and it’s like a thousand wars at once, not just the one I’m seeing but ones happening over and over again in the Noise of the men and the Spackle round me till the air and the sky and my brain and my soul are filled with war and I’m bleeding it outta my ears and spitting it outta my mouth and it’s like it’s the only thing I ever knew, the only thing I can ever remember, the only thing that’s ever gonna happen to me–
And there’s a fizzing sound and a burning feeling in my arm and I instinctively lean away from it but I see a Spackle with one of those white sticks pointed at me and I see the cloth from my uniform burning away in a foul-smelling steam and the skin under it feeling like it’s been slapped and I realize if I’d been two centimetres over I’d have probably just lost my arm and–
BANG!
A rifle shot beside me and the Mayor’s there and he’s shot the Spackle, shot him to the ground, saying, “That’s twice now, Todd.”
And he plunges back into battle.
{VIOLA}
Bradley starts to answer Mistress Coyle but Simone speaks first, “Yes, we can.”
“Simone!” Bradley snaps.
“But fire them where?” Simone continues. “Into which army?”
“Into the Spackle!” Mistress Coyle shouts.
“A moment ago you wanted our help to stop this President’s army!” Bradley says. “And Viola told us you tried to kill her to suit your own ends. Why exactly should we trust your opinion?”
“You shouldn’t,” I say.
“Not even when I’m right, my girl!?” Mistress Coyle says, pointing at the projection. “The battle is being lost!” We can see a break in the darker line of men and a pulse like a river bursting its banks as the Spackle pour through.
Todd, I think. Get out of there.
“We could send a point-to-point at the base of the hill,” Simone says.
Bradley turns to her, shocked. “And have our first action here be killing hundreds of the local species, the local intelligent species that, in case you’re forgetting, we’re going to have to live with for the rest of our lives?”
“The rest of your very short lives if you don’t hurry up and do something!” Mistress Coyle practically screams.
“We could just show them our fire-power,” Simone says to Bradley. “Get them to back off and then try and negotiate–”
Mistress Coyle makes a hard clucking sound. “You can’t negotiate with them!”
“You did,” Bradley says and turns back to Simone. “Look, we jump into the middle of a war? Without even knowing which side to trust? We just blow something up and hope the consequences ar
en’t too terrible?”
“People are dying!” Mistress Coyle yells.
“People you were just asking us to KILL!” Bradley shouts back. “If the President committed genocide, maybe they’re just after him and us attacking will only cause an even bigger mess!”
“That’s enough!” Simone snaps, suddenly like the Mission Commander. Bradley and Mistress Coyle stop. Then Simone says, “Viola?”
They all look at me.
“You’re the one who’s been here,” Simone says. “What do you think we should do?”
[TODD]
We’re losing–
There ain’t no two ways about it–
Me knocking down the Spackle on the horned creacher only made things better for a second–
The men keep pushing forward and firing their guns and Spackle are falling and dying everywhere–
But they keep coming down the hill–
And there’s so many more of ’em than there are of us–
The only thing that’s saved us so far is that they ain’t been able to get another one of those fire things down to the bottom of the hill yet–
But there’re more coming–
And when they get here–
I AM THE CIRCLE AND THE CIRCLE IS ME.
Thumping thru my head as the Mayor’s horse bumps into Angharrad, so exhausted now she’s barely lifting her nose–
“Keep in the moment!” he shouts, firing his gun past me. “Or all is lost!”
“All is lost!” I shout back. “We can’t win this!”
“It’s always darkest before the dawn, Todd.”
I look at him, baffled. “No, it ain’t! What kinda stupid saying is that? It’s always lightest before the dawn!”
DOWN! he puts in my head and I duck before I even think about it and an arrow flies right thru the space where my head just was.
“That’s three times,” the Mayor says.
And then there’s another blast of the Spackle horn, so loud you can almost see the sound, bending the air, twisting it, and there’s a new note to it–
A note of victory–
We spin round–