第24节

world with anybody."

CHAPTER FIVE

When he woke on the fourth day, Steve knew the Assessors would turn

their attention to his escape. This was the moment that Steve had been

worried about and with good reason - for the explanation he planned to

offer about the building of the hang-glider was a total fabrication.

He had decided to tell the Board that, having recovered Naylor's knife

and stolen certain tools, he had escaped from the Mutes and made his

way back to the spot where the clan had left the wrecked Skyhawks.

There, working alone, he had salvaged enough parts to construct the

glider - a task that had taken him two weeks.

Thinking over this story on his way to the session, Steve realised that

it now sounded grotesquely implausible and did not square with the

other information he had given about the Mutes. Like - for instance if

they were so good at running, tracking and hunting, how had he escaped

and then managed to avoid discovery during the two weeks it had taken

to build the glider?

Omission of certain facts during this kind of examination was

relatively easy provided you kept your story consistent. If caught out

you could, if blessed with a nimble brain and agile tongue, blame it on

a faulty memory or a misunderstanding of the question. But in offering

up a carefully woven tissue of lies you took a big risk. Inevitably

you needed more and more lies to support the first. It only needed one

Assessor to become suspicious and that was it. Once someone started

picking at the loose ends, the whole thing started to unravel.

Steve found himself in a real bind. Apart from his potentially fatal

relationship with Clearwater, everything he had done had been to ensure

his survival and provide the means and opportunity to escape. Even so,

he was reluctant to reveal the full extent of his cooperation with the

Mutes in case it was misinterpreted by the Assessors.

Despite the assurances of their young President he didn't have much

faith in the Board's impartiality. It was not the way Assessors

functioned; under the Federation's system of justice anyone facing a

full board was presumed to be guilty until he proved himself

innocent.

As he entered the examination room and stood at attention, facing the

Assessors, Steve suddenly decided to change his story. He would stay

as close to the truth as possible. As the clouds of uncertainty were

swept away, he was able to see several moves ahead and realised that it

was the best decision he'd made all week.

When the Board was seated, the dark-haired President motioned Steve to

follow suit then laid her hands on the table, linked her fingers

together and cleared her throat. 'Now, Steven - tell us about the

events leading up to and surrounding your escape. In particular, how

you managed to construct an aircraft in secret."

'I didn't, sir-ma'am. I got the Mutes to help me."

The shock wave generated by his reply practically lifted the Board out

of their seats.

Fran Jefferson exchanged a look with the other Assessors then addressed

Steve. 'Would you care to explain that?"

'It's quite simple, ma'am. I discovered they had kept pieces of

Naylor's and Fazzetti's Skyhawks. They'd both crashed into the forest

where the Mutes had their settlement. So I offered them a deal. I

said if they would help me build an arrowhead - their name for our

Skyhawks - I would teach 'em to fly."

The President's fingers dug deep into the back of her hands. 'And did

you?"

The lie came easily. 'No, sir-ma'am." He grinned. 'As soon as it

was finished, I took the first flight out."

Much of the day was taken up with questions and answers about how he

had designed and constructed the arrowhead and, in particular, the

extent to which the Mutes had been involved.

Assessor 3, who had been working on a short fuse all week exploded

again. 'I can hardly credit what I'm hearing, boy! Are you telling us

you taught these lumps how to build airplanes?!" 'No, sir,' replied

Steve. 'I didn't teach them to do anything. I merely gave them the

chance to demonstrate the skills they already possess. Skills which, p

to now, we've either ignored - or have not even been aware of. If

we're going to pursue our stated objective of winning back the