第72节

'Well, it's a lot better than the other ideas you've been putting into

his head."

'How many times do I have to tell you? He means nothing to me!" She

tried to pull him down but he stayed there, unyielding.

'What about Cadillac?"

'We grew up together - like brother and sister. We shared each other's

joys, fought each other's battles. I can never break the ties that

bind us. But it is my strength he needs, not my love."

Steve succumbed to the pull of her arms and lay down close beside

her.

'There's so much I have to tell you -' 'Ssshhh... ' Clearwater drew the

coverlet over them both. 'The touch of your skin on mine tells me all

I need to know. Hold me, cloud warrior. There is so little time left

for us to share."

'But there are things I need to explain -' Clearwater stilled his lips

with a kiss. 'Let go of the world, my love,' she whispered. 'We are

like two leaves at the Yellowing, borne away on the West Wind. Our

lives were shaped long before our spirits were poured into our mothers'

womb. The Wheel turns. The Path is drawn.

And we must go wherever it leads us..."

Her body became one with his. Hhooohhh! Jeer! Ohhh! Krrisstopher.t

It was dangerously close to dawn when Steve clambered ashore at the

point where he had left his clothes. Fortunately, he didn't have far

to go. Two Island Lake formed the western boundary of the

Consul-General's estate, and the main post-house, to which he'd been

assigned, was situated close to Toh-Shiba's official residence. With

time running out, he was forced to pass under the walls of the barracks

where the regiment of government troops was quartered, but he managed

to do so without being spotted and was back inside the roadrunners'

bunk-house before anyone was up and about.

Roadrunners, like all Mutes in Ne-Issan, were not locked away at

night.

The punishment meted out to would-be escapees was so severe, only the

foolhardy and those who had reached the limits of endurance attempted

to run away. As the job of roadrunner brought the holder enviable

privileges, it was assumed that no Mute lucky enough to be selected

would do anything that might land him back on the dungheap.

The Iron Masters were harsh, demanding taskmasters but they were not

totally heartless monsters. The captive Mutes, which they viewed as

little better than animals, were allowed the same freedom to copulate

at random, and those within the same workforce were permitted to form

family groups. A slave-master might lose a few weeks of fieldwork

during the latter stages of the pregnancy, but Iron-foot children were

a welcome addition to the labour force. Not only were they delivered

free of charge, they were a growing asset.

For roadrunners it meant that, in off-duty hours, they were allowed to

fraternise with the female Mutes staffing the kitchens, bath-house and

laundry, or any others whose services were available in the immediate

vicinity of the compound. The lake was some four miles away which put

it definitely off-limits. Had Steve run into a watch patrol he'd have

been in big trouble but, once again, his luck had held.

The following night, Steve got the opportunity to transmit his first

message to Commander-General Karlstrom, head of AMEXICO. Using the

tiny stylus, he ran the diagnostic program to check that the

transceiver was fully operational, then keyed in his call-sign and

details of his present position. This was followed by a summary of the

information he had given to SideWinder and the news that he had made

contact with his two remaining targets. He ended with the three-letter

code requesting acknowledgement of his transmission, signed off as he

had begun with 'HG-FR', selected the appropriate time-interval, then

pressed the Auto-Transmit key.

Knowing that the set would now broadcast his message at regular

intervals during the next allotted two-hour transmission time between

2200 and 2400 and again between 0400 and 0600, Steve reassembled the

knife, put it back in its hiding place, and went to sleep.

Unable to understand how a radio with such a limited range could

transmit a message back to the Federation, Steve had concluded that the

First Family must have installed secret relay stations inside

Ne-Issan.

In his ignorance, he had been thinking laterally, instead of

vertically. Four times a day, when tracking an undercover operation,

one or more aircraft belonging to AMEXICO, and of a type unknown to

Steve, flew back and forth on preset flight-paths, with ele